Now that The Apprentice is moving to Monday nights and riding on the coattails of NBC’s newest hit, Deal or No Deal, the Donald is doing the right thing and trying to get a viewership boost from an appearance on the Howie Mandel hosted show.

Of course, being the fun loving guy that I am, and as someone who is always trying to look out for the best interests of Donald Trump, I have decided to make an open offer to Howie Mandel.

Howie, if you can get Mr Trump to pull a rubber glove completely over his head and blow it up on your show, not only will I watch it, I will donate 1 million dollars to the charity of your choice.

What could be better than that ? Money for a great cause that you love. For the Donald, the thing he loves more than anything, bragging rights. Is there any doubt that by Tuesday afternoon he would be able to say that he was responsible for the most watched television show in the history of TV ?

Is it possible that any human being on the planet would be able to resist watching Donald Trump blow up a rubber glove over his head ? I dont think so. Combatants around the world would lay down their arms and all enjoy a moment of shared laughter.

I dont have the power to cause the end to wars. If only for a moment. You do Donald.

I dont have the power to create the unquestionable number one moment in TV history You do Donald.

Sieze the moment Donald.

Be a mensch Howie. History awaits you !

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Much has been written about the leagues curiousity about whether or not the majority of fans at an NBA game prefer music to be played while the ball is in play.

The NBA has from time to time mentioned that they would like to experiment with “silent nights” to find out for themselves. When this topic has come up, without any exceptions that I have seen, the media has fully endorsed the concept.

Rather than waiting for a proclamation from the NBA to experiment, I decided to try a “silent night” or two at Mavs home games. We tried playing no music , no only while the ball was in play, but also during stoppages. We did however play music during timeouts. The response was that there was a noticable decline in energy in the building and I got several emails asking what happened to the “show” at the games.

So i decided to try it again, because honestly, I hoped the concept would work. If the fans could lead the cheers and create the energy, my job got a lot easier. Our goal at any Mavs game is to make it an experience. We often liken it to a great wedding where everyone from Grandma and Grandpa to the 15 year old with blue hair and pierced everything all have a great time dancing, singing and interacting. Playing orchestrator as I often do at home games isnt always the easiest job.

So we added microphones to the floor so the entire arena could hear the sneakers squeaking on the court. We turned up the mics on the rim, so the arena could hear the grunts and guys talking on the defensive side. We brought in the Maniaacs to clap and cheer and encourage the fans to get involved. It didnt work. The energy wasnt there. We got far more complaints than compliments.

So we shelved the experiment. We went back to music, prompting and energy and the feedback improved considerably.

Which brings me back to the All Star game. I had a box along with my family, and friends. Some of whom were from Dallas, some who werent. Someone asked me why, with the exception of when the non basketball acts were on the court, or when they were throwing baby basketballs, there was no energy in the building. These were the best players in the universe. Where was the buzz.

It took me about 1 minute to realize what was going on . It was a “Silent Night” . No music while the game was in progress. Some organ prompts. Some limited music during breaks in play. No mics on the rims. No energy in the building until the final few minutes.

I applaud the NBA for taking the chance and seeing what happens. The All Star game is a great place to experiment. But thats not the point of this entry.

The point here is that NO ONE NOTICED.

The media response I got when we did our version was that it was noticably better to them. That they really enjoyed it. That it was the way “games were supposed to be” . Yet, at the game where there were more media members in attendance than any other game pre Finals…. not a word was spoken or written about the fact that it was a silent game.

I did hear commentary on the radio about the lack of energy in the building, but again, not a word about the lack of music , prompts, mics.

I guess we have our answer on “silent nights”

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I got a very interesting email a few minutes ago. I cant say I have fact checked it exhaustively. I havent. Im sure the Naked Shorting Sithmeisters will weigh in with their comments about any perceived or real inaccuracies. Facts can never get in the way of a war, so every side and every word will be spun by all those with something at stake.

Personally, the only thing I have at stake is the ongoing entertainment value of all of this. My 20k shares short of Overstock will continueto do just fine.( Patrick Byrne, if you want to lend me any of the shares you own and have taken possession of, I would be happy to borrow them and short them).

But I digress. Here is the information I received. You can do your own research before coming to any conlusions. Im sure the comments to this blogpost will be very, very interesting.

Ive been following your blog and have been particularly amused by your postings about Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com and the mysterious people behind the anti-naked shorting movement.

Ive spent quite a bitof time tracking a vast network of corrupt executives, financiers and brokers who route discounted shares of obscure U.S. companies overseas through sham private placements and venture capital deals and then resell them to foreign investors at marked up prices, through unlicensed securities boiler rooms

A few weeks ago, I learned that shares of one such company, Private Trading Systems Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz. (Pink sheets: PVTM), were being offered to European investors by an apparently fictitious brokerage calling itself Anglo Swiss Consulting (fictitious in the sense that it is not registered with any nations regulatory agency and that its Internet site is something of a Potemkin storefront.)

When I looked into Private Trading Systems, I noted that its chairman, chief executive, treasurer and corporate secretary is none other than C. Austin Bud Burrell, whose dire warnings about naked shorting have been featured at NCANS.net, on the Bob OBrien blog and similar Internet sites.

Burrell also has been a litigation consultant for John OQuinn, the Texas lawyer representing Overstock.com in its suit against Rocker Partners, Gradient Analytics and other defendants who allegedly undermined the companys stock through nefarious shorting activities.

Its worth noting that shares of Endovasc Inc., another company that is part of the anti-naked shorting coalition, also were sold by a foreign boiler room known as Bellador Advisory Services.

Theres another interesting aspect to Private Trading Systems. According to the Form 10-12 that Private Trading filed earlier this month with the SEC, its biggest shareholder, with a 43.2 percent equity stake, is T.P. Ramsden.

The filing said Ramsden controlled the rights to the technology behind the trading system that the company is developing to allow institutional investors to privately trade securities, instruments, or any financial asset that is capable of being converted to electronic form.

What Private Trading Systems SEC filing did not say is that T.P. Ramsden is Terry Ramsden, once a highflying British bond trader, who pleaded guilty to investment fraud in the 1990s and later was convicted of bankruptcy fraud. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison, and served 10.

Ramsden is making a comeback of sorts, and has raised eyebrows in British investment circles by taking positions in several small public companies whose shares have moved upward after his arrival (Hansard Group is one example).

I offer this tale as yet another example of the kinds of activities that members of the anti-naked shorting coalition have been engaging in, while claiming that it is their detractors who are involved in dishonest undertakings.

Feel free to use this information as the basis for a new blog post

Let the comments begin.

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As we get ready for the All Star game, I thought I would answer the repetitive questions I get in email, that all end with “Can you do something about it”, with a blogof my suggestions of what I would do about “it”

1. If the Mavs finish second in their division, but have more wins than another division winner, we are seeded 4th, and that isnt fair. Can you do something about it ?

Of course its not fair. The best reason I can ascertain is that its there because its cuts down on the amount of travel that would have to take place if there were interdivision matchups. Remember when the Mavs had to play back to back playoff games in the first round ?

But thats not a good enough reason. The playoff schedule makers can take that into account. Just as they do TV matchups.

Here is the solution. First, any division winner qualifies for the playoffs. Its possible for a division record to not even have the 10th best record, let alone the eighth, so winning your division rewards you with a playoff spot.

Then there would be a seeding tie-breaker system. First Tie Breaker is 55 wins. Any teams that win 55 games are seeded in order of number of wins. If there are no teams that finished 2nd or lower in their division, then this tie-breaker does not apply and teams are seeded as they are now.

There are quite a few benefits. First, since the conferences play mostly a balanced schedule (all teams play each other the same number of times with only a couple exceptions), when there is at least onevery weak division with multiple teams struggling to win games, the other divisions feast on that division, creating a greater disparity in number of wins between conference leaders and increasing the likelihood that a 2nd and/or 3rd place team will have more wins than a division winner. When there is parity in the number of wins, this doesnt occur and the system can operate as is.

Of course, this approach also increases the intensity of games for contending teams. Trying to get that 2nd place by winning 55 or more games gives meaning to many more late season games. As does winning enough games as a division winner.

2. The All Star Voting is ridiculous. Its a world wide popularity contest with voters who never even see the players play voting.

Its not ridiculous, its the exact right idea, just not quite the right implementation. The NBA should and does want its fans to get involved. Voting for the all star team is a great way to do it. But as you might expect there is a better way. Here it is

Votes basically come in two forms, physical ballots which are handed out at the arenas and at partner locations and internet votes. Without question, we should reward the ballots more than the internet voter. These are the people who come to our games and support our partners. Who should get more cred than them ? No one.

Then we get to the internet voters. I think the internet voters should be seperated into domestic and international. Each is equal, but just as fans vote for their local players more often, international fans vote for their favorite countrymen more often.

So here is my suggestion just to make it work.

Seperate the 3.

Ballot voting

Domestic Internet Voting

International Internet Voting. (its not hard to seperate the two. Not perfect, but close enough)

Then take the average final voting position of each and select your all star team that way.

So if a player comes in 1st on ballot, 6th on domestic internet, 20th on international internet, they have a finishing total of 9. If 9 is the lowest for his position he starts. If not, who ever does have the lowest number starts.

Personally, i would prefer to multiply the ballot times two, but hey, change in the NBA is hard enough.

This would give our fans more power in their voting and reward those who come to the arena and watch on TV

3. This is in response to a future question i will get and really is the most shocking of all. Our eqiupment managers just told me that the NBA has ordered our suppliers to stop making the high tube socks that some of our players wear.

The NBA gets props for doing it now, rather than after the start of next season and fining players for wearing them, but my goodness. What is the point ? I dont get it.

Can we leave some harmless individuality in the game ?

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Not literally of course. That thrill belongs to the smartest businesswoman in professional sports, Jeannie Buss. Figuratively however,thecoach formerly known as the Zen Mastermust now be considered my bucket boy.

This wasnt an acquisition I proactively pursued.Therewasnt an official competition that I won, thereby confirming my dominance of his psyche. Instead Phil has initiated an ongoing commentary about me that started in his previous stint with the Lakers and was reinstated this year with his return, that proves that I own the guy.

For whatever reason, I have gotten to Phil so completely and thoroughly that every time he comes to Dallas he has to offer unsolicited comments about me to the media. I wonder if he dreams about me the nights he spends here in Dallas. Ok, I dont wonder. Im curious about it.

How can the NBA coach with so many championship rings find me so intimidating ? I really dont know, but he said as muchin December when hecalled me an “intimidating force” to the LA Times

“consider a place like Dallas, where the owner runs around, pumps up the volume, intimidates the referees and … has announcers as hired cheerleaders, which is an intimidating force.”

Then of course last night he again took the initiative to comment to the media about how I am such a presence in the NBA, thati turn the officialsinto “nervous nellies”. Implying that I can have more influence on the outcome of a game than his coaching skills. I wish. But if Phil wants to think so. Im fine with that. Thats what happens when you own someone, they cant get you out of their head, and they dont often think , speak or act rationally.

I guess Phil was so overwhelmed that it caused himto take back to back delay of game penalties and the technical foul that comes with it, rather than send his team out to the court at the conclusion of a timeout in the 4th quarter.

Of course the officials werent intimidated. At least no more than the other officials who have given Kobe technical fouls to the tune of a league leading 11. Maybe, instead of being so concerned with MarkCuban, Phil should be worried about the new rule in place that causes a player to be suspended a gameafter he gets his 16th technical foul of the season. And if I remember correctly, every technical after 16 results in a 1 game suspension as well. Cant wait to hear what he has to say when that happens….

Of course I dont truly believe that I own Phil. This is all tongue in cheek, but that wont prevent me from walking up to him and saying “Boo” to see if he jumps, just to find out for sure

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This has been an amazing week.

Our first HDNet Films day and date movie, Enron – The Smartest Guys in the Room was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Category! How cool is that !

This movie, which premiered in theaters (mostly Landmark and independent screens) and on HDNet Movies the same day, grossed 4mm plus in theaters to make it the 14th largest grossing doc of all time. Not too shabby !!! My only regret about Enron ? Is that we didnt have Magnolia Home Entertainment in place to distribute the DVD on the same day the movie was released. Although the release of the DVD has done incredibly well, reaching #5 on the Amazon top seller list, we left a ton of money on the table by not being able to release it on the same day it was released in theaters and on HDNet Movies.

It probably cost us hundred of thousands of units in sales, if not more. The number of DVDs of Enron we are selling now, just from our Landmark Theaters suggest that the sell through to people seeing the film would have been enormous. The sell through from all the excitement of the release, particularly in markets where we didnt show the film, would have been great.

Then we would have gotten a new bump from the Oscar nomination this week. And then another bump for winning the WGA Award for Best Documentary. Great job Alex. We live and learn.I cant wait to see the Hunter S Thompson documentary Alex is currently doing for us, and the Herbie Hancock Movie is increcible. The duet with Herbieand Christina Aquillar will be featured in the Grammys !

The bigger moral of the story is that when you have amazing people creating amazing films, like Alex Gibney and Enron, although people may choose to invest in different ways to watch each movie, they will want to watch it, and that is always what matters.

Which is exactly why we are thrilled about the Magnolia Pictures release of “The Worlds Fastest Indian“. This is a great family movie that will have you walking out of the theater laughing and cheering, whether you are 10, 20, 30, 40 or 80 years old. Anthony Hopkins gives an amazing performance that he called his favorite of any movie he has done. Weare so fired up about it, we decided to buy an ad in the Super Bowl for it !

The movie opens today. So go see it. The commercial will be shown in the third quarter (lets hope its a close gamein the 3rd quarter and the Steelers blow them out and pull away in the 4th !)

And of course there is no doubt everyone will let me know what they think about all of the above !

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