Dani Miret, entrenador del Joventut: "Con Ricky me ha tocado la lotería"
Patriots named as potential landing spot for $25 million sack monster
This would be a big move for New England.
Mark Cuban's viewpoint on tanking ignores the impact of gambling
Former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban, who still has a piece of the team, has an interesting take on tanking.
He thinks the NBA should embrace it.
Cuban's theory is that fans don't care about winning or losing. They care about experience.
"Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to," Cuban wrote on Twitter. "They can’t remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That’s what makes the experience special."
For most fans, the experience is undeniably more special if the preferred team wins. Cuban doesn't see it that way.
"Fans know their team can’t win every game," he said. "They know only one team can win a ring."
His point is that long-term hope is more important than short-term success, and that tanking helps achieve the goal of building a consistent contender.
"We didn’t tank often," Cuban said of his time in charge of the Mavericks. "Only a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka [Dončić] and improve our team."
Cuban's bottom line? "The [NBA] should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking. You know who cares the least about tanking? A parent who [can't] afford to bring their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are."
He may be right about experience and affordability, with one very important caveat. Sports leagues are currently cramming their pockets with gambling money. And gamblers definitely don't wager for "the experience."
They want to win. They need to assume both teams want to win the game as badly as the gambler wants to win the bet. And while a team's "tank" rating could be factored into the betting analysis, no one knows when or where a team is going to decide to give the starting five the night off in the hopes of not winning a given game.
Legalized gambling places a premium on the integrity of sport. The integrity of the games, and the integrity of the wagers on the games.
Tanking games is a stone's throw from fixing games. Would Cuban say fans don't care about fixed games, they care about the experience?
The NBA isn't the WWE or the Harlem Globetrotters. Tolerating anything that undermines the notion that, for both teams, "winning isn’t everything but it’s the only thing" invites a major scandal driven by bets gone bad because one of the teams wasn't really trying to win.
The reality is that tanking is happening, and that the NBA isn't doing enough to stop it. A major controversy, whether manifesting itself in legislation, regulation, prosecution, and/or litigation, is inevitable.
Brugge Ties Atlético in Champions League
The Champions League encounter between Brugge and Atlético de Madrid in Belgium is now tied, adding suspense to the game. Both teams continue to compete intensely as the match progresses.
Raising Canes founder, LSU fan says 'I might have an in' to buy Saints
Plenty of New Orleans Saints fans have called for Gayle Benson to sell the team after a directionless half-decade, but she isn't budging. That doesn't mean speculation hasn't gone around about who could be the next owner of the black and gold. One name that's come up frequently is Todd Graves, the Raising Canes founder based out of Baton Rouge who some frustrated fans have pointed to as an ideal successor.
While he's been spotted with Benson at various events and collaborated with the Saints and NFL in a number of ventures, Graves hasn't openly talked about his interest in buying the team. But in a recent Super Bowl week interview with TMZ at Jason and Travis Kelce's star-studded New Heights podcast party, Graves finally made his ambitions known.
“For me, I love football,” Graves said. He's well-known as an LSU Tigers super fan, but Graves rubs shoulders with dozens of celebrities at his own Super Bowl suite each year. He continued: “I love the fanfare of it. I love the fact that coaches and teams have to put together this amazing play-calling, amazing teams, the athletes are incredible, so I love all that. It’s all about success and working hard and doing great and giving it all to the fans. It's all about success and working hard and doing great and giving it all to the fans. So maybe, someday, that makes sense for me, right?"
While he cautioned that he isn't in a rush to join the exclusive circle of NFL owners -- emphasizing that this is a "maybe someday down the line" conversation -- Graves did acknowledge his strong relationship with Saints owner Gayle Benson. He added: “She’s a really sharp lady. I really respect her. We’re good friends. I just really respect her. I learn from her. She’s an incredible businesswoman, and even more, she’s just great in the community. She gives everything back, but you know, maybe some day, if she’s like, ‘Here are the reins,’ who knows?”
When the interviewer joked that "You might have an in!" Graves had to laugh in agreement: "I might have an in, you know? But you never know."
For her part, Benson has repeatedly stated that the Saints will not go up for sale during her lifetime, and she drew up a will that contractually binds a new owner to keep the team in New Orleans, with proceeds from the sale to be distributed to charities citywide. Having an owner like Graves who was born and raised in Louisiana would reassure a lot of fans that the black and gold wouldn't be going anywhere. We'll see how it shakes out. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has expressed his interest in expanding from the NBA to the NFL, too, so it's not like Graves would be the only bidder. But as he admitted, he might have an inside track once the day comes.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Raising Canes owner Todd Graves has interest in someday buying Saints