September Mournings

Living in Las Vegas presented the Yard with several reporting challenges this past week. The Extreme Midget Wrestling Federation was in town this week and their chant of “Half the size and twice the violence” was hard to ignore. The Beer Pong championships are right around the corner as well. But when the Frank McCourt era was finally sandblasted off the Chavez Ravine urinals this past week our attention returned home. There had been an uneasy Yard sense that the $2.1 billion deal that pried the Dodgers but not the parking lots from Snidely McCourt was a sham but what next for the new ownership? The Yard had wanted the McCourt’s put on trial for their sins against our collective history. There is no justice for the Yard when the worst owner’s in Los Angeles Sports history walks away with a profit of $860 million. Frank McCourt ranks right up there with Georgia Frontiere but he lapped her in both civic bile and financial cake. The O’Malley family shepherded the Dodger Brand for fifty years. The McCourt’s flushed it down the porcelain in eight agonizing years while pocketing $500 million more than the O’Malley family was paid for their lifetime of service by Fox in 1998. It is a crime that will never be investigated. The Guggenheim ownership doubled down on this year with the blockbuster trade last weekend. The Dodger’s took on more payroll last Friday than the McCourt run team took on during his last two miserable seasons as owner. It was thrilling for sure but what does $188 million really get you anymore in major league baseball? The Dodgers traded their unproductive first baseman, James Loney for superstar Adrian Gonzales. The Red Sox saddled the Dodgers with several other contracts that they no longer wanted to make the Gonzales deal attractive to them. The new Dodger ownership wanted to make a statement to Los Angeles and Major League Baseball that there was new ownership. You do not overpay for a team without overpaying for first year salaries as part of the investment tsunami. It is rumored the Dodgers are also getting two rows of seats from the Green Monster, the Ted Williams statue is still trying to clear waivers but the Red Sox refused to include the Pesky Pole to make the deal. Boston sports were fanatical from the beginnings of professional sports. Red Sox baseball is 111 years of exponential fanaticism from the initial baseline measurements until the endoscopic world players live in now. Highly paid Red Sox athletes are worshipped or loathed many times during the same game. Ted Williams was arguably the greatest Red Sox ever and he was not universally loved throughout his career. Hopefully, Beckett, Gonzales and Punto will thrive in LA and lead this town back to relevance in baseball. The Dodgers took on the payroll for three primary reasons which are all part of the same algebra. The Guggenheim partners are an investment group. They are in this to make money. The management team is committed to winning. Everyone wants to win rather than lose. It was the commitment to winning and making the sacrifice to win that was fleeting or non-existent if you are a McCourt. There are the usual egos that go into sports ownership but the current ownership showed their intent when they overpaid for the team and overpaid for this lineup four months later. The Dodgers valuation at time of sale was not based on the team and it’s potential on the field or the turnstile. It was based on the rights to future Dodger telecasts. Sports programming is the most valuable content available through your pay TV service. Viewers watch real time with passion. They do not go to Hulu or DVR to watch later and fast forward through the ads. This is important stuff not Mad Men. The new ownership team needed to build a lucrative product for the looming TV contract that will go out for bid soon. Fox was eager to maintain what they already had and were willing to snuggle up with McCourt and help him make payroll if he would renew with them. Fox was reeling after losing the Lakers to Time Warner. It would have been a great deal for Fox and it would have strangled baseball with McCourt indefinitely if that had happened. Bud Selig did something right and did not let that civic travesty occur. There is speculation that a ten year TV agreement could fetch the Dodgers $2 billion. $188 Million dollar payroll is not that bad when your TV contract guarantees $200 million before a ticket or hot dog is sold. The Yankees built the YES network the same type of lucrative deal. Few other cities have the density of fan base and market size to negotiate that deal. The Dodgers do if they have a quality or at least interesting product. The final objective is to win back Los Angeles sports mindshare. This objective makes the first two all that more valuable in this major media market that does not have an NFL team. The Lakers own LA and took it from the Dodgers during the Showtime era. The new Dodger ownership wants to reclaim the mantle of LA’s team from the Lake show. They even brought in the face of Showtime to sit in the stands at the Ravine to usher it in to our collective mindshare. It will be no easy feat without consistent deep runs in the playoffs and championships. The Lakers have won twice as many championships as the Dodgers since either team moved to Los Angeles. The Lakers have been in the NBA finals eight times and won four championships since the Dodgers were last even in the World Series. If you do not think that the Buss’ were paying attention to the Dodger hoopla Google: Dwight Howard. The Buss family seems like a perfect ensemble for reality television but this wacky group, in addition to ring master Mitch Kupchak, keeps re-inventing the team and remaining competitive for another generation of LA sports fans. The Dodgers have almost missed a generation since their last title. Guggenheim may be the sophisticated east coast hedge fund guys who roped in Laker Icon Magic Johnson to be their LA face, but Buss boy and his spawn have won over the town. It seems like Jed Clampett versus Mr. Drysdale but Jed always outfoxed the clever banker. Buss has always risked the required monies to remain competitive. O’Malley never had to, Fox never wanted to and McCourt could not afford to in their efforts to keep up with the Lakers. The initial results of this massive trade are spotty. Good pitching always beats good hitting in the playoffs. The Dodgers only have one pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, who can dominate a series. A team needs at least two to have a chance to win four of seven games. The Giants have three and that group does not include the struggling Tim Lincecum. If Timmy was having a normal year, the Giants would be ahead of the Dodgers by 7-10 games at this point. In the first game after the trade, Adrian Gonzales hit a three run home run on the second pitch he saw in Dodger uniform. Two games later in Colorado Josh Beckett gave up a home run on the second pitch he threw in a Dodger uniform. This team is trying to find out who they really are with an entirely new lineup injected into the clubhouse in a few short weeks late in the drama. The Dodgers have put a bulls-eye on their back with this trade with every team having extra mojo for beating them on the field. We hope they win out but we did not see that in April and we really do not see it now. Extra Innings: Forget this trade hoopla; the best news of the weekend is that Vin Scully will be back for another season. Current Dodger ownership will make it as attractive as possible for the greatest broadcaster in the history of sports to keep doing his day job. They will back up the Brinks truck for Vinnie. It is not because Vin was asking for it. It is because they are willing to pay it at his terms, his abbreviated schedule and his humanity. We are all in the bonus round of Vin Scully. He is a great voice, broadcaster and human. He has had one job and one loyalty since starting work with the Dodgers in his 20’s. Scully’s voice has been the only voice I have ever heard in my entire baseball memoir. He is a cultural icon as well. We shared him with the nation, Dodger haters inclusive. In 1982, Scully was there to call “The Catch” when the San Francisco 49’ers beat the Cowboys on their way to the city’s first championship game in any professional sport. Vinnie called the final round of the 1986 Masters as Jack Nicklaus stormed to victory at age 46. He was there making the call in the 1986 World Series when Mookie Wilson’s roller goal posted through Billy Buckner’s high tops ton continue the curse. The Yard hopes Vin will be here until he can call another Dodger championship. It is probably not this year but he is coming back as well as everyone else and maybe a #2 starter. Bullpen: A special Yard thanks to Giant “Panda” Timmy for the Yard’s new Dodger yard Gnome. The Gnome has become popular locally and Jo and I have taken on several trips of late. Photos can be found on the blog site and on FB.