The Chicago Sun-Times recently reported that Dallas Mavericks owner and prospective buyer for the Chicago Cubs, Mark Cuban, has a “zero chance” of becoming the club’s new owner according to a baseball source.

Now, you never really know how much an anonymous “baseball source” knows or how truthful this information is, but just for the sake of argument, let’s assume said person is right about Cuban’s bid to buy the Northsiders. The source went on to say “there’s no way that Bud (Selig) and the owners are going to let that happen.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I am very thankful for the immense wisdom of our great commish and the ol’ boys club that is now threatening to keep Cuban out of baseball. Just listen to the reasons why we can’t have Cuban mucking up the National Pastime.

We can’t have some owner who will run his mouth and cause a stir like Cuban has done for years in the NBA. Oh wait, baseball already has the Steinbrenners.

Well, we certainly can’t have some rich guy who’s willing to come into the league and spend any amount of money in order to put a championship-caliber team on the field. That would cause pandemonium. Oh yeah, the Steinbrenners do that too.

Hmm, if that isn’t it either, then why is it that Bud and the boys club are so scared of Cuban? Since I’m sure I’ve beaten you about the head enough with my obviously transparent sarcasm by now, I’ll play it straight from now on.

If true, it is awful that Selig and the owners would want to lock out Cuban. An owner like him is exactly what baseball needs because he would humanize team ownership in MLB the same way he has done in the NBA.

Cuban is the guy who sat in the bleachers last time he was at Wrigley Field, has courtside seats for the Mavericks and wouldn’t dare ride out a season in a luxury box away from the fans. He’s a guy who built himself from nothing to a billionaire in just over a decade, and took the Mavericks from the league joke to one of the NBA’s best teams.

So if Cuban will be committed to putting a competitive team on the field and won’t be a risk to bankrupt the club, what is the big gripe that Selig and the owners have with him? Your guess is probably as good as mine, but if I had to wager on any one issue, I’d go with money. Seemingly, everything Selig has done during his reign as commissioner has not only pleased the owners but been motivated by money. The introduction of interleague play and the decision to let the All-Star game determine home field advantage in the World Series were both motivated by the allure of more ad revenue.

The bottom line is that Selig does his job well for the owners because he does all he can to safeguard their bottom lines. So even though Cuban would more than likely make the league – and all of the owners – money, the boys club will shy away from him because he is a risk. The risk is one of change, of difference, and not one that old men who have made a lot of money the same way for a long time are likely to take.

Selig seems like a nice enough guy. But he and the owners are dead wrong if they think this decision will help the league.

Here’s hoping they change their mind.

Dave Fultz is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected].