In watching the Manny saga finally play itself out I couldn't help but think of my new guilty pleasure:  Jersey Shore.  On the show, Sammy and Ronnie are dating.  Ronnie has more mood swings than a 13-year old girl and cheats on Sammy with reckless abandon.  Sammy ignores all the signs and puts up with it.  She even lets Ronnie climb into bed with her on a night when he stumbles home drunk after a fight with her and his subsequent random hook-ups.  Yes, I know this is a MTV reality show which means that there is about a 95% chance that the storyline is fabricated, but it could still teach us all a lesson.

Who's the "us" in this allegory?  The "us" is Dodgers fans since the takeover by the McCourts.  The first thing the McCourts did was jack up prices and justify this move by telling the Dodgers faithful that the money would be used to make the Dodgers winners again.  Frank McCourt even took to calling individual season ticket holders to assuage any hurt feelings that resulted by the price hike.  When I saw this I thought of him as a good guy, as someone who understood the Dodgers fans and who appreciated them.  In retrospect I see it as a savvy move, something to throw us off his scent. 

We remember the stories of people who held their season tickets for sometimes decades.  They had taken their families to games and their kids grew up with the team.  No more after the McCourts took over.  Their seats were moved back ten rows due to the new luxury seats known as the Dugout Club (a section where seats cost as much as $550 a seat and in return get you prime seats and free food) and in return they received their yearly bill for the season ticket package with a price double the usual amount.  Don't like it?  You don't have to come.  Even then we accepted the status quo under the McCourt regime because the Dodgers were starting to become regular contenders in the putrid NL West.  Families couldn't come to games anymore.  Lifetime supporters had to watch from home but still, the loyal Dodgers fans like yours truly came back to the boys in blue.  What was summer without baseball?  And what was baseball without our Dodgers?  I grew up idolizing the likes of Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser.  I survived NewsCorps' dreadful ownership.  Frank McCourt at least looked genuinely interested in the Dodgers' winning as opposed to just the bottom line, or so it seemed.

Then came the hopeless off-seasons.  Every year there were big name free agents on the market and every year the Dodgers passed.  We were tricked into thinking the Dodgers were making moves with "big" signings such as Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones but I don't think I need to tell you how that worked out.  No, instead it was the same old Dodgers.  The starting rotation was carrying us as far as they could, the relief was always the best in the biz and the offense tried to score three runs a game to give us a chance.  If the opposition got on the board early the game was usually over. 

But then something happened.  Manny!  Manny!  Manny!

Manny changed the culture not just for the ball club but also for the crowd.  The crowd came alive with every at bat and in turn energized the rest of the team.  It was fun at Chavez Ravine.  Paying attendance may have been around the same number but there was a noticeable rise in actual attendance.  Baseball was relevant in Los Angeles and not just for Dodgers fans.  He didn't cut his dreads?  So what!  Just sell hats with fake Manny hair! 

Then something else happened.  We won!  A playoff series may not seem like a lot to others, but in Los Angeles, a city where 1988 is a long time ago, that series against the Cubs was huge.  My friends and I even took a picture in front of the T.V. right after the final out to commemorate the moment.  The whole thing seemed worthwhile.

Then womens' hormone supplements happened.  No more Manny for 50 games.  The Dodgers showed their true colors.  No more energy.  No signings.  Nothing happened.  No more winning.  Prices?  Yes, they went up.  Parking was now $15 and it was still as impossible as ever to get in and out of the stadium, another promise unkept by management.  You want a t-shirt?  $28.  Did I mention we're not winning anymore?  I got to go to a game with a friend in those $550 baller seats because his step-brother hooked us up.  He's a VP of one of the cable giants.  The woman next to me asked us if we were agents at William Morris.  I laughed.  Apparently that was the only way young people sat in this section.  I asked her what her husband did.  He ran Warner Bros.  Of course he did.  I saw Frank McCourt, well into the divorce proceedings at this point, a few seats away.  He ushered people into his box and did the handshake thing.  A businessman through and through.  He watched maybe 2 innings.  Not exactly Nolan Ryan.  And still I cheered even as Johan Santana shut us down and propelled the Mets to a 6-1 victory.  Fitting.  And still we stayed til the end, only to be kicked out 15 minutes after the game ended.  We were trying to enjoy the scenery and wait out the traffic.  Not allowed.  And still I cheer.

Then no Roy Oswalt or Cliff Lee.  Then Manny to the waiver wire happened.  Ok, I said.  Maybe it's time to cut ties with the guy.  Let's at least get something for him.  Well, we got something, if "we" means Frank McCourt and that "something" is $4 million.  Just a slap in the face to the Dodgers fans.  Yes Manny is a problem as evidenced by his "I don't speak English" press conference as a member of the White Sox, but that doesn't mean you take $4 million and give nothing to your fans for their loyalty.  Looking back, it shouldn't have come as a surprise.  We should have seen the signs.  They were there.  As the Dodgers fall in the standings and the prices continue to rise, where does that leave us?  When do we say we've had enough?  I don't know.  I hope McCourt sells the team.  I hope he and his wife split up the money.  I hope someone who cares about the fans comes in.  I want Mark Cuban.  In the meantime?  I'm still hooked.  I'm off to Chavez Ravine for the game against the Phillies now and as I always have, I'll cheer and support the Dodgers.  I laugh at Sammy and Ronnie.  Who's laughing at Dodgers fans?