Howard's indiscretions are one thing.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's are quite another.

That Cuban would rush to Howard's defense was no surprise. He is fierce in his support of his players — you would think he changed the name to Mavericks after he bought the team.

Cuban has often gone over the top in his ferocity when he feels an injustice has been done or if he is in disagreement over any perception or decision on a topic he deems important. It's a big reason why he is beloved and despised by so many. He is very bright and is one of those to have gotten in early on the Internet, made huge money and had the wisdom to turn it into much, much more.

But in the process of becoming this outspoken maverick, he has turned into a bully. In some ways, he has taken on some of the same characteristics as one of his basketball heroes, the former coach of his alma mater at Indiana, Bob Knight.

Nonetheless, Cuban's "Maverick Blog" is always interesting and often insightful on topics that range from basketball to Web trends to politics to search engines.

So when I checked in on Friday, "shocked and appalled" was I upon seeing what he had posted — too many e-mails pock-marked with racist commentary hurled at Howard, the NBA in general and criticism of Cuban for supporting such a player and league.

News » Cuban made himself look bad in Howard mess 2008-09-22
Cuban made himself look bad in Howard mess 2008-09-22
Shocked and appalled ... that was the general reaction this week when the video showed up of Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard mocking the national anthem and using his race as a reason for doing so prior to a charity flag football game hosted by Allen Iverson back in July. There were plenty of reasons for people to be upset, and it's been an unfortunate run of bad judgment shown by Howard over the past five months or so that has threatened to have a long-term effect on what had been a very promising, All-Star career. Just Joshing? Josh Howard is taking some heat after his controversial remarksabout the Star Spangled Banner. Not sure what all the fuss is about? Watch Howard's rant HERE.