(Cuban, ignoring the cabin crew’s request that he turn off the fucking Sidekick until the flight has landed)

Sportsline’s Mike Freeman had the dubious honor of speaking to Mark Cuban following the conclusion of the World Basketball Championships. Showing the kind of tunnelvision not exhibited since George Steinbrenner felt compelled to apologize for Yankee participation in the WBC, Cuban spewed forth with the following : (link courtesy True Hoop)“I personally think that the NBA, from a business perspective, is stupid for letting our players play at all,” Cuban explains. “We absorb all the risk and we have gained little if anything from it. Well, that’s not completely true. (The) last six to 10 years of international competition have led media to call our players selfish, without basic basketball skills, ugly Americans and worse. This year’s team was far better behaved and that’s great. But we put ourselves in a no-win, everything-to-lose situation (just ask Memphis). That™s not good business. Ever.”

At the risk of suggesting something insane, bringing the game to corners far-flung might be pretty decent business, assuming you have any confidence in the product. With cable and broadcast ratings taking a beating stateside and The Sternmeister pointing overseas for future revenue, promoting basketball on a global stage makes a bit of sense.

How much would professional soccer have grown around the world over the past 100 years, if for example, the clubs refused to release players for international competition?

I can sympathize with Cuban to a degree. If Dirk landed on someone’s foot while toiling for Germany, the Mavs are as fucked as the Grizzlies are at the moment. But that’s the price of doing business, or at least it ought to be.