The Trolley Dodger

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their amazing run to become the 2011 World Series Champions. While I was rooting for the Rangers (and, like last year, was thwarted ;) it was great to see Raffy Furcal celebrating last night, not to mention it was impossible not to be astounded by the never-say-die Cards. I guess the power of the Rally Squirrel is for real. ;D

In an Al Jazeera opinion piece, Dave Zirin weighs in on the current situation: “Dodger’s bankruptcy reveals much about the US”

Much has been said about the business practices of Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his battle against the efforts of Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig to forcibly seize the team. But what does an insolvent Dodgers franchise say about the state of America in the 21st century?

Maybe it says nothing at all. Maybe it’s as simple as saying that Frank McCourt mismanaged the team. Yes it’s true that McCourt looks terribly incompetent and used the team as a personal ATM to live a lifestyle that would shame Caligula.

But that doesn’t explain the broader economic crisis in the sport. It doesn’t explain why the Texas Rangers in 2010, on the road to the World Series, had to be auctioned off at a bankruptcy sale. It doesn’t explain why the New York Mets, playing in the game’s biggest market, are flat broke after team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz thought Bernie Madoff would make a fine personal investment banker. It doesn’t explain why Selig, when he crows about baseball’s rosy financial picture, sounds like he’s living in the last days of disco.

But more than anything else, it doesn’t explain how – of all teams – the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in this crucible of humiliation. The Dodgers are arguably the most culturally significant franchise in the history of American sports. It’s the team of Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela, and Hideo Nomo.

That’s more than just a tradition. That’s a Ken Burns epic.

Tony Jackson, writing on ESPN.com, “Tom Schieffer is cryptic and transparent”:

Although [Tom] Schieffer was sent here by Selig to get to the bottom of this complex financial labyrinth, he is a baseball man at heart. As a former Texas Rangers team president who also owned a limited partnership in the club at the time, he gets what all of this is supposed to be about. When Schieffer walked into the press box before a recent game to pick up a scorecard and a game-notes packet, a media colleague of mine thought it was noteworthy enough to tweet about it, the colleague pointing out that he had never, ever seen McCourt do such a thing.

So this means the Yankees are going to pay back the $1.2 billion of public funding for that new stadium then?

No?

Ah.

I won’t lie, it was hard to see. Doubly so. But I want to congratulate the San Francisco Giants on being the 2010 World Series Champions. Thanks for doing California proud.