If it were the Mavs who had just lost to the Lakers in 6, this is how the articles would read:

1. TheSpurslive by the 3, and die by the 3. That’s the Spurs and game 6 proved the risk as theSpurssettled for 24 3-point attempts, hitting only 3. In thefour game slide, the Spurs took 91 3-pointers, averaging just under 23 per game. In thetwo games they won, they took 16 and 17. Compare that to the “pound the ball into paint” Dallas Mavericks, who although they didn’t advance, understand playoff basketball, and averaged only 17 3-pointers per game.

2. TheSpurs needed stops and went with offense. Rather than having first team all-defender Bruce Bowen on the court, the Spurs fell into old habits and went with Devin Brown on Kobe Bryant. When will Nelson learn that defense wins in the playoffs and going with an untested player who basically is a rookie, at the expense of their perimeter stopper, cost them dearly?

3. Why is Rasho on this team? Where is the heart? In the clinching game he was there for 21 minutes, and had more fouls than points or rebounds. In game 5 he had 2 points and 4 rebounds. In game 3 he had another Rasho Special, with more fouls (5) than points (ZERO) or rebounds (4). Can we not go out and trade him for a good center who can have an impact?Heck, why not Shawn Bradley? Bradley is far more consistent, shows some heart out there, and can block a shot taking some of the pressure off of Tim Duncan defensively.

4. When are the Spurs going to learn that the playoffs are about defense? There is no team that can give up 50 pct plus shooting in 3 games, allow your opponents to hit their shots at 30 pct points above your regular season average and expect to win. Hopefully this team will realize that defense wins championships and do something about it in the off season.

Lets see what is written about the Spurs. It will be fun to read.

Could there be a more exciting ending to a basketball game than two incredibly huge shots in the last second?

I personally don’t care who wins. I don’t like either team. But I love the way the game ended. Wow.

Of course, I had the PVR in overtime at the end. Did Duncan travel to create some room and get his shot off…yep. Did the clock start in time for the last shot… hard to say, but at least there are independent shot clock operators in the playoffs now. I raised a stink behind the scenes after the Mavs first playoff appearance against Utah where time miraculously disappeared while John Stockton was at the foul line with 2.9 seconds left in the game. The league gave me a bone by instituting independent shot clock operators for the playoffs the next year. So, we can set aside any conspiracy theories or home court cookingor can we?

One of our tech gurus pointed out to me today that the official stat keeper at the game recorded the time of Duncans shot at .9 sec remaining. Which means the Lakers should have had an extra half second to get off the shot. Which probably would have given them too much time to pull off the “Fish that Saved LA” shot. All speculation of course, but that’s half the fun of talking about it .

Beyond the fact that they both went in, what I found most amazing about the two last shots was that they were the only last game ending shots, in I dont know how many games, where there wasn’t contact on the shots.

Which leads to the question: With all the contact that goes on at the end, so that all the TV announcers can talk about how the officials want the players to decide the game, when was the last time a playoff game had a foul called on a game deciding shot as time expired?

I can only recall one in all the Mavs games I have seen in the last five years, regular or playoff, and that was when Violet Palmer called a foul on Dirk, as Peja tried to beat us in a regular season game. Peja went to the line to win it. He hit the first, missed the second and the Mavs won in OT.

Could there be a more exciting ending to a basketball game than two incredibly huge shots in the last second?

I personally don’t care who wins. I don’t like either team. But I love the way the game ended. Wow.

Of course, I had the PVR in overtime at the end. Did Duncan travel to create some room and get his shot off…yep. Did the clock start in time for the last shot… hard to say, but at least there are independent shot clock operators in the playoffs now. I raised a stink behind the scenes after the Mavs first playoff appearance against Utah where time miraculously disappeared while John Stockton was at the foul line with 2.9 seconds left in the game. The league gave me a bone by instituting independent shot clock operators for the playoffs the next year. So, we can set aside any conspiracy theories or home court cookingor can we?

One of our tech gurus pointed out to me today that the official stat keeper at the game recorded the time of Duncans shot at .9 sec remaining. Which means the Lakers should have had an extra half second to get off the shot. Which probably would have given them too much time to pull off the “Fish that Saved LA” shot. All speculation of course, but that’s half the fun of talking about it .

Beyond the fact that they both went in, what I found most amazing about the two last shots was that they were the only last game ending shots, in I dont know how many games, where there wasn’t contact on the shots.

Which leads to the question: With all the contact that goes on at the end, so that all the TV announcers can talk about how the officials want the players to decide the game, when was the last time a playoff game had a foul called on a game deciding shot as time expired?

I can only recall one in all the Mavs games I have seen in the last five years, regular or playoff, and that was when Violet Palmer called a foul on Dirk, as Peja tried to beat us in a regular season game. Peja went to the line to win it. He hit the first, missed the second and the Mavs won in OT.

Could there be a more exciting ending to a basketball game than two incredibly huge shots in the last second?

I personally don’t care who wins. I don’t like either team. But I love the way the game ended. Wow.

Of course, I had the PVR in overtime at the end. Did Duncan travel to create some room and get his shot off…yep. Did the clock start in time for the last shot… hard to say, but at least there are independent shot clock operators in the playoffs now. I raised a stink behind the scenes after the Mavs first playoff appearance against Utah where time miraculously disappeared while John Stockton was at the foul line with 2.9 seconds left in the game. The league gave me a bone by instituting independent shot clock operators for the playoffs the next year. So, we can set aside any conspiracy theories or home court cookingor can we?

One of our tech gurus pointed out to me today that the official stat keeper at the game recorded the time of Duncans shot at .9 sec remaining. Which means the Lakers should have had an extra half second to get off the shot. Which probably would have given them too much time to pull off the “Fish that Saved LA” shot. All speculation of course, but that’s half the fun of talking about it .

Beyond the fact that they both went in, what I found most amazing about the two last shots was that they were the only last game ending shots, in I dont know how many games, where there wasn’t contact on the shots.

Which leads to the question: With all the contact that goes on at the end, so that all the TV announcers can talk about how the officials want the players to decide the game, when was the last time a playoff game had a foul called on a game deciding shot as time expired?

I can only recall one in all the Mavs games I have seen in the last five years, regular or playoff, and that was when Violet Palmer called a foul on Dirk, as Peja tried to beat us in a regular season game. Peja went to the line to win it. He hit the first, missed the second and the Mavs won in OT.

I love going on CNBC. All day long all the so-called experts parade through the studio or satellite feeds and let fly
with their best sales pitch.

They may be selling a stock, the direction of the market (I’m so bullish or bearish), or themselves, but they all want you to buy something. Of course they offer the obligatory disclaimer of what they own, or who is paying them, as if it’s a bullshit enema. It doesn’t change reality. CNBC and its competitors have become shopping channels for stocks, bonds and mutual funds.

Which is exactly why I love to go on the network. I love to call bullshit on whoever is on there with me. I don’t have anything to sell. If I like a company, I will tell you. If I don’t like a company, the same. I make it clear however that I have no idea what direction the stock or bond will go. I also make it clear that neither does anyone else.

I mean look at the concept of price targets. Someone, analyst, mutual fund manager, whoever will come on and say, ”I have a price target for this stock of XXX which is up 30pct from here.” I see it getting there over the next 6 months. Yeah right. When someone tells me they know where a stock is going, I can only laugh and ask them why they haven’t mortgaged the house and put it all in the stock. Of course I know the answer. They don’t want to put their money in the stock; they want YOU to put YOUR money in the stock so the price of the stock they own goes up.

Get long and get loud.

Why can’t we just admit they are pitching a stock and treat it like a trinket on QVC. Wouldn’t it be far more entertaining and honest if while the pitchman touted the product, they put up a Quantity Sold and an interview countdown?

We have sold 500k shares of TASR. Only 20 secs left of this fund manager spewing away, so get yours now while they are hot! And don’t forget if you place the trade with our sponsor, we will send you a CNBC trading calendar!

What gets me even worse are the big name guys who come on like all they have is an honest opinion to share. I remember sitting next to Mario Gabelli. I brought up my position that the “investment theme” of buy and hold is nothing more than a sales pitch and the best way for sales reps and brokers to get upset customers off the phone. “I know the fund is down 12 pct Mr. Doe, but that happens in a buy and hold strategy. Over the last 80 years…” What
nonsense.

Mr Gabelli disagreed. He responded with the omnipresent retort to all things stocks, “Warren Buffet buys stocks.” Yes. Mr. Gabelli, you are right. At that time he did. But he doesn’t buy 100 or 1k shares at a time as you have suggested the typical investor should consider doing, or should trust you to do for him or her. Mr Buffet buys enough shares to have influence and in many cases control. Can the average investor do that? Can the typical fund do
that?

To which Mr. Gabelli responded with the evil eye. Have you ever gotten the evil eye on national tv? I have. I liked it. It was one of those “watch me stare at you so hard,I thinkI can make you cry looks”…ooooh,I was scared.

No knock on Mr. Gabelli, that was his job and he does it well. He sells trust. He does a good job of it. It’s still all bullshit.

I have said it many times, I don’t think the average investor should be buying stocks. I don’t think the vast majority of fund managers are anything special either. Something my buddy Andy relayed to me a long time ago when I started buying and selling stocks has stuck with me, and I try to remind myself of beforeI make any investment. ”When you sit at the business table you always look for the sucker or fool. If you don’t see one, it’s you.” The same concept applies whether you are buying or investing in a company, or buying a stock or bond. Most business deals are win win, but even then there is someone at a disadvantage. It’s worse in stocks.

There is always someone on the other side of the trade. Why are they taking that side? Do you know something they don’t, or do they know something you don’t? You go to work and check the stock prices during the day and when you get home. Maybe you call your broker at lunch. What does the person or company on the other side do? Do you have an edge, or do they?

Which leads to my investment philosophy and a point.

I have gotten to the point where I only buy stocks under several circumstances. First, is the company strategic tomy other companies. Second, can I buy enough to get the ear of the CEO. I’m not looking for information on what their numbers are, or where the stock price is going. I’m investing in this company because it matters to my other companies. Can I get enough stock where I consider myself to be a true owner of the company and can work with them to
create win win situations? Do I want the stock price to go up? Of course I do, but if it doesn’t, there is stillconsiderable value to me. Of the companies I have taken a 5 pct or greater position in, I have yet to sell a share of any of them. Ever.

Small investors don’t have this option. In fact small investors have no options other than buy or sell. People buystocks with their only hope that they go up. Sometimesthey do, sometimes they don’t. While they move up and down over time, one thing happens with almost everyone. They fall in and out of love with the stocks they own. The stocks become part of their family. Me and IBM have been together for years. I love this stock. I’m going to buy my
new house with this stock.

It’s stupid, it’s wrong, we all have done it. We fall in love with a stock. I swear people are more protective of their stocks than they are of family members. You can call a guy’s wife fat, but if you tell him that TASR is overvalued, watch out. Every ounce of venom comes out.

One of the things I used to love to do when I had the time was short stocks. It was a hedge to the stocks I owned. More importantly, I’m a firm believer that there are tons of bad companies out of the universe of public companies, and because so few people actually short stocks, its easier to find undiscovered shorts than undervalued long stocks. One of the stocks I shorted was Zixit.

The first time I went on CNBC and said that I was short Zixit was probably 4 years ago. I repeated that I was short when I went on last year. Since that last acknowledgement that I was short this company, I don’t think a day  has gone by where I haven’t gotten AT LEAST one email telling me not so politely what a jerk I am, or how wrong I am.  I get multi-page emails extolling the virtues of this company. I get links to message boards that suggest I am
consorting with the devil. It’s very entertaining.

I shorted this company because it had everyproblem with a company that I looked for in a short. It was continually raising money privately, diluting shareholders. It was continually touting this new deal or that new deal. When they did acquisitions, they paid enough that the selling company would commit to buy services from Zixit. More importantly, it was in an industry that I understood and had access to.

I know people in the secure messaging industry, particularly that work with hospitals. I could spend the time and learn about the business, talk to people in the business and get to where I felt I had enough information advantage at a moments notice that I could get an edge and keep it.

Then they switched to the Eprescription business.

Of course switching industries is flag #1 when shorting a stock, and I have a friend who is in that business, giving me some great info. Unfortunately, I no longerhave the time to read as many of the SEC docs, consulting reports and competitive information that I normally would. When I asked myself whether I was the informed investor at the table or the sucker, I couldn’t with confidence say I wasn’t the sucker. So today I covered it.

I can’t wait to get the emails when they read this.

I also want to offer one final note to all of you stock lovers. Shorts are your friends. If you own a company that you know is a good company, encourage people to short its stock. Shorts will push to keep the company honest. Shorts will let you know what could be wrong with the company. All companies have faults, shorts help you find them. Shorts also create a base of demand for the stock. Unless you made a royal mistake in evaluating the company and it becomes
near worthless, then at some point the shorts will have to buy stock. That is a good thing. Always.

If someone tells you that shorts are holding a company back, run away, the person is a stock idiot.

If the NBA and NCAA want to keep young players out of the NBA, the answer is so simple. Stop guaranteeing rookie contracts.

As it is right now, if a player is drafted in the first round, their salary is set by their draft position, we are REQUIRED to guarantee that salary for at least 4 years. Given that the last pick in the draft makes more than 600k per year, for 4 years, the money to tempt the high school or underclassmen is there.

Then there is the agent pitch. I can hear it in my sleep. Come on now….Leon, you know how good you are. You know what your coaches have told you. How could you not be one of the top 29 players in this draft? Just get picked in the top 30, and the money is yours…Guaranteed. Best of all, you have at least 4 years to get ready for your next contract.

That is tough to turn down.

Add the fact that the agents collect their 4 pct on those guaranteed contracts whether the guy can play or not, and you have more than a little incentive from agents to get the guy to declare for the draft.

Get rid of guaranteed rookie contracts and all that changes. Then all ofa sudden the odds come into play. So few players drafted in the 20s actuallyplay in the NBA past their rookie contracts. They go from prospects to trade fodder to out of the league. Instead of hearingabout busts on the bench collecting millions of dollars, with just anecdotal Lenny Cooke and Kenny Satterfield, expect to be 1st round picks and weren’t stories, the stories would be about how the majority of players drafted in the first round don’t make it through their rookie contracts.

That is exactly what would happen. If rookie contracts were not guaranteed, more than half of first round picks would be cut before the end of their contracts. Those are the odds that every high school and underclass college player would hear about. The question wouldn’t be about draft position, it would be can they play.

I also don’t understand why the players union allowed the rookie contracts to be guaranteed. That was one big mistake on their part. Four year contracts means teams that draft in the 20-29 multiple years, perennial playoff teams, probably have 3 of their last 4 draft picks taking up roster space. Or they traded those picks as throw-ins and they are taking up space on other rosters.

Those are roster spots that I’m sure those teams and a whole lot of veterans without jobs wish were available.

Rookies who can’t play, getting paid to not play, taking jobs from vets who can.

So why are rookie contracts guaranteed? No idea, it happened before I got to the NBA. Hopefully it will change. There are a lot of Ced Ceballos’ and other guys who have paid their dues in this league who could help a team, while the young guys learn the game in college.

Just some top of the heads on topics media and others have been asking me about.

First, could MLB and Sony Pictures have been any more brilliant with their Spiderman promotion? Both absolutely knew when they announced that they were putting a Spiderman 2 logo on the bases that it would create a firestorm of commentary from the media. Every single sports talk station and just about every newspaper sports section would talk and write about it. Over and over and over again. Sony accomplished exactly what it wanted to for the movie. Get everyone talking about it.

MLB accomplished exactly what it wanted. It got paid, according to reports in the paper (who knows how true it is), $3.6mm dollars.

Whether or not the ads actually appeared on the bases was irrelevant. In fact, I never thought they would ever appear on the bases. What was the point? If they put the ads on the bases, they would lose the opportunity to go through all this again. If they pull the ads, citing fan rebellion, they create the opportunity to play this game at least 1 more time.

Brilliant. Congrats again to MLB and Sony. Why didn’t I think of putting the Spiderman ads on the corner of the backboards in the playoffs…

Fired. Not the first time it’s happened, but it reinforced what I already knew; I’m a terrible employee. I just had to face facts and move on. So rather than getting back on that “how the hell am I going to find a job” train, the
only right thing to do was to start my own company.

My first act of business? Pile into my buddy’s 1982 Celica, nicknamed Celly, and drive to galveston to party. Of course we stayed in only the best $19.95 a night, plug the hairdryer in the wall and the circuit blows, motel.
Nothing but the best as I prepared for my journey into entrepreneurial territory again. I couldsay I was preocuppied with how to get my new business off the ground. That while my friends got drunk, did stupid tourist
tricks and ate at greasy spoons,I sat by the pool on the 1 chaise lounge chair with rust on the clean side and wrote up my businessplan.I didn’t.I got just as drunk and ate the same disgusting food. Then we faced the
road trip terror that everyone knows exists, but refuses to admit, the ride home. It wasn’t until we pulled up to the apartment that it hit me. No job. No money. No way to pay the bills. But I had nice towels.

Fortunately the hangover didn’t last too long, and I realized I had to get off my ass and make something happen.

First day, first task, come up with a name. This was the start of the microcomputer revolution, and I wanted a name that said what the company was going to do, which was sell personal computers and software and help companies and individuals install them. I was going to offer microcomputer solutions. So after struggling with different names for about 30 minutes, I chose MicroSolutions Inc.

Now came the hard part. I had to call all the people I had done business with at my last company, and let them know that I had been shitcanned and ask them if they would come do business with me at MicroSolutions. I got the expected questions. NoI didn’t have an office. NoI didn’t have a phone yet other than my home phone. Yes it was just me. No I didn’t have any investors. The only question I dreaded was whether I had a computer to work with. I didn’t. Fortunately, no one asked.

I made a lot of calls, and got some decent response. We love you Mark, we want to give you a chance. A lot of lets stay in touch. I got two real bites. One from a company called Architectual Lighting and the other from a company called Hytec Data Systems.

Architectual Lighting was looking for a time and billing accounting system to allow them to track the work with clients. I don’t remember the name of the software package I told them about, I think it was Peachtree Accounting, but after going out to meet with them it came down to this. I offered to refund 100 pct of their money if the software didn’t work for them, and I wouldn’t charge them for my time for installing and helping them. In return, they would put up the 500 bucks it would take for me to buy the software from the publisher, and I could use them as a reference. This was my “no money down” approach to start a business. They said yes. I had a business.

My 2nd call Hytec Data, was run by Martin Woodall. I met with Martin at the S&D Oyster House on a beautiful June day, and I remember sitting there and him telling me, “I graduated in Computer Science from West Virginia
University. I have 50k in the bank and I drive a brand new Cadillac. I know technology better than you. We can work together”. I had a customer, and now with Martin’s help, I had some hope. Hytec Data sold multi user systems.  The old kind that used dumb terminals. He bundled it with accounting software and he and a contractor named Kevin, would make modifications to the Cobol source code. They were the hardcore geeks that could help me when I needed it. I was still just 10 months from my first introduction to PCs, and had zero clue about multi user systems. If I came across prospects that could use their system and software, I would get referrals. That was good.

Even better was Martin’s offer of office space. He and Kevin shared office space with the distributor of the computer systems he sold. They had this one office, that when the CEO of the distributors son wasn’t using it to
study his spanish, I could use it to make calls, and keep my folders and paperwork. Still no computer, but hey,I had an office and phone. I was bonafide…

At some point I’m going to have to go back and look at my appointment books that I kept from those days to remind myself of who my 2nd, 3rd and on from there customers were. They were small companies that I got to know very well. People that took me under their wing and trusted me, not because I was the most knowledgeable about computers, but because they knew I would do whatever it took to get the job done. People trusted me with keys to their offices. They would find me there when they got in in the morning and I was there when they left. I made 15,000 dollars that
first year. I loved every minute of it.

As time went on, my customer base grew. I got my friend and former roommate Scott Susens to help with deliveries. Scott was working as a waiter at a steakhouse at the time. I remember asking him over and over, would you please help me out. I have a customer that had bought a bunch of Epson dot matrix printers from me, and I had to sell Scott on how it wouldn’t be hard to learn how to hook a parallel cable to a pc and printer, and how learning all of this would be a career move compared to working at the steakhouse. Unfortunately, I couldn’t pay him as much as the steakhouse. My good fortune was that Scott worked nights and weekends and decided to take some time in the afternoons to help me out. Not long after that, he was working fulltime installing PCs, learning whatever he had to figure out before an install.

Martin also began to play a larger and larger role. His company was growing, and he was watching my company grow. I would get the PC based stuff, he would get the accounting system stuff. It was a nice split. The better part of the relationship was based on Martin being the most anal retentive personi had ever met in my life. While I covered my mistakes by throwing time and effort at the problem, Martin was so detail oriented, he had to make sure things were perfect so problems could never happen. We could drive each other crazy. He would give me incredible amounts of shit about how sloppy I was. I would give him the same amount back because he was so anal he was missing huge opportunities. We complemented each other perfectly. It would only be a matter of time before we both knew we had to be partners and work together instead of separately.

That first year in business was incredible. I remember sitting in that little office till 10pm and then still being so pumped up, I would drive over to the gym I belonged to and run 5 to 10 miles on the treadmill going through
that day, and the next in my head.Other days I would get so involved with learning a new piece of software that I would forget to eat and look up at the clock thinking it was 6 or 7pm and see that it was 1am or 2am. Time
would fly by.

It’s crazy the things that you remember. I remember when my accounts receivable got up to 15k and telling all my friends. I remember reading the PC DOS manual (I really did), and being proud that I could figure out how to set up startup menus for my customers. I remember going to every single retail store in town, BusinessLand, NYNEX, ComputerLand, CompuShop, all those companies that are long gone, and introducing myself to every salesperson to try to  get leads. I would call every single big computer company that did anything at all with small businesses, IBM, Wang, Dec, Xerox, Data General, DataPoint (remember them?), setting meetings, asking to come to their offices since I couldn’t afford to take them to lunch. I didn’t need a lot of customers, but my business grew and grew. Not too fast, but fast enough that by the time MicroSolutions had been in business about 2 years, I had 85k dollars in the bank, a receptionist/secretary, Scott helping me out, and a 4 room office that I moved into along with Martin and Hytec Data Systems.

Then I learned a very valuable lesson. Martin had done a great job of setting up our accounting software and systems. I got monthly P&L statements. I got weekly journals of everything coming in and everything going out,
payables and receivables. We had a very conservative process where Martin would check the payables, authorize them and then use the software to cut the checks. I would then go through the list, sign the checks and give them to Renee our secretary/receptionist to put in the envelope and mail to our vendors.

One day, Martin comes back from Republic Bank, where we had our account. He had just gone through the drive through and one of the tellers who he would see every day dropping of our deposits asked him to wait a second. She comes back and shows him a check that had the payee of a vendor, WHITED OUT and Renee Hardy, our secretary’s name typed over it. Turns out that in the course of a single week, our secretary had pulled this same trick on 83k of our 85k in the bank. As Martin delived the news, I obviously was pissed. I was pissed at Renee, I was pissed at the bank, I was pissed at myself for letting it happen. I remember going to the bank with copies of the checks, and the manager of the bank basically laughing me out of his office telling me that I “didn’t have a pot to piss in”. That I could sue him, or whatever I wanted, but I was out the money.

I got back to the office, told Martin what happened at the bank, and then I realized what I had to do about all of this. I had to go back to work. That what was done, was done. That worrying about revenge, getting pissed at the
bank, all those “I’m going to get even and kick your ass thoughts”were basically just a waste of energy. No one was going to cover my obligations but me. I had to get my ass back to work, and do so quickly. That’s exactly what I did.

I had no idea how crazy, how much fun and how intense it would be doing this show. I know I’m having fun when I get there about 8:30 in the morning, and when I realize I’m hungry and haven’t eaten, it’s past midnight!

We have an amazing, amazing cast of 16, split evenly between guys and girls. I wanted diversity and that’s exactly what I got. I’m not just talking demographics. We have nice people, and people who I thought would be nice and weren’t. There are fun people and serious people. We have Divas and Drama Queens. We have an Oprah wannabe, a professional football player, collegiate athletes, and two people who sing show tunes when under pressure.

The game is always on. The competition is always in play. I wanted this to be like the real world. If you want to make a million dollars, you’d better be ready to compete 24x7x365, and the game reflects that. The pressure is intense and continuous, and response of the contestants under pressure has been eye-opening.

Personally, the game is getting more and more difficult for me.I have really grown fond of most of the contestants. They are really cool people. Making the cuts is like firing a friend. It hurts. I have had to cut people several times already and it is not easy.

The good news side is that unless someone is completely scamming me, and it’s still possible, I am going to really enjoy giving the check for 1mm dollars to winner.

Stay tuned for more!

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