Monday Donuts: Cuban Tweeting, Kidd Flirting?

I woke up tired and I woke up pissed and I woke up tired of being pissed about a 28-point loss. And then came two weird and conflicting tales of Jason Kidd’s impending free agency – and what I view as a rather inappropriate flirtation with the enemy Cavs. So let’s skip the pleasantries and get right to some Monday Morning Donuts, OK?

    DONUT 1: You know about Mavs owner Mark Cuban being fined for Tweeting on Twitter with thoughts on the NBA officiating in his team’s Friday loss to Denver. It became the NBA Story of the Weekend, the media understandably latching on to the unusual techno-nature of the protest.

  DONUT 2: And now you know the next chapter: Tony Cubes wondering exactly what I was wondering when the fine came down: Is Twitter a “public criticism’’? Why isn’t it the same as a private email? Where is the line? And why?

   I’m assuming this isn’t Mark protesting the NBA fine as much as it’s Mark truly contemplating the league’s ability to keep pace with technology.

  But it’s an interesting point. If Cuban tells his mom that the refs sucked, is that fineable? She’s not media, so is it OK? How about if he tells two non-media people? Ten people? Ten thousand people?

  DONUT 3: And one more Cuban-Twitter related point that the uninitiated have been asking about: No, you don’t need to Twitter yourself in order to see what the Twitterati are saying.

   Here’s Cuban’s Twitter page. 

  DONUT 4: Trouble now in the West standings, where nobody is cooperating with the Mavs’ plan to move up from eighth. In their last 10 games, Denver is 8-2 and Houston is 7-3 and Portland and Utah and NO are 6-4 and there are the Mavs, bumbling along at 5-5. The Hornets’ win over SA last night gives NO (and Portland and Utah) a 2.5-game lead over the eighth-place Mavs.

  Hmm. … 2.5 games to make up, with nine to play.

  The task gets more daunting. …

  DONUT 5: Now, dear Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Moats: We’re all on your side. But are you sure you need to appear on Good Morning America today? Are you sure it wouldn’t be better to sit back, let other info flow in – like the news that ex-Cowboy Zach Thomas says Officer Robert Powell mistreated his wife, too – and brace yourself not to win in the court of public opinion but rather in a court of law?

  Screw Robin Roberts. If I’m the Moats family, I’m meeting with counselors and then with lawyers. And I’m being very careful to avoid appearing like I’m trying to milk this thing, lest I end up being viewed as some sort of publicity-starved OctoMom.

  DONUT 6: I’m catching some hell for my stance regarding your March Madness brackets (and your golf score and your Fantasy Football draft and your daughter’s first-grade graduation photos). I don’t care. And nobody cares.

  But I’m catching that hell, so I’ll try to re-prove my point.

  The otherwise fine Dan Shanoff blog includes this important item:

  Tournament Challenge Update: I'm in the 24th percentile. (Maybe I shouldn't have bounced out Villanova in the 2nd round, eh?)

  Um. … super, Dan! Of the 200 million people who filled out a bracket, you’re in the top … 50 million?

  Fascinating!

  DONUT 7: Bob Sturm on short shorts. 

  DONUT 8: Did you catch the Suns' 126-118 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night? The same obits are being written over and over again.
  "We were playing for a lot tonight and I don't think we showed up with our attitude or our desperation," guard Steve Nash said. … for about the 30^th time this year.

  DONUT 9: Remember back in the day, when Brandon Bass was part of the Mavs rotation?

  DONUT 10: Did you happen to watch the Donald Trump thing on NBC, “Celebrity Apprentice’’? Notable for very little, except last night one of the contestants was Dennis Rodman. And if was maybe the most real moment in reality-show history. The other celebrity contestants all but staged an intervention for the former NBA star, who seemed to have a vodka-and-cranberry juice in his hand 24 hours a day. Very real. … and very sad.

  DONUT 11: Regarding Jason Kidd: First came this item, posted at dinner time, on Cleveland.com. I, being a logical sort, assume this conversation with the Cleveland reporters occurred before tipoff. That would make it substantially more innocuous – because Jason Kidd wouldn’t address this after a loss, surely – but don’t tell the Cavs media that it’s innocuous.

   Check the headline:

Cavaliers Insider: No Kidding around, but Jason flirts with being James' teammate next year

   "I could sit and watch from the bench," Kidd said. "(LeBron) is so talented, he's going to get guys wide open shots. So we'll look at free agency and what happens for me next year."

   An innocuous and polite pregame remark, right? Hey, if they ask him about coming to the T’Wolves tomorrow night before the game in Minnesota, he would be wise to give the same by-rote answer, right?

   But wait. …

  DONUT 12: Turns, out, J-Kidd addressed this issue AFTER the game.

  What? Why?

   Maybe it’s still politeness. Maybe it’s still innocuous. In fact, the way the DMNews headline-writer writes it – this was an expression of Kidd NOT wanting to go to Cleveland.

    Check the headline:

   Dallas Mavericks' Kidd dismisses talk of free agency

   Well no. Not exactly.

   Eddie’s story doesn’t say that. It says Kidd “laughed’’ as he was talking of “sitting on the bench’’ while LeBron starred. But Kidd did not dismiss anything. He did the opposite. He addressed something.

    And he did so in the wake of a 28-point loss to the very team that is ostensibly planning on courting him.

   One of the Mavs players visiting Cleveland and leaving the impression that he might want to play there next year? Even if he was just being polite?

   Now I’m even more tired and more pissed.