ESPN.com’s Tim MacMahon noted Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban is “speaking glowingly” of NBA Commissioner David Stern ahead of his Feb. 1 retirement. Cuban yesterday on NBA TV said, “I love David. I mean, David and I have banged heads a couple times, (but) the truth be told, David Stern made me. Nobody knew who Mark Cuban was until he started fining the hell out of me and sent me to work at Dairy Queen. So he made my job of selling tickets a lot easier." He added, “David took us internationally. Even when I came in, I wasn't a big proponent of international, and David was there. David was a big proponent of digital -- the Internet -- (and) I remember sitting down talking to him. Even before I bought the team (in Jan. 2000), he invited me in to talk about streaming and the Internet. I helped him set up his first Twitter account. He was always open-minded about expanding into new areas and you really have to respect that. Despite the fact that we disagreed on a lot of things, we really agreed on far more. I'll miss him. I really like David” (ESPN.com, 11/5).
LASHING OUT: In London, Eleanor Crooks notes tennis player Novak Djokovic “launched an astonishing attack on tennis' anti-doping programme claiming he no longer has any trust in the system.” Djokovic was “reacting to the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport," which on Tuesday ruled fellow Serbia native Viktor Troicki "should serve a 12-month ban for missing a doping test.” Troicki was originally suspended for 18 months by an Int'l Tennis Federation anti-doping tribunal, "but had appealed to CAS to have the sanction overturned.” Djokovic: “I don't know if tomorrow the (anti-doping) representative, because of their unprofessionalism, because of their negligence, because of their inability to explain the rules in a proper way, I don't know if they're going to misplace the test that I have or anything worse than that. For me, the whole procedure of the court case is totally against the player and player's rights” (London INDEPENDENT, 11/6).
GLOVES ARE OFF: ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun noted there was “likely to be a fighting discussion" at next week’s NHL GMs meeting in Toronto, and a fight between Flyers G Ray Emery and Capitals G Braden Holtby Friday night “probably cemented it.” No formal rule recommendations are “expected in the one-day meeting; more likely it’s about setting things up for the annual three-day March meeting in Florida, when the GMs have more time to dissect potential rule changes, break out into small groups and officially make recommendations.” But the seed in some part “will be planted next Tuesday” (ESPN.com, 11/5).
