The Chicago Cubs: For Sale by Owner

The Chicago Cubs Major League baseball team is for sale from the Tribune Company. Prospective buyers range from "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks to Donald Trump, since it was announced that the team was for sale this past April.

The latest player in the bidding is Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban seems to be the player's favorite, bringing a competitive edge to a ball club that boasts a sub 500 record at home. Cuban's success with The Mav's and other successful business ventures, including HDNet, has made him a serious potential owner taking his offer to the next level.

Despite the Cubs mediocrity, Wrigley Field attendance is almost always sold out. The Cub faithful liken going to the ballpark with a religious experience. Going to a game at Wrigley is an experience that is far more fulfilling than just watching a mere baseball game. Anyone who has ever attended will tell you that.

The Cubs attribute their less than stellar performance on "the curse of the billy goat" in 1945 when restraunteur William Sianis was not allowed entrance into Wrigley with his billy goat mascot. Some may say that it's just a silly superstition but one would only have to remember the 2003 self destruction of the Cubs playoff hopes when a foul ball was intercepted by unthinking fan, Steve Bartman. The rest is history as the Cubs lost the following two games, dashing their post season dreams on the rocks of the billy goat curse.

Sports Illustrated proclaimed in April 2004 that the Cubs will win the World Series. Yet the horns of the billy goat impaled their season once again by sidelining their star players with the injury bug.

The Cubs have not won a world series since 1908 and have had superstar after superstar go through their system achieving greatness and immortality after they have left the team. Does anyone remember the trade that sent Lou Brock to the Cardinals? Even the players that reigned supreme as members of the Cubs, with the likes of Sammy Sosa challenging Mark McGuire for the title of homerun king, had the specter of the curse affect the team.

So could a fresh and fiery new owner let the Cubs break through the barriers of a 62 year old curse?

Fans and players seem to think so. Cuban will bring his winning ways to the city of Chicago, if his application is accepted that is. He will inject his competitive ways into a team struggling, even under the managerial abilities of Lou Pinella.

The team, along with interests in Comcast Sports Net, could drive bidding in excess of $1 billion but that doesn't bother Cuban at all. His name has been linked with potential purchases of other pro teams such as his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates and Penguins and he has also expressed interest in becoming an owner in the start-up United Football League.

However there seems to be a major obstacle in Cuban's path and that would be Major League Baseball itself. It is no secret that Commissioner Bud Selig has expressed dislike for Cuban and his outspoken ways.

Forbes magazine has estimated the Cubs worth around $448 million and a source close to Cuban suggests that his bid was $625 million. He wants to be owner of the Cubs. The Cubs current owner is the Tribune Company with newspaper, television and radio holdings. They have owned the ball club since 1981, purchasing it from the Wrigley gum family.

Perhaps the free spending Mark Cuban can not only bring a competitive edge to a lackluster baseball team but he can also provide a bankroll that will buy the Cubs the talent that they need to become the playoff contender's the city of Chicago wants from their north side sports team.

But will even Cuban's pocket book be enough to finally lift the billy goat's curse?