Frank McCourt, His Demise and Why Los Angeles Dodger Fans Are Excited

Opening Day had arrived for Dodger fans on March 31st, but there was something missing. It may not have been evident to the national ESPN audience, but to loyal Dodger fans something felt a bit off.

At the time of the first pitch, the tragic beating of Bryan Stow was not part of history, the knowledge of Frank McCourt using $189 million of team revenue for personal use was undiscovered, and the team failing to draw three million fans for the first time since 1992 was a distant thought. Even without having to deal with these things when the season began, it was apparent Dodger fans were in for a trying season.

Throughout the season Dodger fans walked the tight rope in how they supported their team. You had the fans, like myself, who had the mentality that they were going to the stadium to support the team regardless of who owned the team. On the other side of things, there were fans that would do whatever they could to support the team and not give money to the organization in knowing that it was going to Frank McCourt.

Those fans would watch the games on TV, listen on the radio, but would not go to the stadium. They had had enough, and the thought of any percentage of their money going to McCourt irked them to the core. I can't blame these fans one bit.

I chose to attend 15 games this season, not because I wanted to support McCourt, but because I wanted to support the players on the field and the coaches in the dugout. More importantly, I was not going to let one man named Frank ruin a year of memories I was going to have with my six-year-old daughter at Dodger Stadium.

Baseball at its core is a game for the kids, and our children thankfully don't care to know who owns the team. As I took in the game from my seat, I would look around and see the families eating their Dodger Dogs, kids curled up under their Dodger blankets with Mom and Dad, and I would start to reflect on my childhood. I thought about all the games my Dad and Grandpa took me to, and here I am with a child of my own doing the same thing.

The fans that chose to stick to their guns and not support the team financially have been a very important part of Frank's demise. Had Dodger fans taken the same road that I did and show up to the stadium, there is a chance (albeit a small one) that Frank's hand may not have been pushed as hard to give up the team. Revenue for the team would have remained consistent, attendance would have topped 3 million once again, and there wouldn't have been that sense of disgust that became so prevalent over the course of 2011.

There are always talks of boycott in sports, and Dodger fans came together and although it wasn't a complete boycott, they got their message across.

Frank McCourt not only mishandled the finances of the Dodgers, he turned the beloved franchise into the laughing stock of the sports world.

Seemingly small things such as parking around the stadium became frustrating once McCourt took over the team. Aside from the cost of parking increasing, the way in which fans are directed to a parking area contingent on which on-ramp they take into the stadium is a headache. Before the McCourt era fans were allowed to park in any general parking area within the surrounding lots. If your seats were on the third base side, you could park on the third base side of the stadium. Now, regardless of where your seats are, you are required to park in certain areas of the general parking area dependent upon which way you drive into the stadium.

The beating of Bryan Stow, as tragic as it is, served as a wake up call for Dodger Stadium.

As the season continued after the beating, I witnessed more fans coming together to help people settle confrontations. There were fewer instances of objects being thrown at fans wearing the jerseys of opposing teams, and an overall sense of responsibility from the majority of fans that I saw throughout the season.

That's not to say there aren't still some major gaps in security, but the security that was present towards the end of the season is definitely a starting point of what we should see in 2012.

Los Angeles does have some star power back on the roster. Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp are the nucleus of the team, and a key component to the marketability of the team is locking them both to long term contracts.

Both players represent the good in professional athletes by conducting themselves in a positive manner, consistently putting giving a good effort on the field, and giving the perception of a team first attitude. The new owner(s) would make a splash with Dodger fans by signing them both to extensions as soon as possible.

The buzz is back for Dodger fans, and it hinges on the prospects of the new owner.

News broke yesterday that the beloved O'Malley family will be throwing their name into the mix in purchasing the Dodgers. Peter O'Malley sold the team to Fox at the end of the 1998 season. Dodger fans were not excited with the Fox transaction, nor were they thrilled with the idea of a Bostonian coming in to take over the team.

The one thing fans did hinge some positive vibes on for the McCourt family was just that, they were a family, and perhaps they would resemble the O'Malley family in some way. The result could not have been further from those hopes.

Other potential owners that have Dodger fans excited include the likes of Mark Cuban, Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser, or a proposal for the Dodgers to go public in which two million Dodger fans can buy a share of the team for $500 per share. While that is unlikely, it appears at least for now that the prospects of having an owner who cares about the team and the city is on the horizon.

Cuban stated the asking price of a billion dollars or more is too high, but one can never count him out. The investment group that includes Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser would be great for the city of Los Angeles, as fans would have trust in two of the most loved players in franchise history.

Having a great product on the field is important to the fans of any professional franchise. However, as Dodger fans have learned, having a competent owner in which fans want to support in addition to the team is equally as important.

Los Angeles needs an owner with Dodger roots, and if the owner doesn't have those roots, then they need to have the track record for earning the respect of the fans and providing a product those fans want to support. As a Dodger fan, I've lived with the corporate giant owning the team (Fox), and I've seen the disgust with having a greedy family jump in for the money (McCourt). Owning a baseball team is more than dollars and cents, the owner needs to become one with the fans.

Fans can overlook a mediocre season if they see the owner trying. By trying, I'm referring to keeping ticket prices reasonable, parking accessible, security tight, and providing the family experience at Dodger Stadium that we, and the generations before us grew up with.