Cuban flavor at UC

An hour before Monday's Bulls-Mavericks game, fans were lining up down the aisles to have their picture taken with Dallas owner Mark Cuban, even the guys carrying a sign that read, "We came from Jordan to see the Bulls (sic)."

We'll assume they meant Jordan the country, not Jordan the legend.

Cuban typically travels with his team, and this was his first trip to the United Center since confirming his candidacy to buy the Cubs.

As a high-profile owner of a successful NBA team, Cuban is often considered a popular choice to take over the pennant-deprived North Siders. When Cuban stopped to chat with the media, though, he insisted the fan response was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Believe it or not this pretty much happens at every arena," he said. "All over the country there are Cub fans, so I hear it everywhere I go, not just in Chicago."

Cuban reported there is nothing new going on with the Cubs sale, but he is a serious bidder and swore he's not about to give up his pursuit.

"You don't look at making that kind of investment without having a lot of desire," he said. "It's a passion project; it makes great business sense for me. There's so many business applications, so many technology applications I can do in Chicago."

Cuban, a Pittsburgh native, shrugged off the suggestion that Major League Baseball owners wouldn't want such an outspoken personality in their ranks.

"People say, 'You're not from Chicago.' Well, I wasn't from Dallas, either," he said. "When it's your team, it's your team. Not all the players on the Bulls are from Chicago, you know, and they sure manage to get awful committed to their jobs."

Cuban lowers prices: Whether or not he's a longshot to buy the Cubs, Mark Cuban's ownership philosophy seems to be in strong contrast to the Cubs' current regime, considering the club just announced a ticket price hike featuring $45 bleacher seats for premium games.

"It's really become important to me that everybody can always afford to go to a Mavs game," Cuban said. "Every single year we've lowered the prices in the upper deck. We now have $2 tickets for at least 10 games a year, for I think 1,500 seats. We have $5 seats for walk-up.

"If I have my way, I'll keep on lowering the ticket prices in the upper deck for as long as I possibly can. If I'm really smart, someday all the upper-deck tickets will be $2 and we'll pay for it with advertising."

Horry goes to work: It's difficult to tell if San Antonio's Robert Horry was paying tribute or mocking Bulls center Ben Wallace on Sunday.

Horry made his first appearance of the season in the Spurs' victory over Portland, finishing with 2 blocks, 2 rebounds and no points during six minutes of playing time.

"I'm averaging 2 blocks a game and shooting zero percent," Horry said following the game. "Just call me Ben Wallace."

Wallace heard about the quote after Monday's game and responded with a smirk, "I'll definitely check him out to see what he's talking about. He don't want no problems with me."

Bull horns: Power forward Joe Smith did not play at all against Dallas. Neither did Mavs veteran Juwan Howard, whom the Bulls tried to recruit in October after his contract was bought out by Minnesota. … The Bulls recorded a season-high 31 free throws and a season-low 10 turnovers.