Picasso It Ain't, But It's Cubism All The Same

Ugh. Things have got to change.

I have now posted my official reaction to the Cubs post-season run.

It hasn't hit hard yet, but it will. Once the distraction and pain have worn away after watching the winners continue playing postseason baseball, the talk will be back on about the Cub's new owner. Who's it going to be? Another corporation? A team of wealthy venture capitalists? Or what if it really ends up being Mark Cuban?

I'll throw the bias out there: I'm a big fan of Mark Cuban. Does he get over-involved with some things? Yes. Does his public image possibly mean a bit too much for him? Yes. Is he just some zany, batshit-crazy rich guy throwing his money around because he can? Yes. It's not as if this is any information that everyone else doesn't already know. That being said, there's one other undeniable trait about Mark Cuban as well, he gives 100%.

Don't believe me? Well, maybe you should start paying attention to Dancing With The Stars. The guy doesn't like to lose and it's clear he's putting in some major work to hone his new craft. And now Cubes has just Lou Bega'd his ass into the next round. Okay, I'll admit it, I don't actually watch the show, but I'm following it avidly via TTWMLGMFFW*, YouTube. I think I like the idea of seeing our owner sleeveless, making an ass out of himself. Yeah, it's a bit off-putting (this isn't the 90's anymore, do people really wear sleeveless shirts?), but it's not quite as absurd as taking showers in the outfield. And if it's a bad fashion statement by Cubes, it's certainly been a lot worse in this town. If ever there were a franchise that needs some passion and a blast of fresh air, it's the Cubs.

The big hangup with a possible purchase by Mark Cuban has been baseball's asinine rule that states if all the other owners don't want him, then they can block the sale. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Shockingly, Monday on the Mike North Morning Show, Mark Cuban said that he has been in contact with many of the current MLB owners, and they have been supportive of his quest, outside of Mr. Stuffypants himself, Jerry Reinsdorf. Nothing is set in stone, and he still has to see what assets are included in the deal, but I wish it would happen.

Mark Cuban, Cub owner? For Christ's sake, make this shit happen. And expect this:

• An Attitude Change: For all of his blowhardedness and theatrics, the guy is passionate about winning. Definitely a guy who would embrace the current aversion to being known as 'Lovable Losers'. He has experience doing this with the Mavs.

• Payroll: Duh. Granted, The Trib put some serious funds into this year's team, to positive (but not overly) results. Could it have been better? Absolutely. Cuban would make it different because...
  

• Information: Cuban is no scout, nor is he a former athlete who can judge performances, but he is an information junkie, and will pay top money to get said information or come up with different ways to gather it. There's that breath of fresh air into an already stuffy mindset.
  

• League-wide Improvements: Expect to see criticisms of a league steeped in tradition. Case in point, Cuban's work in the NBA. Coming up with a system for ranking the officiating was genius on his part. It was viewed as BS by David Stern and his band of merry "me" men, but Cuban keeps sending the reports, and people are paying attention. Translated into baseball, we should end up with the best officials possible on the field, and certainly in the playoffs. (Really, shouldn't the season's BEST ranked officials be the ones on the field for the Playoffs??) Let's face it, the league needs that anyway (read: Milton Bradley).

What's the worst that can happen? We go another 99 years without a championship. Let's be proactive for once, huh? Ooops! That's a bad way to think in baseball. It's obviously killing teams like the A's and Red Sox...

*Thing That Will Most Likely Get Me Fired From Work (it seems that this is the cool thing to do now!)