Frank McCourt: Everybody’s Friend

Jon Paul Morosi tried to capture the spirit of Dodgertown with his article on the sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Frank McCourt agreed to sell the Dodgers to Magic Johnson. Let the people rejoice.

Yeah, absolutely. Dodgers fans didn’t deserve Frank McCourt. That guy was a travesty, and Major League Baseball should be ashamed that he was ever an owner.

If I had told them Magic Johnson would be their owner in one year’s time, they would have kissed me.That is one of the classic pick-up lines of our time, for sure. I met my wife by telling her that Magic Johnson would own her in a year.

And now, in the giddy epilogue to that wrenching November day 20 years ago, (Magic Johnson) has come to rescue the Dodgers.Giddy. That’s a good word to describe the Dodger fans in my Twitter timeline last night. They were giddy. The nightmare was over. And it must be especially poignant to have one of the buyers be one of the greatest Los Angeles sports icons to ever live, if not the greatest.

From this day forward, when Dodgers fans see Frank McCourt around town, the word before “you” will be “thank.“The needle scratches. The music stops. Everybody at the party turns around, canapé in mid-chew, wondering who might have possibly muttered something so awful.

But it’s a day of forgiveness, apparently, and Frank McCourt can be treated to headlines like these:

Dodgers’ Frank McCourt Leaves Baseball As Its Most Successful Owner EverBuy a team without using lot of cash, thanks to the help of Major League Baseball. Use the team as a personal checking account to dip into whenever you need a new liquid-platinum-filled pool. Run the team into the ground. File for bankruptcy. Then escape with a billion dollars. It’s all so adorable.

Remember, everyone in Los Angeles, you’re supposed to say “Thank you!”