This is the downbeat on ninety seven to one, the freak. Good morning.
I hope you're all doing well. It is eighteen degrees in the Metroplex,
but never fear, should be above freezing in about three or four hours.
The cold front will hit again on Friday and Saturday. They'll kind of
keep the highs in the thirties, but we'll get out of that next Tuesday.
I think high sixty one. So whether it's uh, you know,
kind of on our mind in January a little bit here, especially getting through
this cold front. Luckily the roads didn't get iced over too bad or anything
like that. I'm seeing thirty four degrees by noon and by three pm forty
two. All right, pait it through there. Why an't we calling March
Wednesday? We're golfing Wednesday, okay? And then tonight's low should not dip
below freezing? How about that? I love it? And turn off my
space heater next to my washing machine in the garage. And then here's the
thing today though, Today is the day of pipe bursting, right because that
when the frozen pipes fall out? Though, isn't that the problem? I
don't know. I don't know either. We don't know, and that's what
you want. Fifty five tomorrow, guys, Yeah, let's go. Let's
go water skiing. I don't want to go water skiing with Twiggy the Squirrel.
Yesterday, Mark Cuban was on with Ben and Skin Live in studio.
You know Mark Cuban, the former owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Yeah,
who I learned His current title is Mark Mark. I'm Mark, Like the
first thing, like what do we call you now? Governor? A lot
of things? Mark? All right, the go here. He's an interesting
dude and he's comfortable. Uh. And Ben Skinn are great interviewers. Whatever
you want to say about Ben and Skin, they're great interviewers and they do
a great show ten to two every day here on the Freak. We said
it in the six o'clock hour. I want to repeat because I thought it
was great how to handle it that it was the good cop bad cop Skin
with more detailed specific questions kind of and Ben representing sort of the every man
and asking for clarification where needed. And like you said, with that format,
Ben then could ask kind of really hard questions, but do it from
a you know, a layman's perspective. And it was just the voice of
the people. Yes, yeah, and you know Ben would qualify. Look,
I'm an idiot. I don't understand this, what about this? And
it was just really well done. Man, it was really entertaining hour and
a half. They're the best interviewers in this town. They've gotten more out
of people who normally don't say things than anyone. If you if you're someone
who has listened to Minskin forever, you know that I'm right on this.
And if you haven't miss Minskin, you just need to trust me because I've
seen them bring so many people out of their shells and get comfortable and start
talking in ways that you would never hear them talk. And it's really interesting.
So Mark Cuban had a lot to say first sit down interview. I
mean, he had made comments on the court, you know, with the
seven to ten reporters, but he this is his first sit down interview since
he sold the team to the Addleson family in Las Vegas Sands Corp. I'm
gonna start though, with the one that's probably like not newsworthy or anything except
to well it is a little bit because this was a big story that there
is Mark Cuban paying out bonuses to his employees thirty five million dollars to MAV's
employees after he sold the team, because he got more money once he sold
the team, clearly, and Jeff skin Waite is an employee at Bally technically,
but skin has been on the MAVs broadcast since I think like oh nine,
maybe twenty ten, Like is that right? It's it's been a well
over a decade. I cannot believe that he's been Yeah, same here at
five or six, under fifteen years and over ten years old. Dude.
I sometimes watch random NBA games on h I have a thing, right,
watch games galore. And there are some play by play teams that are really
boring. Yeah, and ours is really really good. Ours is exceptional.
And I'm right with you because the way I have to consume the MAVs with
the you know, going through the weird yeah streaming sites, unfortunately, sometimes
you're locked into the away team. And dude, our play by play team
is exceptional, and Skin is a big part of it. Because most teams
just have two guys, one old former player and generally one old play by
play guy, and it's just kind of milk toast the whole delivery but follow
up is great. All the whole team is great. And then Skin is
there to with just dashes of of good insight and then wild weird city radiohead
references or whatever R and B you know for singers, and then his postgame
interviews are outstanding. We're lucky, dude, they are good. Has Edge
yeah, and Devin Harris is yeah. So it's kind of it's kind of
great, dude, Skin. He's on Monday on m okay, he interviews
Tim Hardaway and then they start the post game show and he's up there sitting
next to Dana, like, yeah, doing a lot there this If you
didn't hear this live, so you maybe it's just because like you know these
people, so you sit here and go you feel happy, right, But
we all have friends or employees for the MAVs, whether they've worked there for
a long time or not, and they're kind of talking about did this make
you feel good? You know, Mark, when you gave a big bonus,
and he mentioned some of his other companies, Broadcast dot Com and hd
net and all these companies that he'd had in the mess. Anytime I sold
the company, I paid out. I took out a big lump of money
and paid off some employees some bonus money for their commitment and hard work and
effort all that stuff. And this is yesterday on the Bit and Skin Show,
and this is just radio magic. Man. Yeah, man, you've
you've talked to people, right, I mean you've heard the stories and people
I'm sure have come up and said something to you. And you know,
and I don't know if if you got your check yet, I have not.
You will. Yeah, it's coming. So it went full time than
part time, than contractors, and so the contractors and friends of contractors.
That's great, this is great. I'll get mine. Well, this has
become a really good interview for me. It's amazing. Yeah, I mean
how much did you get? I think it was seventy five seventy five dollars
grand whoa really let's go. Hey, well, I'm kind of speechless at
the moment. Is it bad to let it ride on one hand of black
shots? I would give it to mad Max. She would like, would
you like to manage me? Had been some mattress and Studio two yesterday.
It's kind of hanging out. Is it bad to let it ride on one
hand of black drink? Yeah? It's probably a bad goal, but seventy
five he just learned yesterday on the ad it got seventy five, kissing his
ass. He's not that good at interviews. Well for thirteen years of interviews,
so whatever or whatever it is, you know, my God and games
and doing MAVs Live, dude, I antony. I used to worked ben
in Skin since twenty thirteen. I worked with them and it'd be nuts me.
It's gonna we get to the studio PM Drive show. It's time he
can get to the studio. But he just got back to the AAC because
he was recording MAVs Live. And I'm like, dude, at some point,
you don't have to do MAVs Live this side show on Fox Sports Southwest.
He's like, well, it's just easier if I handle it. So
I go down and do it, and you know, it's just it's a
lot, and it doesn't be on the music stuff. So I'm kidding that
dude's a horse. He has a horse. He's not shaped like a horse
at all. Oh no, I mean he is shaped like a lemur.
I couldn't believe that's seventy five grand, just like that in the how Many
Breaths It takes to say a couple of sentences, seventy five thousand dollars.
Yeah, and it's cool that barks at the number too, because really it's
like, oh, you'll be getting something. Nobody ever talks about money.
That's amazing that Mark. They got an actual figure, which is great for
me because you're over here ripping him. I'm very happy for skinned, well
deserved, well earned, which means, uh, maybe I'll get to put
a out another couple of extra albums this year. Yeah, from the Skylight
Soul Company for Operation Platinum, Right Soul Company. When did you feel like
legalizing gambling was gaining momentum? Mark never felt like it was gaining a lot
of momentum. That was never the thing I just looked at and said didn't
make good economic sense for the people of Texas and the state of Texas.
He said it was never gaining momentum to him. Now, he could be
talking in code, because he may. I'm sure he does no more than
he's letting on. I'm speculating in that regard, but I agree the follow
up here by Ben is really good because Ben said, well, when and
how would it be approved? To get that approved? Here in Texas when
and how I'm the wrong person? Yeah, I really Yeah, that's Patrick
knows that stuff cold and he's you know, that's what he does, right,
And so Patrick Dumont, Miriam Madelson's son who owns you know, as
a big player in this as well. He's part of the family. Future
best friend. Yeah, hopefully he doesn't know. Yeah, that's my new
target for real friendship. But what I do know is it's a process.
You know. What I do believe is that it'd be I truly believe that
if you do this, the state of Texas becomes a top three tourism destination
in the entire country and top ten in the entire world. What if instead
of let's go to Vegas, that's that's just let's go to Dallas, dude,
exactly, let's go I love that interesting point because think about this.
There's one reason to go to Vegas, right, one big reason, and
that's the casinos. That's the strip, that's the gambling, it's the culture.
It's the thing that Vegas has. But it's centered around that. The
hookers. Yeah, I thought you were gonna say the hooker. If you
come to Dallas and it has a similar the the accessibility to the those types
of things that you want from Vegas. You can come to Dallas. Well,
Dallas has a lot more around it than Vegas does, just Texas in
general, because you're only a few hours drive from Austin if you want to
you know, you're a quick plane ride to San Angelo or I'll passo if
you want to go explore the desert and Big Bend. I mean, there's
a lot of stuff you can do that's already baked in here, that was
here before Vegas ever was Vegas was created for the casinos, you know,
yeah, and we'll gambling exists because of that law that they passed precisely.
And I feel like that is the long term plan that's probably longer than Mark
Cuban's you know, life expectancy. But sure it's still a dream and goal
of the city. But to make it a top top three in the carree
in the in the country, I don't. I don't know that. I
argue that that's a possibility. It's going to be a top three market in
probably ten or fifteen years or less. We will be top three. We'll
pass Chicago at some point. But you feel a bitter cold that I agree
with you there, But tourist destination top three in the country. Yes,
it's top ten in the world. Yeah, you know, I mean,
and you can get a little superlative maybe if you want. But the point
is, I mean, there's an easy marketing slogan for this whole campaign.
Let's go to Dallas. I mean, I could see that on commercials.
You know, that's what you're coining. That's what I'm going with, and
I want credit for it. Let's go to Dallas. How great and easy
is that? What's Las Vegas is try something new or something what stays here.
Take advantage of every second. You know, I don't know what it
is. Maybe your quote can be the official quote of Dallas. They change
things quickly on you in this world. So let's go to Dallas. Yeah,
enjoy every minute in Dallas while you have it. We've said it.
There you go. We've said it plenty and we've referenced this study that we
saw that Dallas will be the number one metroplex in the United States in the
year twenty one hundred. And that feels like a distant future year, but
it's only seventy six years from now, and you know, they have to
realize we're gonna be long gone, but this wheel is going to keep spinning
for a long time. So there are long term plans for what this place
is going to be, and we are right in the midst of a very
interesting one. I feel like with the gambling and the decision to be ambitious
and try to turn this place into something like that, it's not out of
the realm. Then the year twenty one hundred, we have a strip right
right over there. This year they're synced up to the Vegas sphere and we
have giant, tall, beautiful lit buildings, casinos, galory. Whether that's
what you want or not, well, you can move your ass out of
town if you want to. It seems like it's headed that direction. And
we Jesus we did you know post the question yesterday when we're asking, you
know, kind of I don't know, hypothetically or rhetorically, do they know
something that we don't? Do these people that are investing in Dallas with the
you know, with the speculation that it's going to become a gambling community or
a gambling hot point or a hotspot in the country, you know, did
they know something that we don't? Maybe they don't maybe they don't have any
inside information with him saying that you know, there it's not really gaining momentum,
but I guess it's better to do it now. So whether it happens
now, in five years or twenty years, there's something to that you want
to get in here, and at least there's and look, there's never there's
never really a downside to acquiring real estate in this country or assets that appreciate,
like sports teams precisely, like the surest two things there are. Yes,
Well, this is a good follow up here. This is again Mark
cubnth the Beinnskin Show yesterday. Would they move the team to Las Vegas if
gambling is not approved? I mean, the company's called Las Vegas Sands And
this is a great answer. Is it possible that the Addamson's are like,
all right, well let's move the Mavericks to Vegas. No hell no,
no no, And the NBA won't let him anyways, but they have been
very clear they wanted to be in dex in Dallas. Remember, Dallas has
become the fifth largest market in the country and is only continuing to grow.
It be insane and they're smart, right, and they've been very clear to
me, and that was an important part of our conversation. So yeah,
there's no chance that they're moving. And on top of that, you know,
even if we don't get gambling approved, you know, we're still going
to build, and they're still going to build a new arena. See they've
tapped out in Vegas. Yes, go big play, And that is so
logical and so smart because when you think about the teams that Vegas has acquired,
one of them was an expansion team with hockey football, was a kind
of a back and forth, weird vagabond kind of organization that was in a
small market in Oakland. The speculation that the A's could land there another small
market in Oakland that of organizations it's not that's not doing well. Dallas is
a huge market, likely a top four in the next five years and incredibly
healthy that those that arena is sold out for every damn MAVs game, and
it's incredible, incredibly lucrative. So yes, it would be very foolish to
consider moving into Vegas. And I agree with Mark too that there's no way
the NBA would allow that to happen, not in the state that it is
right now, and the projected state that it will be in over the next
decade. The I mean we're the fifth market right now. The largest market
without an NBA team right now is number twelve, and that's Tampa Saint Pete
who does have the Orlando Magic about an hour and a half away, and
uh and then Seattle Tacoma is thirteen and they have one. And then it's
Detroit, Minneapolis, Orlando, Denver, Miami, Cleveland, Sacramento, Charlotte,
they all have them. It would be this bizar if you take the
number five out of there, that's foolish for the league. And if they
did, for some reason, we get an expansion team in like a second.
If they did that, so what if it turns into a resort town
and in fifteen years maybe the year twenty forty one, that sounds fun,
right. We build the cube rather than the sphere twice as big Mark Cuban's
cube the cube, and the cube is this insane box concert venue, concert
venue. The graphics are all around it, on the floor above you,
to the side, just like the sphere, but it's a cube. What
it's a little bit bigger than the cube than the sphere. What if the
cube is where the Mavericks play, they play inside the cube. Wow cubes
cube Take that, Dwayne Wade, We got the real cube. Now see
dude, I'm gon one more here. I'm gonna get to the Bally thing
in the next segment as a part of my scuttle butt, because he did
comment, will the Mavericks be playing on bat next year? Is there a
solution to some of that? But uh, this is very kind of a
basketball related question here. Would you go over the luxury tax? And how
would that work? If Nico wanted to go sign a player or retain a
player and there's luxury come to me? Okay? Do you then ask Patrick
if it's okay? No, this is like if we're taking on, you
know, one hundred million dollars in luxury tax. Yeah, right, if
there's something. But now with the new CBA, that's hard to do right
right, and we're not you know, because if you go above the second
apron of the leg just Sar's kind of going to that. But the point
is they he'll be able to handle it. He won't have to go get
big time approval from people. They need to go over the tax a little
bit to you know, go over the cap of tad. They'll be able
to do it. Now there's big rules that they go with that and paying
money back, indulge me in play the rest of that cut. If there
is more left, you diminish your ability to improve your teams. Yeah,
so you know that's that's not near the issue would have been three, five,
ten years ago. Of course you go way over. Yeah, it
diminishes your ability to improve your team, but a little bit over. That's
an interesting Uh. We didn't get to this in the sports segment. Sakham
got traded to the Pacers or that's being finalized for three first rounders. I'm
sitting there going, we don't really have a lot of first rounders, so
I could have been done. But Sakham will go to the Pacers and they're
gonna kind of go all in with him and Haliburt and all that. But
I think that there's some things that you get Luca Kyrie healthy, Grant Williams
healthy, healthy, everyone healthy. They just named and they got the Lakers
tonight seven thirty five thirty game for the Lakers. Kind of like that part
of it too. It was a triple header on a national TV or is
this even a national This is gonna be an ABC. Okay, so yeah
this is but uh yeah, I get to watch basketball tonight without exit out
a bunch of porno and gambling sites. Well, why Danny won't have to
get on porno and gambling sites to watch the MAVs Next year we have a
Bally solution, perhaps next on ninety seven to one, The Freak