5-at-10: Mark Cuban's rough day, NBA second-half story lines, MLB changes, The ABA Rushmore


              FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2016, file photo, Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA basketball Dallas Mavericks, speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Detroit. Cuban says the team's decision not to stay at Donald Trump-branded hotels in New York and Chicago was made before the presidential election. The billionaire technology entrepreneur declined Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2016, to elaborate on the decision, telling The Associated Press it "was made months ago. Not recently." (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2016, file photo, Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA basketball Dallas Mavericks, speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Detroit. Cuban says the team's decision not to stay at Donald Trump-branded hotels in New York and Chicago was made before the presidential election. The billionaire technology entrepreneur declined Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2016, to elaborate on the decision, telling The Associated Press it "was made months ago. Not recently." (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

Dirty Dallas

Tough day for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Tough week even.

First news came that he was fined $600,000 for talking openly about tanking. While that sum is theoretically a nice lunch for Cuban - dude has more than $3 billion, so, as Darren Rovell tweeted, a $600K fine is like $28 to the average American - it still stinks.

(Side note: And while we understand the intent here, fining someone for speaking truth about a clear part of the game - a strategery that makes sense mind you - is very Pollyanna-ish and completely disingenuous to be honest.

But, and this is crazy to even type, but the $600,000 fine was far and away the better of Cuban's two issues.
SI reported a long and well-researched story on the work culture within the Mavs that included some much sexual harassment and even some instances of assault that hit the streets Wednesday.

Cuban apologized quickly and profusely.

People were fired. But the stories - it was so bad in the offices that the female employees preferred to go to the locker room and hang out, meaning that the culture was literally worse than "locker room" culture - are so damaging, this is not over.

Far from it.

The NBA has not weighed in on the matter, yet. But considering the social awareness of this issue, there will action.

Truthfully, it was a matter time before the growing sensitivity and positive trend of making work places harassment-free found the world of sports. The SI writers got a tip on the Mavericks the day after the Jerry Richardson story broke in early December.

Richardson, you may recall, was accused of sexual harassment as the owner of the Carolina Panthers. He elected to put the Panthers up for sale, a move the NFL was more than happy about.

We do not think the NBA will force Cuban to sell the Mavs because as of yet, Cuban has not been directly linked to these allegations. But we can't forget that the NBA over-reacted and forced Donald Sterling to sell the Clippers when a tape of Sterling making racially insensitive remarks surfaced. Yes, in a lot of ways Sterling got a lifetime achievement award of being a tool bag, but forcing him out for that final straw set a precedent. If Cuban is implicated and not forced to sell, that precedent could be interpreted by some that the NBA is more worried about how black men like Magic Johnson are treated than women, and that's not a good look these days.

The movement gained major momentum and notoriety among celebrities and movie stars, and the backlash was swift and overwhelming. From major Hollywood producers to stars who have been banished, it has changed the landscape of the movie business.

It has found politics in a big way, too.

Now it is in sports, and the only thing we know for sure is the Dallas allegations will certainly not be the last allegations

Rule changes?

OK, we briefly discussed some of baseballs' proposed rule changes in the last few weeks.

As it turns out, the actual changes are relatively minor. In an effort to quicken the pace, MLB has said no more than six visits to the mound that do not include a pitching change. At first we thought, "Oooooh, big whoop." Then it dawned on us that it also includes catchers and other infielders coming to talk to the pitcher, a move used most often to stall the game so guys in the bullpen could warm-up.

There also will be a clock between innings to keep the flow going. Here is a pretty detailed look at the changes.

There of course are people wondering if it is enough. There of course are people who are hacked off because some people are always going to be hacked off at change.

We believe that baseball needs to embrace some changes as attention spans shorten and the game is losing its connection to younger generations.

Now there are rumblings about significant changes on the horizon. Like game-changing moves that would alter the sport.

Some national chatter about managers being able to reset their lineups if they are trailing in the ninth inning is being discussed.

In previous years, there has been some suggestions to ban teams from using "the shift" as well.

We're not really for either of those to be honest, and can only imagine the backlash that would happen if really culture-altering changes were suggested.

Thoughts?

They're back

The NBA returns to action tonight. It is not without a slew of story lines.

Here are some of them: There's the Dallas mess, and we're not even talking about the work-place culture. One of the best players of his generation, Dirk Nowitzki, is limping into the sunset on a dreadful 18-40 team. The tanking fines aside, Dallas along with Atlanta and Phoenix are among the dregs fighting for the most ping-pong balls in the lottery.

Race for the 1 seed in the West. Houston is 44-13. Golden State is 44-14. We believe the Warriors are, of course, the team to beat whether they have home-court advantage or not. Still, the race is on.

Where will the new-look Cavs finish? Having won four straight since overhauling its roster, Cleveland is 34-22 and 1.5 games ahead of fourth-place Washington. Cleveland is 6.5 games behind East-leading Toronto.

Is the MVP James Harden's to lose? Most likely. And yes we are a LeBron homer and his numbers are sick: He's shooting 54.4 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from 3. He's averaging 26.5 points, 8.9 assists and 8.1 rebounds a night and the team picture of guys who have averaged 25-8-8 in a season is very small. Still Harden, who leads the league in scoring and is second in assists for the team with the best record is the clear front-runner.

San Antonio mystery. Kawhi Leonard has been cleared to play by doctors. Kawhi Leonard has not been cleared to play by Kawhi Leonard. Strange days.

This and that

- Monster win for the U.S. women's hockey team to topple Canada in a shootout. U-S-A! U-S-A! Sad that it started at 11 p.m. and few working folks on the East Coast got a chance to watch it, though. N-B-C! N-B-C!

- Weeds on college hoops, this time his views on UT's win over Florida and halftime darling the Red Panda.

- Speaking of college hoops, Auburn played about as well as it possibly could considering that its leading interior defender, Anfernee McLemore, is done for the year and versatile wing Mustafa Herron was sick with the flu. Four guys in double figures, six of the seven scholarship players had eight or more, and the Tigers finished even on the glass in a 90-71 win over Alabama.

- Eagles wide out Alshon Jeffery had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. He suffered the injury in training camp and played the entire season with the injury. That's a tough dude.

- Marco Rubio was booed loudly during a town hall meeting with some of the survivors of the Parkland, Fla. shootings. Rubio was asked by one of the Douglas High students if he would stopped taking donations from the NRA, Rubio would not commit to no longer accepting campaign funds from the NRA, which has given Rubio alone more than $3.3 million in his political career. We like Marco, but that was a bad look and his tap-dancing answer made him sound like an old-school Washington insider that has completely derailed our entire system. Here's his answer: "There is money on both sides of every issue in America and where that leaves us in policymaking is to look at the issues and make a decision based on what we think is right." Wow. That's a really easy next step to interpret that to be "There is money on both sides of every issue in American and where that leaves us in policymaking is to look at the issues and make a decision based on who has given our side the most money." Shame on you Marco. I truly thought you were a different breed of future politician. Turns out I was wrong.

- Shhhhhhh, but Tiger Woods was out early today and through six holes was 2 under and had a share of the lead at the Honda Classic. Gambling's illegal at Bushwood and he never slices.

Today's question

Which sport needs to take the hardest look at sweeping changes? Is it baseball?

As for today, Feb. 22, well, arguably the worst play in Broadway history - Moose Murders - opened and closed on the same night in 1983.

The very first meeting of the Republican Party happened in Pittsburgh on this day in 1856.

Ol' George Washington would have been 386 today. Tip of the cap, Mr. President.

Drew Barrymore is 43 today.

Dr. J is 68 today. Is Dr. J overrated or underrated? Discuss.

That said, Dr. J easily makes the Rushmore of the ABA. Who else is on there?

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