Marginalizing Mark Cuban, Again

Mavericks forward Josh Howard got into some trouble recently disrespecting the national anthem. On YouTube he was captured saying, among other things,:

"'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black."

Okay. Whatever. The geo-political views of one Josh Howard couldn't be less interesting to me.

However, I found Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's response pretty darn funny:

"That said, we will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp," Cuban said Tuesday. "I have explained to him that cellphone cameras are not your friend and that what you think you said on camera is never what people will hear when it shows up on YouTube or TV."

Now I have Marginalized Mark Cuban before. Notwithstanding his financial successes, he's a full-blown airhead.

Let me try to guess what will constitute *advanced communication-skill sessions* for Mr. Howard.

Er,...Cuban will tell him to "shut up"???



Now I really don't think Mark, with all his NBA fines and other personal publicity problems, is genuinely qualified to teach *shut-up* courses. Furthermore, I don't think anyone who thinks what someone *said on camera...won't be what people hear* ought to be teaching communication seminars.

More appropriately, they ought to have their head examined.

Point of fact, I watched the Josh Howard clip and can tell you what made it so unpalatable was the entire lead-up, the full context of Howard's behavior that inquiring minds can thank YouTube for. We've had decades of *filtered* news and information; it's made us ignorant; and we're tired of it.

For sure, Cuban is doing his best at spin control; he's trying to protect the trade value of his player. Why? I just can't imagine that the fans in Dallas will be too pleased with Josh Howard given that he's has a few incidents recently.

Cuban couldn't have offered a more pathetic, transparent spin job. It reminded me of when Jerry Seinfeld crawled out of his hole to try and defend Michael Richards (Kramer) - after his political monologue.

The *spin* business is just one of many eradicated by the internet. Thank you Al Gore!