LACE EM UP Sports
ALMOST A DYNASTY: The Los Angeles Dodgers Ep;1
Let's lace 'em up. One of the premier franchises in all the professional sports struggled for success for 32 years after the last World Series Championship in 1988, in a city that is accustomed to hoisting Championship Gold, Dodgers faithful wondered could the boys in blue ever get the job done, despite having teams projected for major success. Let's take a look back at the last decade for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On March 27, 2012, it was announced that Dodgers owner Frank McCourt had agreed to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Guggenheim Group for a record north of $2 billion. From 2004 to 2012, the regime of the McCourt's Frank and his wife Jamie were filled by mostly mediocre seasons and the net management decisions until ended by complete and utter ugliness. The biggest success the Dodgers reached under the McCourt's was in 2008 and 2009 reaching the NLCS but were ousted twice by the Philadelphia Phillies. The day before Game 1 of the 2009 NLCS, Frank and Jamie McCourt publicly announced their separation after being together for almost 30 years. The day after the Dodgers were eliminated by the Phillies 4-1, it was announced that Jamie, who served as a team CEO, was fired from her position and a few days after that, she officially filed for a divorce from Frank, while Frank would turn around and publicly accuse her of infidelity. This was unfortunately the beginning of toxic headlines and negative distractions around the team. Financial details of the team were exposed in the McCourt's trials and the sole ownership of the team was at stake. To nobody's surprise, the team suffered due to inability to go after premier free agents or top talent through trades and the Dodgers failed to make the playoffs the next three seasons. While the McCourt's were in the middle of a nasty divorce, the Dodgers organization was bleeding money and even struggled to make payroll. It got so bad that Frank McCourt took a $30 million loan from Fox to pay the team's debts. This led MLB commissioner Bud Selig to step in for the MLB to take partial control of the Dodgers. On June 27, 2011, the Dodgers officially declared for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which will be the single most embarrassing day in Dodgers history. The term rock bottom could be used to describe the situation. Eventually, after a three-year court saga, Frank would be named the sole owner of the LA Dodgers and after numerous failed tell attempts, the team would finally be sold to the Guggenheim Baseball Management Group for $2 billion, which is consisted by principal owner Mark Walter, Stan Caston, who now serves as the team CEO Todd Bowie, Peter Goober and Lakers legend, Irvin Magic Johnson. Having Magic as the new face of the ownership group gave confidence to the Dodgers faithful that this could be a turning point for the team. Not only did this bark new life into the bloodstream of the Dodgers, but it gave new life into the city of LA. First line of business for the new Dodgers owners was two monumental deals with the Boston Red Sox that changed the trajectory of the LA Dodgers fortunes. LA acquired former All-Star pitcher Josh Beckett, Golden Glove and All-Star Slugger Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Karl Crawford and Nick Punto, along with $250 million in salary. The addition of these quality players, along the core of reigning Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, star outfielder Matt Kemp, veteran Andre Ether, and upstarts like Justin Turner, Kenley Jensen and Dee Gordon. The future was bright for these LA Dodgers, but just how far could this talented group