Through all his controversy and hard-times, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has at least one defender.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Thursday and took exception to the way Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig in particular, is treating the embattled slugger due to his connection with the Biogenesis scandal.
"I think it's disgraceful what Major League Baseball is trying to do to him," Cuban said on the program. "Look, it's not that he doesn't deserve to be suspended. He does. They have policies in place: A first-time offender is 50 games, and a second time is 100. [211 games], that's personal."
Below is the video of Cuban on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
Rodriguez, whose suspension is unprecedented, is still playing this season until his appeal can be heard by an arbitrator.
After Cuban saw the treatment of Rodriguez, who was suspended 211-games on Aug. 6 for his connection to anti-aging clinic Biogenesis that sold performance enhancing drugs to him and 13 other players, Cuban felt the need to speak out against Selig.
Rodriguez's punishment was by far the harshest, as 12 other players received 50-game bans,and Milawukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun was suspended for 65 games.
Cuban has a rocky history with Selig, as his failed attempts to buy an MLB franchise in the past have irked him. Cuban put in a $1.3 billion bid to buy the Chicago Cubs, but wasn't selected to take part in the final bidding in 2009. Then, in 2010, Cuban attempted to buy the Texas Rangers, putting in a $600 million offer, but it was once again to no avail.
"I've got to tell you, with my experiences with Major League Baseball and after all of this, there's no chance I'm getting to buy a team, it's basically become Bud Selig's mafia," Cuban told Leno. "He runs it the way he wants to run it."
Cuban insisted that Selig and the MLB don't want him to buy a team and he accused them of putting up road blocks to ensure he wasn't able to purchase a team.
"I sat in there with my good, hard-earned money trying to bid, and they did everything possible to keep me from buying the team," Cuban said. "They had lawyers in there trying to change the rules; they had people trying to put up more money. It was horrible."
Cuban, who owned the Mavericks when they won the franchise's first NBA championship in 2011, thinks it's wrong for people to go after athletes just because of how much money they make, including Rodriguez, who is the highest paid player in the MLB.
If one thing came out of Leno's interview with Cuban, it's that the Mavericks owner doesn't trust Selig and believes that he doesn't like to be challenged.
"Obviously, Bud Selig does not like to be tested," Cuban said. "He does not want anybody to stand up to him."
Rodriguez will be able to play baseball during the length of his appeal, which is not expected to be heard by arbitrator Frederic Horowitz until November or December.
While Cuban is quick to jump to A-Rod's side in the fight against Bud Selig and the MLB, it'll be interesting to see how Yankee fans receive Rodriguez when he makes his 2013 Bronx debut Friday night when the Bronx Bombers play host to the red-hot Detroit Tigers, who have won 12 games in a row.
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