International Intrigue with USA and the NBA

Indiana's Paul George had yet to be wheeled into the operating room, and the naysayers/slash/sports pundits were speculating as to the response of the Pacers' Larry Bird and his fellow NBA front office cohorts. The media speculation ran from comments from basketball operations types to team ownership and the viewpoint that everyone knew might come with the most punch was from Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban, a longtime opponent of allowing NBA players to participate in events run-for-profit and sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and international basketball federation (FIBA).

USA Basketball World Cup 2014 (Getty Images)

Cuban did not disappoint, lobbing his first salvo fewer than 24 hours after George's horrific leg injury, suffered in a televised intra-squad scrimmage between USA Basketball's "Blue vs White" teams of roster players seeking a spot on the senior men's national team scheduled to compete in the FIBA World Cup of Basketball late this summer.

"The [International Olympic Committee] is playing the NBA. The IOC is an organization that has been rife with corruption, to the point where a member was accused of trying to fix an Olympic event in Salt Lake," said Cuban to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. "The IOC [pulls in] billions of dollars. They make a killing and make (fictional HBO organized crime drama character) Tony Soprano look like a saint. The pros in multiple sports are smart enough to not play when they are eligible free agents. But teams take on huge financial risk so that the IOC committee members can line their pockets. The greatest trick ever played was the IOC convincing the world that the Olympics were about patriotism and national pride instead of money. The players and owners should get together and create our own World Cup of Basketball."

First-off, Cuban should've noted it would have to be considered the second greatest trick, because his timing of a multi-billion dollar sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo will rank numero uno in most debates.

But, taking that aside, let's get back to the international basketball debate currently on a low boil after Bird and the Pacers front office took the righteous and classy step to stop the finger-pointing, take any pressure off USA Basketball and the basic concept of whether to participate in the event or not?

"We still support USA Basketball and believe in the NBA's goals of exposing our game, our teams and players worldwide," Bird said in a prepared statement. "This is an extremely unfortunate injury that occurred on a highly visible stage, but could also have occurred anytime, anywhere."

If taking Bird's viewpoint as the general guideline as the key starting point is the foundation, then framing the debate is rather simple.

Does a players participation in an international sporting event, representing his country, benefit the player and the NBA team paying his guaranteed contract enough so that the player should risk injury and put his body through the training, lead-up and event itself?

Much of the answer to that question cannot be measured on a balance sheet, as Cuban suggests. If it were to be about the money, the answer would be a resounding "No" and the debate would've never begun. The fact is, the debate is not about money and it's not about a measurable outcome. It's not about two basketball tournaments (FIBA World Cup and the Olympic Games), either. The benefits of playing international basketball come from all corners of the earth and from all levels of the game. You cannot ask whether Paul George, Kevin Durant or Lebron James should play for the USA without also wondering if Yao Ming, Serge Ibaka or Dirk Nowitzki would've ever "made it" to the NBA if it weren't for the grassroots national team (and local club) investments poured into the game years and years ago. It's not about "just" the senior men's level, either, it is about men's and women's basketball at all levels, cadet through juniors, Olympics through continental tournaments.

Cuban cannot have it both ways.

He cannot criticize the IOC/FIBA on one hand but then reap the benefits of the talent of German-born and bred Nowitzki on the other. He can not ask OKC Thunder fans and single out Kevin Durant's participation for the USA without considering whether OKC would be a contender without Ibaka, a mainstay of the Spanish national team. He cannot cash his check on the NBA China investments and praise the NBA's overall international popularity without thanking his lucky stars for a 7-foot-4 Yao Ming who timed his NBA career for the league's coffers and overall global tv resume almost as well as Cuban timed his exit before the dotcom bust.

On the USA side of the ledger, you might surmise that Lebron James matured mightily through his USA Basketball experience to help him become a better overall team player and certainly a better overall person, via the first class experience brought forth by USA Executive Director Jerry Colangelo and national team head coach Mike Krzyzewski and their staffs. While contemplating that thought, please remember that the likes of Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and certainly Lisa Leslie are frequently quoted on their sentiment that the Olympic experience was, by far, the best sporting experience of their careers, and you might get a few international players to agree, especially the likes of Argentina's Manu Ginobili and Spain's Pau Gasol (who broke his leg in the 2006 World tourney in Japan and missed 22 NBA games the following season).

So the issue is solidly framed for more debate. On August 4, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke with ESPN.com's Stein in reaction to the Cuban story he generated on Saturday.

"Without a doubt, basketball has grown tremendously since 1992, when NBA players began playing in the Olympics," Silver said to Stein, a veteran chronicler of international basketball. "Also, it's important to note the [improvement] many of our players have made in terms of ability, leadership and passion for the game by playing for their home countries. Injuries can happen anyplace at any time. The experiences our players have enjoyed by participating in their national teams, however, are ones that are unique and special in almost every other way. At this point, I don't anticipate a major shift in the NBA's participation in international competitions.

"It seems clear, however, that this will be a topic at our next NBA competition committee meeting in September and our board of governors meeting in October. And, of course, we will continue to evaluate the pros and cons of participating in international tournaments."

In doing so, the razor sharp Silver needs to invoke the testimony of everyone involved, but he might simply start with Charles Barkley and Manu Ginobili and save us all some time.

Cuban: All Dollars, no Sense - Redux

NEW YORK, June 21, 2012 -- The story won't quit, it won't go away.

Just this week, the powers that be in world basketball, minus any comments or input from FIBA, the international governing body for the sport, spoke about changing the landscape of the two biggest international tournaments in the sport, the men's basketball competition at the Olympic Games and the FIBA World Championship of Basketball.

Of course, the "powers that be" were the voices of NBA Commissioner David Stern and Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban.  In a nutshell, Stern key-noted to the assembled scribes, hacks and TV types at the NBA Finals that the NBA was planning to meet with FIBA's head-honcho, Patrick Baumann, to discuss limiting eligibility in the future Olympic competitions to players 23 years of age and under, following a concept employed by FIFA, the governing body for football or soccer, as it is known in one small spot on the map.

Instead, the NBA and FIBA would work together to put more emphasis on a new "World Cup" of Basketball where all players, any age and any level, would be eligible to play for their countries.  Soon after the news broke, Yahoo Sports ran a column that the impetus of such a move was a financial windfall to be "shared" by both the NBA and FIBA, coming at a loss to the organizers of the Olympic Games and their many TV partners and future organizing committees.

Cuban told Yahoo Sports, ""The question is: Why would we partner with a current tournament rather than start our own?" Cuban said. "If done correctly, it can be NBA-owned and operated and have the potential to be just as large as the World Cup of soccer. That is a product, in my opinion, we want to own, not share. I don’t know what the NBA plan is, but the above is what I will be pushing for.

 "I do know that USA Basketball should have no say in the matter," Cuban stressed to a prominent Yahoo columnist. "It’s completely separate from the NBA. They are a different financial entity. They would just be another country that could play in our tournament. Just like FIFA does the World Cup, the NBA could do a global tournament. There’s no more reason to deal with USA Basketball than there is to work with the Peruvian Basketball or Kazakhstan Basketball Committee."

***

The story reminded me of a blog I wrote in January which I've updated (slightly) and have re-posted with this missive.

***

I love reading the opinions put forth by Mark Cuban.  He plays the NBA media like a fiddle.  He plays his loyal Mavericks fan-base like the pied piper of propaganda.  He purports to have deep basketball knowledge from his days as a student with a nose pressed p against the gym at Indiana and years of holding seasons tickets at Dallas which was long before he timed the market and the dot.com boom and cashed in his lottery ticket, then called Broadcast.com, for billions in Yahoo's stock.

Congratulations and may God bless him for that stroke of business genius and his timing.  Aside from Bill Gates, Cuban made the play of our lifetime by identifying an opportunity, grabbing online broadcast rights before many realized their value, timing the Internet boom, selling and cashing in.

Ever since his found fortune and the purchase of one of the three NBA teams in Texas, Cuban loves to speak from his pulpit as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.  Very few businesses in this world other than pro sports have more media assigned as beat writers or broadcasters, all needing to file reports on a daily basis.  The NFL and Baseball have legions of such media that even outnumber those who cover the White House and the NBA is not far behind. The basketball media feed off Cuban the way the New York tabloid media feed off Donald Trump.  Meanwhile, most executives in the 'real' business world avoid the headlines like the plague, except when The Wall Street Journal might talk-up  their favorable quarterly reports.

Cuban takes full advantage of his position and loves to control his interviews by limiting most of them to e-mail exchanges.  He rarely gives interviews in person, except for his "availability" while riding a stationary bike prior to most Mavericks home games, and that is his right.  However, as we all know, much is lost in electronic transmission and translation or the lack of candor in group interviews gathered around a bike workout, may Edward R. Murrow not do a cartwheel in his grave.  I believe Cuban doesn't care about that very much, as he looks at the media as pawns in his chess game and his emailed quotes to national media outlets are the messages that end up in print because the reporters have little chance to challenge him and they dare not misquote him or they will be mocked in his webblog, aptly entitled, Blog Maverick.

Just like ESPN's Sports Guy blogger, Bill Simmons, Cuban walks like a fan, talks like a fan, writes like a fan, dresses like a fan, screams at refs like a fan and he relates with the fans like no owner in team sports before him. His popularity soared because of his fan-like antics when he bought the Mavericks, a team that had nowhere to go but up. Fans adored the fact he was accessible (by email), was outspoken, sat by the team, shot with the team, spent money on the team and was truly living a dream.  What fan in the world hasn't dreamed of hitting the lottery and owning his local team?

He doubled his popularity when he began his tete-a-tete with NBA Commissioner David Stern and attacked the Achilles heel of every sports league - officiating.  Then a rookie owner, Cuban kept harping to the press and the public about the NBA's officiating woes and the NBA responded with fine after fine after fine, totally some $1 million.  Cuban kept pressing and claiming that every fine was well worth the money.  He found the many hot-buttons for the league and he kept pressing them, time after time, which fueled his ego as it did his growing global popularity while only draining some $250,000 a pop.

Aside from officiating, Cuban's other constant gripe has been about the fact that the NBA and its Players Association allow the NBA players to participate in the Olympic Games and the World Championship (and sometimes other international competitions, like the various qualifying tournaments, Asian Games, etc.).  Cuban's stock quote to media is, "We take all the risk and get none of the upside." His other recent quotes to CBS Sports' Ken Berger which can be found by clicking HERE are so ridiculous that I am surprised Cuban would tap them into his smartphone.  Sadly, many of Cuban's views screamed of the ugly Americanism that rubs the world the wrong way, nevermind his misguided and hypocritical views.

Why is his viewpoint hypocritical, you ask?

Exhibit 1-A is Dirk Nowitzki of Wurzburg, Germany. Nowitzki is the Mavericks' 7-foot power forward who has one of the sweetest jump shots in basketball history.  Cuban's Mavericks have been riding Dirk's coat-tails for more than a decade.  Dirk often plays for the German national team during the Olympics, the European Championships and FIBA World Championship.

Exhibit 1-B is Steve Nash of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Nash was the starting point guard for the Mavericks from 1998 to 2004. Nash played for Canada's national basketball team at several Olympic qualifying tournaments and the 2000 Olympic Games. Nash, then on the Mavericks, helped transform the Mavericks before he moved on to his MVP years with the Phoenix Suns.

While Cuban claims there is "no upside" for the NBA or his Mavericks, it is very clear to those who follow the sport of basketball that Cuban was grossly overlooking his own team roster as both Nowitzki and Nash benefited greatly from their experiences with their national teams and growing up within the national basketball programs of their native countries.  Cuban seems to dismiss the fact that two of his best players rose to the level of the NBA's elite because of their practice time and experiences on the international stage. While Cuban erroneously moans about General Electric (NBC's former parent company before NBC was purchased by Comcast) making all the money because of NBA players participating in the Olympic Games (broadcast in the USA by NBC Sports), he conveniently overlooks the fact that the two players who put the Mavericks on the map are products of the international game, although Nash took off for Phoenix long before Dirk was able to will the Mavericks to an NBA title.

Cuban likes to talk business when it comes to the world of sports and the NBA.  He is all about the bottom line. He only likes his stock-holdings when they pay dividends and he's long been screaming from the mountaintop, calling for the NBA or his Mavericks to benefit in some monetary way from any and all NBA assets, especially the players who hold valid NBA contracts.  To some extent, he is right.  The NBA's rules from its Collective Bargaining Agreement with its Players Association call for a team to pay star players a ton of money which is guaranteed to the player in case of injury.  When players compete for their national teams, the NGB (national governing body) or basketball federation must secure expensive insurance policies to cover the player salaries in case of injury. The players' NBA team is at risk of losing the player to injury, although the player's contract would be insured.  A loss of an All-Star player because of injury might hurt a team greatly in the season (or multi-seasons) following the Olympics or Worlds. Cuban might look at the fine lines of those nasty player contracts, rather than complain about the Olympics, but that is a story for another day.

There is another simple side to the discussion, though, and it has been overlooked by Cuban because he likes to think he is the smartest guy in the room or the only guy in the room and he certainly doesn't take a liking to things that are bigger and more important than he is. The Olympic Games are bigger and more important than Cuban.  They are bigger than the NBA, any team or any player.  The Olympics are not bigger or more important because of money, contracts, NBA championships or NBC Sports.  They are more important because of the fact they place competing for one's country over competing for money. The Olympics exist because of an athlete's right and desire to wear his/her country's colors and compete for a medal of gold, silver or bronze.

Now, don't get me wrong, the Olympics are not only about national pride and they are not without major blemishes.  The Olympics and the so-called Olympic ideal have suffered greatly in modern times with IOC corruption, drug scandals, inept or corrupt officiating - you name it. If the IOC were to adopt a rule that every sport in the Games were only open to players aged 16-21 or even 23, I would applaud the decision. But that is not the case.

Then why is competing in the Olympics at risk of injury or worse so important to sportsmen?  To explain properly, my point of view can best be illustrated when Magic Johnson or Charles Barkley gush over the fact the 1992 Olympics Games in Barcelona were, by far, the best and most important experience of their basketball careers and maybe their lives.  My point can be illustrated by the fact that Steve Nash became an NBA most valuable player candidate after he put Team Canada on his shoulders in the 1999 Olympic qualifying tournament in San Juan and beat Puerto Rico on its home court to take one of the two berths available to move on to Sydney.  At the 2000 Olympic Games, Nash again lead Canada and played well until an upstart team from France that finished fourth in the knock-out round upset the top-seeded Canadians.

What price can you put on the improvement of Nash and Nowitzki -- and scores of other players, American and non American -- because of their experience with their national teams at the Olympics?  Tell me Australia's Andrew Gaze's contract with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs or his NBA championship was more important to him than his international career?  Tell me if Gaze or China's Yao Ming would place their NBA experience over that of carrying their country's flag into the Olympic opening ceremony on their own home soil? How much is the added pride, confidence, success and high level competition worth?

Colangelo and Coach K

What price can you put on the entire 2006-2008 Olympic experience for USA Basketball, led by Jerry Colangelo and Coach Mike Krzyzewski?  Every player on the USA Basketball senior national team benefited in ways that are impossible to measure. In fact, at the very first team meeting, Coach K said to all, "This is about being part of something that is bigger than all of us, something bigger than anything we've ever been a part of."

What price can you put on the images of Doug Collins on the free throw line in Munich in 1972 or with tears welling in his eyes as he talked of the 2008 Olympic experience as a broadcaster and how he felt when he spoke to the group of NBA players as they began to train for their competition in Las Vegas, then won a couple months later in Beijing?

The answer is simple.  You cannot put a dollar figure on any of the examples that come to mind as I write this blog entry.  All of the experiences are priceless.  They are worth much more than Cuban's billions can buy.  However, Cuban will never understand that fact and he yells "Moron" towards anyone who disagrees with him. But, he wasn't in the gym in San Juan in 1999 when Nash turned into an MVP and he didn't grow up in Germany with Dirk, in Australia with Gaze, in Shanghai with Yao, or in Lansing with Earvin "Magic" Johnson.  He grew up in Pittsburgh in the United States of America with an American dream to be a successful business man.  He realized that dream to an unbelievable extent but, for some reason, he wants to quash the dreams of young basketball players in the USA, Canada and around the world.  He doesn't want players with NBA contracts to compete for their country.  He wants his own selfish business dealings to be more important than the rights of a citizen of a country to represent his or her country in an international sports competition that draws millions of fans to watch in person or on their TVs.  Cuban doesn't believe that his Mavericks or the NBA benefit from the global exposure of the Olympics (off court) or the global basketball competition (on the court). He doesn't realize that hundreds of highly rated, over-the-air networks from all over the world are airing the basketball games that feature the NBA players. He is only focused on a very small and short-sighted view regarding NBC and the viewers in the United States.  I don't think Cuban knows the difference between being on BBC-1 in primetime or on cable or satellite TV at 3 o'clock in the morning.  He should think about doing some research and focus groups while attending the 2012 games in London where the popularity of basketball is a bit like the popularity of the sport of cricket here in the USA.

And, as long as I'm on a roll, I guess Cuban doesn't believe that Kevin Durant, Kevin Love or Russell Westbrook and the majority of the USA 2010 team are far better NBA players today than they were before they put on a USA jersey and won gold medals in Istanbul, Turkey and after they competed against the very best players from 24 other countries while also being coached by some of the best basketball minds in the world -- especially Coach K.

No.  To Cuban, it's all about his own selfish viewpoint, his own pocket money, his own team and the zero-sum game of global business.  It's too bad because until he stops, listens and learns -- just the way the players on the USA teams of 2008 and 2010 did -- he is not likely to win another NBA title without the aide of his German-born, bred and nurtured, 7-foot sharp-shooting, rebounding machine Nowitzki.

***

A few notes on the suggestions for an NBA owned international tournament proposed by Cuban to CBS Sports' Ken Berger:

- Cuban has proposed to 'buy out' the BCS and the IOC/FIBA within the past few months, however, the events the organizations run are not on the market for sale.  To obtain the rights for (just) football, Cuban would need to buy-out and fund all NCAA sports - men's and women's for all the schools involved.  There is no way he can skim-off football.

- In regard to the IOC and FIBA, the IOC isn't going slice-off the men's basketball event at the Olympics and sell it off to the highest bidder.  That is absurd.  As for FIBA, the men's and women's world championship is their #1 event. All of the federations that belong to FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, would have to be bought out as well for both the men's and women's events at all levels of play (juniors, U17, U18 etc.)

- Cuban, himself, noted FIFA and its role in the World Cup, the most popular and profitable sports venture in the world.

- He said to CBS Sports: He'd tell his fellow basketball nations, "We'll split it with all of you. And we'll sell the TV rights. And we'll own it. And so then it's owned by the NBA or whoever, and GE doesn't make all the money."

- Sure, no problem.  (Mark, have you ever met people like Aldo Vitale of Italy or Yvan Mainini of France, among many others on the FIBA board?) They care as much about the NBA and Mark Cuban as Cuban does about Patrick Baumann. the head of FIBA.

- Even if the rights were to be sold, for a select period of time (say 4, 8, 12 or 16 years) or in perpetuity, those rights would be worth far more than the NBA or Cuban are worth.

- Believe it or not, the NBA and FIBA actually worked together to create a world championship of club teams.  It was called the McDonald's Open from 1988 through 1993 and the McDonald's Championship from '95 (Hou), '97 (Chi) and '99 (SAS) when the NBA champions represented the league vs. champs from the likes of Europe, Australia and South America.  The event barely broke even, was viewed as contrived and a preseason exhibition and it went nowhere, even though it included the reigning NBA champs and dozens of world class pro players on their club teams.

- Let's turn this discussion on another side and use Baseball as an example:  If the powers that be and one team owner from Japan's pro baseball league decided to buy-out MLB's World Series and run their own baseball tournament for pro players, would American baseball fans suddenly change their viewpoint and viewing habits to recognize that competition as Numero Uno?

- How can Cuban dish this garbage out and have an iota of credibility left?

- NBA players can be injured at anytime in the off-season.  Ask former Duke guard Jay Williams. NBA players scrimmage and work-out all summer long to stay in condition. The odds of being injured in the work-outs is similar to or greater than the odds of being injured at the Olympics.

DigitalSportsDesk.com on the (Near) Perfect NBA Playoff Game

NBA Refs and Rajon Rondo Redeemed Themselves

BOSTON - MAY 6, 2012 -  A funny thing happened at an NBA Playoff game this weekend and it wasn't even noticed.  No, it wasn't Oklahoma City's impressive sweep over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks or the San Antonio Spurs handling of the formidable Utah Jazz in four straight games. It wasn't accounting firm Ernst & Young screwing up the ballot count for the NBA's Most Improved Player award nor the impressive play of David West for the Indiana Pacers. What happened this weekend went unreported, un-posted, un-blogged, un-tweeted.  One of the greatest feats in NBA Playoff history and the story never even made the ESPN highlight reel.

So what the hell happened?

On Friday night at the TD Boston Garden in front of a sellout crowd of 18,624 which included a heavy dose of NBA brass, the officiating crew of #10 Ron Garretson, #13 Monty McCutchen and #33 Zach Zarba called a (near) perfect game.  

Every referee worth his whistle swears the perfect game in an unattainable goal.  At the highest level of basketball, an official doesn't stand a chance of getting them all right because the players are just too big, too quick, too strong.  They are so talented and athletic, they're just too everything.  They play so far above the rim and they can contort their bodies in midair to avoid contact or collision that the naked eyes can't compute the optical illusion occurring before them.  The NBA game cannot be compared to hoops at any other level.  It's even more impossible to compare officiating.  To the novice fans, comparing NBA ball to college basketball or, even Euroleague Basketball, is worse than trying to compare apples and oranges or The Rolling Stones to The Who to The Beatles.  It just can't be done. 

As the red carpet was rolled out on Friday, plush with NBA Commissioner David Stern seated near his trusty deputy, Adam Silver, they both witnessed the feat alongside a bonafide CNN anchorman, John King, who could've broke into programming to report the news.  However, not a single news bulletin, nor a word of congratulations was spoken to the men ultimately responsible for how their game is called.  In the post-game press conferences, nobody brought up the subject of officiating. There were no kind words. No headlines written.  World Series perfectionist Don Larson's name never came up when the Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 90-84, in overtime, and the NBA registered the best officiated game of the year.  It might've been the best officiated game of the the century.

An unofficial review of the game brought about four or five "possible" missed calls or miscues, none of them even close to being significant.  The only blip on the screen was a moment when Boston Coach Doc Rivers sauntered way out onto the court but he wasn't arguing a call and the referring crew let it go, as they should. Rivers was trying to get the attention of his point guard Rajon Rondo who was not on the same page as his coach's playbook required when he returned to play in Game 3 after being suspended for a single playoff date for bumping NBA ref Marc Davis in Game 1 of the series.  After that contest, there was quite a bit of focus on the officiating and, after the game, there was a constant banter on the steps the NBA would take to discipline Rondo for his obvious disregard of the sacred personal space around an official.

Rightfully so, the NBA suspended Rondo a single game for his indiscretion but Avery Bradley, Sasha Pavlovic, Keyon Dooling and Marquis Daniels all stepped up quite nicely for the Celtics as they tied the series 1-1 with an 87-80 win over the Hawks at Atlanta. The Celtics' win brought the series to Boston for the "so-called" pivotal Game 3 where the stakes were raised so high, the people of Kentucky would start singing "My Old Kentucky Home." The game was important and the players delivered a hard-fought, entertaining, defensive chess match that saw Boston hold Atlanta to 38-percent shooting from the field and 20-percent from three-point land. Much of that defensive intensity is credited to the amazing play of Kevin Garnett who has played with the youthful exuberance of the high schooler who entered the league in 1995. While Garnett, switched to center after teammate Jermaine O'Neal went down to injury and had season-ending surgery on his left wrist in March.

Out on Daniels the perimeter where real defense happens in game of basketball, Bradley has become the stopper.  Complemented by the speedy Rondo, the consistent Paul Pierce, the hard-working and the deep bench of, Dooling, Mickael Pietrus and important minutes being played by Ray Allen, now as a reserve the past two games, Bradley has become the difference maker for the Boston Celtics as they plot their way through the 2012 NBA Playoffs with the window of opportunity showing a shade pulled three-quarters of the way down.  This might be it for this era of Celtics basketball and the NBA's cut-down season provides an opportunity to hang banner No. 18 in the rafters of TD Boston Garden.

In this year when NCAA officiating was a downright disgrace to the game and when NBA bad boy Metta World Peace earned a seven-game suspension for nearly decapitating Oklahoma's James Harden, the whistle blowers are always the visiting team. It was once said that officiating is the only profession in the world where the ultimate compliment is silence. That is certainly true. No news is good news when the refs are escorted off the court by a security detail that rivals the US Secret Service presence in a Colombian strip joint. The attention brought upon NBA referees in the past five or six years largely revolved around the criminal activities of one Tim Donoghy and the sniping by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and his "couldn't run a Dairy Queen viewpoint of the dedicated group of professional refs who call the game at the very highest level.  They run, they pivot, they get screened by giants on the court, they peek around bodies, scramble for better position, work their rotations all in an attempt to "just get it right."  Then, they have their judgements reviewed by partisan television commentators who make their references from observing 12 high-definition television cameras situated so far away from the court, they create bad angles and optical illusions which often prompt erroneous reporting or legions of fans scowling when the replays are shown on jumbo in-arena screens.

On Friday night, the crew of Garretson, McCutcheon and Zarba, a young rising superstar official, got it right.  No one noticed, but that's alright.  They reviewed the game themselves and probably second-guessed a judgement call or two.  They showered, dressed, then left the building without so much as a pat on the back or a single cheer from the fans.

Only the funeral directors, morticians and undertakers could relate.

Terry Lyons does The Blog at TerryLyons.com and is editor in chief of DigitalSportsDesk.com (@DigSportsDesk).  His work is also featured in the Huffington Post collection of sports columns.

Smokin'

Some interesting jousting from CBS Sports.com's Ken Berger  in response to Mark Cuban's recent blog and appearance on CNN.

I will post this before putting my two cents in later this week.

Cuban's viewpoint and first graph from BlogMaverick:

I’m going to make this short and sweet. In the year 2011, I’m not sure I have a need for beat writers from ESPN.com, Yahoo,  or any website for that matter to ever be in our locker room before or after a game.  I think we have finally reached a point where not only can we communicate any and all factual information from our players and team directly to our fans and customers as effectively as any big sports website, but I think we have also reached a point where our interests are no longer aligned. I think those websites have become the equivalent of paparazzi rather than reporters.

And on CNN:

***

Berger lede in today's column:

When Mark Cuban drew swift and negative reaction with plans to re-evaluate media access to the Dallas Mavericks, it came as no surprise the billionaire owner refused to back down. Nor did it serve as a revelation that Cuban further stoked the debate with the kind of sensationalism and headline-mongering he criticized in the first place.    

For full column: click HERE

Ramble On ... More Cuban Olympic Games

The Blog gave Dallas Mavericks team owner a pretty god shot for his lack of understanding and vision regarding player participation in the Olympic Games. Cuban constantly spouts about the NBA 'supplying' the talent pool to the multi-billion dollar effort of the IOC, risking the health and long-term viability of the league's best players.

I tend to look at it from the other side of the spectrum, as the national team efforts of so many countries and their participation in the men's Olympic basketball tournament has been the catalyst for good players becoming great players.

Exhibit 1-A: Lebron James. James grew up because of his participation with USA Basketball. First, because of the slight given to James by 2004 USA coach Larry Brown, but, more importantly, because of the 'off court' education he received from 2006-2008 under USA Basketball guru Jerry Colangelo, USA Sr. team coach Mike Krzyzewski and the whole USA effort.

Exhibit 2-A is certainly Carmelo Anthony who has become a real force and complete player after seeing real preparation, individual commitment and teamwork fostered by Coach K, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd and the majority of players who took part in the USA effort to reclaim the gold.

Closer to Cuban, I offer the progress that Steve Nash made after he led Canada to the 2000 Olympics with a miracle performance at the 1999 Tournament of the Americas. Not to mention the improvement that Dirk Nowitzki makes each time he plays and carries the German National team. I could cite many others, so suffice it to say the comparison is about 1000 to one in terms of players participating for their national team (at any level) and improving their game and their maturation vs. a player being injured or set-back because of the effort.

What is often ignored or misconstrued in this process is the fact that all players have to PLAY and work out in the off-season and they often play in less than first class facilities, under far less supervision, medical attention and post game care than any team would prefer. So, would you rather have the 20-30 best players in the country all working together, playing together and having some of the world's best team doctors, athletic trainers and support, not to mention best coaches - or would you rather have 12-15 guys playing against wanna be players at a Houston or New York "basketball city" facility where some 20-something wants to show off to a Steve Nash and prove that he's 'better' than Nashie?

It surprises me that -- after so many years in the NBA -- Cuban is still in the dark on so many issues related to the game. While he has been so successful in some areas of the team's basketball operation (and, obviously in his incredible personal business), he is rarely seen anywhere other than Dallas Mavericks games and is clearly not aware of what goes on behind the scenes at the EuroLeague, NBL, Bundeslega, ACB, (and all the others) and in the various national team tournaments, national team training and the like. His one beef or concern should be to improve the national team training and medical facilities and help fund off court efforts for the likes of the Puerto Rico or German federations and others that wear NBA/Dallas jerseys during the basketball year.

So, to sum it up, Cuban constantly whines about the NBA funding and developing players for the IOC effort every four years in the Olympics, but he conveniently ignores/overlooks the following:

1. The national team efforts around the globe are a constant and very effective source of player development for the Mavericks and all the other NBA, WNBA and D-League teams.

2. Participating in the Olympics and World Championships help players mature and perform at a higher level when they return to play for their respective teams in the NBA following the bigtime tourneys.

3. The NBA benefits from the additional exposure of the Olympics and the TV viewership of the Olympic basketball tournament can cultivate much needed (non-core) fans for the NBA. That "every four year cycle" is a very nice booster shot for the NBA on a regular basis.

***

From a note in Saturday's Boston Globe, I will pass along some info to help support Paul Epstein's great efforts with his brother, Theo, along with E1evate Communications terrific operation of "Hot Stove, Cool Music," coming this January at House of Blues. The venue change will be a welcome upgrade over the smaller, dingy Paradise.

See:

The 10th Hot Stove Cool Music concert will be Jan. 9 at the House of Blues behind Fenway Park. The show will include the bands State Radio, Tinted Windows, and The Low Anthem along with The Hot Stove All-Stars, which feature Epstein, Peter Gammons, Bronson Arroyo, Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo), Bill Janovitz (Buffalo Tom), and Ken Casey (Dropkick Murphys).
Tickets are $40 and go on sale Friday through Ticketmaster. Proceeds benefit the Foundation To Be Named Later, which was founded by Epstein and his brother, Paul. The foundation has donated $2 million to 150 nonprofit organizations.

A pre-concert baseball roundtable at Fenway Park will include Gammons, Epstein, Mets GM Omar Minaya, and Rays first baseman Carlos Pena, among others. Tickets for that event are $100 and available at hscm.tickets.musictoday.com

Mark Cuban Remains Clueless on Olympic Basketball

Mark Cuban remains in the dark with his broken-record denial of the fact that the Olympics actually help the NBA in its endless quest to promote itself and the sport of basketball to people "other" than the very core fans the league is constantly reaching on a regular basis.
The Olympic Games reach a far broader audience than the NBA and its 200+ broadcast outlets can ever reach, even during the annual All-Star Game or NBA Finals. Cuban refuses to recognize that the broadcasters that have Olympic broadcast rights are far superior in scope and reach than the limited audience of the NBA's niche rights holders. (A good example is the broad reach of NBC relative to the limited audiences of the likes of Comcast SportsNet New England, MSG Network, TNT/Turner (via Cable).

See Cuban's myopic, mindless, -- not to mention boorish and repetitive -- viewpoint in his recent blog post:

There was a note in today’s NY Times saying that European Soccer leaders have unanimously backed a proposal to limit participation in future Olympics to players under the age of 21. (Currently, the Olympics are limited to under 23 plus 3 overage players. ).

All I can say is Amen.

I have argued why its crazy for the NBA to loan its best players to the USOC , which is first, last and middle a for profit organization that is using our players to generate billions of dollars of revenues. Not millions, BILLIONs.

Its crazy on every level.

Now that the European Soccer Community is pushing to remove their most highly paid and best players from the Olympics, we should support their efforts.

For the major revenue generating sports, the Olympics are no longer about Patriotism. They are a business.

If we want to find out which country has the best basketball, lets create a competitive tournament that is honest about why it exists and make it a profit making entity that shares the profits with its participants. A notion that is foreign to the Olympic Committee .

When we sent the Dream Team in 1992, it was the right thing to do at the right time. Our competition was sending what were essentially professional teams to face our collegiate players. Today, that is no longer the case. The NBA and professional basketball has become an international sport.

We could still send our under 21 players to the Olympics. They will represent our country admirably, Im sure. More importantly, it would be a great business move for the NBA. Those players we send will get far more branding and marketing assigned to them then their current one and done collegiate careers (and the prospects of playing in the Olympics may incent them to stay in college as well).

The incremental branding the Olympics would provide the players would make them far more valuable to, and marketable by the NBA should they make it to our level. To those who can’t, as young Olympians, their opportunity to continue their careers as pro players in other leagues would improve as well.

NBA fans, and this owner are tired of players who are unable to play to their full potential because they play for other profit seeking enterprises . Its not just about Mavs players. Its about players for all NBA teams. Its harder to sell tickets when a star on the other team cant play due to injury. Its time we follow the lead of these European Soccer leaders and ask our players to only play for the profit seeking enterprise that pays them and limit the Olympics to players under 21. IF the Olympics can make billions using our under 21 players, more power to them.

In case Cuban hadn't noticed, FIBA has a tournament that he describes and its called the World Championship. FIBA has organized Under-21 world championships, Under 20 world championships, Under 19 world championships and Under 18 world championships. At the last U21, the US finished fifth. For history, click HERE.

Basketball 24/7 ... Thoughts before Game 3

As recently as the 2006 NBA Finals, a team with a locker room full of character was facing a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-seven game championship series.

By Terry Lyons.

That team, the Miami Heat of Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal fame, came back to take the league title in a thrilling and memorable manner, toasting with pricey bottles of champagne while lighting victory cigars after an impressive and relentless dispatching of the Dallas Mavericks of Texas in six games.

The Heat, down 2-0 in that 2006 title series, took it to extreme measures as they battled back from a 13-point deficit late in the pivotal Game 3 while unearthing championship level qualities of team character, team defense, trust and the ability to properly face adversity while they served as proximity witness to the total collapse of their opponent, the Mavs.

In that series, Dallas team owner Mark Cuban lit a spark of over-confidence in a champagne room while fanning a flame of arrogance when his team took the early series lead. The Mavericks self-imploded as they dropped the final four consecutive games of the series while former Dallas Coach Avery Johnson, watching helplessly, bucked like a broken bronco as he attempted to re-start the team's jet-engines only to find them failing miserably as his club fell from the sky. Johnson, trying to defend his team's honour and acting in a fit of absolute despair, did the one and only thing that he thought would work. He called out a "mayday" on his local beat reporter, and immediately losing the respect of the entire basketball world of fans, friends, innocent bystanders and observers, including his own players (thank you, Dirk) when he called out and blamed the media.

The Heat seized the moment, jumped on the opportunity and stepped up to fight the fight with Wade leading the charge while Shaq and Zo (Alonzo Mourning) took on the twin-engine role as commanders when they led their team to the promised land of NBA dreams.

Can the young Orlando Magic accomplish the same feat? We'll see tonight when the Magic play host to Game 3 of the 2009 NBA Finals on their own home court, while simultaneously pitching some Amway products from downtown Orlando, a Orange County speed-trap an hour or so from the place where dreams are made, Walt Disney World.

The Magic will have to scale a daunting 2-0 (deficit) wall without the aid of an opponent who is self-destructing. Unlike the Cuban-crisis Mavericks of '06, the LA Lakers have "been there" before. The experienced former NBA Most Valuable Player, Kobe Bryant, is saying all the right things as the two teams trekked cross country from the city of Angels to the land of make believe in hum-drum central Florida.

Bryant is seeking his fourth NBA championship and a place alongside his two main rivals in former teammate Shaquille O'Neal and San Antonio Spurs frontman Tim Duncan, the trio who can claim the title of the most dominant NBA players of the last 10 basketball seasons. During that time, Bryant managed to earn a gold medal with the 2008 USA Basketball Olympic team while O'Neal (winner of gold in the 1994 World Championship in Toronto plus the1996 Olympic Games in Hot-lanta) and Duncan (a bronzed goose egg with the 2004 USA team). Lebron James, you might wonder, has only a 0-4 showing in the 2007 NBA Finals to show on his 'big-game' resume. (Note to 24/7 readers: Mr. James, the clock is officially running, as of now).

The Lakers, anchored by a low-post offensive threat from Catalonia's very best in Pau Gasol, are showing signs of improvement as they press into the final round of the NBA playoff marathon. Gasol, together with defensive team anchor Lamar Odom, are impressive both offensively and defensively. Meanwhile, the LA backcourt has thoroughly outplayed the Magic guards which is forcing Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy to re-work his lineup to play 6-10 swingman Hedo Turkoglu of Turkey at the point-forward position in an attempt to mix-up the match-ups and force the Lakers into changes in their rotations.

So, as Game 3 fast approaches, the questions are easy and they are these:

Will home-court change the tide of the 2009 NBA Finals as the Magic return to their downtown O-Rena home?

Will Dwight Howard step-up in a big-time way and show the kind of character that true champions are made of?

Will Rafer Alston and Jameer Nelson be able to pick themselves up off the canvas and play at an NBA Finals championship level against a veteran point guard like Derek Fisher of the Lakers?

Will Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis bring on an offensive barrage to knock the Lakers off balance?

Can the Magic become only the fourth team in NBA history to battle back from an 0-2 deficit to win a Finals? Or even more basic, will the Magic get the proverbial 'monkey off their back' and finally win their very first NBA Finals game - after six attempts have gone south (0-4 to Houston in 1995 and 0-2 to the current LA Lakers)?

They have the man, as Howard is a proven Olympic champion but Bryant is the champion of champions and many of the Lakers are multi-time NBA champions. And, remember this nearly biblical and certainly historical quotation from the one-and-only Rudy T, the great coach of the NBA champion Houston Rockets:

"Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion."

Ramble On ... A Mixed Bag of Info on NBA officiating

A "TL" Open Letter to Every Media type, Radio Geek, Fan, Coach, GM, Team Owner:

The message of the day is to "Get over it."

Stop bitching about the officiating!

Get your act together.  Cover the game, not the game outside the lines where people in high places in pro basketball are TRYING to influence the outcome of the game by playing "mind games" against the public, the crowd, the players, the other coaches and, yes, the on court referees or officials.

Wake up, smell the coffee.  Open your eyes and your mind!  They are TRYING to get an edge, the same way you try to get:

Try to get a few extra few drops of gasoline from the gas pump.

Try to do 70 mph in a 65 mph zone.

Try to cut the corner in a foot race.

Try to get your kids to go to bed on time or wake up earlier than usual.

Try to get a stock tip.

Try to miss a traffic jam.

I could go on and on...

My message is this:  Mark Cuban is exhibit 1-A.  He literally and single-handily LOST an NBA championship by undermining the Dallas Mavericks team while they were in the 2006 NBA Finals.  Amazingly, he still hasn't learned how to deal with the NBA, the refs, ora tough basketball situation and he continues to choose to be a "peacock" and remain in close proximity to the court while he interacts with his players, coaches and opponents (see Kenyon Martin and his Mom).

He should get himself a good sky box.  Grab tickets 10 rows up, or five rows up, with the four rows before him reserved for a media section or a new and special area for injured soldiers.

I say:

Let the players ... PLAY.  Let the coaches COACH.  Only one person in the ENTIRE organization should have a conversation or speak a single word to an NBA official or NBA league Basketball Operations/front office  member and that should be the COACH or the Team GM, at the coaches request.

See

NEWS ITEM:  Coaches, Fans, Media Keep "Bitchin'" About the REFS:

AP WROTE: Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson is still waiting for the NBA's new era of officiating "transparency" to improve the game.

Speaking before Friday night's Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against Denver -- a series beset by complaints about refereeing that included $50,000 in fines against the Lakers and their coach -- Jackson conceded how difficult it is to call an NBA game.

"This is the dawn of a new age, we were told in the last two years," he said. "Transparency, a wonderful word, was going to be used, and we're looking for that to help us. In that regard, we want to use all these aspects, whether it's called credibility or accountability, and use it to improve everything that can happen to this game, because it's a great game."

Jackson was speaking about some of the changes the NBA has made in the wake of the scandal involving Tim Donaghy, the former NBA ref who is serving a 15-month sentence after confessing to betting on games and passing game information to gamblers.

After Game 4 of the Lakers-Nuggets series, Jackson drew the fines for criticizing the refs for the 14-shot discrepancy in Denver's favor from the free throw line. He also complained about Nuggets guard Dahntay Jones being "unsportsmanlike" for tripping Kobe Bryant. Jones, not called for a foul on the play, was assessed a flagrant-1 foul the next day.

After Game 5, some of the Nuggets were confused about inconsistent whistles that resulted in eight more fouls on them than the Lakers.

Denver coach George Karl voiced mild complaints after Games 3 and 5 but nothing that has gotten him fined. He stayed away from critiquing the refs before Game 6.

Veteran official Joe Crawford was assigned to Game 6, along with Mike Callahan and Mark Wunderlich.

Also See:

Orlando's Mike Bianchi who blogged:

 

 Magic fans believe the officials are against them. Cavs fans think the officials are against them. Every set of fans I've ever known think the officials are against them.

  I don't buy it, not in professional sports. The only time I buy officiating bias is in college football, when officials who are employed and being paid by one league (usually a BCS mega-conference) officiate a non-conference home game (usually against a team from a non-BCS league). Too many times, I've seen the non-BCS team get shafted by blatant home-cooking (see phantom offensive pass interference call against UCF in a game against Georgia a few years ago).

  I don't believe that happens in professional sports. Not for a minute.

  I don't believe NBA officials are against the Magic, but I do believe this: They are for LeBron James. They are smitten by LeBron James. They are so enamored by LeBron James, they won't call anything against him for fear  they might disappoint him. As I wrote in a column after Game 3, I think LeBron is fawned over by everybody in the NBA, including the officials.

  As renowned NBA scribe Sam Smith wrote near the end of the regular season, LeBron has been called for fewer fouls this season than almost anybody in the history of the league. Which is amazing considering LeBron is such an aggressive defender and recent NBA rule changes have pretty much discouraged aggressive perimeter defense. Amazingly, there was one five-game stretch in March where LeBron was not called for a single foul. Not one.

  In contrast, it certainly seems opposing defenders are not allowed to breathe on LeBron without being whistled for a foul. The perfect example came in Game 3 against the Magic when Dwight Howard cleanly blocked LeBron's shot near the end of the game, but was whistled for his sixth foul. What's it tell you when officials are willing to foul out one team's superstar (Dwight Howard) on an obviously bad call near the end of an important playoff game in Orlando just to protect LeBron, who is sent to the foul line to shoot three free throws at the end of a game that is still in doubt?

  It tells me that officials, like everybody else in the NBA, will do anything just to keep LeBron happy.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_bianchi/2009/05/nba-officials-arent-antimagic-theyre-just-prolebron-james.html

The Davos of the Sports World ...

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- In the 1970s and ‘80s, an investment firm named “E.F. Hutton” used a catchy ad slogan to blanket the television airwaves and promote their stock brokerage house.

“When E.F. Hutton talks,” said the advertisement, “People listen.” The campaign was tremendous, always depict two well-dressed, wealthy and successful businessmen whispering privately in a public setting. When the catch phrase was delivered, the world around them would stop, and everyone would lean in to hear the financial advice.

Well, in 2009, I can say: “When Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey talks, people in the sports world listen; When NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver talks, people in the sports world listen; When Toronto Maple Leafs President and GM Brian Burke talks, people in the sports world listen; When Dallas Mavericks team owner and co-founder of HDNet Mark Cuban talks, people in the sports world better listen very closely.

And, to describe the many other highlights of the day, I have to paraphrase a well-known line, courtesy of Louisville Coach Rick Pitino when he lamented about his tenure with the Boston Celtics: “Jonathan Kraft just walked through the door and spoke about his experiences running the New England Patriots and wonderful Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place, Sonny Vaccaro walked through the door and shared his experiences in college athletics, John Walsh, the EVP and Executive editor of ESPN and the ESPN Internet Group walked through the door and provided insight into the evolving value of ‘new’ media in the sports world, Turner Sports President and President of Turner Broadcasting Sales David Levy walked through the door and shared his viewpoint on the multi-media empire being built by Turner Broadcasting on the omni-present Peachtree Lanes, Avenues, Streets via the halls of TNT, CNN, CNN International, Headline News, NBA TV, PGATour.com and TBS, among many others.”

Media members such as ESPN’s Mark Stein, Ric Bucher and Henry Abbott provided their excellent skills as panel moderators. Bob Ryan and Shira Springer of the Boston Globe complemented them nicely. (Springer was simply marvelous in her role of moderating the most interesting panel of the day with Silver, Levy, Walsh and NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins.)

Comcast SportsNet play-by-play man Mike Gorman moderated a discussion on the globalization of sports, during which Tim Romani, the President and CEO of ICON Venue Group spoke of the many opportunities ahead in the growing global world of new sports venues (see 02 Arenas in London and Berlin and a host of new buildings being designed in China). They were joined by adidas sports licensing President David Baxter.

Like Stephen Bishop wrote and sang in 1977, “I could go on and on.”

The agenda for the 2009 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was jam-packed and right on target. This third annual symposium was held March 7 at MIT’s amazing Stata Center on the campus of one of the world’s greatest institutes of higher learning. Over 450 people attended, and that didn’t include some 50 media members and a host of panelists and business school organizers, who all deserve credit for staging a modern day “think-a-thon” for sports executives.

Now for the fun part. As serious as the agenda topics and state of affairs in the world economy indicate to one, the sports symposium was a downright hysterical blast. It’s “Dork-a-Palooza,” coined the legend of all sports bloggers Bill Simmons, who was once just “the Boston Sports Guy” on a pioneering Internet site called Digital City Boston. Simmons is now the “one and only “Sports Guy” on ESPN’s entertaining Page 2, but I prefer to call Simmons “the Sugerhill Gang of sports bloggers.”

Simmons participated in one of the first panel discussions of the day, entitled “Evolution of the Fan Experience.” His viewpoint was right on the money, as usual, when he said, “The biggest issue facing sports is ticket prices. Now, with a 55-inch SONY Plasma and High Def, I can stay at home and have a better experience.”

Burke, the venerable NHL sage, opened up the session stating, “I’m not in the hockey business, I’m in the entertainment business. Once the ticket taker tears the fan’s ticket, my job is to deliver. I know I can’t always base my franchise on winning, because over 30 years, I’m going to go .500. But we’re going to have a G_d -D_ mn entertaining product. We fight. We lead the league in fighting, except we came in second once in Anaheim.

“I believe in stars,” Burke continued. “I want the best players, the names to use in our marketing. We drive content and we assault the consumers on the airwaves with features and news for talk radio. It’s all about providing good content and news for the media. All kinds of media, especially on-line.”

Sean O’Brien, the lead producer of the NBA LIVE line from EA Sports, topped-off the panel with his savvy vision and creative direction behind the wildly popular video game and its role with fans and sports.

The challenging future for traditional media was the topic for a panel entitled, “Media and the Fanatic: The Evolving Value of New Media in Sports. The NBA’s Adam Silver spoke eloquently on the challenges facing all sports. TV ratings can be up and more people watching, but the very nature of sports has changed and the days of fans tuning in for a full two-or-three hour game broadcast might be over, indicated Silver. “What we haven’t done well is master the interactive technology of the screen, he said, noting that there are huge opportunities ahead for the right blend of TV, Internet, stats and interactive devices. “We have to go way beyond text messaging.”

When the agenda turned into the homestretch, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban stepped up to the stage and enjoyed a great give and take with ESPN’s resident stat geek John Hollinger, the two arguing over who got the best of the Jason Kidd-Devin Harris trade. Cuban was candid as always and spoke of the many basketball analytic tools his club utilizes.

“They’re all tools, like any other tools,” said Cuban. “And, the goal is to use every tool to build a team to win the championship. Now we have eight years of data.”

Asked what he found to be the most difficult task of his ownership history with the Mavericks, Cuban replied without hesitation, “The hardest part of owning a franchise is hiring a coach. Period -- end of story. “

Cuban added that he tried to utilize analytics in his vetting of coaching candidates but found the process “all qualitative” while noting that current Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle did rise to the “top of the list” when the Mavericks stat crunchers analyzed the percentage of time Carlisle used the ‘best lineup.”

Mike Zarren, the Boston Celtics’ Assistant Executive Director of Basketball Operations and Associate Counsel, added some great insight on the game that flowed freely and quickly after we wrote down his lengthy title. “Communication skills are more important than the stats. The coaches are pretty competitive and they look for any advantages,” said Zarren.

Explaining how it might work, the panel agreed that there might be 20 ideas to track statistically. Then, maybe 12 of those turn out to be good or great ideas. The coaches incorporate eight into a practice session (and during the NBA season, there are a limited number of in-depth practice sessions). The players might be able to absorb four of the eight things that were put into practice and maybe two of those four actually make it to a game.

Morey, the dean of the NBA basketball analytic tribe, cracked up the audience when he quipped, “Well, I’m trying not to say anything.” Morey’s joke underlined the fact that the ultra-competitive world of the NBA made each club keep its basketball analytic success stories very close to the vest. “Everyone is looking for the secret sauce,” was the catch phrase of the day as Cuban aptly put it.

Cuban finished with a great point for the MIT Sloan School of management students to ponder when he asked, “What’s next? That’s the important thing to focus on. Alternative sports might provide opportunity. Maybe event recognition in video? We’re all looking for the new idea.”

Other quick hits included:

• “The least valuable data in basketball is the boxscore,” said Cuban.
• “I code a lot in “R,” said Zarren (http://www.r-project.org/)
• “The wages of wins was the dumbest data,” added Cuban.
• “Dork-a-palooza, baby,” exclaimed Cuban to an appreciative crowd of MIT business degree candidates.

The day concluded with ESPN the Magazine’s Ric Bucher moderating a panel discussion on the “Value of Icon Players.” Boston Celtics All-Star Ray Allen stole the show as he joined the NHL’s Executive VP of Marketing Brian Jennings, WNBA Los Angeles Sparks co-owner Carla Christofferson and Greg Via, the Global Director of Sports Marketing for the Gillette Company.

Allen openly auditioned for a future role alongside the prestigious stable of endorsees for Gillette company, hoping to join golfer Tiger Woods, European football star Thierry Henry and tennis icon Roger Federer. Allen coyly stroked his clean-shaven face and shiny clean-shaven head as he shook hands with Via.

The day was done. A+ all around. And may I suggest that each and every panelist earned an all-expenses paid trip to Davos for next year’s World Economic Forum, courtesy of Mark Cuban.


For additional information on the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, staged by the MIT Sloan School of Management, please visit:
http://www.sloansportsconference.com/2009

Some additional media reports on the conference can be found at:

Ken Berger, CBS Sports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11471280/2

Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2009/03/nba_insider_going_way_beyond_t.html

Sal Baxamusa, The Hardball Times
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/dorkapalooza-2009-the-sports-analytics-conference-at-mit/

Brittany Sauser, MIT Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23084/?a=f

Henry Abbott, ESPN.com – TrueHoop
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-289/Trickle-Down-Enthusiasm-.html

Matt Sisson, Baseball Daily Digest
http://www.baseballdailydigest.com/blogs/category/matt-sisson/


NOTE: Special thanks go out to Jessica Gelman, the co-organizer of the seminar along with Daryl Morey. Also, a high five to Patricia Favreau of the MIT communications, media relations and public relations staff, along with her colleagues and the MIT staff volunteers and student organizers who did a hell of job and staged a first class event

In Daryl We Trust ...

The GLOBALIZATION of Sports, the Evolution of the Fan Experience, Basketball Analytics, Careers in Sports, Talent Identification, The Business of College Sports... oh my. What an agenda!

This weekend, March 7 to be exact, the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference will take place in Boston. The third annual event promises to be the best ever. Stay tuned for an update on The Blog @ TerryLyons.com.


See the official press release:

Cambridge, Mass., February 11, 2009 – As sports leagues and franchises face pressure to drive and sustain profitability during the economic downturn, industry leaders are increasingly turning to techniques from the corporate business world such as statistics, analytics, and modeling techniques. On March 7, 2009, the Third Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference will bring together executives from major U.S. professional leagues, academics, researchers and MBA students to discuss evolving analytic trends in sports management. Organized by the MIT Sloan Entertainment, Media & Sports Club, the conference will be held at the Stata Center on the MIT campus from 8am to 6:30pm.

Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, and Jessica Gelman, the Kraft Sports Group and New England Patriots director of New Business Development and Operational Initiatives, are co-chairing the conference. Speakers will include:

* Ray Allen, Boston Celtics All-Star guard
* Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner
* Adam Silver, NBA deputy commissioner
* Brian Burke, president & general manager, Toronto Maple Leafs
* Mark Waller, SVP sales & marketing, NFL
* Casey Wasserman, chairman & CEO, Wasserman Media Group
* Steve Pagliuca, managing partner, Boston Celtics and Bain Capital
* Bill Simmons, columnist, ESPN
* Jeff Van Gundy, NBA analyst, ESPN

“As a leader in analysis, technology, and business innovation, MIT is ideal to host the event each year,” says Morey, who is also an alumnus of and has taught sports analytics at MIT Sloan. “With the support of MIT administration and student leadership, the conference has become the leading venue to discuss this important trend in sports.”

Conference panels will tackle timely topics. Executives will discuss what steps and strategies they are taking to adjust to the current economic downturn in, among other areas, ticketing, salaries and advertising.

A globalization panel will look at the business opportunities that international markets offer to the sports industry in areas such as merchandising, media, and partnership/sponsorship.

“Evolution of the Fan Experience” will look at how new technology, game innovations, and customer initiatives are taking the fan experience to the next level.

And, while Boston has emerged as a championship town with the “team-first” Patriots, a Celtics team with three hall of fame hopefuls, and a Red Sox team whose biggest bat overstayed his welcome, it begs the question as to how much is team chemistry worth and can it be taught or even measured? A “Team Chemistry” panel will offer perspectives from professionals who deal with these issues every day.

Last year’s sold-out conference was attended by more than 350 industry leaders and students. Past speakers have included Wyc Grousbeck, CEO and managing partner of the Boston Celtics; Bill James, senior advisor to the Boston Red Sox; Bill Polian, president, Indianapolis Colts; and sportswriter Peter Gammons.

“In the current economic climate, where spending by fans and sponsors is increasingly discretionary, an even higher premium is placed on winning on the field and on the quality of the fan experience. Innovation and differentiation are imperative,” explains Gelman. “On March 7, the people driving change in sports will be at MIT Sloan to share their perspectives.”

This year’s sponsors are:

* The Parthenon Group, a boutique provider of sports industry management consulting: www.parthenon.com
* yOOnew, the world’s first futures exchange for event tickets – designed to help consumers save money and time when buying and selling tickets: www.yoonew.com
* SPARQ, whose mission is to enable every athlete to reach his or her potential using natural and analytically-driven training methods: www.sparqtraining.com
* Adidas, the global leader in the sporting goods industry with sports brands built on a passion for sports and a sporting lifestyle: www.adidas.com
* ESPN, the leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a broad portfolio of multimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities: espn.go.com

Ramble On ...

As noted on the Fourth of July, I will not be making daily posts for about a month or so, say from July 4th to August 10th. I will post items and updates and any breaking news on life, family, moving, you name it. In the meantime, my Ramble On column will continue once a week through September.


Ramble On: Cuban's view on the Olympics "using" the NBA and its Players...

Mark Cuban is on record and is repeatedly posting on his blog that the Olympics "Use" the NBA and its players - free of charge - as the players and the Games are a giant TV show orchestrated by GE. (NBC Sports and NBC Universal).

He is half-right.

Here is another viewpoint, posted to Cuban on Blog Maverick:

Hey smart guy? Care to re-think your premise?

NBA Uses Olympics to Tap China's `Amazing' Potential

On BLOOMBERG.COM, Wing-Gar Cheng writes "the National Basketball Association, the most-watched sports league in China, is opening its first stores in Beijing and using the Olympics to boost popularity in its biggest overseas market. Two merchandise stores in downtown Beijing, smaller-scale versions of the league's flagship in New York, will open this month and are the first of 500 to 1,000 planned in China, NBA China Chief Executive Officer Tim Chen said. Sales of NBA goods at the 50,000 current licensed outlets may rise 40 percent this year, buoyed by the Aug. 8-24 Olympics, he said."

PS: The NBA also works with a lot of the international TV stations that air the Olympics. Cuban, with his very limited and domestic viewpoint, overlooks the fact that the NBA is also in the global TV business.

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Ramble On: Mocking the Mock Drafts...

A blog for sports media analysis took a look at the results of all the basketball pundits as they tried to predict the outcome of the NBA Draft in their various mock draft columns. here are the blogger's results with a "High 5" to Ian Thomsen and a big ? to Hollinger and Chad Ford:

WINNERS

Sports Illustrated’s Ian Thomsen claimed the overall top spot after ranking 4th in the correct pick portion of the analysis and topping the pick difference analysis. Closely trailing Mr. Thomsen were Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, Sam Smith of Sporting News, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle and Krista Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press. The Orlando Sentinel’s Tim Povtak, MyNBADraft.com’s Todd Robinson, InsideHoops.com, the Chicago Sun-Times’ John Jackson and the Boston Herald’s David Moore rounded out the top 10. Although he performed well overall, Mr. Feigen deserves some criticism here for completely forgetting (I assume) about Eric Gordon. Not only did he not have Gordon going in the Top 10, as almost every other mock draft did, he completely left him out of the first round.

Mr. Thomsen’s win was fueled by his dominance in the Second 10 picks of the draft. He was the only sportswriter to correctly guess more than two of the Second 10 picks – Robin Lopez to the Suns at #15, Marreese Speights to the 76ers at #16 and JJ Hickson to the Cavaliers – and his picks in the Second 10 averaged only 3.1 draft slots away from where they were actually drafted. No other prognosticator had an average less than 5.0 during the Second 10. Additionally, Mr. Thomsen’s overall average pick difference for the 1st round was 3.667, the only average under 4.0. Finally, Mr. Thomsen finished in the top seven of every single category, with only Mr. Bonnell joining him as a Top 10 finisher in every category. Dominant indeed.

LOSERS

On one hand, I hate to highlight the people who did not perform particularly well on the mock draft, but that is exactly why it is important that someone do this analysis. At some point, we as readers have to trust our sources of information, and it only makes sense that we analyze them to find out who among them is consistently full of it. Much to my own personal surprise, two of my favorite NBA writers – Chad Ford and John Hollinger – were woefully bad on their mock drafts.

It’s not a huge surprise that Mr. Hollinger was off but I had always presumed that Mr. Ford would be at or near the top in an objective analysis such as this considering the amount of coverage he gives the NBA Draft. Mr. Ford was especially dreadful in the Second 10, in which he did not pick a single player correctly and he averaged a second-worst 8.2 draft slots away per player. In addition to picking two players in the Second 10 who were not drafted until the 2nd Round – Mario Chalmers and DeAndre Jordan – he slotted both Kosta Koufos and Donte Greene towards the top of the Second 10.

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"Paging Mr. Sal Monella ... Please call your office, Mr. Sal Monella."

Can you believe this? The quote of the year: "Tomatoes aren't off the hook". You can't make this stuff up:

By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer | July 1, 2008

WASHINGTON --Adding to tomato confusion, the government is about to start testing numerous other types of fresh produce in the hunt for the source of the nation's record salmonella outbreak -- even as it insists tomatoes remain the leading suspect.

Investigators are mum on exactly what other vegetables are getting tracked.

Items commonly served with fresh tomatoes is the only hint Food and Drug Administration food safety chief Dr. David Acheson would give, calling it "irresponsible" to point a finger until he has more evidence that some other food really deserves the extra scrutiny.

"Tomatoes aren't off the hook," he stressed. "It's just that there is clearly a need to think beyond tomatoes."

Still, Acheson widened FDA's probe on Tuesday, activating an emergency network of food laboratories around the country in anticipation of lots of additional samples to test.

The reason is that the outbreak continues, with 869 people now confirmed having taken ill. Most troublesome, at least 179 of them fell ill in June, the latest on June 20. That is more than two months after the first salmonella illnesses appeared, meaning the outbreak is continuing weeks longer than food-poisoning specialists had expected -- and suggesting the culprit is still on the market.

Over the weekend, disease detectives with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began interviewing people sickened in June to find out what they ate and to compare their diets with those of healthy relatives and neighbors. Officials wouldn't reveal early findings, except to say they supported the investigation's new move.

Among the possibilities FDA is exploring is whether tomatoes and other produce are sharing a common packing or shipping site where both might become contaminated, or whether multiple foods might be tainted while being grown on adjoining farms or with common water sources.

Pressure is increasing on the FDA to solve the case, with the tomato industry suffering millions of dollars in losses and pushing for Congress to investigate how the agency handled the outbreak.

But Acheson said Tuesday that there's a growing misconception in the public that if tomatoes really were to blame, the outbreak would only have lasted six weeks.

That's just not true, he said, pointing to farms that rotate harvests so as to keep producing tomatoes for months.

Tomatoes first became a suspect because of what are called "case-control" studies rapidly conducted in New Mexico and Texas, the outbreak's center, CDC food-poisoning specialist Dr. Robert Tauxe said.

Those kinds of studies compare the sick to people who are otherwise similar -- in income, lifestyle, where they live -- but healthy. In those initial studies, about 80 percent of the ill reported eating certain types of fresh tomatoes, far more than the healthy group did, Tauxe said. Statistically, the association was too strong to think it a coincidence.

Some food-poisoning experts say the CDC missed a key step in not taking those studies a step further and trying to trace why some of the healthy ate tomatoes without harm.

For now, the FDA continues to urge consumers nationwide to avoid raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes unless they were grown in specific states or countries that the agency has cleared of suspicion. Check the FDA's Web site -- http://www.fda.gov -- for an updated list. Also safe are grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached.

That advice is coming under fire too because tomatoes are sent through multiple repacking and distribution sites around the country, even to Mexico and back, regardless of where they're grown. But Acheson said the advice would be fine-tuned only if new science emerges.

Even Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt expressed frustration Tuesday that the case isn't solved.

Blame it on the Jalapeno?

This on the news wires as of July 5th:

Jalapeno peppers are a new focus of the investigation into the salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people in at least 40 states, according to media reports.
Government health investigators had initially focused on some types of fresh tomatoes, which have been removed from menus across the country, but are turning toward jalapenos as sicknesses continue. Salsa ingredients cilantro and Serrano peppers are also under scrutiny, according to reports.

"Recently, many clusters of illnesses have been identified in Texas and other states among persons who ate at restaurants," according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statement. "These clusters have led us to broaden the investigation to be sure that it encompasses food items that are commonly consumed with tomatoes."

As of Friday evening, 943 persons infected with salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, according to CDC. Illnesses are believed to have begun in early April.
CNN reported that the U.S. investigation is focusing on imports from Mexico, and that starting Monday inspectors will stop shipments of produce for common Mexican cuisine ingredients. So far Texas is by far the leader in reported illnesses, with 356 reports of ill people as of late Friday. New Mexico has 98 reported illnesses, while Illinois has 93.

Government investigators have been looking for the source of the salmonella outbreak for weeks -- a frustrating experience that highlights the need for more resources dedicated to improved food-safety science. Last month, the FDA's food-safety plan came under intense criticism from the Government Accountability Office, which voiced concerns about its direction and resources.

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A note from the Asbury Park Press - another sad day on E Street...

Boardwalk fortune teller Madam Marie dies

It was one line from a Bruce Springsteen song that made the boardwalk fortune teller world famous. And now, "Madam Marie" has passed away.

Marie Castello, who had told fortunes since the 1930s and became famous for her presence and predictions on the Asbury Park boardwalk, died Friday, her great-granddaughter, Sally Castello said.

The psychic reader and advisor was 93. She became known worldwide from Bruce Springsteen's homage to her in his music.

"Did you hear the cops finally busted Madam Marie,'' Springsteen sang in his 1973 song, "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)'' "for tellin' fortunes better than they do."

"That was just the Boss,'' said Asbury Park Deputy Mayor Jim Bruno. "She was never arrested. But Springsteen turned her into an icon.''

Madam Marie bragged that she had told the fortunes of everyone from Judy Garland to Springsteen himself. Legend has it that she told Springsteen he was going to be a success. Springsteen later joked that she told all the musicians that.

And Springsteen never forgot Madam Marie.

"He always comes by to say hello," she told Press columnist Bill Handleman in May. "He knows where he came from."

Word of Castello's death spread along the Asbury Park boardwalk over the weekend. The American flag flying over the Convention Hall-Paramount Theatre complex was lowered to half staff in her honor, and it remained that way today.

"Of course, Madam Marie is our longest running tenant here on the boardwalk. ... She's an Asbury Park tradition,'' said Gary Mottola, president of investments for developer Madison Marquette, the lead partner in a joint venture with Asbury Partners to restore or rebuild the boardwalk's entertainment buildings. "We felt that honoring her by lowering the Convention Hall flag to half staff is the right thing to do.''

Marie Castello closed down her regular operations on the boardwalk in the mid-1990s after a dropoff in business. She continued telling fortunes in Ocean Township.



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Did they Blink in July?


McCain Orders Shake-Up of His Campaign
By ADAM NAGOURNEY of the NYT

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign has gone through its second shake-up in a year as Mr. McCain, responding to Republican concerns that his candidacy was faltering, put Steve Schmidt in charge of day-to-day operations and abandoned an effort to have the campaign run by 11 regional managers, the senator’s aides said Wednesday.

Mr. Schmidt is a veteran of President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign and he worked closely with Karl Rove, who was Mr. Bush’s political adviser. His installation at Mr. McCain’s headquarters sharply diminished the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been Mr. McCain’s campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago.

Mr. McCain’s advisers said that Mr. Davis would continue to hold the position of campaign manager, but that Mr. Schmidt had taken over every major operation where Mr. McCain has shown signs of struggling: communications, scheduling and basic political strategy.

The shift was approved by Mr. McCain after several aides, including Mr. Schmidt, warned him about 10 days ago that he was in danger of losing the presidential election unless he revamped his campaign operation, according to two officials close to the campaign.


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