Dodgers' Owner Hoping to Take Loria Down with him

Wow, just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger it seems that Frank McCourt, the Dodgers owner, wants to use Jeffrey Loria as an example in his court case against MLB.

On deck in the Dodgers' bankruptcy case: the Florida Marlins?

Could be, if Frank McCourt gets his way. As the bankruptcy proceedings increasingly resemble a grudge match cloaked in legal briefs, with Bud Selig threatening to banish the Dodgers from the league in order to rid it of McCourt, the Dodgers' owner might respond by trying to take down the commissioner.

The Marlins could be in the collateral damage.

---

"A Club owner must be well-capitalized and cannot use the team as a personal 'cash cow,' " the filing read.

That could bring us to the Marlins — perhaps uncomfortably for Selig, and for Jeffrey Loria, the team's owner.

---

Selig claims McCourt diverted more than $180 million of Dodgers revenue for personal use, an allegation McCourt denies.

Yet, Loria got more than that in revenue sharing — $198 million over six years of data compiled by the Business of Baseball website — from major-market owners under the condition that money be put into the team.

In 2006 and 2008 the Marlins reportedly took in more than twice as much from other owners as they spent on their major league payroll — and before they sold a single ticket or took in a dollar from local and national media contracts.

Oh, this could be fun. I'm guessing McCourt and Loria weren't the best of buddies when they had the owners meetings.

There is probably no way the courts will address this issue, but stranger things have happened. It is an attempt of a drowning man trying to make his last grasps and taking someone down with him in hopes of staying afloat. More than likely it won't work, but Loria being dragged in the middle, well, let's just say it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.