Frank Mccourt

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Noting the addition of Joe Torre, the signings of high-priced free agents Andruw Jones and Hiroki Kuroda, and the increased maturity of the young players, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt made clear Tuesday what he expects from his team this year. "It's time to win," McCourt said. McCourt, who is beginning his fifth season as club chairman, rejected the idea that he is less patient now than he was as a new owner.

So Dave Tippett, the classless coach of a bankrupt team, claims the Coyotes are losing to the Kings because the referees are letting them away with "embellishing. " What mind-bending chutzpah, just two days after Dustin Brown was given an inexplicable penalty for just that in Game 2, after he understandably collapsed on the ice in agony due to goalie Mike Smith's brutal (and cowardly) slash of the back of Brown's legs. Any objective observer would conclude that the Coyotes are losing this series because they have been outplayed by the Kings in every way. During the last five minutes of Game 3, the Kings' forechecking so smothered the Coyotes that PETA considered protesting.

I had dinner with Georgia Frontiere , where the Rams' owner chose to tell me about each of her seven husbands — four too many for me to make a newspaper deadline and still explain to the people of Los Angeles how she had just won approval to move her team to St. Louis. I hopped into a waiting limo in Oakland, expecting to find Al Davis , but got a pair of Raiderettes instead. So I never did get around to meeting with Davis to discuss the possibility of the Raiders returning to L.A. Former super-agent Michael Ovitz sent a martini to my hotel room and had Tom Cruise and Jerry West call to talk football and the prospect of bringing the NFL back to town.

The Dodgers' new owners could reap hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits from the confidential terms of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court settlement between former owner Frank McCourt and Major League Baseball. The terms can be enforced for up to 40 years, with final authority over distribution of the Dodgers' television revenue granted to the court rather than to MLB, according to two people familiar with the sale process but not authorized to discuss it. As a result, the Dodgers' new owners could retain millions each year that otherwise would be shared with other teams.

In an international twist in the Dodgers' ownership saga, Frank McCourt has been offered $1.2 billion to sell the team to a group indirectly financed by the government of China. The bid is headed by Los Angeles Marathon founder Bill Burke, according to a letter sent to McCourt on Tuesday. The letter was disclosed to The Times by two people familiar with its content but not authorized to discuss it publicly. The proposed sale price would set a record for a Major League Baseball team.

The Los Angeles Police Department announced plans to bring aggressive crime-fighting tactics that it employs on city streets into Dodger Stadium as part of a security crackdown a week after a visiting fan was attacked in the ballpark's parking lot. Overriding a Dodger policy against armed police inside the stadium, Police Chief Charlie Beck said Friday that uniformed officers will be posted throughout the ballpark and will be more aggressive about...

Tom Lasorda calls it "heaven on earth. " The huge stack of printed email on my desk in response to safety concerns and a Giants fan left in a medically induced coma paint an entirely different picture of Dodger Stadium. As one emailer put it in summing up what so many others wrote: "When there has to be a public announcement before a game instructing people that the others around them who bought a ticket have the right to watch the game without being harassed, it's time to find something else to do. I did. " In response to a Page 2 question a few days ago: "Is it really safe to attend Dodgers games?"

A group led by Lakers legend Magic Johnson emerged Tuesday night as the new owners of the Dodgers, ending months of uncertainty for the storied but troubled baseball franchise. Johnson, who guided the Lakers to five NBA championships during the "Showtime" era of the 1980s, is a partner in the group along with longtime baseball executive Stan Kasten and movie executive Peter Guber. The controlling owner would be Mark Walter, chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based financial services company.

The list of potential buyers for the Dodgers — should Major League Baseball or a divorce court force a sale — features all the usual suspects. Forbes 400 types who have amassed personal fortunes large enough to afford every sports fan's dream. That includes men such as Eli Broad and Tom Gores, who do not have much experience when it comes to owning a team. The scenario sounds familiar to Robert Kraft, who purchased the New England Patriots in 1994 after years of cheering from the stands.

Frank McCourt threw quite a few pitches at the bidders for the Dodgers. One of those pitches: You're not buying a team locked into hundreds of millions in salaries for the next few years. You can shape the payroll any way you like. As the Dodgers headed into the winter, they had one player under contract for 2014 -- pitcher Chad Billingsley, at $12 million. In contrast, the Boston Red Sox had committed $94 million to six players for 2014 -- first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, outfielder Carl Crawford and pitchers Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz and John Lackey.

Magic Johnson has the power to veto any development Frank McCourt might propose for the Dodger Stadium parking lots, according to a provision in an agreement between McCourt and the new owners of the Dodgers. McCourt sold the Dodgers to Guggenheim Baseball Management but retained half-ownership of the parking lots. Guggenheim secured the right to approve any development and designated Johnson as the party who would grant approval. The provision, in a document that is not public, confirms what Guggenheim executives have said, that they control development of the property.

Which is it? Either Magic Johnson, the face of the Dodgers, is clueless on how the organization will be run ... Or he knew he wasn't telling the truth when he became the dominating voice of last week's news conference and told the media enough already with the questions about Frank McCourt. We can all understand "enough already with Frank McCourt," but the Guggenheim folks should have taken that into consideration when they bought the Dodgers. Now they have some explaining to do. But so far for Magic, it's been one turnover after the next.

As the Dodgers celebrated their first home game under new ownership Monday, the widow of perhaps the most memorable player in franchise history said she was "thrilled" the Frank McCourt era had ended. Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, joined Hall of Famer Don Newcombe and new Dodgers part owner Magic Johnson for the ceremonial first pitch. Johnson later yelled to the crowd, "It's time for Dodger baseball!" Rachel Robinson turns 90 in July. She lives in New York and oversees the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which is expected to form a partnership with the new Dodgers ownership.

As Frank McCourt could tell you, at Dodgers Now, I'm here to help. Just a constant flow of upbeat suggestions. Been sending positive energy to the Dodgers long before McCourt discovered any Russian psychic. And because today is the big debut of the Dodgers' new ownership group , I thought it was only fair to offer a few suggestions on how to handle their morning news conference. Here is the No. 1 message: Be forthcoming. Simple, I know, but it's amazing how many mess this one up. Be honest, don't hide behind legal this or privacy that.

My cousin Jimmy didn't use his Dodgers season tickets all last year. He's an L.A. kid, runs the Mar Vista hardware store my Uncle Dick founded, and he loves the Dodgers so much that he has two sun-faded Dodger Stadium seats bolted to the floor of his living room. These face the television, which is not what anybody would call small. Jimmy has watched his Dodger games on that TV ever since the McCourt money scandals broke. He refuses to set foot in the stadium until it's safely out of Bostonian hands.

The demons of the old and troubled ownership were hanging over Dodger Stadium, until Magic Johnson had heard one too many questions about Frank McCourt. To Johnson, the exorcism was complete, and he all but shouted it from the microphone in center field. "Frank is not here," Johnson said. "He is not part of the Dodgers any more. We should be clapping for that. " Johnson and his partners in the Dodgers' new ownership group held their first news conference Wednesday, from which only one bit of news emerged: The Dodgers are lowering the price of parking from $15 to $10, effective immediately.

So how's that depression going? If my chin were any lower, my navel would file a restraining order. There are 36 days left until Frank McCourt is required to pick the winner of this tortuous auction. That's 36 days until we find out who the new Dodgers owner is and if he also purchased the stadium parking lots. One thing you have to give McCourt, he always said it was the team and stadium that were for sale, and not the surrounding parking lots. He has been consistent. Still, the assumption was always that that was largely a negotiating ploy to squeeze hundreds of millions more out of the sale.

Frank McCourt has added a star trial lawyer to his legal team, ensuring that a nationally prominent attorney will lead each side in the battle for ownership of the Dodgers. Stephen Susman, a Houston-based attorney ranked by several legal publications as one of the premier trial lawyers in the country, is the latest addition to the all-star teams representing McCourt and his estranged wife, Jamie, in divorce proceedings. "It's like having your best athletes take the field," said Loyola Law School professor and legal commentator Laurie Levenson.

Frank McCourt officially surrendered ownership of the Dodgers on Tuesday, closing a turbulent chapter in the history of one of baseball's most historic franchises. The new owners wired the final payment on the record $2.15-billion purchase price Tuesday, closing the transaction that ended the McCourt era and ushering in Guggenheim Baseball as the Dodgers' third owner since the O'Malley family sold the team in 1998. A teary-eyed McCourt thanked the Dodgers' employees at a morning meeting, according to several people in attendance.

Frank McCourt bid farewell to his manager Saturday. The new owners of the Dodgers met with the players Sunday, in advance of an anticipated news conference Tuesday. All of the activity revolved around the expected closing of the Dodgers' sale Monday. However, the deal did not close on schedule, leaving McCourt with ownership of the team for what appeared to be one final night. The closing now is expected to occur Tuesday morning, according to three people familiar with the sale process.