Shout-out to Class

Recently the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Championship, beating the Miami Heat in six games. The Championship is the first for the franchise, and for a number of notable individuals: Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, and normally out spoken owner Mark Cuban (not to mention Rick Carlisle joins an elite club of 11 men, who have both played for, 1986 Celtics and Coached, 2011 Mavericks an NBA Championship team). I know everyone has his or her personal feelings about Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban. (Fun fact: Cuban purchased the Dallas Mavericks in 2000 from H. Ross Perot Jr. whose interest in the team was purely related to his desire of real estate surrounding the arena.) Cuban has been loud, obnoxious, and at times out right defiant in his method of ownership. Although Cuban’s style may be unconventional, no one can question his passion for the game and his team. Cuban attends most of his team’s games, home and away, his player’s locker room is the ultimate kids room/comfort lounge, and Cuban annually increases the NBA’s revenue due to his comments or actions.

Personally I am a fan of Cuban’s style as an owner, team first approach and passion for the game, something the Dodgers could have used over the past couple years. Although I like the guy, normally Cuban’s actions can’t be described as Classy, but in the recent celebration following the Mavericks game six victory to clinch the title Cuban requested the David Stern present the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Don Carter the original owner and the individual responsible for bringing NBA basketball to Dallas in 1980. Of course Cuban followed this class act by later declaring, "Rings are old school, Rings are done. It's time to take it to the next level and do something different." Oh well, he was a classy guy for a night.

On the flip side of class we have another connection to the Champion Dallas Mavericks, DeShawn Stevenson. Following the game six victory to clinic the Championship, DeShawn decided to make comments directed toward the Miami Heat, specifically Wade and James. DeShwan said, "The way they act, the way they treated Dirk [Nowitzki], all the things that they said were very classless. To win on the court the way we did it, it was wonderful." You can read the story at http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=6657084. DeShawn recently backed up his comment by being arrested on Tuesday June 14, for public intoxication (http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=6664021), NICE.

Whatever happened to the good old days where you backed up your statement by “NOT” doing something stupid? Jalen Rose look what you have taught the younger generation.

Jake