I had several people, including higher-ups at SBNation, ask me if I planed to respond to Mark Cuban's blog post about internet journalists and their presence in the Mavericks' locker room. At first I wanted to just let it blow over, because the negative parts didn't really apply to this site. But I read it again and decided why the heck not. And don't worry- this won't be some ranty, angry diatribe about David versus Goliath. I can see where Cuban is coming from. This is just to let you, the reader, know what OUR site is all about.
First and foremost, I will describe which of Cuban's category I and my writers fall into. We are internet journalists, yes, but we are unpaid. Well I make a little cash every month but that's for managing this site, not for producing content. Hell, I could refrain from posting a single word and I'd still get paid, but that's not how I roll. My faithful writers do this for the same reason I do- because we absolutely love the Dallas Mavericks. Mavs Moneyball is content built by and for fans, and because the Mavericks organization is as awesome as it is, we are lucky to be given inside access.
Those of you who frequent our site are often fortunate to read the stellar, in-depth analysis of our own beat writer, Bryan Gutierrez. The guy works tirelessly to bring us the inside scoop, and he does it for no other reason than his love for the team. I, myself, am a long-distance fan located on the East Coast, and when the Mavs travel here I, too, am given team access and treated with the same respect that is given to the regulars down in Dallas. So before any of you other bloggers get up in arms about the organization and how Cuban runs it, please understand that the man is entitled to his opinion just as we, the bloggers, are.
Yes, this means that sometimes our posts will be negative and even apocalyptic in nature, but that's because we're fans and we are prone to fits of emotion when our team isn't doing too well. But here at MMB, we try to balance that opinion-based writing with intellectual, analytic basketball journalism that we feel ranks up there with the top sports sites.
Every so often, I think about how fun it would be to work for a bigger site (if I had the talent, which, let's face it, I don't) but then I realize I wouldn't have the freedom, nor would the other writers, to blog as fans. I sometimes pity the pros because they have to appear unbiased, while we get to inject our love and passion into the pieces we write. The fact that we have been granted access only makes us that much more passionate, and that much more willing to support the team that supports us.