This Bud's for Selig

I confess, I'm not a fan of Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig.

I don't know the man, but whenever I see him, I see a man who appears interested in ensuring that the owners make a lot of money even if that means suggesting something that is not in the best interests of the game. (Can anyone say 5 teams per league making the post-season? And a one-game playoff series?)

However, I never question the man's love for baseball, and so I have no doubt that he will do the right things when it comes to straightening out the disaster that is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The team's current owner -- Frank McCourt -- is a disgrace to the game he claims to love. Suggesting as he did that a television deal involving the team and FOX Sports was proper -- knowing that millions of dollars from it would go toward completing his divorce -- indicates a man who is not only divorced from a woman but also from reality.

To then take the next step of placing the team into bankruptcy so as to be better positioned to fight to retain control of the franchise cements that Mr. McCourt needs to go.

Now.

Permanently. 

Yes, at some point before this season is over, the Dodgers will be taken over by Major League Baseball, and it will be Mr. Selig's responsibility to ensure that the Dodgers' financial house is put in order as the initial step in selling the team to a person or group that knows what ownership means.

Now; let me confess a bias -- I grew up in southern California and was a Dodger fan for a few years. When the O'Malley family owned them, the Dodgers were among the few model franchises in professional sports. Sadly that is not the case any longer, though Mr. McCourt is not solely to blame for creating the entire mess; he, however, attempted to use a very public, once very respected baseball team as a personal tool. In doing so, he failed as miserably as he appeared to fail as a husband.

Mr. Selig is everything Mr. McCourt is not. A family man. Honorable. Humble. Decent. A baseball fan.

Baseball fans everywhere -- regardless of whether they like or detest the Dodgers -- should be thankful that he will be making the short-term decisions that will cement the long-term stability of the team.