Mark Cuban vs. Nolan Ryan

IIRC, Cuban was one of the original Reunion Rowdies in the 1980s and 1990s before he became a bazillionaire.

ETA: Can't find direct references to him attending games in the 1980s (though there's a passing reference in an SI article to him attending lots of games when he founded his first company in Dallas in 1983), but he became a Mavs season-ticket holder in 1993 and bought the team in 2000.

 

I'm not sure why fans wouldn't want him as an owner.

 

Not sure, Smash. Cuban struck internet gold pretty young and he's from Pittsburgh, not Dallas.

 

Has he tried to purchase the Bucs?

 

He said he wanted to and the cheap bastards who own the team insisted it is not for sale. They are doing too well pocketing all that revenue-sharing money, I guess.

I'm not sure how serious he was. He had to know they weren't selling.

 

He moved to Dallas in 1982 and started all of his major companies there.

I remember him being tied in passing to the Pirates (and Penguins during their search for ownership/Balsillie saga), but he's got deep ties to Dallas now as well.

ETA: Definitely a Mavericks fan since he owned the team, season-ticket holder since 1993 and attended many games in the 1980s. Two links:

""I've been a Mav fan since 1993. I used to buy tickets for almost nothing and move down into empty seats at Reunion Arena. Through the years, I kept upgrading and upgrading my seats. Now I own the club and I can have any seat I want. Why wouldn't I want to be right where I am to get the full fan experience?""

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3958944.html

And from a third-party, http://www.teamworkonline.com/panko.cfm

 

Ok. Thanks for the info. I still can't see the guy half-assing it as an owner in any sport.