Mychael Urban On Board

It is pleasing to hear that at least one local sports personality views coincide with Carpe HUNC. Today Mychael Urban says on 95.7 The Game that sports owners are billionaires and their purpose in sports is to finance championships (see Carpe HUNC of July 26, 2011) and that As' owner Lew “Boob” Wolff is not fulfilling this function. Too many in the media say that these teams must be run as a business, but they ignore the reality that ownership of a sports franchise, race horses, race cars, racing yachts, etc. are mostly for the massage of wealthy egos. The media must stop coddling these guys and hold their feet to the fire for lack of aggressiveness in putting a winning team on the field.
Giant's fans beware! With Tim Lincecum signing a two year deal and with no appreciable upgrade to the offense it looks like ownership is satisfied with one championship ring and may be willing to go the way of the As. If the Giants stay barely competitive, the turnstiles will keep turning for a couple of years and the owners will not have to invest in a top hitter. They may trade Lincecum next year near the deadline, dump the rest of his salary and continue to collect more money until the team finally declines. Bay area fans deserve better.

The Autumn Wind Blows

As the autumn wind fills the sails of Al Davis for the final run home, it is time to reflect on him and his legacy. Despite the move to Los Angeles, for which we will always accord him the rank of scumbag, he practices what he preaches, “Just win, baby!” He may not be successful every time but we know that he tries. Looking across the Coliseum to the offices of the Athletics we see Lew “Boob” Wolff, whose analogous quotation must be, “Just cash Yankee checks, baby!” If they do not love him, all NFL owners must be proud of Davis for his accomplishments with the Raiders as well as commissioner of the AFL. Wolff's fellow MLB owners are shameful that they allow this loser amongst them.

The Range of Corruption in Texas

As the conclusion of the 2011 baseball season approaches and the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers appear to be returning to the playoffs, it is time to reflect on the politics and corruption that aids them in this pursuit. In his 2009 tome, “Family of Secrets: the Bush dynasty, the powerful forces that put it in the White House, and what their influence means for America,” Russ Baker details President George W. Bush's involvement with the Rangers and his efforts to effect the construction of Rangers Ballpark.
Bush and his cronies think that the working people of America owe them a financial killing, so he leads the manipulations that build the stadium. The group floats a false story that team may move to Dallas and bullies the citizens of Arlington, Texas into adding a half cent to the local sales tax to raise construction funds. The ballpark and underlying land are turned over to the team, to the enormous benefit of George W. Bush and his co-owners.
The acquisition of the land is on the cheap as part of the liquidation of the Saving and Loan scandal which President George H. W. Bush oversees. They also obtain land via eminent domain with the help of some local movers and shakers, who receive Federal appointments and/or the turning of a blind eye towards criminal activity vis-a-vis the S&L scandal.
These sordid wheelings and dealings help set up Nolan Ryan and the Rangers to make their current run. As the Oakland Athletics maneuver to build a new stadium, the citizens of Oakland and San Jose must be vigilant to the machinations of A's owner, Lew “Boob” Wolff. He is cut from the same cloth as the past ownership of the Texas Rangers.

Lew "Boob" Wolff: Loser, Loser Loser!

The Oakland Athletics are wallowing well below five hundred right now with no realistic hope of winning their division or anything else. The A's are a low payroll team and as such do not have much of a chance. The Major League Baseball revenue sharing and the luxury tax exist in order to enable teams such as this to become competitive. The MLB collective bargaining agreement states that this money must be used, “in an effort to improve its performance on the field.” Some team owners do not honor this requirement and just apply these funds to their profits. The ownership of the A's, led by Lew “Boob” Wolff, is among them. They take the Yankee money and stuff their pockets, meanwhile a valuable local asset degrades and fans are cheated.


This is reminiscent of the 1991 movie OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY with Danny DeVito and Gregory Peck in which a corporate raider finds a small public company with a large cash balance and a low stock price. He figures he can pocket the cash, sell off equipment and other parts of the company and then fire most of the workers. This not only eliminates jobs but destroys an asset of the community. The corporate raider is investing, but not creating anything much the same way that Boob Wolff invests in the A's, but his only interest is in cashing MLB checks and maybe using the team as the center piece of a real estate deal. In other words, he invests without creating anything and he should be investing to create a World Series champion.

Many say the baseball is a business and to an extent this is true. However, in many ways the ownership of a sports franchise is a wealthy man's plaything. You spend your money and you get your ring. From this perspective, the best owners in the Bay Area are the Haas family and Eddie DeBartolo. Even Charlie O. Finley and Al Davis, both scumbags, can at least point to trophies. Boob Wolff is a complete loser and the rest of the MLB ownership should be ashamed for allowing him to own a major league club.