Mark Cuban made the logical mistake that many people make by thinking that there can only ever be one bad guy or bad group in a relationship. And what Pablo all but said to him, assuming Cuban wasn’t a naïf, is that it’s entirely possible that Ballmer saw in that company an opportunity to use them to get around NBA cap rules, maybe also thought he might be able to SPAC his way into some cash, and then didn’t do good enough due diligence to avoid being taken in by a scam company. Being rich doesn’t automatically make you a perpetual genius. Both Ballmer and Aspiration can be rule breakers in this story and be guilty of breaking different rules for different reasons. Just because Aspiration was a sham doesn’t automatically mean Ballmer is guilt free.
I found this episode to be incredibly infuriating. Mark Cuban just was going off of vibes and personal anecdotes and at one point tried to pass that off as “evidence”. Pablo’s patience was honestly impressive. The best line Pablo had was “At what point are we going to treat Steve Ballmer like he’s a smart capable adult?”
Pablo’s blind spot is that he doesn’t realize how smart he is and how dumb everyone is. I’m being totally serious. Smart and/or rich people do really stupid and illogical things all the time and Pablo’s worldview doesn’t allow for that reality. Two things can be true simultaneously. Steve Ballmer can be the great investor of the last 20 years and still make dumb ass decisions.
I can only imagine how frustrating that entire 3+ hour conversation was when even in the edited version Cuban is constantly using circular reasoning to argue his point.
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
It got flat out bizarre, the longer the pod went, how blind Pablo was to the possibility that people at Aspiration either lied to him, or more likely, didn't know what they were talking about.
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
What a fascinating conversation between two passive aggressive narcissists. Good stuff.
I’m on Team Pablo for this one. Good job of “leading the witness” to wring some interesting admissions out of Cuban. What a fool to do this interview - he sounds like a shady owner too…
Mark Cuban made the logical mistake that many people make by thinking that there can only ever be one bad guy or bad group in a relationship. And what Pablo all but said to him, assuming Cuban wasn’t a naïf, is that it’s entirely possible that Ballmer saw in that company an opportunity to use them to get around NBA cap rules, maybe also thought he might be able to SPAC his way into some cash, and then didn’t do good enough due diligence to avoid being taken in by a scam company. Being rich doesn’t automatically make you a perpetual genius. Both Ballmer and Aspiration can be rule breakers in this story and be guilty of breaking different rules for different reasons. Just because Aspiration was a sham doesn’t automatically mean Ballmer is guilt free.
I found this episode to be incredibly infuriating. Mark Cuban just was going off of vibes and personal anecdotes and at one point tried to pass that off as “evidence”. Pablo’s patience was honestly impressive. The best line Pablo had was “At what point are we going to treat Steve Ballmer like he’s a smart capable adult?”
I found it infuriating how little logic Pablo was applying.
Pablo’s blind spot is that he doesn’t realize how smart he is and how dumb everyone is. I’m being totally serious. Smart and/or rich people do really stupid and illogical things all the time and Pablo’s worldview doesn’t allow for that reality. Two things can be true simultaneously. Steve Ballmer can be the great investor of the last 20 years and still make dumb ass decisions.
I can only imagine how frustrating that entire 3+ hour conversation was when even in the edited version Cuban is constantly using circular reasoning to argue his point.
But billionaires are SMRT, not mostly dumb fucks who simply lack any moral braking system that might impede their actions 🤦♂️
You stood on your reporting while Mark was standing behind his establishment/brotherhood of professional sports owners.
Dominique was right.
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
All that said, Pablo is the best! Five stars!!
It got flat out bizarre, the longer the pod went, how blind Pablo was to the possibility that people at Aspiration either lied to him, or more likely, didn't know what they were talking about.
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
All that said, Pablo is the best! Five stars!!
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
All that said, Pablo is the best! Five stars!!
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
All that said, Pablo is the best! Five stars!!
I LOVE this show, and I haven’t missed one. But this episode is the one I have been most into. It took me hours to finish because I kept stopping to make my own arguments at the air!
My take is this—I side with Team Ballmer, and here’s why. This argument comes down to wether you believe that Steve is smarter than his competitive urges, or if the urges are stronger than his intelligence. As Cuban accurately pointed out, you have to be extra stupid to intentionally enter into a corrupt agreement, and then sit by idlely when things begin to unravel. If Steve is a diabolical schemer, he would scheme it all the way through. He’d pay off Uncle Dennis and get the Clippers name out of the mix. Thats a violation of league rules, but not a federal crime. But I don’t think that’s what was in play at all—to me what is much more likely is that, like we saw for years in college football, there was a lack of institutional control. Ballmer just wasn’t paying attention. At least not to that KL contract part. He was thinking about his big money deal with Aspire and how he could come out with a 6x lick. Should Aspire have been vetted more? Sure. Is it possible that people with the Clippers knew more than they should without acting? Certainly. But all this falls well short of conspiracy. He’s not about to risk his reputation and team conspiracy with criminals intentionally. He was trying to get easy money on an investment and got conned.
The most obnoxious part of this is what went unsaid—that to people like Steve, 50M’s is like $50 to you and me. He tosses that out and doesn’t even look up. He figures he’ll hit for a lick and keep going. It may be infuriating to accept that people with that kind of money don’t take care with their decisions, but there is plenty of evidence to back that particular assertion.
The most important thing lacking in Pablo’s case was the link between his 7 sources and the Clippers. At Aspire the structure of this deal was “common knowledge”, but the question Cuban tried to ask and never just asked directly was, WHERE AND FROM WHOM DID THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION? They don’t know Steve Ballmer, never talked to him, shook his hand or even got an email from him. What they know is what they have been told. And who told them? The schemers!! They are the bridge. They told their team whatever lie schemers tell to keep their scheme going. Or, do we just think that on this particular point they decided to be honest while lying about the rest?? Come on! They were in the middle where the opportunity to scheme was best. In fact, they and Uncle Dennis are the folks with the most access, opportunity, and incentive to scheme. And they have a track record of doing just that. Does that absolve Ballmer of all blame? Certainly not. In the end, he’s responsible for whatever happens with his organization. If that means fines, draft picks, whatever—he has to own it. But only a dummy-dum-dum-DUMB dummy would sync up with some randoms to concoct a master scheme, and then turn around and leave all these loose ends flapping when things heat up. I know y’all don’t think billionaires aren’t all that smart, but they also aren’t complete idiots, which is what you’d have to be to try to scheme this up.
In the end, this is about the influence of money on sports…or politics, or schools, or whatever. Bringing all that money in doesn’t make things better, just more high stakes. And best believe these Aspire jokers aren’t the only schemers—just some of the least skilled. Bernie Madoff ran his game for decades, and you’re an EXTRA large fool if you don’t think game is being run now. But I don’t think that puts Ballmer in. He’s getting his legally—no reason to jeopardize that just to get players. With his money he’d be better off dropping off an unmarked briefcase at Uncle Dennis house that to leave a paper trail that equates to this foolishness.
All that said, Pablo is the best! Five stars!!
What a fascinating conversation between two passive aggressive narcissists. Good stuff.
I’m on Team Pablo for this one. Good job of “leading the witness” to wring some interesting admissions out of Cuban. What a fool to do this interview - he sounds like a shady owner too…
This was a fascinating episode and I surely hope that Mark is right… but dammit the evidence is convincing.