Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars Owner Tom Hicks the Most Wanted Man in Texas

He bankrupted one franchise and he's destroying another, yet Texas Rangers' and Dallas Stars' owner Tom Hicks continues to show his face at each team's home games. For what reason, I'll never know, but I'm sure he hears his share of jeers, and rightly so.

Tom Hicks has dug a hole and tried to bury the Texas Rangers franchise deep into bankruptcy, something that Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg are trying to dig the team out from.

Now, reports have surfaced that the Dallas Stars have cut ties with longtime face of the franchise, Mike Modano. The team has decided not to tender the longtime leader of this team a contract, and Modano will not have the decision as to whether he'll play one more year in the NHL. If he does, it will be in another team's uniform.

So, with all that said, does this make Tom Hicks enemy number one in the Dallas and Fort Worth metroplex? You might even include Liverpool, as I'm sure he's not the most popular guy out there either.

The answer to that is a simple yes.

If you listen to any of the sports stations in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, you hear a lot of people talk about how angry they are at Hicks and how he's theoretically buried this ballclub.

The Rangers are currently in bankruptcy court with the creditors who are trying to get back the millions of dollars that are still owed to them from the sale of the team. The creditors told the presiding judge that Hicks took the lowball offer from Nolan Ryan's group for no other reason than he wanted Ryan to be the new owner of the club.

The creditors wanted to force the Rangers to re-open bidding to see if another group would bid higher than Ryan's group and match the dollar amount that is owed to them.

The judge ordered the two sides into mediation in early July. If that is resolved, the team may be able to make a move or two before baseball's trade deadline at the end of July.

How Hicks can single-handedly destroy a franchise and still sit front row at the home games is a brave move. Though some fans tell 105.3 FM in Dallas that people have been removed from the ballpark for yelling at Hicks, but I'm sure some of those things are a lot more colorful than these particular callers describe.

Do the fans here have a reason to be angry?

Absolutely they do. These fans have been waiting a long time for the Rangers to be a contender in just their own division. They've started seeing those benefits over the last two seasons with the team currently leading the division over the defending champion Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Mr. Hicks, if you have a problem with some of the things being said or written about you in columns or at the ballpark, the easy thing would be to stay home and watch it in front of what I imagine is a fairly large television.

Sure, this area is a football town. They live and breathe not only Dallas Cowboys football but also high school football. The Texas Rangers have and always will be in the backseat when it comes to media coverage and fan support.

But there are still those that have lived and breathed Texas Rangers baseball and Dallas Stars hockey and want to see their team finally succeed. Though the Stars have a Stanley Cup under their belt, they've become irrelevant in the hockey conversation over the last few years. All thanks to good ol' Tom Hicks.

What makes me chuckle just a tiny bit is the fact that while Hicks is not exactly everybody's favorite guy in Dallas, just imagine if Jerry Jones had pulled this same stunt.

Not only would the fans jeer him at the game and boo him every time his image came up on the 60-foot-long television at Cowboys Stadium, but they would come to his house, pack his bags, and put him on the first train out of town.

Like I said, this is a football town. Baseball and hockey will always be the little brother to the Dallas Cowboys.

You can't destroy a franchise and think it's OK. You can't attempt to bury a team in bankruptcy and still sit in the very first row of the ballpark. Fans know just how expensive those seats are, they know that all of the money that has come into both the Rangers and the Stars is not going back into the team.

Isn't that the owner's job? To help your management staff build the best team possible by giving them the funds to do just that?

Why do you think that John Moores was run out of San Diego after years of spending money elsewhere instead of re-investing it into the San Diego Padres?

Tom Hicks, you're going to have to make a statement at some point. Don't you think the fans deserve to hear some sort of apology from you, or do they really not mean enough to you to do so?

Wait, you bankrupted one, and you've basically let another fall apart. Maybe you should just fade away into the distance quickly and quietly.

Not to mention you should probably thank your lucky stars it's almost football season. Soon, fans around here will aim their anger towards Tony Romo and you'll be off the hook.