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Hey, if Cuban were right all the time, he'd be too good to be true.

I wonder what'd he say if you asked him about Stephen A Smith...?

Either he's thinking of someone else, or it may be a case of wounded amour-propre on Cuban's part. Trying to figure out what he could object to, since Chad's obviously a humor columnist, I went through a couple of the NBA-headlined columns. Here's a throwaway gag in a column otherwise at David Stern's expense:

From "A Stern Hand at the Helm," 4/5/04:
"Actually, I should cut the commissioner a break. After all, he has to deal with Mark Cuban almost daily."

If Chad's made other Cuban jokes, it may have just rubbed Cuban the wrong way. Billionaires are not usually known for having thick skin.

I think this may have something to do with Chad being anrti-dodgeball and Cuban being very pro-dodgeball.

Another issue in Cuban's post suggests that he really doesn't understand journalists. He mentions the Tribune circulation scandal and wonders if a "corporate culture" affects both the beancounters and Smith. That's as plausible as Oliver Stone's most delusional ranting. Journalists deserve their reputation of confusing cynicism with intelligence, and you'd better believe that extends to a pervasive belief in each newsroom that the execs are buffoons.

In short -- folks in the newsroom aren't interested in hearing what the bean-counters have to say. There are subtle ways of influencing the news -- most notably by, say, hiring a bunch of trumped-up pundits instead of reporters (like a couple of cable outlets I could name). But to see a journalist acting like a suit? You'll see Cuban spouting the company line before that happens.

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