Mark Cuban surrenders!

It was not too long ago that Mr. Cuban was as anti-establishment as one could be. He challenged anything and everything that the NBA had to offer. And why not? He spent his money, a record $280 million, to buy a team and he wanted his team to be the best. And if that meant making changes he would do so. If those changes would take some strong measures then so be it. He would simply do whatever needed to be done.

So passionate was he that he would often criticize both the league and its policies. Nothing was off limits. Not the rules, the ref's, the league brass and even Mr. Stern himself.

Now of course this did not sit too well with the establishment. By that I mean all of the mega-millionaires that owned the NBA franchises. They were after all minions of Mr. Stern himself. They did what he said and rarely if ever challenged him.

And that is why I found Mark Cuban to be so compelling. He was simply unafraid. He was motivated, bold and willing. Nothing nor anyone was going to stop him. Not even the prospect of huge fines from the NBA itself.

It has been well documented that he is the most fined person ever in the NBA. Cuban is now known to have been fined 10 times for $1,455,000 and suspended from three games. He was fined for comments about the ref's, cited for "several acts of misconduct" regarding behavior during and after a game and fined for making comments on his blog.

Each time he has been fined he has donated an equal amount to charity. His point is that the money is not important. What he was saying was important and that is something that money can't buy.

Which is why I am writing this article. It is the point that I am making. Specifically that Mark Cuban has totally surrendered.

Has anyone seen him attack a ref or the league front office lately? Has anyone recently heard him make a single negative comment about the NBA? No, No and No!

In fact everything he has said is positive. Extremely positive.

He likes the new ball. Says Cuban "So after a week of watching games with the new ball, I still think it was the right business move for the NBA."

A recent entry on his blog, Blog Maverick, was titled "I Love the new NBA." "No complaining. No backtalk. No taking off your warm-ups on the court. No arena sound system is too loud. The new ball. All changes for the better. Anyone who has seen me at the games knows its a completely different ballgame, and I'm thankful."

Another recent Cuban statement was "The NBA is on a business roll and our leadership continues to be consistent in their decision making abilities."

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