Simone Wilson“Frank is a carcass on the ground at this point, and MLB is the buzzard circling the body,” reads the Vanity Fair piece today on Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.
Though we've been saying it since the divorce, it seems the jury of public opinion, expedited by the Internet, is out for good: McCourt is a complete joke. And a broke one at that — a few of his employees' paychecks bounced today.
As we saw with Weiner, there's only so long a walking, talking meme can cling to his throne before the commoners raid the castle.
A crisis-management firm told the Weekly earlier this week that if McCourt wanted to bounce back from his bankruptcy filing, he was going to have to let Angelenos know the team was OK — to reassure them they could still buy their Dodger Dogs, that their parking passes still worked. But McCourt, internally tangled in his mess of legal business, did no such thing. In fact, he didn't even look up.
NBC LA reports that Venice resident Jon Moore, a lifelong Dodgers diehard, has already sold 50 of his “Frankrupt” T-shirts after debuting them yesterday. Ten different models come printed with the best word mashup since Carmageddon, scrawled in classic Dodgers font. We wouldn't be surprised if half the stadium is wearing 'em come gametime.
Shirts and sweatshirts range from $25 to $35. Worth it.; Credit: frankrupt.com
“I just want to see the Dodgers back to what they used to be — to what they should be,” Moore told NBC.
His dream is about to come true. The Dodgers have nothing to lose, besides a couple days without beer money, and they're doing anything but losing on the field; McCourt, on the other hand, has everything to lose.
A Los Angeles Times columnist said it well (if a bit heavy on the paralellist cheese) this week:
The Dodgers are not broke. It is Frank McCourt who is broke. His schemes are broke. His understanding of this franchise is broke. His ties to Los Angeles are broke.The Dodgers are not broke. The Dodgers are bigger than broke. The Dodgers pulse too deeply through a city's soul to ever be broke.
Goodbye, Frank. Not very nice knowing you. Now could you just make this easier on everyone, and give the MLB their fastest-rising champions back?
[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]
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