Over the last two days the media and blogosphere has formed opinions, speculated, crucified, harrangued and harrassed Mark Cuban on the basis of one sided Securities And Exchange Commission(SEC) spin.  During that time,  Jeffrey Norris, the SEC attorney, who had the contentious “Loose Change” email exchange with Mark while his employer investigated allegatons of insider trading has been able to hide under his desk. He has been able to slink home every night relatively free from any type of media exposure.  That is all over. The emails between SEC attorney Jeffrey Norris and Mark Cuban have been made public.  It is time to enter the email “no spin zone”.   It is time for Jeff’s integrity, ethics and propriety of actions to be put under the same microsope.  Here is the pdf link to the full text of the email exchanges between Jeffery Norris and Mark Cuban.  The emails speak for themselves. Come to your own conclusions about the integrity of Mr. Norris and his office in general.

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.

Before the ADL and JIDF put a hit out on me, I am Jewish.  I know for a fact that I can’t play basketball.  You could make good money by wagering that I could not hold a dribble from one end of the court to the other completely unguarded.   If I told any team that I was not going to play on the Sabbath, the laughing wouldn’t stop until sundown of that next Friday.  Is this the Jewish curse?  If there were basketball courts in the time of Moses would we have been doomed to play hoops for 40 years rather than wander through the desert?  Would Rameses have said “not only will I not let your people go but you can’t drive to the hoop?”

There are many of the Jewish faith who play basketball.  Local Jewish Community Center and and B’nai Brith leagues are full of great “J Hopes”.  While I know we are certainly represented in European basketball the pickings are slim here in the USA.  Are there any Jews even currently playing in the NBA? (David Stern and Mark Cuban don’t count). I did some research and I was able to find the following Jews currently playing in the NBA:

Jordan Farmer of the Los Angeles Lakers.  Jordon played just over 20 minutes a game last year averaging 9.1 ppg.  Not to bad for a tribal representative.  He however will not be getting any  simchas for his 3 point shot or lackluster free throw percentage.  A little Kabbalah string serenity may help on the line or in the alternative an affair with Madonna. In fairness to the Jordan and the other chosen, there are noteworthy  Jewish NBA ballers going back through history.  It appears however that we are much more adept at owning sports franchises than playing for them.

You are not going to see too many conservative or orthodox Jews playing in professional sports.  If the guy sucks it’s no big deal but if he is any good and observant, he is not going to be that amenable to helping the team out from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.  Moral of story.  If you are going to recruit a Jew, be sure he/she is a reform or have your designated gentile for play those big Sabbath games.

It is actually not all that uncommon to read about Jews missing big weekend games due to observance of the Sabbath.  Now and then there is controversy. You have the competing interests of the schools, fans, teammates all of which put an enormous amount of pressure on those with strong religious convictions.   There was a recent controversy involving a Jewish high school basketball team who refused to play  a championship game on the Sabbath. The Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy team ultimately never had to face the religous dilemma. They fell one win short of qualifying for the championship game. The governing body had however already ruled against them so they would have forfeited the game had they advanced.

I actually found just this subject discussed on the website ABOUT.COM. The question was whether Conservative Jews can participate in sports on the Sabbath. Here was the answer give by Rabbi Barry Dove Lerner:

“Thanks for writing. First, I encourage you to speak with your Rabbi about this matter and other matters of Jewish law.

Please understand that I share your own sense of the importance of sports. In high school and college I participated in sports and I am still - to the best of my knowledge - the only Rabbi ordained in North America to have held a national championship and record in a NCAA sport - archery! And I taught archery at Camps Ramah for seven years to literally hundreds of campers of all ages. I encourage the children to both get involved with their school teams AND to respect Jewish holidays and Shabbat. So I share your enthusiasm for the self-discipline, the physical fitness, etc. that sports participation can bring one..

However, please understand that Conservative Judaism as such will not invalidate Shabbat and Jewish law simply to facilitate our wants and desires. Family activities are wonderful, but I would start now to begin to offer alternatives before the real confrontation between parents and children might arise. Lastly, once again, turn to your Rabbi for advice and guidance on what is and what is not appropriate for your children within the community programs.”

Ah yes, that is the ticket to the future for all Jewish athletes. ARCHERY!  There is your answer.  Excel in archery and the Sabbath is yours!  You can pretty much put an arrow in something any day of the week so why sweat the weekend.  He talks about offering alternatives to your children. The next Jewish Pele? 

As The Good Book Says… ” Tis better to own to than to dribble”

I think I need to pull out my Fiddler On The Roof DVD to get some guidance from Tevye on this.

SO LET IT BE WRITTEN, SO LET IT BE DONE!

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?