Cuban Applies To Buy Cubs
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 13, 2007 2:11PM
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig must have choked on his frozen custard when he found out that Mark Cuban has officially thrown his hat into the ring to buy the Cubs. On Thursday Cuban made public that he had submitted his application to buy the storied ball club.
Bud, of course, has other ideas about who shall buy the Cubs. He has been lobbying for longtime friend John Canning Jr. to purchase the team from the Tribune Co. While the Madison Dearborn Partners CEO has deep pockets and ties to MLB, is he the best option?
While we might place Canning ahead of others who've expressed interest in the team — like Donald Trump or Billy Marovitz — is he really the best option?
We guess that depends on how one defines best. For Selig, it's the security that comes from knowing the guy so well and promoting his "Chicago roots." For some, it might be having a public face long associated with the Cubs, like Ernie Banks.
But Chicagoist thinks that the best option is the one which will do the most to try and change the Cubs' losing ways. And nobody would be able to pull that off as well as Mark Cuban. When we were a young sports fan, there was no franchise more inept than the Dallas Mavericks. Now, Cuban's got them contending for the title every year. He's proven to be a fan first, and businessman second, when running the Mavs.
He has proven that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win, from paying handsomely for players who can help improve his team, to building the most extensive training and coaching program in the NBA, to sticking up for his players and fans even when it means drawing large fines from the league. Amazing what some cash (he's worth an estimated $2.3 billion) and a passionate owner can do!
But that passion sometimes gets Cuban in trouble — hence the $1.5 million in fines he's racked up for blasting NBA refs. Such outspokenness surely frightens Selig. But preventing the one guy who would actually find the way to turn the Cubbies into winners from buying the team should frighten Cubs fans.
Photo via sfgate.com.