Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who’d been uncharacteristically avoiding media maelstroms throughout the 2011 playoffs, emerged from his hyperbaric chamber after the Mavericks won their first NBA title last night, and told ESPN’s Hannah Storm that Mavs fans in attendance for the series finale in Miami “punked the shit out of Miami fans.”

Considering 90 percent of Heat fans were born within the last year, Cuban was essentially picking on infants.

(H/T to Awful Announcing)

Rogers Communications Inc., the Toronto-based media conglomerate whose holdings include the Toronto Blue Jays and numerous print, electronic and cable television involvements, announced Thursday it is launching a national, twice-monthly sports magazine.

Sportsnet will tap the resources of Rogers’ all-sports television channels and radio stations while calling on its experience in magazine publishing, which includes such titles as Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Flare and Canadian Business.

“You need a certain amount of scale,” said Ken Whyte, executive vice-president of consumer publishing with Rogers Publishing. “I wouldn’t want to be a stand-alone publisher trying to launch a sports magazine.”

Sportsnet will debut in the fall with a circulation of 100,000 copies, and will be available by subscription and on newsstands. It will focus on major professional leagues and top amateur events. Among some of its big name hires: Toronto Star columnist Damien Cox and the Globe and Mail‘s Stephen Brunt and Jeff Blair.

(Source: The Toronto Star)