Spent the last hour trying to summon the strength to write this, if only because at this late date the thought of spending one more second on Tom Hicks's attempts to sell his sports teams is just exhausting, like a string of 100-plus-degree days. But here goes, if only because tomorrow's The Big Day -- the anxiously anticipated auction in Fort Worth, from which Chuck Greenberg or Jim Crane or Mark Cuban or Rupert Murdoch or The Ghost of Bob Short will emerge victorious. How will it go down? This morning, the AP offers this primer and Q&A.
Speaking of Cuban, who will submit his bid today, on the other side is his attorney's Monday court filing in which Cuban, as Radical Pitch LLC, demands to be treated fair and square should he come in with the highest bid. Major League Baseball has said it'll hustle through Greenberg and Nolan Ryan's Rangers Baseball Express should they once again top out. But Cuban and other comers? MLB could take months to okee-doke. And that ain't right, says Cubes's attorney:
"In order for Radical Pitch, and any other bidder, to have a fair opportunity to bid on a playing field level with Baseball Express, it needs to have the same consideration and timeframe granted to Baseball Express, or a reasonable timeframe set for approval."Sooner or later, though, the Rangers mess will get sorted out. But in England, they're just getting started as Hicks and George Gillett try to move Liverpool FC for somewhere in the $1.27-billion range, as if. Because right now, a Chinese gentleman named Kenny Huang says he has about $500 mil in government-backed bills to pay off Hicks's debt -- and the bank is anxious to collect. But the man in charge of the sale process on Liverpool FC's behalf says there are myriad other interested takers in the team, and the board, not the bank, will decide who's got the highest offer. Which doesn't sound familiar at all.
Update at 2 p.m.: Murdoch will not submit a bid for the Rangers. As in: "FOX will not be submitting a bid for ownership of the Texas Rangers." And that's that.
