10 Questions for Mark Cuban

By Carolyn Sayre

You may recognize him as the Dallas Mavericks' loudmouth owner. But this tech billionaire has also got rhythm: he recently shimmied his hips on Dancing with the Stars. Mark Cuban will now take your questions.

You are often seen as outspoken and controversial. Did you go on Dancing with the Stars to change what people think? --Debra Parrish, Boston Yes, I need to change people's perception of me and let them know the new Mark. I'm not a screamer, but if there's a Mavericks game on and I yell for one second of it, that [ends up] on TV. Dancing was also a better way to rehab [after my hip replacement] than traditional physical therapy.

What is the key to the Mavericks' success? --Michael Nassar, College Park, MD. The key is having great players. But there are a lot of teams that have All-Stars and haven't been able to put it together. I try to make it fun and put people in a position to succeed.

Rumor has it you're looking to buy one of the upstart football leagues. Do you think it can get enough quality players from the NFL to make an impact? --Dave LaCasse, Wauwatosa, Wis. I don't think there's any question that the UFL [United Football League] or any other league that wants to challenge the NFL can have an impact. The demand for professional football is off the charts.

I'm sure that people ask you for money all the time. What's the craziest thing someone's actually asked you to pay for? --Michelle Rodriguez, Lynbrook, N.Y. Oh, the list is long, from hair implants to braces to breast implants. I always get, "I heard that you're worth X amount of dollars, so one-tenth of 1%--you're not going to miss it. Would you just write me a check?" It's fun. It's a good problem to have.

You made billions in the dotcom boom. What's the next great financial opportunity? --Penny Moore, Columbus, Ohio If I were capable of predicting that, I'd already be there. The one thing I know is that the next opportunity won't be on the Internet. It will be a technology that is somewhere else. Some 10-year-old little girl will come up with it, and we'll all wonder how we missed it.

It seems that you make good decisions. When evaluating a player or business, do you use gut instinct or cold hard facts? --Madison Welch, Arlington, Va. Cold hard facts. Even gut instinct is based on facts. It's like the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking--whatever facts you've ingested over the years, that's what you use. When people say, "My gut tells me," I ask, "Why?" And then you [can] combine that with stats. I'm always looking to get an edge.

You founded HDnet, a network that broadcasts entirely in high definition. Why is HD so slow to dominate television? --Majeed Arni, Austin, Texas The picture has been dumbed down. High-definition TVs have one of the highest return rates of any consumer-electronics products, because people get home and the picture quality sucks. If you watch a sporting event on HDnet or CBS, you can see the difference, but you can't on other networks.

Are you going to launch a celebrity mixed-martial-arts show? --Dave McGrath, Clive, Iowa We're talking to Mario Lopez to put together a celebrity mixed-martial-arts [a judo-boxing-wrestling combo] program where celebs beat the heck out of each other. It sounds like fun depending on who the celebs are. I could think of a few names. [[ITALIC {Laughs.}]]

Any chance you'll get involved in politics? --Mike Brand, Tallahassee, Fla. I hate politics. It's slimy. Any job where people pander for votes, I don't like. The country has gotten so partisan that if you're not on my side, you're the enemy. The only thing I ever try to support is a third party, like Unity08. We need more parties and more choice.

What's your beef with Donald Trump? --Owen Murphy, Philadelphia Donald always picks on people, and a lot of them aren't in a position to stand up to him. I couldn't care less about the guy, so when I stand up to him, I am standing up for all the people who are afraid to. He's all show and no go.

Read [XREF {/time/arts/article/0,8599,1686436-2,00.html} {extra questions}] from Mark Cuban

Read these extra questions from Mark Cuban.

Was it difficult performing on Dancing with the Stars with a hip replacement? --Karen Mois, Beatrice, Neb. The hip held up, but it was really strenuous. I lost 30 pounds in less than three months. I'm the one guy who was not an athlete or an entertainer--so obviously, this wasn't natural for me. But, I had a choice. I could either go through rehab with a traditional therapist or dance in the show. Dancing was a lot more fun.

Do you think Major League Baseball should let you bid on the Chicago Cubs? --Miguel Santiago, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico I'm interested, but there isn't really more to say beyond that. The first step was being approved as a potential bidder, which I've been through, but the process has not progressed much further. I'd love to be able to do, but we'll see what happens.

What are your plans for Wrigley Field if you do purchase the Cubs? --Ken Davis, Fargo, N.D. That is way in the future, if it ever happens. When I got to the Mavericks people were all giving me advice--change this, change that--and one thing that I didn't do was fire anybody. I came in and said 'Let's see what's going on. That is what I would do with any sports team I purchase. See what works, what doesn't, get people's input and then make a decision.

You have been extremely outspoken against the NBA's management in the past. Do you think Mr. Commissioner Stern has dropped the ball on handling the officiating scandal? --Eylon Garfunkel, Tel Aviv I think he handled it quite well. There are only so many ways to deal with crisis management, I think we have gotten to the point where we have put it behind us and fans will trust the NBA. I don't think it will happen again. I always ask myself, 'Are we doing business in the best way possible to make our fans and customers happy?' I don't necessarily think that the NBA has always done that, and that is where we tend to butt heads. There is a "if it's working, don't fix it perspective" and I think that is a mistake.

One of the more famous comments you made to an NBA official landed you a shift scooping ice cream at Dairy Queen. How was it? --Terrell Reynolds, Scottsdale, Ariz. I would never ask somebody to do a job I wouldn't do myself. Everybody's job is important. So when Dairy Queen asked me if I wanted to come work for a day, I was like, 'Wow, that would be a blast!' I love blizzards--I probably eat too much of them, so I went out there and hung out with the people. Little did I know there would be lines more than a mile long and helicopters [flying overhead]. It was a big circus.

Are you trying to do anything to help low-income families attend more games? --Mike Diaz, Brooklyn, N.Y. We pick 10 games a year and we make 1,500 seats available for $2 a piece. Every single game of the year, for single tickets, you can walk up to the box-office on the day of the game--if we have a ticket available--and get tickets for $5 upstairs and $30 downstairs. We have also lowered the price of the upstairs bowl the last three years in a row--even though we had the best record in the NBA last year. Rather than using that as an opportunity to raise prices upstairs, we took it as an opportunity to lower prices.

Did you ever imagine that your life would turn out this way when you were a kid? --Michelle Rodriquez, Lynbrook, N.Y. [[ITALIC {Laughs.}]] No chance, no how. I'm not the type to pat myself on the back and all that, but somebody has to be lucky, right? When I got to Dallas, I was struggling--sleeping on the floor with six guys in a three-bedroom apartment. I used to drive around, look at the big houses, and imagine what it would be like to live there and use that as motivation. But I never ever imagined that would happen to me. I try not to take any of it for granted and make sure that no one ever pinches me so I never wake up.

Imagine if all your money and possessions were taken away from you, but you were allowed to keep one material thing. What would it be? --Lanai Winter, Chico Calif. Diapers. I have little kids. Everything else I could figure out, but I would need those diapers.