Mavericks: Houston, You Have a Problem. Cuban is Brilliant.

No Houston, the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is brilliant and innovative for his use of Tony Romo.

Perhaps this is exactly what Houston Chronicle columnist Brian Smith wanted when he decided to write a hate piece about Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks, and Tony Romo. Maybe he knew how ridiculous his article was when he was writing it. Maybe he just wanted to get in a few more parting jabs to the now-retired Tony Romo and the lottery-bound Dallas Mavericks.

Perhaps.

Two days ago Smith called the Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, “arrogant and clueless.” And while on many days I’d be happy to agree with that, the reasons he cited were anything but arrogant or clueless. In fact, they’re downright brilliant and innovative.

What Smith was referring too, of course, was Mark Cuban’s gimmicky move to make retiring Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo, a Mav for a day. Romo, a long-time Mavs supporter, will presumably be suiting up, warming up, and riding the pine for the Dallas Mavericks home finale tomorrow.

this was a savvy move by an innovative owner that will drive interest in an otherwise uninteresting game.

Smith called the Dallas Mavericks stunt a “pitiful little circus”, which truthfully, it probably is. The Mavs are 32-47. They are pitiful. Tony Romo isn’t a basketball player. He’s the circus act. That’s kind of why it’s brilliant and not the “stupidest idea I’ve ever heard of” as Smith suggests.

Simply put, the Mavs aren’t used to missing the playoffs. In recent years, they are far less familiar with it than the Houston Rockets are.

You see, Mark Cuban knows that pro sports are about entertainment. If it wasn’t entertaining, franchises wouldn’t make money, players wouldn’t get paid, and most importantly, sports writers wouldn’t have jobs. Cuban found a very entertaining way to package an otherwise benign event. Kudos to him.

Naivety?

Smith attempted to say that the act was somehow disrespectful to the game and “how millions of children, teenagers, and young men spend countless hours, days and years of their lives endlessly dreaming of wearing an NBA uniform.”

The naivety of such a statement is mind-boggling. Once again, this is an entertainment business. People are naturally more excited to see local celebrity appearances (with little-to-no game) than they are little Billy from Grapevine (with little-to-no game).

Clearly, if the game actually mattered, fans would be up in arms. But since it’s the home finale on a lost season, everyone is entitled to a little fun, don’t ya think?

Tony Romo

But Smith couldn’t even leave it at that. Nope. He had to take some shots at the Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo too. After saying his displeasure has nothing to do with Tony Romo, he went on to make it all about Tony Romo:

"“It has nothing to do with the fact Romo will forever be 2-4 in the playoffs, only has one more postseason victory than Brock Osweiler and never even sniffed a Super Bowl.”"

I shouldn’t have to say that a winning postseason record doesn’t make players like Osweiler or Mark Sanchez automatically good. Just like a losing record doesn’t automatically make players like Romo automatically bad. Shall I point out former Houston great and Hall of Famer, Warren Moon, has a worse postseason win percentage than Romo?

I’m certainly no Tony Romo apologist but this is kinda a fourth grade understanding of NFL football. With the exception of 2014, Tony Romo dragged the Cowboys to the playoffs kicking and screaming. The team was more disappointing than the signal caller.

To just point to the record is foolish at best. If things were really so black and white there would be no need for columnists or analysts to discuss the intricacies of the game. We would just post stat sheets in the sports section and say it is what it is.

Ill Will

It’s hard to tell where all the ill will from Houston really stems from. In-state jealousy is nothing new but does anyone in Dallas Fort Worth really give a good gosh-darn about Houston Sports? I mean, they “won” (heehee) the Dwight Howard sweepstakes but besides that, does anyone think about them?

The Rockets built a fantastically inconsequential team to compete and inevitably lose this season.

They’re better than the Dallas Mavericks but they’re still light years from beating the San Antonio Spurs or a healthy Golden State Warriors in the playoffs. I have to say, the Dallas Mavericks picked a great time to re-build. Conversely, Houston couldn’t have picked a worse time for their roster to peak.

The Houston Texans are cute. But until they get a quarterback their efforts in the postseason will be futile. Green Bay taught us you can be below-average anywhere and everywhere and still find success as long as you have a quarterback.

Next: Mark Cuban Should Just Relax

I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a problem with a losing team and/or retiring player from a different sports town. Probably never. But for some reason some people do. Whether it’s franchise envy or an inferiority complex that’s torturing them, I just don’t know. But this was a savvy move by an innovative owner that will drive interest in an otherwise uninteresting game.

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