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According to the Palm Beach Post, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is part of a group that's looking at starting a new professional football league to rival the NFL ... the United Football League.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is part of a group considering formation of a football league that would compete with the NFL for players drafted lower than the second round. Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he and his group think the amount of pro football doesn't meet the demand.

The UFL would play its games on Friday night and, so far, is looking at dumping franchises in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mexico City. Cuban is looking at buying the Vegas franchise. The problem is, they can't find anyone willing to invest in the other franchises and a three team league would pretty much suck.

If everything goes along accordingly, the league wants to start play in the fall of 2008.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Here's how Kobe Bryant spent his Tuesday and Wednesday this week: calling in to radio stations across the country and berating his front office. It's all because of this sentence that appeared in an outstanding article by top-notch LA Times NBA writer Mark Heisler: "Nevertheless, as a Lakers insider notes, it was Bryant's insistence on getting away from Shaquille O'Neal that got them in this mess."

Kobe's all jammed up that someone inside the Lakers front office would throw him under the bus, and he's angry. First, he demanded the Lakers get Jerry West, the man who builds champions. Then, he stomped his feet and whined like a baby and said he wanted to be traded. Hours later, he backpeddled from that request.

Ladies and gentleman, meet the new Terrell Owens. A selfish, petulant athlete who doesn't understand the team concept. This is where Kobe Bryant vaulted himself this week.

Plenty of athletes have sounded off in an article (Shawn Marion about being respected by the Suns in a recent ESPN the Magazine piece comes to mind), or in a TV interview, or perhaps even a radio interview. Here's the difference between an angry/upset athlete and a petulant one - the non-babies know when to put a cork in it.

Remember how Tom Brady was upset last year that the Patriots didn't get any wide receivers, and it ended up costing New England a shot at the Super Bowl? He made a statement about it, and then quit. The Patriots responded this summer by getting one of the 10 best receivers in the league, Randy Moss.

I'm no public relations spin-doctor, but my advice to Kobe is to quit while you're ahead. You've made your point. You want out, you want changes. Now zip it. The Lakers are on the clock. Mitch and Jerry and Phil will sit down - perhaps with the help of West - and see what players they can bring in to fortify the lineup. If the Lakers don't improve, then you know what you can do - walk two seasons from now. You'll be 31, and still have 3-4 good years left.

And if you insist on the crying, then please get us some cheese to go with your whine.

Earlier this week, I told you about Cowboy receiver Terry Glenn suing former Dallas Maverick Robert Pack for failure to vacate the premises of a home that Glenn thought he was buying from Pack. Much to Glenn's chagrin, Pack was selling his home to another buyer. Glenn, who had been paying into escrow, is trying to block the sale at a hearing on Monday.

Well, according to Cowboysplus, the dispute has taken on the look of two grown men arguing about who backed out of the deal. It all seems to center around a letter.

The dispute appears to stem from a March 31 letter from Craig Rozen, who identified himself as Mr. Glenn's business manager. Asserting power of attorney to represent Mr. Glenn, Mr. Rozen declared the purchase contract "null and void" because of Mr. Pack's failure to vacate the property a day earlier as planned. The letter ends with, "This is in accordance with Mr. Glenn's wishes."

Mr. Glenn's attorney, Daryl K. Washington, said Mr. Rozen works for Mr. Glenn's agent but was never Mr. Glenn's business manager and didn't have power of attorney. Mr. Washington wouldn't discuss the letter further except to say Mr. Glenn didn't authorize it, and even if he did, Mr. Rozen's letter doesn't include any claim to represent Mrs. Glenn, the co-purchaser.

In true 21st century fashion, there are reportedly profanity laced text messages sent by Terry Glenn to Robert Pack's real estate broker. Glenn's camp contends that Pack backed out of the deal when the he was still living at the home at the closing date.

I'm sure there will be more on this story to come.

I'm all for having fun while out on the basketball court. I think Ricky Davis famously taking a shot at the wrong basket just to get another rebound and secure a triple-double will go down as one of the funniest moments in NBA history. But what in the name of Dee Brown is Jamaal Magloire trying to accomplish here?

The covering-the-eyes dunk is usually reserved for extreme blowouts. Not the case here. Clippers beat the Blazers by 13. The maneuver might make sense if Magloire was having a career game. Also not the case - he had a mere 13 points.

Possible explanations - Magloire was having so much fun on the court (he took a season-high 13 shots!) because Zach 'Black Hole' Randolph wasn't around to hog the ball, and he just got a little carried away with himself. Or maybe he's trying to draw attention to himself since he'll be a free agent this summer, as if to say, 'hey, look at me, I've still got i!'

Other than that, I've got nothing. Other than, of course, enjoy another season without the playoffs, clown, and good luck with that rapidly declining career.

Those homeowners association meetings must have been something ... I'd have bought those on pay-per-view. The issue of crime in the neighborhood comes up, and Jackson pulls a gat out of his belt, saying that he'll handle it ... Dungy calmly interrupting, and saying that prayer and the Cover 2 are the only real ways to solve the problem. That must have been something.

Colts head coach Tony Dungy, a man of God ... living next door to Stephen Jackson, poster boy for all the NBA's image problems. I'm not saying that Jack is some kind of a terrible person, because I don't believe that's true. But at the very least, he's been prone to ... well, at least be in the area where general misbehavior occurs. No two professional athletes could possibly be more mismatched as neighbors ... unless Kerri Strug lived next to Albert Belle.

I'd just love to know how many conversations they had, or what their neighborly relationship was like. Did Jack ever borrow Dungy's lawnmower ... did Dungy's wife bake him Jack an apple pie when he moved in ... did Jack hang out constantly at Dungy's house when he was suspended after the brawl in the Palace ... was their relationship much like that of Dr. Harry Weston and Charley Dietz on Empty Next?

Anyway, it's relevant now, because Jackson's selling his house, since he's moved on to Oakland. And he figures that Dungy's hero status in Indy definitely ups the resale value. What he fails to mention, though, is that the value of every house in the neighborhood skyrocketed the second Jackson moved out.