A New Reality for the Dodgers
Dodgers' owner Frank McCourt standing between outgoing manager Joe Torre and incoming manager Don Mattingly on Friday, September 17. AP Photo/Alex Gallardo
Welcome to Season 2 of everyone’s favorite reality show: WHO THE HELL OWNS THE DODGERS!
It would be nice to incarcerate Frank and Jamie McCourt to the bowels of the Jersey Shore house in New Jersey. Perhaps have them compete week in and week out to see who gets the plastic surgery of week in Dodgerplasty? Or have them cameo on the Bravo “hit” show The Millionaire Matchmaker where in a cruel twist of fate Patti Stanger sets the two of them up on a date.
Unfortunately this fight isn’t relegated to the margins of cable television to be broadcasted endlessly until our brains turn into a gelatinous mold of paprika-goo. Every time anyone sees the Dodgers play in person or on the television screen, that’s the story that’s seared into their consciousness front and center.
So what have been the latest updates?
- Well the post-marital agreement that dictated that Frank McCourt was the sole owner of the Dodgers was struck down.
- Jamie McCourt wants to be called co-owner of the Dodgers.
- Frank doesn’t want to oblige.
- Frank reportedly took an advance from Fox on an upcoming television rights deal that hasn’t been completed yet.
- Neither Frank nor Jamie can afford to buy the other out without getting a group of investors involved.
- No investors want to work with Frank or Jamie.
- The soonest a trial to determine whether the Dodgers are community property won’t begin until 2012.
Now aren’t those some reassuring words?
As David Moran ran down the roster over the last couple of days (batters and pitchers), a word can be used to summarize the players: blah. Apart from starting pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley, no one really stands out.
There’s Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, but both haven’t proven they can carry a team for longer than a month. Sure they can get on a hot streak like Ethier did at the start of last season, but after that pinkie injury shelved him for several weeks he plummeted back down to earth.
There are also the aging veterans, to put it nicely, who litter the infield which will have every Dodger fan holding their breath each time they have to dive to the ground stretched out in order to make a play.
And what’s going on in left field? Marcus Thames, Gabe Kapler, Jay Gibbons, insert cheap player here.
It’s easy to pin all the blame on General Manager Ned Colletti, but what else can he do in his situation?
He doesn’t know if the boss he has now will be the same boss he will have in six months. With Frank McCourt having to borrow money from the corporation he “bought” the team from (and the corporation he defaulted on a loan payment,) how does he know how much he can spend?
With the bullheaded Frank McCourt refusing to release his death grip on the Dodgers, the franchise looks to be careening towards dark days. It’s already started with players refusing to play at Dodger Stadium with their every move on the field narrated by the voice of god himself Vin Scully.
It’s not going to get better anytime soon, so Dodger fans prepare for mediocrity.