Dec. 8

You couldn't sell this to Saturday Night Live or The Simpsons; it was too preposterous for even the Farrelly Brothers. Maybe you could have sent the idea for a Monty Python "America in the 21st Century" and it would have worked: an anguished, skewed Bud Selig, sitting next to Jesse Ventura, in the court of a Judiciary Committee that made one long for an enlightened monarchy, between a chairman drifting and a New York congressman showing off all the indignity of a Jim Rome never-will-be caller. All with the workers' chorus located at The Four Seasons outside Dallas.

"And the men who spurred us on
Sit in Judgment of what's wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song."

While Selig poured over his financial records on C-Span III, Donald Fehr thousands of miles away claimed those books aren't the same ones Selig gave him and owners' lawyers in turn claimed Fehr was fibbing. Up the Delta Shuttle the Yankees were honing in on a seven-year, $119-123 million deal with Jason Giambi, signing a middle reliever (Steve Karsay) for more than $22 million for four years and preparing to sign Sterling Hitchcock. St. Louis was also signing Jason Isringhausen to a four-year, $27 million deal.

What Selig has done is turn the public against baseball -- some against him and the owners, some against the players -- all in the wake of an historic season.

And riding the New York-Boston shuttle was cable giant Charles Dolan's offer to pay close to $700 million to buy out the Yawkey Foundation's 53 percent controlling interest of the Red Sox as well as the limited partners' 47 percent, which would promise the wildest chapter in the history of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.

Yes, Dolan is the man who'd shout "I'm comin' to getcha" at his blood rival George Steinbrenner, which would give Red Sox fans an owner who hates The Boss more than any of them hate any Yankee and will spend his billions to end The Curse, which realists believe is of ownership, not Babe Ruth.

Selig's claims of fiscal bloodletting did not elicit any calls from the Salvation Army. Not that many really understand what in the name of AOL Time Warner all those numbers mean, but critics and pseudo-economists railed about illusionary losses. They pointed out that at the time Selig was pleading his case for contraction and poverty, Giambi was holding off accepting what was reported to be a $119 million offer, new ground was being broken for closers (John Smoltz) and setup relievers (Karsay), Donald Watkins was asking to be allowed to buy a team, any team, and Dolan was trying to outbid all the takers for the Red Sox. One prominent Boston businessman who went through the Red Sox books with a prospective buyer says, "When they project $10 million worth of losses, they skirt all kinds of revenue streams. They're book, not real, losses."

In turn, management's take was the opposite: that it's all about the Yankees. The Red Sox may be the second-best franchise in the sport and that while Watkins may want in, will he want to stay? Just the fact that Smoltz's agent Lonnie Cooper told the Yankees that they could have Smoltz for $52 million over four years forced the Braves up from $8 million to $10 million per year. The Karsay signing further drove up the price on Isringhausen, just as it eventually will impact the signings of Billy Wagner, Ramiro Mendoza and Ugueth Urbina. And Giambi ...? "Every one of these big names -- Giambi, (Barry) Bonds, (Juan) Gonzalez, (Moises) Alou -- are all trying to get New York involved to drive up their prices," says one GM. "Gary Sheffield, Scott Rolen, Cliff Floyd, Darin Erstad and all the big players who can be free agents at the end of this next season all need one of the New York teams -- or Boston, if Dolan gets into it in time -- to play on them. That's the whole point. Meanwhile, Oakland's already losing three key free agents off last year's team."

Several owners believe that Selig accomplished something in walking the coals. "Ventura even said, 'the system is screwed up,' " says one baseball official. "So the point was made." Indeed, and someone else pointed out that if baseball is really such a great buy, why are Fox and Disney trying to get out?

But the perception of Selig is a problem. He comes across like an aging garment worker, complaining about everything these days. He is of course not complaining about everything. He absorbs brickbats and near-slander (the notion that he wanted to contract the Twins to take on the Minnesota TV and border ticket market was as absurd as it gets), but the fact remains that he does not project as the bold, confident CEO of an industry -- a Jack Welch or even a David Stern, who when all else fails, can put down NBA owners with the hammer that he's making them all rich. In reality, Selig unfortunately damages baseball's image and feeds the cynical frenzy.

Instead of trying to attack the Players Association and set off legal landmines that obliterate the memories of Bonds, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, why couldn't this have been done with more statesmanship? Instead of claiming a half-billion dollars in losses, why couldn't Selig have opened the numbers, admitted they exaggerate but make the point that there are long-term problems. Most of those problems come down to a lack of competitive balance, especially in comparison to the NFL. Then, if he wants to sing the change, it had to come -- before he tips his cap to the new constitution -- make a clear, concise, political case that what the baseball industry needs is more revenue sharing and some drag on the highest salaries in the form of real luxury taxes, and that the players steadfastly incant "nyet, nyet" to either suggestion.

What Selig has done is turn the public against baseball -- some against him and the owners, some against the players -- all in the wake of an historic season. What he needs to do is make his case that the lawyers for the Players Association hold fast to the richest five percent of their clients, and rather than attack the players, reason with them that it's for the good of 95 percent that all franchises are solvent and strong and retain hope. If, as he claims, the deal Fehr told the players he was close to achieving in June was really a $20 million increase in revenue sharing and no luxury tax, well, explain it. As it stands now, Fehr stands aside the best and brightest players that constitute the Executive Committee and they look at Bud and see the new boss, same as the old boss.

Meanwhile, relievers' salaries are skyrocketing, and you probably don't want to know what Jay Powell and David Weathers are going to get from the Rangers. Giambi and Bonds are heading towards $17-20 million per year deals and if Charles Dolan doesn't get the Red Sox, John Harrington and the limited partners will have turned down $700 million.

And those who have no agenda but their love of the game get down on their knees and pray that they won't get fooled again.

The theatre that is Boston
If you don't believe in Mike Barnicle's classic line that "baseball is not a life and death matter, but the Red Sox are" then you haven't seen the Boston papers the last 10 days. Talk about hysteria, and provincial paranoia ...

The last local owner of the Red Sox was Bob Quinn, who was destitute and left the Townies as baseball's worst in the 1920s before Tom Yawkey, of Tarrytown, N.Y., saved the franchise. Now, it is fair that most in the Boston area want Joe O'Donnell and Steve Karp to get the team, not only because they are from Boston, but because they are two of the most respected, wired and constructive people in the New England community, a point the Boston Globe's Will McDonough made fairly. But much of the rest of the coverage has been half-truths, slander and witch-hunting, right down to quoting some contractor who'd worked on bidder Frank McCourt's house.

There is a whole lot of "he's a New Yorker" fear and loathing about Dolan, but if Harrington and the partners take his bid this weekend, baseball sources claim he will get approved, no matter how much Steinbrenner detests him.

"When (brother) Larry Dolan had looked at buying the Royals, Tigers and Reds, then settled on the Indians, he made Major League Baseball sign an agreement that if he bought in, MLB had to allow Charles in if he had a club he could purchase," says one source. "It's in writing. If there were conflicts in the trust, they have been recitifed."

Baseball owners know Larry Dolan, and he is regarded as one of the finest, most stable men to enter the industry in the last decade.

"They are both great people; I mean great people who are tough businessmen," says one source who has worked with Larry and Charles. "Charles could be a tremendous owner in Boston. He has the vision of the huge regional cable network with NESN and MSG combined, and not only does he have to make the Red Sox a major entertainment entity, but he has to take on the Yankees. And, believe me, there's never been a Red Sox-Yankee rivalry to match Charles Dolan and George Steinbrenner. His modus operandi is that he will get someone to run the business for him."

There has been speculation around the industry that Dolan will try to get Giants GM Brian Sabean, born and raised in Concord, N.H., and find someone to run the business side. Others feel he will get a general CEO and let him pick the GM to run the baseball operation.

"You could see Larry Lucchino with Dolan, even though he was with the John Henry-Tom Werner group," says one baseball executive. Another executive suggests that since the Dolans had Dan O'Dowd working for them before he went to Colorado, Dolan may try to bring O'Dowd in as his CEO and let him find a GM. O'Dowd offers an energy and passion and is well-regarded by both Dolan brothers.