Mark Cuban Calls for a 'Sports Blog Blacklist' Run By ESPN

Mark Cuban is good for basketball and has been quite kind in terms of accessibility. Hey, he's even suggested FanHouse could sponsor his Mavericks in the future! But sometimes he bleats ideas and stances so unbelievably backwards you wonder how he ever got to where he's at.

Take his latest screed against sports blogs, for example. He bemoans the invention of rumors, which leads so-called "real reporters" to chase down dead ends. Cuban's solution to end this vicious cycle of, um, reporting work? To have ESPN create a blacklist of blogs which have reported inaccurate information, and which shall never be taken seriously again.

I assume this all stems from a report that the Mavericks have reached out to Anderson Varejao with a contract offer, a rumor which has been blown back by a Dallas journo (and which was never taken very seriously outside of Texas, to be honest). Cuban, apparently so sick of playing defense, wants to rid us (and the corps of big-time reporters) of the rumor mill. How valiant!

We, of course, wouldn't have to rely so much on thinly sourced whispers if NBA authorities like, I don't know, Mark Cuban, didn't lie to us about their intentions at every chance. On January 29 of last year, Cuban told a reporter who inquired about a potential deal for Jason Kidd to "step away from his crack dealer." Two weeks later, Cuban traded for Kidd, with basically an identical package to what had been reported. This is one example. There are dozens of others all around the league.

Pardon us for being so interested in his product that we discuss rumors concerning it. I'm sure David Stern is just beside himself because fans have the temerity to be glued to their monitors (television and computer) from October through July.

DallasBasketball.com's Mike Fisher, who threw the cold water on the already chilly Varejao rumor, has it a bit more right (if you'll pardon his arse-don't-stink attitude considering prior incidents). Fisher argues that, in the end, publications who peddle garbage will end up in the trash heap. That's only partially true: behemoths of the field who get stuff wrong often remain behemoths. (See: the altruistic and never-wrong ESPN Cuban holds up as a gold standard.) But Fisher has it right in that no central source -- especially no one Cuban would appoint -- is pure enough call themselves the Truth Police.