{"id":46,"date":"2008-06-07T11:07:21","date_gmt":"2008-06-07T16:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/?p=46"},"modified":"2008-06-07T12:28:50","modified_gmt":"2008-06-07T17:28:50","slug":"marky-mark-and-cubbi-bunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/46\/marky-mark-and-cubbi-bunch","title":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks of the NL Central"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Tribune, who not too long ago <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/chi-0418edit2apr18,0,7049999.story\" target=\"_blank\">recused themselves<\/a> from coverage of such things, reports that film guru and famous basketball dude Mark Cuban would <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/sports\/cs-080606-chicago-cubs-mark-cuban,0,1773168.story\" target=\"_blank\">really, really like to buy the Cubs<\/a> and also reports that such a purchase would be, like <a href=\"http:\/\/chicagosports.chicagotribune.com\/sports\/baseball\/cubs\/cs-080606-chicago-cubs-mark-cuban-support,1,7556222.story\">totally awesome<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re probably familiar with Cuban, and are probably convinced of his wild spending and win-at-all-costs approach. Through a string of shrewd moves, fan-like idiocy in the stands and a general drive to bring the perpetually awful Dallas Mavericks to the brink of respectability, Cuban&#8217;s made himself one of the few<br \/>\ncelebrity owners in sports. He&#8217;s got money, he&#8217;s got drive, he&#8217;s got a vision, and he&#8217;s got the kind of general fun-over-funds approach that anyone wants to see in the owner of their team.<a href=\"http:\/\/sports.espn.go.com\/mlb\/news\/story?id=2831686\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"right size-full wp-image-47\" title=\"Mark Cuban at Wrigley Field\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/mlb_g_cuban_2751.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Cuban at Wrigley Field\" width=\"275\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/mlb_g_cuban_2751.jpg 275w, http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/mlb_g_cuban_2751-150x109.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cubs fans are already setting up chairs along the parade route while Sox fans contemplate moving out of Chicago. In all likelihood, both have the entirely wrong idea.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s true Cuban not only has money but likes to spend it. It&#8217;s true he&#8217;s got some great ideas and says some nice things about what he wants to do for the Cubs. It&#8217;s true the Mavs&#8217; tunraround was nothing short of spectacular. But for all the 50-win seasons, cool new logos and celebrity houseguests, there&#8217;s something people on both sides of town keep overlooking: Cuban has never built anything more than an also-ran. Ever.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas Mavericks season results since acquisition by Mark Cuban:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2000-2001: Lost Western Conference semifinals<\/li>\n<li>2001-2002: Lost Western Conference semifinals<\/li>\n<li>2002-2003: Lost Western Conference finals<\/li>\n<li>2003-2004: Lost first round<\/li>\n<li>2004-2005: Lost Western Conference semifinals<\/li>\n<li>2005-2006: Lost NBA Finals<\/li>\n<li>2006-2007: Lost first round<\/li>\n<li>2007-2008: Lost first round<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That many consecutive trips to the playoffs after decades of literally nothing is no small feat, and Cuban&#8217;s operation deserves all the accolades it gets. But when you have both Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki <em>on the same team<\/em> and can&#8217;t muster anything more than second place, what are Alfonso Soriano and Reed Johnson going to get you?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s true basketball and baseball are entirely different animals, based on different speeds, wildly different team compositions and played through seasons constructed in not even remotely similar fashions. It&#8217;s also true that Cuban, even with all that money and motivation, couldn&#8217;t assemble a team that could be the best of eight playoff-worthy clubs.<\/p>\n<p>If anything, Cuban&#8217;s reign might see the Cubs become something less like the Yankees of the late 1990s and something more like the Indians teams of that same era. Stars aplenty, a lineup anchored by future Hall of Famers, and nothing to show for it but status as the most talented, most consistent runner-up in the sport. Which, you know, would be acceptable. To a Sox fan, this would be hilarious and ultimately rewarding; to a Cubs fan, this would be pretty much more of the same, each passing season degenerating from &#8220;this is the year&#8221; to &#8220;this is just like 2003, 1989, and 1984.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Why would any self-respecting fan ever want <em>that<\/em>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mark Cuban&#8217;s new toy could be every Chicago baseball fan&#8217;s dream come true. Sort of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sox35th.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}