I regrettably listened to a few minutes of Squeaky and the Douche yesterday hoping to hear some Pats/ATL talk....but instead we got to hear Comrade Massarotti, the closet socialist, come out of the closet with some amazing takes regarding FSG buying the Penguins.
1)"This country needs a law that limits rich people from owning more than pro sports franchise"
2)"Only fans of the team should be allowed to own that pro sport franchise"
3)"Pro sports needs owners who operate/spend like fans and not business people"
4)"A committee of fans should be in charge of sports franchises and owners should just be caretakers"
5)"FSG buying the Penguins will hurt the Red Sox ability to purchase free agents"
6)"I'm a capitalist but Henry has enough"
etc etc etc
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1) Might as well have laws that limit number of houses, cars, kids, and sports talk shows
2) See below
3) See below
4) Refer to Green Bay Wisconsin where a committee of the appointed gather to discuss every facet of the organization and then vote on it....Free agents to consider (let's vote) what brand toilet paper to purchase (let's vote), how to fund operations (Let's issue worthless pretend stock to sucker fans......again), how to placate a douche bag QB, etc etc etc
5) Of course no mention by Comrade Maz that FSG recently sold 10% of ownership for $750 mill (to fund Penguins purchase)...why let facts interrupt another uninformed, fact concealing socialist rant.
6) Capitalist Maz is allowed to seek more money, ask for raises, but not 'Too Rich' Henry
2) + 3) This new Penguins/Red Sox overlap interests me on many levels and I'll explain.
Back in the day I hung out with the daughter of Roger Marino, the "M" in EMC......one of the "Four Horsemen" of the great tech boom in the 80's and 90's (Intel, Microsoft, Ciscco, EMC) and Marino cashed out in the 90's and started to spend his billion(s) on vanity projects. He made a play for the Red Sox at one point but was stiff armed by the the Powers in charge of baseball.....so he went and bought the Pittsburg Penguins instead. If you remember, under his ownership, the team essentially went bankrupt.
Why was that?
To quote his daughter who later married to one of my best friend's at the time..."Dad ran the team like an idiot fan, paying it's stars way too much. The team could never afford the contracts he was handing out, but it didn't matter to him because in his mind he achieved celebrity status that allowed him to hob nob with movie stars that he would fly in on his jet to attend games."
(Note: the more money Daddy pissed away, the less money for the Marino princesses and they were very conscious of this situation and furious about it)
She then proceeded to list off all the A-list actors she got to meet in Daddy's sky box. The list was long and impressive (Michael Scott:"That's what she said")
The result of this (2)FAN OWNERSHIP who operated his team like Maz endorses....AS A (3)FAN.........BANKRUPTCY
In fact, Marino essentially handed over his ownership stake to Mario Lemieux whose contract the team couldn't afford.
Can't pay your star....Here's the franchise
And Lemieux was player/owner for 7-8 years before finally retiring.
This arrangement is proving to be far more lucrative than the Bobby Bonilla yearly payout......to the tune of 100's of millions.
Any way...Yeah Henry is a creepy as they come....SO WHAT
Their Red Sox success eclipses every other MLB over past 2 decades ....FACT
Their Liverpool successes have been immense in recent years (reversed 30 years of failure, won the biggest trophies, currently ranked #3 club in the world, roster stacked with the best at their position or close to it). Sure Liverpool plans complain Henry doesn't buy enough players with his own money (an amazing contradiction held by their fan/residents of the most socialist population in all of England). And of course they conveniently never mention LFC has purchased $550 mill in players in the past 5 years, mostly payed for by offsets (player sales) of team members that either never play or don't want to be their (Luis Suarez, Phillip Coutinho).
You see, for them, RICH People exist to subsidize their passion.....nothing more. And don't dare raise ticket prices to afford stars or "We'll strike"
Angst over their hockey ownership is utter nonsense and those who gripe about such inconsequential developments need to find a different distraction: maybe get a puppy
If seeing Henry sit in the Sabres box at TD Garden while reading the Red Sox news in his Boston Globe infuriates you....I'm all for it!
