Battle: LA

In the land of the Hollywood Hills, five-star hotels, high-end boutiques, and trendy nightclubs, one of the most recognizable institutions has filed for bankruptcy: the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Frank McCourt has now successfully run one of the most famed franchises in sports to the ground. The saddest part is, Major League Baseball should have and could have prevented it all from happening...seven years ago. Bud Selig, a former owner, allowed McCourt to buy the Dodgers with money that he did not have. Traditionally, potential owners need to have 60% of the price of a franchise available in cash. McCourt? He had 10%. MLB allowed McCourt, a real estate mogul in Boston, to buy the Dodgers when his only revenue stream came from an extremely volatile market. I'm not a business analyst by any means, but that does not sound like a stable ownership group. It is this same backwards thinking in the MLB front office that will not allow Marc Cuban to own a baseball team, which is the biggest shame of all. Cuban would make any franchise he buys relevant TOMORROW. Instead, Bud Selig will get someone from his good-ole-boys club to own a team, and continue baseball's slide into obscurity.

Boston Red Sox fans should be breathing a sigh of relief today because McCourt was in the running to buy the fabled franchise, but could not come up with enough cash. Go figure.