Sporting Madness

Things aren't going so well for Mark Cuban , owner of the Dallas Mavericks. First, it's reported that he's out of the running [ Matt Snyder , FanHouse ] to buy the Chicago Cubs [ Al Yellon , Bleed Cubbie Blue ], and now it comes out that the SEC has filed charges of insider trading against him [former Journal editor-in-chief Matt Hartley , The Globe and Mail ]. As Hartley details, the crucial charge relates to a massive stock sale in Internet search engine company Mamma.com (now Copernic Inc.): "The SEC alleged in [a] document that Mr. Cuban sold 600,000 shares of Mamma.com Inc. - now known as Copernic Inc. - after learning from executives that the Internet search engine company planned to make a public stock offering. The documents allege Mr. Cuban, a shareholder in the Canadian company at the time, was invited to participate in the offering provided he kept the information confidential. The complaint, filed by the U.S. regulator in the U.S. District Court for the...

(Photo from The Red Line ) Gary Bettman's most recent interview with Ron MacLean, which just aired on CBC's pre-game show, clearly is deserving of its own place in history on the Unintentional Comedy Scale . I recommend at least a 78: better than the Super Bowl Shuffle but not quite up there with Bill Clinton's denial . Credit to MacLean for going after Bettman with both barrels blazing, instead of throwing the softballs usually delivered at the commissioner's public appearances (often by broadcasters from his league's own network ) or by callers to his radio show . A key topic of conversation was sports business columnist extraordinaire Rick Westhead's piece in the Toronto Star yesterday, which revealed that the six Canadian teams (20 per cent of the league, if you're keeping track) account for a staggeringly disproportionate 31 per cent of the league's gate receipts. This provoked incredible hilarity, as Bettman tried to bash the piece as sensationa...