By Denis Campbell
NBA bad boy owner Mark Cuban, in trouble for a stupid insider stock trade charge, chided Obama for not putting a single entrepreneur on his economic team and 60’s rocker guitarist Neil Young lectured Detroit’s automakers on survival (fire management/start over). Like the kid looking for a pony in a room full of s***, there was a story here.
Mark Cuban created a business empire selling Broadcast.com for $5 billion basketball success story with classy event marketing and a fiery courtside appearance that has gotten him into a ton of trouble with (and fined over $1 million dollars by) NBA Commissioner/God David Stern. Cuban was so incensed by the poor quality of league officiating that he went so far as to compile a statistical online dossier of every referee including every blown and questionable call whistled… or not. The Commish was beyond furious and levied a huge $500,000 fine. No matter the sport, the on field/court referee may be an idiot, but he’s the league’s idiot and therefore God incarnate. Anyone speaking ill of one faces a huge financial penalty.
Cuban turned around perennial loser the Dallas Mavericks and brought them to playoff greatness (and huge, sellout crowds) falling just short twice in the last few years. He knows how to take care of his product (the players have their own luxury private jet) and his customer (the fans), who love to see him sitting at courtside for every game jumping up and screaming even louder than they do.
He wanted this fall to buy the Chicago Cubs baseball team and the fans thought it was a great idea. The baseball Commish and owners’ club (the last modern fiefdom with zero accountability) is a fickle lot and Tribune Co. were warned not to sell to Mr. Cuban, he is not one of us and his ownership would be bad for the institution of baseball. Imagine that happening in the city that launched Barack Obama?!?
But there he was advising PE Obama that he needed to randomly speak with the people who were going to end this recession, the entreprenruers and businessmen and women owners who put it all on the line every day waiting for payments and making payrolls as they will get us out of this mess, not the vaunted assembled MBA/Nobel team. Have to say I agree with Mr. Cuban.
Neil Young though was just classic rock at its best. Most of these guys and having worked with several of them now hitting their mid-60s I love them like brothers, come from a time they frankly have little memory of. As the saying goes, if you remember the rock and roll days of the 60s and 70s, you weren’t there man.
Neil was never one to overindulge and always had a different perspective. He saw what the rock life did to his band mates David Crosby and Steven Stills and stayed away from the hard stuff. He also became pretty good at kicking artist butt compassionately into rehab. Yet there he was blogging on HuffPo and saying to PE Obama that he needed to fire the management team of the Big 3 and start over. They were built and structured like dinosaurs.
I kept thinking, yeah man, you are the one that will hit his tipping point and he will do as you say. Then Arthur Hailey’s book ‘Wheels’ 40 years ago, the insider look at the auto industry showed how out of touch the industry was then and I could see where we were headed for big trouble just like in Airport.
Amazing the industry lasted so long or was the demise just a long time comin? I know Suite Judy Blue Eyes is a perfect anthem for PE Obama and all the interests tugging at his sleeve.
Tuesday morning…
Please be gone, I’m tired of you
What have you got to lose
I’ve got an answer
I’m going to fly away
What have I got to lose?
Sorry Barry, you won. The cockroaches are heading for the cracks and crevices and you gotta fix it all. We’ll be watchin’ and wishing and hopin’ and prayin’ for ya.
