Chicago - Update: Should his purchase of the Chicago Cubs go through, Mark Cuban, controversial gadfly internet billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will reportedly rename Wrigley Field ‘Yahoo! Yards’ and delete its iconic ivy.

 

“The first thing I’d do is take the ivy off of the Wrigley Field outfield walls. It's all tangly and messy and looks worse than Dirk Nowitzki's head before he got his haircut," Cuban said. "It’d be real easy. I would buy me an industrial-sized barrel of Roundup and get the ground-crew spraying their tushes off."

 

Cuban also said he will sell naming rights to Wrigley Field, and has been approached by some dot.com friends already.

 

"I think Yahoo! Yards has a nice riing to it,' Cuban explained.'

"I really don't give a crap what he does," said Tribune Company owner Sam Zell. "Ivy, schmivy. Bucks are bucks."

 

Meanwhile, Cubs icon and Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, perhaps baseball's sunniest all-time personality, was uncharacteristically surly when he heard about Cuban's plans.  

 

"What in the name of Ken Hubbs is going on here?" Banks said. "The man has no connection to the team or the city, knows nothing about baseball. The guy embarrasses himself at Mavericks games, and probably doesn't even know who Cal Koonce is. I heard he lip-synched "Take Me Out to the Ballgame, when he was here last year.

"I hope he takes his Roundup and drinks it."