Los Angeles Daily News sports columnist Tom Hoffarth wrote an intriguing piece suggesting that the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership be taken over by Dodger fans, much the way the Green Bay Packers are owned by citizens of Green Bay. Hoffarth asked me to comment on this proposal and I wrote a piece that is, no doubt, longer than what he is able to publish. So here is my entire response. Your comments are welcome:

First of all, my roots with and love for the Dodgers run deep, starting with my late aunt, Bernadette O’Mara, who went to school in Brooklyn with Peter O’Malley. 

Although I grew up in New York City, one of the reasons I knew I would end up here in Los Angeles was listening as a 9-year-old to Vin Scully doing play-by-play on NBC-TV of the 1965 World Series against the Twins. Vin had such a hold on me that, when I found out that he was a graduate of Fordham University in the Bronx, I did whatever I had to do to become accepted as a student of their communications program so I could try to learn to be great in the way I knew that Vin was great. 

As a kid, all I heard was people telling me what carpetbaggers they thought the O’Malleys were for wanting to come to Los Angeles. And all I wanted to do was to follow them here. And I did. Meeting Vin for 5 minutes in the Dodgers’ press box at Dodger Stadium was one of the greatest, most important moments of my life. I love Dodger Stadium, Dodgertalk on the radio, 300 pound cholos who wear blue t-shirts that say “Los Doyers,” Dodger Dogs (grilled only, please), stories about the early days at the Coliseum, and I worship at the altar of Sandy Koufax, who is one of my personal heroes in so many ways I can’t count them all.

That is why what has been happening to the Dodgers the last few years is almost too much to take. Lip Gloss Night. Mannywood. Obnoxiously loud music. Fights, out-of-control drinking and inappropriate behavior in the stands. $15 parking and $4.50 Dodger Dogs. 60 different (and mostly mediocre) players on the roster every season. And the Dodgers are further away from the World Series than they were ten years ago under Fox, and getting even further away. 

If the Dodgers were to be sold to the public in the form of shares in order to rid us of the current ownership (whoever that currently is), I would happily buy my shares. I do believe that dividends should be paid and I do believe that those who own shares should benefit from their investment. I also believe that shares should be non-transferable so that anyone who wanted out would simply sell their shares back to the collective, the way they do at my tennis club, so there would be no shares sold on eBay, etc. I believe that those who attend games or buy season tickets should be allowed to own more shares than those who don’t attend since those who do attend contribute more to the team financially than those who don’t. I think we all agree that further development of Chavez Ravine is bad for Dodger fans and worse for the surrounding community of Elysian Park. As a public entity owning the Dodgers, we could stop this. Judging by the lousy job City Hall is doing with our city’s finances, the City of Los Angeles should be forbidden to own even one single share of stock in a publicly-owned ballclub. 

I would love to see such a movement for public ownership of the Dodgers succeed. Unfortunately, I do not believe that Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig will ever allow his fiefdom to be penetrated with public ownership no matter how good our argument as a community. So I guess that what I really hope for is that someone who loves LA as much as I do such as Eli Broad or David Geffen will do the right thing for our community and run our team, not as a silly example of vanity and excess, but in the way that good citizens of means do such good for our community. I would gladly do it if I had a billion dollars. Since I don’t, I am prepared to do whatever I can to help whoever will end this public nightmare that has been created at the most Beautiful Ravine on Earth.

And if Mr. McCourt won’t sell, we have to do what is the hardest for those of us who love the Dodgers to do and that is to stay away from Dodger Stadium until it becomes financially untenable for him to hold onto the team. Let’s see how intransigent he can be if attendance drops by a million or two.