This is the only time I will address the ignorant and hateful mail I have received.  The allegations against my brother are just that, allegations.  The only version of events the public gets to see is the SEC version in their complaint. They are going to spin facts in the light most favorable to their case.  As an attorney I am aware that this is the nature and reality of litigation.  Mark will get his say in court. I have no doubt that the true chain of events will play out in his favor.  It is also important to keep in mind that this is a civil proceeding. The blogosphere seems to be poorly educated on this point.  The only remedy the SEC is  for the most part seeking is monetary. (They are also asking for equitable relief)

There are only two people in this world that have known Mark longer than I have.  Everyone else has an opinion and gets their blog stats up by voicing it and speculating. I don’t have a problem with this. It is what makes the blogosphere one of the most fascinating ever expanding frontiers on earth. I however, have 47 years of facts. Mark is an ethical person of the highest level of integrity in every aspect of his life.  I urge people to not pass judgment on SEC self -serving P.R. Let the facts play out where they should, in a court of law.

The NBA season is upon us.  I attended the Dallas Mavericks first exhibition game.  I then took an unusual step for me.  I roamed the  streets of Dallas checking out various nightclubs contemplating the  hope filled start of the Dallas Mavericks season.  I wandered aimlessly from bar to bar contemplating what I hoped was the start of a very successful season ending in a championship.  It struck me that there were many similarities between the social interactions I witnessed out on the singles scene and the great game of hoops. It made me realize that while life imitates art, basketball can imitate life.  If you don’t believe me put on your high-tops any weekend and step onto the hardwood court of Dallas or any big city nightlife where an entire basketball season is played out on any given night. There are no points for second place. The winners hit nothing but net while the losers head home alone and whine the next morning about how they gave their best.  The only way you can only get a “clear path” to the basket” view of all this is if you are living outside the three point line. I stared in awe as a baseline spectator of the same game all over again on a different court.  There different players, different rules and the winners and loser some times much more subtle than the fourth quarter sore or determining the defensive or offensive set. To watch this game I had to re-learn all I knew about basketball and how it applied to the nightlife scene. Once I had finished learning the rules and different offensive (sometimes very offensive!) and defensive sets, a night out in Dallas became more entertaining than watching the NBA Finals.

In order to see what I saw and know what I know you have to have a basic understanding of basketball “terminology” as it applies to  both the NBA and the nightclub scene.  Once you have this understanding you will never look at a bar or nightclub in the same light. Here are some of the terms you need to understand.  You can find the actual NBA definitions for many of these terms here.   These  are in no particular order:

“Palming“  The act of adjusting your crotch in a nightclub right in front of your buddy/wingman and the hot girl you are talking to.  This is a change in possession foul and you must now transfer possession of the hot girl to your buddy.

“Slam-dunk“  The last drunk girl in the bar at 2 am

“Full Court Press “  Within fifteen minutes of meeting a girl in a bar you have given her your phone number, certified financial statement, recent HIV test, two round trip tickets to Vegas for the next day. You even have flowers sent to the girl while still in the bar.

“Flagrant Foul“  At the very moment the hottest girl in the bar is handing you her telephone number, your best buddy picks his nose.  This is a two shot foul. You keep the ball. Your buddy must buy two shots of any drink you choose for you and any girl you want the rest of the night.

“Double-Double“  You figure it out…

“Triple Double“   U DA MAN!

Clear Path Foul:   You picked up the hottest girl in the club.  She has told you how much she wants you.  You are on your way back to your place.  She pukes all over your car.

“Fast Break“  You have not even valeted the car yet and your buddy is coming out of the nightclub, hot girl in hand.

“Traveling”    You live in Dallas. She lives in Fort Worth.  This is a change in possession foul if your buddy doesn’t care where she lives.

24 Second Violation:    You meet a hot girl.  You spend the first 25 seconds talking about your millions in the bank,  new  Maserati, listing on the Forbes 400 and your Gulfstream while your 3 roommates look on. The is also known as a “30k Millionaire Violation”   It is a change in possession violation to any guy in the bar that actually owns a Maserati or Gulfstream.

“Double Dribble“  You forget to tie your shoes.  Just as you are about to hand your girl her drink, you trip and spill both drinks on her. This is a change in possession foul as your buddy calls you a clumsy idiot stating that he would never be so stupid.  She agrees and goes home with him.

“Back Court Violation“  Your posse is in the club. You have drink in hand when you realize your driver was denied entrance because he wore tennis shoes.

“Alley Oop“   Your buddy hands off to you that last drunk girl in the bar at 2 am.  You are hoping to convert to a “slam dunk”.

“Moving Screen“  Your buddy is not getting near that girl.  She is going home with you!

“Blocking Foul“ Right when the hottest girl in the club is handing you’re her phone number and your buddy comes up and says he found your wedding ring on the floor.

“Offensive Foul“   You had Italian for dinner. Your about to kiss your girl good night on the cheek (because you’re a gentlemen) when you burp and a piece of spaghetti lands on her cheek.  This is a change of possession foul.  She does not care who gets the ball as along as its not you.

“Loose Ball Foul“   No clean underwear and an unknown hole tear in your pants.

“Technical Foul”   She told you she was 21 when you bought her a drink.  This is a ejection from game foul and a minimum one game suspension to be spent in a 4 by 6 with bars.

“Offensive Rebound“   It is not your fault your buddy cant close.

“Tip Off”     You spy something suspiciously looking like an Adam’s Apple on the hot “girl” you are talking to.

“Two Minute Warning”   Its last call. You struck out.  Your driver has left and you have no cab fare.

You now have the rules you need to step into the hoops arena of Dallas Nightlife  or any big city club scee where unlike the NBA, every weekend brings a new season..

The game of Data Pinball is the hottest game in the world.  Hundreds of millions internet users are playing at any given moment.  It is a high-risk game. Millions of dollars are made and lost at the touch of a key.  Information flipped into cyberspace being batted back and forth sometimes coming right back to the person who initially started the game.  Sometimes looking nothing like what was sent.  Sometimes with unwanted consequences.

A piece of data put into play will at first flow on its own inertia to its closest intended point.  After that watch out!   It enters the “data pinball zone”.  When it is “pinball flippered” the sender intends it to reach a certain target but just like in real pinball, it often does not get there or hits several bumbers before it does. Each bumper sending it off in an unexpected direction.  When data is “bumpered”  the sender has no idea where it is going or where it will end up.  Each time data hits a “bumper” it is sent off in a new direction with new force and inertia.  Theoretically this will go on as long as a data recipient bumpers or flips it again in a whole different direction. The data pinball is sent off to hit other bumpers, setting off all new bells and whistles, racking up new data pinball points for its new owner.

You see it every day on just about every mainstream and tabloid news site.  Nothing stays a secret.  Whether it is emails, photos, text messages etc.  People receive unwanted attention as a direct result of not thinking before they hit send on their email, text message or voicemail rant.   Just ask  Alec Baldwin.  His data was transmitted through the good old old telephone and ended up pinballing all over the world. His voicemail visitation rant to his daughter will be on YouTube until YouTube is no more or hell freezes over.  Embarrassment is the least of the damage.  Careers and marriages are ended.   What is ironic is that the data itself never changes form but what finally makes it into the mainstream depending on where it ‘bounces” rarely conveys the original message.

The latest version of the game has ensnared Dallas Mavericks star forward Josh Howard as well the racists, bigots and hate mongers who decided to chime in on the controversy.   Josh joined Alec in the data pinball ranks with his impromptu cell phone video commentary on the National Anthem appeared on YouTube.  Like Alec’s voicemail rant,  Josh’s video will unfortunately be preserved there and other social sites for time  immemorial.  After Mark  Cuban made a public statement about how he had handled the situation every racist and hate filled idiot with a computer pulled back the data pinball plunger and let the data fly in the form opinionated hate and racist email tirades sent to Mark.  Little did they know that Mark would jump in on the game. He hit those pinball flippers for all they were worth and posted many of the emails on his blog, email addresses included.  He fired those same emails right back out into the bumper filled blogosphere to be batted around all over the world by anyone else who wanted to jump into the game.  Who knows where those emails containing admissions of closet racism and other forms of hatred will end up.  Maybe with the sender’s neighbors.  Maybe at his or her place of employment.  Maybe with his or her African-American next door neighbor whose children play with theirs.  Mark later removed the post and explained why he removed it and had decided to expose the people behind them.  He stated:

“I also knew that because of the email addresses being included, they would be receiving the same level of hate, ignorance and judgment that Josh and I had. They would get the same type of ignorant email threats of “I wont do business with your company again”, from people who have never done business with their company. The “I’m going to email your boss and all your sponsors” threats, because that’s the way people try to shout down other people these days.”

No explanation was  necessary.  Mark did the right thing in posting them. I would have left them up  What I found  amazing in exploring various blogs commenting on the subject is that many people actually think that when they send an unsolicited email to someone with whom they have no legal relationship or even know at all, they have some legal or other god given right to privacy in what they sent.  No wonder people make email idiots of themselves.

Good for Mark in exposing hate, racist idiocy and hypocrisy when given the opportunity.  It is my hope that everyone of those emails is “pinballed” to an ultimate destination where it will end up having a  profound effect on the original sender.

Ah yes.  The game of data pinball.  Where’s my quarter?

Avery Johnson has been let go as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. I will miss him and it has nothing to do with basketball. I would not write on it or comment about if it did. My brother Mark Cuban’s basketball decisions as owner of the Dallas Maverick are his own for his team I have zero credibility to comment about it on any level.

I will miss Avery Johnson the person. I liked him a lot. He and his wife are by far two of the nicest, classiest individuals I have met or will probably ever have the pleasure to meet. In all of the basketball hub bub, it is easy to forget all of the great things they did for Dallas and surrounding communities as well as their hometown of New Orleans giving so much of themselves personally and financially.

In the world of professional sports the only certainty for a coach is that he will one day resign or be asked to leave. It a 100 percent certainty. Some get to do it on their own terms but those are few and far between.

Avery may no longer be the coach of the Dallas Mavericks but in my mind he will always be a class act

I wish he and his family the aboslute best in their future.