Tim's Two Cents-February 23

Vin must be hurting inside!

Dodgers Divorce Soap Opera Continues Toward Downward Spiral.  Many Dodger fans are waking up this morning to find out that Dodger ownership, (ahem Frank McCourt) is planning to increase ticket prices over the next eight years while spending less on players according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. 

I'm not surprised one bit that this is happening.  Face reality Dodger fans, Frank McCourt's main objective is to run the Dodgers as cheaply as possible, divorce or not.  Give it time and the Dodgers could be a team where you may not know who the players are because there will be no household names on the team.  By the way, enjoy Manny Roidmirez while it lasts because he won't be there next year.  Even he knows it.  Just to remind you, it wasn't a pretty sight the last time Manny played under an expiring contract. 

It is becoming clear, if it isn't already, that Frank McCourt is running the Dodgers more like a businessman who wants to turn a profit rather than improve the quality of the product.  That is not the way to run a storied franchise like the Dodgers.  I'm not shy in my dislike for the Dodgers, but I know this is the wrong way to run the team.  Frank McCourt will soon find out that if you continue to raise ticket prices without improving the product, fans will become frustrated and find entertainment elsewhere.  What would definitely be the last straw for many fans would be if McCourt decided to get rid of Vin Scully to cheapen the product even more.  There would be a major rebellion if that were to happen. 

So to those Dodger fans who wonder about the team's future, enjoy what you have while it lasts because it could ugly very soon.      

Poto courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Craig Y. Fujii under CC-BY-SA 3.0 License

Tim's Two Cents-December 17

In this edition of Tim's Two Cents, you will get 2 opinions for the price of 1.

1. The Black Mamba Spews His Venom.  In last night's 107 to 106 Laker win, Kobe Bryant was being Kobe Bryant.  With 5.4 seconds left in overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks, Bryant nailed a jumper as time expired to steal a win from the Bucks.  Bryant ended up with a team-high 39 points.  The bigger point is that even though the Lakers came away with the victory, this was a classic illustration of who the Lakers really are.  At times, they look unstoppable, particularly at home.  At other times like last night, they play one of those games where they seem to be going through the motions with not as much passion and intensity at the start.  In these contests, they usually don't start playing well until the second half and it usually comes down to the final minutes where they have to depend on one of their stars (Kobe Bryant) to bail them out.  If you are a Laker fan like myself, there are two things you should be used to.  1. The games will almost always be interesting, and 2. They will have those games where they are inconsistent and not playing up to the level they are capable of.  In the end though, we still love them.

On a separate Lakers note, I'm missing Stu Lantz, the Lakers color commentator for games on television.  Lantz is currently on leave to be with his wife while she has an undisclosed surgical procedure.  This is one of those instances where you don't really appreciate how good something is until it's gone for a certain period of time.  No disrespect to Lantz substitute, "Hot" Rod Hundley, but he is not as good as Lantz and the chemistry with play-by-play man Joel Meyers is understandably not the same.  I can't wait for Lantz's return after December 20.  Believe me, it can't come soon enough.

2. Dodgers Remain Relatively Quiet on Hot Stove Amid Messy Divorce.  In what has been a tumultuous two months of offseason activity to say the least, the Dodgers made only their second significant move of the offseason.  Signing journeyman infielder Jamey Carroll to a 2-year deal worth around less than $4 million.  This deal comes after GM Ned Colletti traded versatile outfielder Juan Pierre to the White Sox.  Oh yeah, and then there's the fact that owner Frank McCourt is involved in messy divorce proceedings with wife, Jamie McCourt.  This could easily explain why the Dodgers have been relatively quiet thus far.  They probably don't have the necessary financial assets needed to make big moves, since it seems to be tied up in more important issues (wink wink).

Photos courtesy:

Wikimedia Commons and Jeramy Jannene under CC-BY-SA-2.5 license
Wikimedia Commons and Googie Man under GNU Free Documentation license