N.Y. Mets ~ The Age of WILPONianism Continues

From the desk of:   HEAD- BUTTING MR. MET

NEW YORK METS:  Duped Again!



That's it?  No gavel?  No judge?  No prosecutor theatrics; no mindless testimony; no witnesses; no cross examinations; no objections; no hung jury?  What!?  No days and nights spent watching epic ESPN courtroom footage of rich old guys getting older while they fight over millions?


All we get is a settlement, a handshake, and a promissory I-Owe-You note?  What is this, Barney the Dinosaur Esquire..? - where everyone litigates politely and asks the judge, please Mother May I?  What ever happened to tapping into their best Devil's Advocate impersonations and blazing each other up with evil and setting the court room aflame?  That might be a bit out of order, but, in the name of everyone from Matlock; to Sandra Day O'Connor; the People's Court; and to Judge Judy - What A Jip!


We got duped...AGAIN!  This is right up there with failing to play meaningful games in September. Once again, Fred Wilpon has denied us of our bitter-sweet glory. What a tease.  Where the hell was  Otter with that little black doctor's bag when we needed him?  And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go ask your father what was the best college movie ever made.


Look - I'm not a lawyer.  Nor do I play one on TV.  And I haven't stayed in a Holiday Inn recently either.  So I'm not interested in speaking about legal details, and delving too deeply into the agreement Fred Wilpon and Irving Picard struck just before the gavel struck to put court in session.


But the bottom line as I understand it is, even though the burden of proof was on Fred and Saul, Irvin Picard had no real way of proving his allegations against Wilpon and Company.  Since lawyer fees  alone are enough to make you want to jump off a bridge, maybe Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz felt it in their best interest to reach a compromise on the money and just accept a fixed, and therefore, a much more manageable dollar amount.  Not to mention by doing so, they get to keep any skeletons they may have, safely in the closet.


In the big picture, for a man of Fred Wilpon's stature in life, $162 million dollars is a small price to pay for the chance to walk away with a good name and a clean record. -  Especially when you're already going broke, and you have three years to pay it off.  Language in his agreement with Picard absolves Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz of knowingly, and willfully, turning any blind eyes, and have been declared free of any Bernard Madoff related wrong doing.  However, the real net balance of this settlement is still to be determined, and dollar wise, even stands a chance to work out slightly better than anticipated for Mr. Wilpon.


Alas, the Mets' owners finally have their long desired closure.  This latest episode of the Saul B. Katz Dilemma is done.  WILPONianism has survived it's latest calamity.


Good for him.  And I think I speak for the many when I say - Woe is us.


This still doesn't mean we get to put away the official Saul B. Katz Dilemma abacus.  Fred might have denied us a solid two weeks of writing material by reaching a settlement, but there are still boring numbers to crunch.  For us, that's unfortunate on a few levels.  The team is still trying to cool off a financial meltdown.  But for today, where's the fun in that?  I'm a sports fan, not an accountant.


That's enough out of me for now.  There's too many layers to this whole situation to deal with in one sitting.





Mike.BTB