BY ALEX P. VIDAL
ANAHEIM, California -- Although he had earlier expressed an interest in the Pittsburg Pirates, the grapevine here has been buzzing that Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, will soon acquire the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Cuban, ranked number 459th richest person in the world according to Forbes, had failed to get the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, and is now reportedly inching his way to become new owner of Dodgers.
He has all the reason to be ecstatic nowadays after Dallas Mavericks ousted in the playoff LA Lakers, the NBA defending champion, in a stunning fashion: 4-0!
"When I become owner of the Dodgers, fans will never again have to worry about the Dodgers having enough money to sign the best players,'' Cuban recently told T.J. Simmers.
Cuban said: "I will spend so much money, Bud will consider fining me. As you know I've racked up something like $1.665 million in NBA fines, so if that's what it takes to have the best team in Los Angeles, bring it on, Buddy boy.
"I matched every dollar that I was fined and donated it to charity. I do believe in community, and have the check stubs to prove it.
"Now I don't want to brag, but before I bought the Mavericks, Dallas won 40% of its games the previous 20 years. We're winning at a 69% clip ever since I took over in 2000. I'm a happily married man, and you have to love that.
"I will lower the price to park, because how can I expect anyone to come to Dodger Stadium with the left fielders this team has employed? I will stand up and boo Jonathan Broxton like most of you."
"I know how to tweet, and we'll have people so excited about the Dodgers again no one will notice Jeanie's boy toy is back in Montana. Good riddance, by the way, and how about letting another team win the NBA title for a change?
"That way I can get everyone watching the Dodgers again. I know Bloomberg has reported I'm selling all my Landmark Theatres and Magnolia Pictures so I can pay cash for the Dodgers. But I have plenty of cash. Cash will never be a problem, and when was the last time a Dodgers owner could tell you that?''
According to Mark Miller, ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers has been a thorny issue in recent years.
First there was the extremely public divorce case between Frank and Jamie McCourt in which both claimed to be owners. And now there is Major League Baseball investigating the team's recent troubling financial history as a precursor to possibly taking over the franchise.
Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting that "Major League Baseball is preparing for the possibility that Frank McCourt might take the Dodgers into bankruptcy court before the league could strip him of the team.
Experts told the Times that bankruptcy could give McCourt "the authority and funding to remain in control of the Dodgers, at least in the short term.
The paper also notes that the league would likely oppose McCourt taking the team into bankruptcy and is "looking hard" at that possibility. McCourt may also get some push-back from his former wife who "would argue that ex-husband Frank has no right to take the team into bankruptcy without her approval, since she claims half-ownership of the team," a "person familiar with her thinking" told the Times.
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