The Cube

Mark Cuban, what a guy, right? The man has done it all. As the owner of the NBA's Dallas Maverick's, Landmark Theatre, Magnolia Pictures, and part time investor on the television series Shark Tank, would you ever think this man would screw up? Well think again, because he does A LOT. As Forbes' 459th richest person in the world at an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion, the man creates a lot of controversy, especially in regards to his ownership of the Dallas Mavericks. Cuban is recognized as one of the most outspoken and intense owners in all of professional sports (SportsIllustrated.com actually rated him at #4, check it out here) 

In 2009, Cuban was fined $25,000 by the NBA for some comments he made on Twitter. Cuban used the social networking tool to voice his anger at league officiating after a loss to the Denver Nuggets. Cuban's tweets referred to an altercation between Nuggets player J. R. Smith and Mavs player Antoine Wright. He first tweeted, "how do they not call a tech on JR Smith for coming off the bench to taunt our player on the ground ?" and ten minutes later tweeted, "scary part of that play: Same crew chief from game in Denver where they missed call - last play of the game & 1st JRSmith/Wright issue." The next day Cuban was handed the fine, and continued to tweet about how the NBA looks to make money off of the social networking site. 

Cuban is like a little kid when it comes to social networking, he always has to voice his opinions and feel connected. Sherry Turkle's book, Alone Together, talks about how people "live in a state of waiting for connection. And they are willing to take risks, to put themselves on the line." The Cube does just this, put himself at risk to feel connected. A man in his position (with $2.5 Billion in his pocket) should not care at all about one measly call in a basketball game, even if he owns the team. According to Turkle, people like Cuban need to be connected in order to feel like themselves. I love the fact that Cuban does this kind of stuff, it makes for interesting material. Cuban, #youretheman