Brian Cuban Is Not Happy With Me

I've mentioned before how Brian Cuban blocked me on Twitter. (He's Mark Cuban's brother for most of you who have no idea who he is.) The "blocking" was really odd because  it was because of  two of my replies to him about what he thought was ground breaking legal news but which was actually old legal news. (It was over a dog value case at the Texas Supreme Court. But wait, it gets sillier.). I don't think I had ever directed at a tweet to him before. And on that occasion I didn't call him names or harass him.  Nevertheless, he did not appreciate being corrected about my opinion of the timeliness of his tweet and he blocked me. He even called me a "troll" as he announced that he was doing so.

That was hurtful but I thought I'd live.

For background, Cuban is a motivational speaker on overcoming "Male Eating Disorders" and addiction. I suspect overcoming any addiction requires incredible discipline and restraint. Remember that.

So . . . this morning I woke up to this. An incredibly loyal blog reader, who was at what I presume to be some seminar, had this pop up on the big screen and he tweeted the following.

That's funny. The guy reads Random Thoughts so often that he knows I've dogged Cuban before and he wanted to make a "callback" joke. I laughed and expected to move on until I scrolled down to the comments: 

Holy crap. It's Brian Cuban! Cuban's comments were probably around 8:00 a.m. this morning. You know what's weird? For those who don't know Twitter, if someone mentions your handle with the "@" sign in a comment then it will show up in your timeline for you to see. That didn't happen here. Unless I'm technologically challenged (possible), he had to search for his name this morning and, once he saw that post, got so worked up that he responded to a stranger. Ok, maybe he's having a bad day. He without sin cast the first stone. (Side note: I think he means "I blocked" when he wrote "I deleted".)

But he didn't stop there. He searched me out and looked for any Twitter comments I've made recently (very rare for me, incidentally) and he then replied to a guy at the Wise County Messenger who was justifiably completely confused. A few back and forths from a couple of days back and then this from Cuban . . .

Heck, I'm confused. Poor Jake Harris had to feel Cuban was after him. But I'm guessing his comment was directed to only me. The youtube clip referenced in the first tweet was about a drug dealing state's witness on the stand comparing the defense lawyer who was questioning him to being no different than himself. (The Wire is great by the way.) For some reason Cuban thought I should be "sad and lonely" for doing "that". I can only presume he means "that" is doing criminal defense work. (Come to think about it, it can be very sad and lonely speaking up for people who oftentimes have no one else who cares about them, but I digress. Brian Cuban has a law degree but has never been in a courtroom and no longer actively practices.  But he's written about his past lawyer days, "When I made money, I spent it all on alcohol, plastic surgery, cocaine and steroids." Where's my blood pressure medicine?)

Then he added:

Everyone understands that I'm not the New York Times, right? I'm a spare guy in a small county who runs a blog for fun.

And then he continued hours later responding to the original seminar attendee:

Oooookay. A little harsh. But at least he threw in an emoticon (which I'm going to have to look up or ask the Kids In The House what it means.)

So you're probably asking how have I wronged the guy? Have I written about him for two years? There is no question I've mentioned Brian Cuban a few times in my daily Random Thoughts.  I'm guessing he's been a bullet point probably four times in a goofy blog that has 15 to 20 bullet points every weekday, every year. I went back and looked and this has to be what pissed him off:

Was that mean and uncalled for? Yeah, it was a little harsh. I believe what I wrote but probably shouldn't have put it in those terms. I'm even a little embarrassed. I'd be mad too. (But I did inadvertently plug his book so he should at least be thankful for that.)

But here's what bugs me. He's a public figure. Heck, I think I'm a public figure in small county. And you know what comes with that? Having people say stuff about you which you might not like. I get kicked in the crotch by anonymous commentators every morning before 9:00 a.m. Some are insanely viscous. I've been called everything in the book. You know what I do? I post those comments. And I smile when I do it.

I really don't get into Twitter fights but I'll tell you this: The only people who have quickly blocked me because of my critical comments to them which they disagreed with are Jean Jacques Taylor (sports writer working somewhere), Michael Quinn Sullivan (he's a Tea Party leader who blocked me after the Texas Ethic Commission fined him and I asked him if that made him "an illegal"), and Brian Cuban. You know who hasn't? Ed "Uncle Bark" Barky who loves to fight, Mark Davis (he's probably the smartest one of all of us because he never replies) and Texas Supreme Court Justice Thomas Don Willett (who I've disagreed with to no end.)

And as I finish this up, I checked to see if he had any other updates. I'll be dang, he reposted his anger with me to everyone of his followers. Now I'm getting hate mail because they believe I have written about him for two years.

I'm sure he'll "get over" all of this. After all, he has to prepare for another speaking engagement -- speaking to those who need his advice and guidance.