Angels and Demons

Apparently, the vapid pace at the Yard was not originally anticipated by our investors. There was some expectation of consistent creation of new material. Since the original round of Angel financing, the Yard has been under constant demands for more content. These are dystopian days of social media awareness and anarchy. There are Yard Everywhere expectations. The Yard has never tweeted, friended, liked or poked. This is not lost on the industry titans who monitor our every move. The Yard navigated a clever lowering of the fiscal bar a few quarters back that we thought had settled in nicely. Those pesky accountants always expect transparency. When the Dodgers faded in the Midwest, the Bruins stumbled through in the Northwest and the Lakers are descending into the Pacific, we have had time to consider other storylines and maybe expand the Yard horizon. This whole brouhaha with the Miami Dolphins and NFL bullying had merit. We are a bit late to the party on that one. It does seem absurd to overlay societal norms on an NFL locker room and those dynamics. We also are having a hard time wrapping our collective minds around the fact the main antagonist is a 6’3” 319 pound tattoo sleeved beast hurling N- bombs with a last name of Incognito. You cannot make that stuff up. Richie is many things but being incognito is not one of them. He was bullying a 6’5” 312 OT Jonathon Martin. This is not junior high, this is the NFL. They both will end up on Oprah having a love fest and be back in the NFL in time for the 2014 campaign. Riley Cooper of the Eagles was thrilled to hand off the “Athlete Misbehaving on Camera Phone Video” baton to Incognito. Ciao! We also pondered why the Sacramento Kings who were valiantly saved by Mayor Kevin Johnson from moving to Seattle play at the Sleep Train Arena. It was a noble effort by KJ to save the only professional team within the 916. The owner had to be found and naming rights sold. But the Sleep Train Arena? It just does not sound like a home court advantage to play at the Sleep Train?! The Staples Center does not sound like a name that puts fear into the hearts of men but you can conjure in your mind an attack stapler with special powers. The sleep train is about getting on the train and sleeping. Sometimes we do win in our sleep but results while awake are the only ones that show on the scoreboard of life. The Kings are 2-7 while riding the train this year. The Dodgers and Yankees have never sold their naming rights. It does not mean that they never will. It just means they never have. There is only a Dodger Stadium and a Yankee Stadium. Fenway will always be Fenway. The Cubs in all of their century of frustration still give naming rights to Wrigley while Wrigley pays nothing for those rights. Wrigley will always be Wrigley. All of the other baseball stadiums are named for their corporate sponsors not the team that brings the sponsors. The Giants have played at Pac Bell Park, SBC Park and now AT&T Park just in the last ten years. We are not sure if these points are germane to the story but it sounds slutty. The Dodger season was a miserable miracle. It started like a train wreck. In the middle, they caught Puig inspired rocket fuel. They were the Boys of Summer but then came the fall. The Guggenheim group shook down Time Warner for a massive TV contract guaranteeing that Clayton Kershaw would be a Dodger forever. They ensured that the Dodgers could pay for 4 top quality outfielders. They ensured that the Dodgers will be a financial force for the lifetime of the Yard. They did not just do it to beat the Giants. They did it to beat the Lakers and win back Los Angeles. They did it at the right moment. It all could have been far different. Guggenheim was the most aggressive bidder for the Dodgers when Los Angeles and MLB was trying to vote the McCourt’s off our island. SAC was the number two bidder. Stephen A. Cohen Capital was competitive with Guggenheim on the Dodger deal and on Wall Street for many deals. The Posse and Magic leap frogged SAC with a $500 million “press hard third copy is yours” close. McCourt grabbed the pen garnering his greatest deal ever while sticking it to the ex-wife. He was delusional and brilliant. Jamie was just pissed. It was the Game of Thrones without the Imp. Frank McCourt got more money than he ever dreamed and more importantly more than Jamie McCourt or her attorney ever dreamed. Jamie and her legal team figured Frank was going to be either bankrupt or make $460 million. She settled for all of the homes and a $131 million guarantee. Frank sold the team for $2 Billion. We are not sure how many zeroes Frank finished ahead but there is comma between some of them…ouch…miss you guys…not! The Jamie and Frank debacle could not have happened to two worse people whose place in LA history is duly noted nowhere. SAC could have won the beauty pageant. They were equally financed and vetted. Since losing their bid for the Dodgers, SAC has had the SEC three vertebrae up their colons with insider trading allegations and indictments. It was not in play during the Dodger negotiations but in this past year Cohen’s firm has seen eight executives plead guilty to insider trading charges. Cohen is still in the government’s cross hairs but so far all he has paid $1.2 billion and agreed to stop accepting new accounts. He has his ill-gotten $ 7 billion so more than Parking Lot Frank but shadier. We can only imagine the turd storm that would be swirling around the Dodgers if SAC had won the bid.