This past Tuesday night, I attended the Mets’ 6-0 road victory at Dodger Stadium, the published attendance of 32,000 flunking the eye test (it looked closer to the low 20’s). In the view of Kareem Adbul-Jabbar (above, middle) — a lifelong Dodgers fan — there’s an active boycott of Frank McCourt’s baseball team, one the former Lakers C tells ESPN.com readers, he’d like to see ended by…The Owner With A Boner.
When people became aware of how Mr. McCourt pays his sons hundreds of thousands of dollars for do-nothing jobs instead of trying to improve the team, the reaction was very predictable. The stands are mainly empty now, and the focus of coverage of the team shuttles back and forth between the McCourts’ divorce proceedings and various comments coming from the commissioner’s office.
I can’t help rooting for Mr. McCourt’s wife to force a situation that will result in the team being sold. I am honestly thrilled by the possibility that the franchise might soon be in the hands of owners who want to win the World Series and have that as their singular focus. Mark Cuban is often mentioned as being that person, but I wonder if someone from out of town like Mr. Cuban would be the right fit for L.A. I must commend Mr. Cuban for his handling of the reins of the Dallas Mavericks and opening his wallet to improve the team. Getting the right players enabled them to finally win the world championship, when the Mavericks could have gone another way and ended up like the Clippers.
Mr. McCourt’s response to all this has been to threaten to withhold ownership of the stadium, TV, parking and concession rights, making any sale of the team an ugly scenario for any prospective buyers. We Dodgers fans see these events changing L.A. into Mudville, with no relief in sight.
GC: Did you find the visit to Chavez as depressing as I did this year? I don’t want to go back for a long time.
Given Cuban’s upstanding behavior at the NBA Finals and the rocky records of those owners MLB has preferred over him, one has to wonder how long baseball can keep him at bay.
The Frank McCourt Death Watch continues…
on the contrary, Ben. For starters, I got to witness a rare Mike Pelfrey road victory. And I’ve never had such an easy time getting in and out of the Dodger Stadium parking lot.
In all seriousness, it was kind of impossible to spent 3 + hours in the joint without being super conscious of what’s happening with ownership. But enough about the Mets, the Dodgers’ current situation is pretty grim, too.