Pitiful Cubs could use a maverick owner
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BY JAY MARIOTTI*
COLUMNIST
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
May 30, 2006
suntimes.com
Mark Cuban would be interested in owning the Cubs. I know this because he said so, by e-mail, responding quicker to my questions than it takes Andy MacPhail to remove his tinted sunglasses and Dusty Baker to make a pitching change. Tired of writing every week that baseball-inept Tribune Co. should sell the club and set Cubdom free, I chose to seek solutions this time and gauge the self-made billionaire's level of curiosity.
It's higher than I thought.
"If the Cubs come up for sale, it would most likely happen through an investment banker. If they produce a book, I certainly would take a look at it,'' wrote Cuban, who found time to answer even with his basketball team, the Dallas Mavericks, sitting two victories from the NBA Finals.
Why the Cubs? Wouldn't he have better things to do than fight with an old billy goat? Seems Cuban, like much of America, has a love affair with Wrigley Field.
"I've been there a bunch of times and had a blast every time. It's attractive because [the Cubs] are an institution in Chicago,'' wrote Cuban, who sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game'' four summers ago and didn't botch it like Ozzy Osbourne and Mike Ditka.
Clearly, I am not the only one who has pondered the notion of this middle-aged frat guy -- and the most successful of the new breed of sports owners -- rescuing the Cubs from themselves. "Please ask Cubs fans to stop sending me e-mails asking me to buy the team,'' Cuban wrote. "Between Chicago, Pittsburgh and K.C., it's killing my inbox.'' He has interest in the Cubs and his hometown Pirates, another franchise aching for an ownership change. But, really now, the Kansas City Royals?
"Sorry, K.C.,'' Cuban wrote. "Great city, but not for me.''
I suggested to Cuban that the Cubs haven't won a World Series in 25 years of Tribune ownership because, well, the company is plagued by stuffy corporate executives who pump the Wrigley cash cow but don't know anything about winning championships.
Breath of fresh air
"Either an owner is committed to making the product better, or he/she isn't,'' he wrote. "The best food in town doesn't sell if the restaurant bathrooms are dirty.''
Yes, but the Cubs do SELL, I reminded Cuban. They draw 3 million fans a year -- and 40,000 more Monday, including Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston (nahhh, they aren't dating or anything) -- because of their built-in mass popularity. They don't have to win, I tell him, because they sell out the ballpark and are blessed with a large, loyal national fan base that probably needs to seek professional help. How would Cuban win a championship in addition to selling out the fabled shrine where, admittedly, he likes to "have a beer on Waveland Avenue'' and party in Wrigleyville?
"Baseball, like every other professional sport, doesn't have a template for winning a championship,'' he wrote back.
In other words, Cuban would put his own stamp on Cubdom. The stamp emphasizes winning above all else, with a mandate that ticket-buying consumers have plenty of fun in the process. I'm a fan of Mark Cuban, the franchise owner. He bought a dead operation six years ago and quickly maximized its fan base in Dallas, turning the Mavs into an elite team and an attractive destination for players. He would be a striking antithesis to a quartet of Jurassic Park owners -- Tribsters, McCaskeys, Bill Wirtz, Jerry Reinsdorf -- that have run the city's five major teams for much too long and are about as hip and 21st century as Engelbert Humperdinck. Cuban is 47 and likes rap music. He is married with a 2-year-old daughter, yet knows how to have a good time. Most important, he's worth $1.8 billion, ranks as the world's 428th-richest person and wouldn't have any problem pushing the Cubs' payroll up where it should be -- beyond the luxury-tax threshold and closer to the Yankees than the middle-market teams.
I am not a fan of Mark Cuban, the relentless referee-basher. Goodness knows, NBA officiating has its issues. And he makes his share of credible points about mysterious politics behind the scenes. But he does it so often and has been punished so many times -- more than $1 million in fines, which he matches in charity donations -- that the mission becomes counterproductive and loses impact. Certainly, his criticisms of commissioner David Stern, sometimes posted on his blog, have caught the eye of the powers-that-be in Major League Baseball. This could be a problem, Cubdom.
Old crowd wouldn't like him
Do you really think baseball boss Bud Selig wants any part of Cuban's act? Do you think Bud's buddy, Reinsdorf, would want to compete against Cuban just as the World Series champion White Sox try to grab a chunk of the younger market from the awful Cubs? Maybe they'll never sell to Cuban, which might explain why he interjects a caveat that may be code for "the stodgy old men won't like me.''
"To be clear, it's interesting to me,'' he wrote, "but because [the Cubs are] owned by a public company, it has to be offered in a formal manner to potential buyers. With all the private equity money out there, the price could be record-setting and out of my reach.''
As rumors continue to float about the Tribune's willingness to sell the Cubs, despite denials by chairman Dennis FitzSimons, early price estimates for the franchise and Wrigley have ranged from $600 million to $800 million. It's hard to believe Cuban, who quickly is becoming a major player in Hollywood, couldn't round up several big-money investors to help with the Cubs. For starters, call Bill Murray, once he is completely recovered from his recent night in San Diego with Rick Sutcliffe.
The Tribsters don't deserve the ridiculous loyalty of these fans, who packed every nook all weekend to watch follies such as Aramis Ramirez letting a critical pop fly conk him in the head. After the Sunday disgrace against Atlanta, why were these people standing and chanting and bouncing in the ninth inning Monday, as the Cubs were winning their fifth game in 26 tries?
"Let's go Cubbies! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!''
And why was Vaughn, a mixed-breed Cubs fan who also likes the White Sox, sounding more excited about a bunt single by Tony Womack than when he and Owen Wilson were eyeing female prey in "Wedding Crashers'' last year? "Let's run away with this one!'' Vaughn exhorted in the press box. "We're starting a new streak. We're gonna get hot, get everyone back from injuries and get back into this thing.''
They're optimistic because it's a way of Cubbie life. And if they are this tolerant of unwatchable baseball, the least they deserve is an owner who might deliver a World Series one of these years. Is it Cuban? An Internet petition is begging him to buy the team: "Fans on a whole are sick of the 'lovable losers' attitude that our management seems to have. We are confident Mark Cuban could bring a winner to the North Side. If he can turn around the Dallas Mavericks, he can turn around any franchise.''
I suspect his inbox will take another beating today. The man has planted a seed.
*Jay Mariotti is a regular on ''Around the Horn'' at 4 p.m. on ESPN.
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