In the words of the great Abraham Lincoln ...

... Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

And it was those words that came to mind this morning - well, truthfully since the Josh Howard video made its debut - but particularly this morning when I couldn't find a radio station that wasn't talking about it, and a morning show host that wasn't unleashing invective on the soul of Josh Howard. But let's review. Josh Howard made a poorly-thought out joke at the expense of the National Anthem. It's not the first bonehead thing he's done - and as a 28-year-old man, with five years as an NBA player with a certain amount of limelight, he should by now know that cameras are devices that record and transmit moving pictures, including ones of you saying that, as a black man, you don't celebrate the National Anthem. But do I think Josh Howard honestly thinks the National Anthem is something only white people sing? No. A reasonable person who has watched any Mavs games on television or in person would know that he's had ample demonstration of the opposite. Furthermore, I can't remember him making some kind of giant disruption - or deviating from what the rest of the team was doing - as the anthem played. So let's simmah down now. Yes, it was a bad thing to say. And I'm not a Josh Howard apologist - I think he needs a stern talking to and some time riding pine for comments that put the team in a bad light. But I do think that we're getting our panties in a twist over something that was just a joke gone awry. This is the city that embraces athletes that have been kicked out of their respective leagues for far worse (rhymes with Madame Bones). I wager that if the Mavs do the improbable and win a NBA championship this year (yes, I'm stifling a mirthless chuckle here, too), and Josh Howard contributes in any way, everyone will have forgotten this. That being said, what do the Mavs need to do? They need to not completely cave to knee-jerk public opinion, but at the same time, they need to have someone work with the guy on image control. It's been said he's also suffered several personal losses recently - something that likely needs addressing as well. Howard himself needs to apologize for his words. Yes, we have freedom of speech around here - but with that freedom comes the responsibility of owning your words and accepting the consequences. So far, Josh Howard has done neither. Update: Mark Cuban does a cut and paste job on the numerous e-mails he's gotten on the subject. Stay classy, Mavs fans.

Cubes, the world still thinks you're a tool

So Henry Abbott tried to get into the Mav's locker room tonight, just to see if perhaps Mark Cuban's edict would wiggle for an ESPN blogger. It didn't. Abbott, Andrew Kamenetzky of the Los Angeles Times and, of course, Tim McMahon of the Dallas Morning News were all stopped at the door. Apparently, there was even a shitlist, I mean, ahem - a list of bloggers, so the guard would know who was verboten. The most moronic thing? I'll let Abbott explain:

The Laker locker room, however, is fair game for bloggers tonight. As, of course, is the Mavericks' locker room at any road game.

I still haven't met anybody who tells my they understand or believe Mark Cuban's explanation of how the blogger ban came to be.

So yeah, Cubes. Nobody believes you. Nobody. And pretty much everyone thinks you're a tool.

I Can't ...

Wait. I can't. Go get 'em, daddy!

Cubes, dude ...

Seriously. You're the last person I'd think would go technophobe. The fact that you'd let a blogger in to the Mav's locker room would be a step forward, and here you are saying you're giving someone who's really only half a blogger (because really, anyone who works for the Man is really not a renegade blogger you seek to ban) the heave-ho. I do get it. I do. You don't want to let just any hack working on his E-Machine from the comfort of his mother's basement into the inner sanctum of Mavericks Nation. I get it. And, while I am not blogging from my mother's basement, I promise never to even ask for press credentials. But to change policy in the middle of the season and yank the cred's of a guy that has been there the whole time is goofy. I know you said you didn't boot Tim MacMahon because he wrote something you didn't like about Avery Johnson. From the DMN article:

"I can assure you that I am not singling out Tim MacMahon," Cuban wrote in an e-mail response to a reporter's questions. Cuban said he never read MacMahon's posts and had no idea MacMahon had been blogging so long. He said someone did bring the Johnson item to his attention, along with the fact that MacMahon was a blogger.

I'm not going to call you a word that ends with pants-on-fire, but for reals? You've never ventured to the DMN's Mavericks' blog? Seriously? Bobs Mong and Decherd, you either need to do better marketing, or Cubes, you lack awareness. I'm doubting either is the case. I have a hard time choking down a scenario that has you not looking at the DMN's coverage of a team you own. I have a hard time choking down that you never got a blip on your RSS feed that featured a Tim MacMahon blog post, considering you have even said you use - nay, rely on an RSS feed for reading material:

"Between Google for News, video and web, Live.com for images, Icerocket.com for blog and RSS and Amazon for books, its pretty easy to find everything and anything from anywhere." -- Mark Cuban, blogmaverick.com, March 10, 1:32 p.m.

According to the Dallas Morning News:

The Mavericks' new policy denies locker room access to writers whose "primary purpose is to blog." The policy states that the team does "not have enough room in the locker room, nor enough media passes to fairly accommodate everyone."

Well, the solution seems easy enough. If the blogger in question is also attached to a paper product or a broadcast, he is not just a blogger. He's a contributor to the newspaper, magazine or sports broadcast. When Sports Illustrated or ESPN - who have a veritable stable of bloggers whose work never sees the print or video product - come calling, are you booting them, too? Don't be a tool, Cubes. There's a way to keep out the riffraff without looking like you're just giving a writer the boot because you didn't like what he wrote. This policy looks knee-jerk, and makes you look like, well, a jerk.