http://www.theoutsidescore.com/?p=34

El Comandante
May 23rd, 2006 | Category: Pro Basketball

You’ve got to love Mark Cuban.

I mean, you don’t really. Ask the NBA’s commissioner, David Stern. The guy is about as tactful as nails on a chalkboard, or Jason Terry in a scrum.

He put down Dairy Queen, which is about as un-American as a Chevrolet in a junkyard.

He’s also — and I mean this in the best possible way — an uber-geek. He makes David Spade look like Burt Reynolds on steroids, or Barry Bonds on steroids. If he wasn’t a billionaire, he would have been vying for the title on NBC’s “Average Joe,” or working the sales floor at Radio Shack.

But Cuban is an uber-geek who also happens to be a billionaire, and he owns the Dallas Mavericks, and right now, he’s on top of the roundball world.

For the first time, Dallas finally got over on their in-state rivals, the San Antonio Spurs, taking Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals in a 119-111 overtime triumph.

And there was Cuban as the final seconds ticked away, on the sideline, arm-in-arm with his players, celebrating like a midget who’d just reached Lilliput, even though he was really in Brobdingnag.

Say what you want about him: There is no owner in professional sports that cares about his team as much as Cuban does. Jerry Buss loves the Los Angeles Lakers from afar. George Steinbrenner loves the Yankees the way Josef Stalin loved Russia — because it was his. Cuban genuinely seems to love the Mavericks like they are his family.

No team has better facilities. No players are better paid. No team has a better coach — at least not this year, given that Avery Johnson is the league’s coach of the year.

On any other night, Cuban warrants your animosity.

Tonight, he’s due a little respect.

I am very happy for you guys… and, as a side note.. I love the way that you are part of the team with the players.

Once again. Congrats!

Congrats! You finally got over the hump and beat San Antonio. This was with out a doubt the greatest series in NBA history.

As I was watching the game I was routing for San Antonio for one reason, becuase I hate and can’t stand you. I always think what a crazy guy, so passionate and he really thought Terry was innocent. He should be sitting in the press box like all the other owners, someone in San Antonio throw a beer at him. But now I think, if I were a owner I’d be just like you . . .

I Can’t imagine what you felt like after blowing a 3-1 lead and a 20 point lead after Ginobili made that shot, but big time plays by big time players after Dirk got the 3 point play and Ginobili missed a shot he normally makes and Duncan bobles the ball. . . OT you smoke them

It probably feels like you’ve won the championship but there’s still a way to go.

Oh by the way, stop complaining about the refs, they gave you game 3 and 4, and they tried to give you game 6. They have a very dificult job so rather than get fined, give that money to a charity or something.

There isn’t anything better than 7 thrilling games, 6 going down to the wire, and the hearts of champions leaving everything on the floor. Daggers back and forth, back and forth.

Every fan dreams about this, seeing their team victorious. Even though I’m a big San Antonio fan, because I just love the way Timmy D plays the game, with hard work and class, I think the same way about Dirk. Two teams that are classy, passionate and play the game, the way the game was meant to be.

Even in the midst of my exams here at the famed school on the Charles River, watching game after game of heart-stopping thrilling b-ball, it reminds us all of what fun-thrilling action NBA can be when hearts are left out there on the court.

You’ve gotten a bad rap, because all of us “real” fans want to scream at the refs, the bad calls, and sometimes an organizational hierarchy that’s absolutely irrational.

Best of luck in the quest for the NBA title!