What's Up, Chuck?

Fifteen major league baseball games were played. An airline flight was diverted because of smoke in the cabin. Two women got into a fight at a kindergarten graduation ceremony. A former Miss USA was arrested for shoplifting. Rudy Giuliani's daughter was also arrested for shoplifting. BP got the ok from the federal government to begin sealing the well in the Gulf Of Mexico. 7-11 began selling Facebook credits, for use in the game "Farmville". A teenager in Washington state found a wallet, with $650 in it, under the cushions of a couch his friend had bought. I could go on and on with more newsworthy stories.

So what does all that have to do with anything?

Every one of those incidents happened in the time frame of the Texas Rangers auction on Wednesday, August 4th. Just the fact that fifteen major league baseball games started and finished during that time is impressive. At least to me.

I've been following this thing from the beginning and after reading, listening, and contemplating the events surrounding the auction, I thought it was time to put my thoughts on paper. Or at least a laptop screen. And my first thought was this. How do people still not know who Chuck Greenberg is?

In my opinion, in this day in age, there is no excuse for being uninformed. And yet there is a multitude of people out there who have no clue who Chuck is. I guess they haven't figured out how to work Google, Yahoo. MSN, Bing, About.com, Wikipedia, AltaVista, Ask.com, Wink, InfoSpace, AskMeNow, or any of the other search engines out there. In many internet conversations, regarding the Rangers, his name is not even brought up. Only Nolan Ryan's name is mentioned. Which is truly sad, because without Chuck Greenberg, the Rangers are either the property of Mark Cuban and Jim Crane (know who Crane is?), or they're out there still looking for someone to purchase them.

So since people have become so lazy that they can't be bothered to type someone's name into a search engine, I will educate the masses.

Chuck Greenberg is... surprise! A lawyer. But not just any lawyer. He is a lawyer who also happens to be a huge baseball fan. So much so that the Rangers are not his first foray into team ownership. Since 2002, he has owned three minor league franchises. And each of those franchises have won awards for everything from innovative stadiums, to being fan friendly. His first priority, it seems, is to take care of the people that pay the bills. And those are the people who fill the seats.

He is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Michigan Law School. He has been married for twenty-five years and has three college age sons. He used to be Mark Cuban's neighbor in Pittsburgh. And, as I mentioned, he loves baseball. Mark Cuban said of Greenberg, "He puts the fan first, and he likes to make sure they have fun. I think he is going to be great for the Rangers, and I have told him I am happy to help in any way I can." That's a ringing endorsement from a guy who was in a bidding war with him less than twenty-four hours ago.

Before the season started this year, Greenberg said it's time to give Rangers Ballpark a facelift. So we can expect a new Jumbotron. We can expect new promotions and maybe even some better pricing, where concessions, tickets, and apparel are concerned. We can expect him to do whatever is needed to make the fans' experience better. And he'll take care of all that while Ryan and Daniels deal with the personnel side of things.

Now, everyone was worried that Chuck and Ryan wouldn't win the auction. And the only reason was the man who blows his nose with hundred dollar bills, Mark Cuban. But why did Cuban back out and let his former neighbor take the team? I think two things happened here. First, Cuban realized the Chuck wanted the Rangers. He knew how long Greenberg had been working on this deal. And he knew Greenberg was as passionate about baseball as he was about basketball. Second, as wired in as Cuban is, there is no way he didn't see fans becoming disenchanted yesterday, as he countered every bid Greenberg/Ryan thew out, with lightning quickness. He saw the Tweets. He saw the Facebook posts. And I think in the end he knew that if he kept that auction going, he would lose more support in the DFW Metroplex than he could afford to. Cuban is already on thin ice, because of the lack of an NBA Championship. And there was no way he wanted to be known as the man that chased off Nolan Ryan. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Jerry Jones didn't call Mark yesterday and ask him did he really want to go through with it.

Chuck Greenberg will be good for the Texas Rangers. He will make improvements to Rangers Ballpark, which is showing it's age. He will spend money where it's needed. And from his prior actions, he will do everything he can to make sure everyone who attends Rangers games will have the best experience possible. And he will do all that alongside one of Texas' favorite sons.

So now you know more about Chuck Greenberg. And you were able to read this whole piece in twice the time it would have taken you to type his name into Google or Wikipedia, and read an article about him. Isn't the internet great?