In times of deep basketball doubt such as these, it is important that we find our way back to the wise minds of our generation. And so let me begin by quoting that noted hoops philosopher, Wesley Person.

"This," observes Person, "is bigger than any chalupa."

	So far, Dallas owner Mark Cuban has been hit with $405,000 in fines.

On the nosey, Wesley.

The problem in the latest Mark Cuban issue – and isn't that a full-scale redundancy by now? – is not that we can't identify the antagonist, it's that we've got two of them. I mean, at this point you're mostly talking about a celebrity death match between Cuban and David Stern.

Today's hot topic: Is there anyone to root for here?

On the one hand, you've got Cuban, the maverick Maverick. Cuban began promisingly, quickly became an owner-suspect and then lurched fully over to the side of Wildly Annoying. It's hard not to appreciate a guy who has developed so many positive ways to draw the NBA's collective focus to the previously moribund franchise in Dallas, but darned if Cuban doesn't give you every opportunity to do just that.

And on the other hand, you've got Stern, the demi dictator. Stern began promisingly, quickly became the savior of an entire league and yet somehow has managed to devolve over the past few years into the NBA's No. 1 apologist. It's hard not to appreciate a guy who devised most of the marketing strategies that elevated the NBA to a global phenomenon, but darned if Stern doesn't give you every opportunity to do just that.

Cuban, at times, acts like a petulant child.

Stern, at times, acts like a petulant adult.

Is there an upside here?

The latest episode is classic Cuban, which means that his very involvement makes it seem five times larger than it is. All the Dallas owner really did was to run briefly onto the basketball court while his Mavs had a little fracas with Philosophizin' Wesley Person and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had taken exception to Dallas' last-second attempt at 100 points. You hit 100 in Dallas, the fans all get free chalupas. (Could've been worse. Could've been Free Bowie Knife Night at ol' Reunion.)

To a certain extent, to line up against Cuban is to line up with Stern – and who wants to do that anymore?

That's it. That's the whole infraction. But because it was Mark Cuban running out there and not, say, Dr. Jerry Buss, this thing is granted a heinous little life of its own. It gets added to the Cuban file in the NBA office, a file that includes such grievous breaches as criticizing the officials (mercy!) and sitting in the wrong seat too close to the team he owns.

It's a silly file, is the point, fattened mostly for effect by a commissioner who doesn't like the way Cuban operates and isn't particularly inclined to change his mind. People ought to be lining up in support of an openly passionate and obviously committed owner like Cuban, whom Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller described last year as "a breath of fresh air" in the league.

Unfortunately, Cuban has done an amazing job of chopping off his own legs in the public eye. It's all Yammer and Tongs with this guy. He talks and he talks, and when he isn't talking he is Interneting, and despite the good things going on with the basketball team, all this stuff ultimately is about Cuban. He's like the guy following you around in the electronics store asking, "You need anything? Anything at all? Should we talk some more about me?"

	NBA Commissioner David Stern made some good points, but his delivery needed work.

For lots of folks who follow basketball, this has become an enormous turnoff, and so suddenly you're hearing more and more about how Cuban isn't conducting himself as an owner should – as though these gentlemen and these faceless corporate holding companies have been the very models of how the NBA aspires to represent itself to the fans all these years.

For this, Cuban has no one to blame but himself. ("He's a very, very strange man," Lakers announcer Chick Hearn intoned while watching Cuban's behavior during an L.A.-Dallas game last fall.) He's becoming a punch line instead of a point man for change in the league.

Of course, that's only half the story. Because, to a certain extent, to line up against Cuban is to line up with Stern – and who wants to do that anymore?

Stern's act at the All-Star Game was deservedly hooted from coast to coast. The commissioner was so adamant in championing the Good Guy factor in the NBA that he came off as a man almost willfuly out of touch with what has been happening around him: A growing fan discontent with self-absorbed egomaniacs, with the league's faltering group image and with the occasional – but always widely recognized – player depravity or behavioral embarrassment.

You know what's amazing here? Stern so repulsed people with his high-hatted comments that many were inclined to overlook the fact that he is mostly right. The percentage of upstanding, lawful-living, hate-free, fan-friendly players in the NBA absolutely overwhelms the percentage of ridiculous louts. But Stern went so far over the top with that notion that he came off as the Kevin Bacon R.O.T.C. cadet in "Animal House," standing on the sidewalk, screaming, "Remain calm! All is well!"

Behind the scenes, meanwhile, Stern is said to be in a punitive mode, looking for people to blame for propagating "bad news" about his league. It's a list that you suspect will be growing longer rather than shorter.

As of today, though, the one thing that is certain is that Mark Cuban is essentially at the very top of that list. And as of today, the other thing that seems clear is that these two men, Cuban and Stern, sort of deserve each other. Chalupas all around.

Mark Kreidler is a columnist for the Sacramento Bee, which has a web site at http://www.sacbee.com/.