dviking’s profile

If I read the story correctly, Hayes says he's anal about checking balls

that confuses me

posted at 01:01 PM on November 21

still missing the point.
My original statement is that Cuban has been charged with violation of a law. If found guilty he will have committed a crime.

As to the taxes, depends on the case. If you are charged with tax evasion it most certainly will show up. If the IRS thinks you made an honest mistake, and just wants you to pay the taxes and interest then no. Like the Cuban case, it's all about intent...you broke the law either way, just that sometimes the feds just want their money and really don't see the public value of putting you behind bars. As someone that used to be an "enrolled agent", and sold tax software and tax return services to accountants/lawyers for 10 years, I' love to argue the minutia of tax law with you, but for the sake of getting back to sports I'll pass.

posted at 10:08 PM on November 20

I see this as a non-issue. Other players that the NPB teams passed on were allowed to sign with MLB teams, I don't see the justification for blocking him from doing what he wants to do.

posted at 07:21 PM on November 20

Pretty amazing.
He called himself out twice, knowing fully well that no one else would have been aware of the situation.

In a token of appreciation, I will not take any mulligans for the rest of the year. Unless, of course, I have like $.50 riding on the hole.

posted at 04:16 PM on November 20

I totally agree with bluesdog on changing the award to Player of the Year. That might help the chances of players like Hamilton win every now and then.

Locally there has been a lot of buzz due to the Dallas Morning News sports writer, Evan Grant, leaving Pedroia completely off his ballot. Not even in his top ten. I think you can argue the case for a few other players winning the top honor, however, I think you have to list Pedroia in the top 5.

posted at 12:36 AM on November 20

Tell you what...try getting a bunch of traffic tickets in a short period of time and see what happens.

Now, I'm sure it varies by state to state, however, in most states, the first traffic ticket you send in some money, all is good. Get the second ticket in a year, and it costs you a bit more. Both of those you can send in your check, no need to bother going to court. Get that third offense in a year, and guess what...you go to court and the penalties increase dramatically. In many states the third violation in a year is automatically treated as reckless driving.

The point is, minor CRIMES are often dealt with in minor ways. A traffic violation (breaking a traffic law...committing a minor crime) will not keep anyone from entry into, or out of, the US. Committing a felon might. A DWI will not keep someone out of the US, but it might keep you out of certain countries that have differing views on alcohol.

I'm really quite bored with all this, so I'll move on.
Bottom line, if you break laws you commit crimes. By literal definition that makes you a criminal. Now if you're talking societal nomenclature, no, we don't call people that have only committed a traffic violation a criminal. However, keep in mind that Cuban is not being charged with a traffic violation. We'll have to wait and see where the SEC case goes.
Lastly, when I do a Criminal Background check on prospective employees, recent traffic violations show up, so at least my state considers that person a criminal in the eyes of the law.

posted at 12:19 AM on November 20

You're really over-thinking this.
By definition a crime is a violation of a law.
A criminal is someone that violated a law.

Thus if Cuban is proven to have violated insider trading laws he will indeed be a criminal.

I am a minor criminal because I violated traffic laws. It is on my criminal record.

I'm not a felon, but, yes, I do have a criminal record because of this.

If I am stopped by a police officer, he (she) will be able to check my record.

As to your restaurant example, you are most definitely incorrect. I run 10 restaurants, and I can tell you that the city (Dallas at least) can arrest me for restaurant code violations. They have arrested a peer of mine due to a hot water heater being out.

posted at 06:02 PM on November 19

you're missing the point.
A crime is an offense against the public law.
Murder, insider trading, and running a stop sign are all crimes. One is a felony, one is a misdemeanor, I have no idea where Cuban's charges fall.

Run a stop sign...guilty of a crime, 100%.
It's settled in traffic court, but yes, you committed a crime.

As per the SEC's filing:
COMPLAINT
Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") alleges as follows:
SUMMARY OF ALLEGATIONS
1. The Commission charges Defendant Mark Cuban ("Cuban") with committing
securities fraud by engaging in illegal insider trading. Despite agreeing in June 2004 to keep
material, non-public information about an impending stock offering by Mamma.com Inc.
confidential, Cuban sold his entire stake in the company 600,000 shares prior to the public
announcement of the offering. By selling when he did, Cuban avoided losses in excess of
$750,000.

So, yes, the SEC clearly thinks he has violated the law, thus committed a crime.

For further clarity, this from a general discussion of law: Misdemeanor: A minor crime, punishable by a fine or a light jail term. Common misdemeanors, such as traffic violations, are usually dealt with informally, without a trial.

So, yes, traffic violations are crimes, just handled differently.

posted at 07:54 PM on November 18

Rcade, it is not misleading in the least.
There are two courts...criminal and civil...that can be used to try cases. SEC and IRS cases often use the civil route to try cases in which they do not feel that the violation warrantes criminal charges.
Cuban has most definitely been charged with violation of several SEC statutes. The actual affidavit is on the web, he has been charged with a crime.
Stop sign violations are not usually tried in criminal court, they are charged in traffic court...you still committed a crime.

posted at 01:10 PM on November 18

Gee tommy, I'm sorry.

BTW, if we're going to get picky about things, earlier you stated "Mark Cuban has not been charged with a crime". That's odd given that the title of the article is " Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading".

Just because they filed it via a civil suit does not mean it wasn't a crime. The SEC normally files the civil suits in cases in which they do not suspect malicious intent and/or mitigating circumstance(perjury, etc).

Holden, your point is exactly why the SEC is filing a civil suit instead of criminal charges. Cuban did not cover anything up, and it almost appears as if he doesn't understand the law. His problem is, once he knew of the PIPE financing that was going to be announced, he could not sell his stock until after the announcement was made.

One article has the following: Mamma.com's CEO contacted Cuban on June 28, 2004, and after hearing of the offering, the complaint said, Cuban "became very upset and angry" because his stake would be diluted and at the end of the call said, "Well, now I'm screwed. I can't sell."
Pretty damning in that it highlights that he was aware of the laws governing insider information. That he sold within hours just shows how brazen he is.

posted at 12:22 AM on November 18

In researching this story, I found out that Cuban also is a majority owner of Shareslueth.com, a site that looks for illegal stock transactions.
Given this, and the fact that every mid-level executive in any public company is educated on the insider trading laws, I think he's guilty as sin.

He does say on his blog that he is going to fight it. I hope he does, should make for an interesting case. I'll be surprised if he puts up much of a fight, this much money is nothing to him, and right now it's a civil suit. I doubt he'll drag this out and risk further issues being brought up. As many athletes can tell you these days, lying about what you did gets you in a lot more trouble than what you did in the first place.

posted at 10:12 PM on November 17

Hard to believe that a veteran QB could not be aware of such a basic rule.

Then again, the officials totally mucked up the Pittsburg/San Diego game with their lack of understanding of the rules so maybe I'll let Donovan slide on this one

posted at 09:52 PM on November 17

Not I'm not sure which is the harder story to believe...5 hole in ones in a week, or someone throwing a golf ball 120 yards in the air. (allowing a few yards from the front of the green to the cup)

Anyway, I do know that the pros do hit hole in ones fairly often, we just don't hear about them. Nicklaus has at least 20, and I know that Tiger got his first when he was 6!

Gotta go practice my javelin throwing techniques, that might come in handy on my next round!

posted at 06:51 PM on November 11

Really short course...only 5664 yards.

Could be dumb luck, could be creative scoring, hard to tell, I'll take his word for it.

I know the hole-in-one that I shot years ago fell into the dumb luck category, didn't even land on the green!

posted at 11:21 AM on November 10

I live in Texas, and large stadiums like these are all too common. Artificial turf is the rule, since 8th grade my son has only played on fake grass.

Next week his varsity team plays the cross-town rivals at Texas Stadium. Given how the Cowboys have played of late, it should be an upgrade in quality.

posted at 12:53 PM on October 23