Earlier this summer I brought up the complexities of the business of baseball in regards to the selling of the Texas Rangers. It’s always a tricky thing when that much money is moving around, lots of investors and egos to keep satisfied. As big of a headache as that was, everything ended up going through alright, the sale baseball wanted to happen happened, and Nolan Ryan is now running the show in Texas. Better still, they have maintained their division lead and Rangers fans are optimistic about the future, including resigning superstar slugger and soon-to-be-free-agent Josh Hamilton this offseason. Now Dodgers fans are in the middle of their own pecuniary dilemma, and this isn’t the kind of September excitement they were hoping for.

It’s every fan’s dream to own a professional sports team. For those of us who accept we’re never going to actually make it onto the field, the front office is the next closest way to hold up a championship trophy. We tell ourselves “If I’m ever rich enough I’ll just buy a team and run it myself,” and sometimes when we actually make enough money we do it. Just ask Mark Cuban or Dan “the Fan” Snyder. For Frank McCourt a sports team was also the ultimate status symbol. After all, who needs to show off a mansion when people pay to watch games at your stadium? So when Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation put the Los Angeles Dodgers up for sale in 2004 McCourt was determined to make the team his.

Unfortunately for McCourt, he did not have the necessary funds immediately available. Nearly all of Frank and his wife Jamie’s wealth was tied up in the “Seaport property,” a prime piece of South Boston real estate Frank had spent years developing and then fighting for in litigation. But what Mr. McCourt lacked in liquidity he more than made up for in cunning and ruthless competitiveness. And so the “King of Leverage” and his lawyers worked out a deal that somehow managed to basically swap his parking lot for a Major League Baseball franchise with players, a stadium and its own parking lot included. There were no co-investors and the McCourts owned the Dodgers outright.

By this time Jamie McCourt was tired of Frank’s risk-taking business ventures and wanted a Marital Property Agreement to keep their personal real estate investments separate from the seemingly more precarious Dodgers investment. In the original agreement the houses would stay in Jamie’s name while the Dodgers went to Frank. Little did she know that just a few years later she’d be fighting over this agreement in divorce court while her real estate tanked and the Dodgers grew to be worth $727 million.

Of course you’re not married to Frank McCourt for 29 years without a bit of your own fighting spirit and Jamie is battling tough. She claims the original Marital Property Agreement is invalid and the team’s value should be split equally. Of course this is unacceptable to Frank McCourt, who has no intention of giving up any of his ownership power. This was apparently a lifelong investment for Frank and he is currently in the process of grooming his sons to take over when he retires.

Just as team ownership was a way for them to flaunt their status that exposure has left the divorce proceedings open to the same public scrutiny. The trial officially began this week and both McCourt’s dirty laundry has been aired; Frank accused Jamie of having an affair with her bodyguard and Jamie has retaliated by accusing Frank of fraud and falsifying documents while the spendthrift lifestyles of both have come to light. They basically used the Dodgers funds as their personal credit cards, and along with extravagant personal spending they also kept the front office stacked as an MC Hammer entourage. Two sons were paid handsomely as “advisors” for essentially not doing anything and at one point there was even a Russian faith healer on the bankroll paid to “think blue.”

For most of L.A., this is another story of love, fame and money gone badly. It is the kind of drama celebrity-obsessed Hollywood can’t get enough of, the train wreck they cheer for. But for the Dodgers true much more than scandalous gossip hangs in the balance. If Frank wins the team, things will most likely remain unchanged other than continuing ticket and parking price increases. However, if Jamie is decided to be due a portion of the team’s worth things could get very messy. This scenario would likely end in the selling of the franchise, although Frank could assumedly tie such a sale up indefinitely in appeals should he lose. Either way, the more time Dodgers management has to spend worrying about divvying up finances the less time they will have to address the Dodgers pressing issues, not as a business, but as a baseball team. And right now eleven games back from the Padres in the NL West and once again out of playoff contention, that’s the help they really need to be focusing on.
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Brett Phelps is a regular writer for The Golden Sombrero.

Today’s Sports Snob focuses on an issue that tortures the essence of my life as a sports fan – losing. It’s every fan’s worst nightmare and it just plain sucks. Some people are lucky and follow teams that rarely lose or only go through short funks before winning again. Others escape the torment of continued misery by only casually following the major American sports leagues.

And then there are schmucks people like me. It’s well documented that I support the Los Angeles Clippers, so there’s no need to say anything else on that front. But I’m also a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Sure they have a rich history and have won some great championships, but I’m an 80’s baby and unfortunately that means I’ve rooted for two teams that have won a total of zero combined titles during the last 20-plus years.

As a kid who grew up watching Mike Piazza, Eric Karros, Raul Mondesi, Hideo Nomo and the rest win Rookie of the Year awards and put up good numbers on an elite franchise, I always had my hopes up. Every year I’d get my glove and pretend to be one of them. I’d rock my Dodgers shirts, bleed Dodger blue and go to games to boo opposing teams and enthusiastically root, root, root for the Dodgers.

And every single year they’d lose, fail to make the playoffs or choke and slowly kill my baseball-loving soul. As the years went by, I’d still go to games and heckle the enemy teams, but it was less than before. Not only was I growing up, but watching the cold-hearted business side lead to trading Piazza and my hero Mondesi didn’t help either.

It got to the point that I stopped going to Dodger Stadium at all. I had lost my connection to the team and the luster was gone. They started to just look like a collection of millionaire athletes and not a group of guys I should admire.

I still had the teams I despised at all costs (the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, etc) but watching your team make the playoffs only six times since 1990 drains you. I’ll even admit that I enjoyed watching the Boston Red Sox finally end the Curse of the Bambino and beat the hated Yankees. Sure my team sucked, but at least another perennial runner-up finally won.

Then Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre came to the Dodgers a few years ago and it energized me and most of the fan base. We had an all-time great hitter in Manny along with promising young talent like Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp. Plus Torre is a legendary manager so it seemed like we might have a shot at a World Series again.

I can’t lie either, a part of me reverted to the 11-year-old version of myself and exuded some blind optimism. Winning the National League West Division in their fist season together and then making the NLCS had me pumped.

But that’s where I messed up. I made the mistake of thinking I’d get to see my team win a championship. I’ll save the extra details and just point out that the Dodgers blew it and went on to lose the series to the Philadelphia Phillies, who ended a drought of their own and treated their fans to a World Series win.

Last year saw the Dodgers win 11 more games and capture the NL West crown again, but it also had the Manny steroids issue and by the time the NLCS rematch with the Phillies was on, deep down I knew we’d lose. True to form, Jonathan Broxton blew another key save and just like that it was all over again.

Fast forward to present day. I’ve been to two Dodgers games this year, one on an invite by a friend who still loves them with an exuberance that I can only remember and the other because they were free and in the all-you-can-eat section.

Yeah I had fun and it gave some life into a part of me that had been gone for way too long. I even got to sing again during the seventh-inning stretch and scarf down some Dodger dogs, but when both games were over the results were the same; they’d lost.

The overall picture is even worse, with the team facing a 12-game deficit in the NL West and being only one game over a .500 record. Manny’s been hurt almost half the year and he’s likely gone after this year anyway. Ditto to Torre, who hasn’t given a long-term commitment? Throw in the nasty divorce between the owner and his wife and it seems like things will never change.

At least we can take one positive from it all though, Vin Scully will be back. Laugh if you like, but at least we’ll lose in style.

- Will.

The Sports Snob will be published once a week here on YouBeenBlinded.com. Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com

When it comes to surprising fans with utterly bizarre and non-macho photo shoots, the Los Angeles Times Magazine has the market in a headlock. They are the ones who blessed Kobe Bryant haters across the world with the infamous girly “White Hot” photo shoot that spawned tons of hilarious photoshopped pics.

The folks over at the magazine weren’t done though, as they set their sights on Los Angeles Dodgers outfield star Andre Ethier and produced another gem. The interwebs rejoiced and started churning out some great Ethier photoshops too. That got us here at YouBeenBlinded thinking, what would happen if the two Los Angeles superstars were really Best Friends Forever and took those fancy outfits on the road. From riding mopeds together to clubbing, Las Vegas shows, catching Twilight, riding the Titanic and more, the photos of their adventures can be seen after the jump.

Even the most die-hard Lakers fans sported puzzled looks and could find no reasonable justification for the original photos, although some of us knew the butterfly tattoo would eventually lead to other fashion #fails.

No word yet on who the magazine is looking to shoot next, but I’m sure Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman won’t be putting down his guns and fireworks to go all European fashion model.

- Will.

Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com

Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 10-3 Thursday night giving the Dodgers a 2-0 series lead and making LA reporters nervous. Los Angeles celebrated their playoff berth in the traditional fashion by spraying and drinking beer and champagne. Manny made sure that the local media was part of the fiesta.

Let this be a warning to all members of the media attending game three, and possibly game four. Wear a hat. And cover James Loney’s eyes. I don’t wanna see him blinded by the bubbly.

Knowing Manny being Manny wouldn’t be a big deal on the West coast it was easy to see that Manny Ramirez, plus his bat and dreadlocks, would carry the Los Angeles Dodgers to the playoffs. Dodgers’ manager Joe Torre got Manny to trim his dreadlocks and the team went into a temporary tailspin. The Dodgers have snapped out of their funk and are now trying to hold off the Arizona Diamondbacks for the NL West title. Maybe a Manny Ramirez lookalike contest will give the team some karma down the stretch.

I didn’t get to see enough of the contestants to say that the guy in the video was the best choice, but I have to believe that this cat gave him a run for his money.

I posted a video of Manny Ramirez leaving Fenway Park so I had to post this video of Manny’s first day at Dodger Stadium. Manny is accompanied by agent Scott Boras as team owner Frank McCourt and icon Tommy Lasorda show him around his new stomping grounds. The best part of the video is when Manny talks to catcher Russell Martin about his new jersey number.

MR: What’s going on with the number? 99?
RM: Wayne Gretzky bro. You’re the Wayne Gretzky….
MR: I’m not a hockey player.

The jersey number doesn’t matter because Manny Ramirez has been on fire since joining the Dodgers. Wayne Gretzky took the L.A. Kings to the NHL finals in the 99 jersey. Will Manny get the Dodgers to the World Series?

Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers, youtube, video

Manny Ramirez was shipped from the Boston Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three team deal that saw Jason Bay land in Beantown. Man-Ram finally got the trade he was seeking, and can be seen is this video leaving Fenway Park for the last time. Manny’s bat will help the Dodgers offense tremendously, but the clubhouse could be a disaster with Jeff Kent and Manny Ramirez sharing space.

Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, Los Angeles Dodgers, video

Joe Torre, MLB, beer commercial, video

Call me crazy but I assumed a brotha that plays golf would be a fan of hockey. This is not the case for one Eldrick Tiger Woods. The Great One on the links was speaking via satellite during a news conference at Oakland Hills Country Club when he was asked which team he’s rooting for in the Stanley Cup finals.

“I don’t really care. It’s all about the Dodgers. I don’t think anyone really watches hockey anymore.”

Ok, he’s right. Nobody watches the NHL anymore, but it’s only because nobody knows where to find the NHL on television. As far as Tiger being a Dodgers fan, that’s cool. He’s an Orange County guy so the Angels would be more understandable, but at least he’s not front running and showing up in the stands at Rays and Marlins games.

Tiger Woods doesn’t care about Cup finals. Courtesy of the Detroit Free Press

Tiger Woods, NHL, Los Angeles Dodgers, PGA

Jose Canseco isn’t the most credible man in the world but, love him or hate him you have to admit he’s a necessary evil of the steroid era. He might not have done it with the right intentions in mind but Jose’s book “Juiced” helped get the anti-steroid ball rolling. Canseco’s new book, Vindicated, spills more dirt although the information seems less reliable this time around.

Jose writes about people that he unsuccessfully tried to blackmail, and reminisces about the good ole days of being a washed up 38-year-old ballplayer that’s trying to catch on with the Los Angeles Dodgers.. At an open tryout. Jose remembers the day well..

“I was so desperate to get back in the game, in fact, that I did an open tryout for the L.A. Dodgers, a team that was in miserable shape back then. I ran well, I threw well, and I hit well, but they still didn’t want me.”

Newspaper reports from that fateful day paint a different picture.From the L.A. Daily News:

We retrieved the Daily News account of what happened that day at Vero Beach, Fla. Staff writer Rich Hammond wrote that Canseco “flubbed groundballs and flailed at offspeed pitches.” He documented that “in a timed sprint at the start of the workout, Canseco started a half-second early, then refused a request to run again. As his colleagues lined up to field grounders at shortstop, Canseco walked to the dugout and didn’t participate in the drill. In 18 batting-practice swings, Canseco hit one home run and four balls to the warning track, then went 2 for 5 with two singles, a walk and two strikeouts in a game among the tryout participants. He played an awkward first base during the game.”

I don’t know what it is but for some reason the newspaper’s account seems more like what happened.. Could it be because it’s the truth? Do PEDs affect the memory? That would explain Jose mistaking the play described above for hitting, running, and throwing well. It would also explain why Andy Pettitte misremembers details about Roger Clemens.

WALL: Canseco squeezing out more juice. Courtesy of the Daily News

Tags: Jose Canseco, baseball, steroids, book