Stealing My Thunder

Jay Mariotti from the Chicago Sun-Times obviously read this blog last night and then paraphrased everything I had to say in today's paper. Okay, that's probably not what happened, but Mariotti expressed some of the same thoughts I did in yesterday's post. Unfortunately for me, he did a better job. To add insult to injury, he even spelled "MacPhail" correctly. Show off...

Here are some excerpts:

"Unfortunately, when dealing with the Tribune Co. baseball operation, a simple way out becomes impossible. Not only will the Cubs avoid Piniella -- seems he wouldn't be Andy MacPhail's cup of tea, not that MacPhail knows what he's doing these days -- but they aren't going to fire Baker because the man who hired him, general manager Jim Hendry, never will admit his error and still wants to give His Guy Dusty [egads!] a contract extension. Of course, Hendry never should have received a two-year extension himself but did because his boss, MacPhail, thinks Hendry is doing a great job. Of course, MacPhail should have been fired years ago but wasn't because his boss, Tribune Co. CEO Dennis FitzSimons, cares more about the club's profit margin within the company's wobbly financial foundation and loves how MacPhail milks the cash cow, which must be related in some way to the billy goat...

"Which makes this the optimum time to sell the team. They (The Tribune Co.) could fetch maybe $600 million for the franchise and ballpark, which could help offset the $1 billion judgment against the conglomerate in U.S. Tax Court. And from an image perspective, unloading the Cubs now would let the Tribsters avoid a potentially gloomy period ahead. The only thing worse than owning the Cubs in the heyday of the White Sox is owning the Cubs when they stink in the heyday of the White Sox. And, oh, do the Cubs stink under the Three Stooges leadership of MacPhail, Hendry and Baker, providing no reason to think a South Side championship will be duplicated at Wrigley in the foreseeable future."

Mariotti's point about selling the Cubs is an interesting one. The Tribune Co. needs money and the Cubs are a $600 million asset. What the Cubs need is an owner committed to winning. Love him or hate him, George Steinbrenner is that kind of owner. And in case you haven't noticed, he finds a way to win AND make a ton of money. I'm sure there would be a long list of potential buyers if the Cubs were put on the block. One guy that has already said he would be interested and who is all about winning is Mark Cuban.

Cuban has done wonders with the NBA Mavericks in Dallas and would bring the same kind of excitement and win-at-all-costs attitude to the Northside. And since I'm fairly certain that Mark, er...I mean, Mr. Cuban reads this blog on a daily basis, I have just one thing to ask. Please Mr. Cuban, save us from this long national nightmare. Buy the Cubs and bring us a World Series Championship.

BTW Mr. Cuban, you can email me directly if you'd rather not put your thoughts in the comments. I understand.