The Cuban blog is great fun. Baseball needs owners like him. Well, maybe on a trial basis. I also liked the post on sportswriting, which I noted a few days ago.

The whole world needs owners like him. Damned fine blog, so far. I'm glad the fellow now has an outlet for his opinions...

I think there are two issues that need to be separated. One is calling the game as the rules are written. The other is calling the game consistently.

It seems to me that Cuban is mainly concerned about the second issue, but he frames it in terms of the first. While I agree with his point, framing it in this way seems to me a mistake.

You simply can't understand a sport by just reading the rules. You understand a sport by watching it be played and finding out what about it makes it worth watching/playing. To enforce rules simply as they are written would invite the same legalism that attends law enforcement everywhere. Hopefully there is a close match between the written rules and the actual play of the game (which may not be true in basketball), but it is a mistake to think the two will perfectly overlap. Human beings simply can't articulate themselves that well. We depend then on referees exercising judgment, and that judgment is shaped by more than just rules.

I don't know basketball but I do now passion and Mr. Cuban possesses lots of it.