Cuban provides the voice of reason

Basketball Betting Lines

10/21/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - I get the feeling NBA commissioner David Stern cringes every time Mark Cuban opens his mouth.

The Mavericks owner strikes me as a contrarian, a guy who pulls no punches and isn't all that interested in the political correctness that pervades virtually all American discourse these days.

As the public face of one of the country's major sports organizations, Stern lives by the PC doctrine, unable to deviate from accepted populist views for fear of losing valuable marketing partnerships.

As of 2009, Forbes Magazine listed Cuban's net worth at $2.3 billion. a tidy little nest egg even in this economy, so the Pittsburgh native isn't all that interested in placating other people's views.

"Steroids" is the dirtiest word in sports these days so I wasn't all that surprised when Cuban took on the issue when queried at a University of Pittsburgh forum on Tuesday.

Even though many performance-enhancing drugs have significant therapeutic value, the general public has been taught they are a pariah.

"We are caught in a moral myth," Matt Chaney, a former college football player and author of Spiral of Denial: Muscle Doping in American Football, said. "If they (steroids) are used in a therapeutic fashion, they can be helpful. I am convinced we are in some sort of hysteria."

"It's the silver bullet theory," Chaney continued. "That if you take it once something horrible will happen. It's ridiculous. People get in trouble when they abuse them."

While no expert, Cuban echoed that sentiment when asked about Orlando Magic forward Rashard Lewis's 10-game PED suspension at the forum on Tuesday,

"I'm not an expert in the subject, but if we get to the point where there aren't long-term negative health impacts, why wouldn't you do it?" Cuban said. "We do performance-enhancing things all the time, just not steroids.

"If you administer them properly and fairly and set the rules strictly, as long as in doing so we recognize there are no negative long-term health-impact issues."

Lewis was suspended after testing positive for an elevated testosterone level, and claimed he took an over-the-counter supplement that included a banned substance.

"I'll get killed for saying this but I'm not so against steroids if they're administered under proper supervision and there is no long-term damage," Cuban added.

He also recognized just how that statement would be taken.

"If somebody thinks it's controversial, fine," Cuban said. "To me, it's just common sense. I'm sure I'll hear about it that 'Cuban is for steroids.' "

To me, Cuban is on the right track.

"There is a thought that we can do something about it. We can't," Chaney said. "We will never eradicate it. Sports should have a big disclaimer -- there are drugs here."

If that's true, instead of the current witch hunt that focuses purely on punishment and hasn't been all that effective, moderation and education may be a better approach to the problem.

Let's face it, enhancing one's performance is not necessarily a bad thing. If it were, we would have to ban all vitamins and supplements, not to mention weightlifting and eating right.

In a society that is caught in right vs. left and conservative vs. liberal, that view is may be a little too nuanced. A quick Google search confirmed that most mainstream media outlets are indeed playing up the 'Cuban is for steroids' angle.

And I'm sure Cuban could care less.

After all, the "Maverick" owner is right.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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