No

by Todd Dybas

Created on: February 24, 2008

Various forms of the word institution can be applied to this situation.

Cubs fans will tell you the organization is an institution, in the way the Smithsonian is an institution. They would make it clear the Cubs are not to be messed with. Just provide hope and despair, and the lure of being a Cubs fan will remain.

Some NBA owners would say an institution, the kind for the mentally ill, is where Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban belongs. Move him out of their behind-the-scenes rich guy fraternity. Wall in his histrionics. God knows he shouldn't be allowed to purchase another professional team, which is what he is trying to do with the Cubs.

In 2004 this is what Cuban told USA Today about the prospect of owning another pro franchise:
"I've considered (buying NFL and NHL franchises) momentarily, but sanity sets in."

It seems, as many have contended, Cuban's sanity has left him.

Despite the sink-shipping lips, it's difficult to fault how Cuban has run the Mavericks. He's turned the once moribund franchise into a business model for others in the NBA to emulate.

Unlike many owners, Cuban proved out his desire to win with his financial backing. He dropped $46 million to customize a Boeing 757 which transports the team. In each home locker he installed a bunch of stuff your wife would rather see down stairs. Flat-screen TV, Playstation, DVD player.

The pampering has brought results, though not achieved the goal.

The Mavericks have been in the playoffs each season since Cuban purchased the team in February of 2000. They've been to the Western Conference Finals twice, the NBA Finals once. Last season they were ousted in the first round by ferocious Golden State.

But the Dallas Mavericks, a 27-year-old franchise, is not the Cubs.

This year is a big anniversary for the Cubs. It will be 100 years since they won the World Series. One hundred years. The calendar turn to 2008 will also mark the 100-year anniversary of Henry Ford selling the first Model T for $850.

Cuban is self-made and always portrayed as blue collar as opposed to white collar, a label that seems contrary when juxtaposed with his enormous personal wealth. Simply put, he busted his butt to get where he is. That would ring true with Cubs fans.

The business sector that provided his wealth may not. The construction crew that splits season tickets may not want a front-and-center owner who became rich with Internet ingenuity. Just boost payroll, then get out of the way.

You also have the Dancing with the Stars thing.

Though, Cuban says, true to his t-shirt and jeans style, he would be a bleacher creature.

"Everybody thinks I'm going to be on the sidelines, in the dugout, jumping up and down. That's not where I'll be," he said on the Mike North Morning Show on Chicago radio station WSCR at the end of last season.

"When I went to the Cubs game a couple weeks ago, I sat in the bleachers, and I'll have a seat marked out for me and my friends. We'll be out in the right-field bleachers - that's the best place to watch a game.

This is not the approach Cuban has used with the Mavericks. The most fined owner in NBA history is a television camera favorite, even for the networks he doesn't own. He's often quoted because he is so quotable (as opposed to Bill Belichick, often quoted but not quotable).

The Cubs don't need Cuban's marketing savvy.

The Cubs owner needs to be a maintainer. Or at least a caretaker who treads lightly around the history before him.

Can Cuban do that? Would Cubs fans give him the chance?

It seems unlikely and, subsequently, a bad fit.

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