We Are All Greg MacDonald: Dodger Fan Urges Bankruptcy Judge Not To Bail Out Frank McCourt

By Gene Maddaus Wed., Jul. 6 2011 at 1:21 PM

Frank McCourt

Greg MacDonald, 33, has been a Dodger fan since childhood. He had a day off last week, and decided to use it to send a heartfelt message to the judge overseeing the Dodger bankruptcy case.

"Please allow us to reclaim our team," he wrote. "I beg you."

MacDonald said he thought the letter, which is after the jump, would have more impact than a call to a talk radio station. It was filed today as part of the already-voluminous official record of the bankruptcy case.

"I just decided I'm gonna write something and send it in the mail so I can say I did my part as a Dodger fan," MacDonald said.

MacDonald works at Mt. San Antonio College. Before that, he was a sportswriter who occasionally covered the Angels. (Disclosure: He and I each worked at the Daily Breeze and the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group.) He said he has always been a Dodger fan.

He attended his first game in 1986, and remembers the Dodgers losing to the Mets on a Darryl Strawberry home run. Though he used to attend games regularly, he has been boycotting the team for the last two years in protest of Frank McCourt's ownership.

In his letter to Judge Kevin Gross, he described McCourt as a "life-long snake-oil salesman."

"I, like many Dodger fans in and around the L.A. area, refuse to go to games because of the McCourts and will no longer put money in their pockets to fund their lifestyle or to pay their lawyers," he wrote.

Here's the letter:

Tags:

bankruptcy, Dodgers, Frank McCourt, Greg MacDonald

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Arthur_Marx

Quoting from Greg's letter:"Please allow us to reclaim our team back."

Poor Greg. He, like so many others, has decided that being a mere FAN of a team equates to having some sort of "ownership" interest in the team.

You just keep thinking that, Greg. A few million Brooklyn residents used to have the same fantasy. I'm sure you'll say that the situations are different, and you would be correct – they are different: All that you have lost is some second-hand pride and bragging rights. Brooklyn lost its whole darned franchise!

Greg MacDonald

Sounds like you are a bitter, old Brooklyn guy, Art. But if you aren't a Brooklyn guy, you still come off as bitter and old. So ... does that make you 94? Do you also complain about the price of senior coffees being too high at McDonald's? Is 5 p.m. your bedtime?

The point of the letter, guy, was to bash McCourt and all he had done to the team I grew up loving with a passion. If you ever stepped foot inside Dodger Stadium in the last few years, you would see how eroded the place had become, especially in terms of the riff-raff that populate almost all sections of the park. Oh, and not to mention McCourt being too cheap to sign top-flight free agents or to pick up the tab on a traded-for players without having to send quality minor-league stars the other way (Casey Blake for Carlos Santana comes to mind).

So why don't you go back to driving too slowly in the fast lane, playing bingo in a pool hall and handing out pennies on Halloween, and let those of us who don't need assisted living do the talking, mm-kay?

Jason

pretty weak you posted his name and address. Especially since you disclaimed working with the guy. Other articles i read blurred that out. Did you not like him. very poor. would you wnat your name and address published?

Lou

I sent a letter and I don't give a flying f is they publish my address. Who's going to come after me? Steve Soboroff? Because no one wants McBroke in LA.

Sending a letter means you are willing to be part of the public record. We all can live with that.

Arthur_Marx

Gene did not say that he "worked with" Greg. He said that they "each worked at the Daily Breeze and the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group." There is a difference, and from the phrasing, it sounds like they worked at each place at different times.

As for showing Greg's address ... If Greg had any objection to its being shown, he should have (a) redacted it from the copy of the letter that he sent to Gene, (b) asked Gene not to reveal it, or (c) not sent Gene a copy of the letter at all.

Greg MacDonald

Wrong again, dumb-dumb. Gene obtained the letter from the court filing, not from me. You old people really think you have it all figured out just because you watch every episode of Jeopardy.