According to a story in today's Los Angeles Times by Bill Shaikin, Dodgers owners (or is it owner) Frank and Jamie McCourt hired a self-described "scientist and healer" to give "positive energy" to the team by watching games from his home outside of Boston. The "psychic" is Vladimir Shpunt, 71, a Russian with "degrees in physics and a letter of reference from a Nobel Prize winner" who knows next to nothing about baseball.
No, this is not made up.
Shpunt, who knows "next to nothing about baseball," was paid to provide positive energy to the team. His compensation included a stipend, plus a bonus of "certainly six figures and even higher" based on the team's performance. The Dodgers paid him from 2004-2008, and the McCourts hid this from the club's executives.
According to Shaikin, Jamie McCourt was introduced to Shpunt in 2004, when she was suffering from an eye infection that almost caused her to lose sight in one eye. Shpunt used his energy to help treat Jamie, and the rest is history. The McCourts used his services to also evaluate Jayson Werth's injured wrist in 2005, as well as providing assessments of J.D. Drew, Milton Bradley, Jim Tracy and Paul DePodesta.
Sounds like Nancy Reagan, doesn't it?
In all seriousness, just when Dodger fans think that the "War of the Roses" can't get any worse, it does. These are the same people who slash payroll, didn't attempt to trade for Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay and refused to offer salary arbitration to Randy Wolf. Money for psychics and divorce attorneys, but not players?
Commissioner Bud Selig also has some ties to this charade. Remember -- he's the man who practically gave the Dodgers to the McCourts as a consolation prize for not winning the bid to buy the Red Sox. The McCourts clearly didn't have the financing to buy either team, but Bud didn't want to agitate Fox (MLB's television partner) or impede their attempt to sell the Dodgers. Thanks, Bud!
Mark Cuban, are you watching all this?
Want more? Click here to read the excellent pieces by fellow Dodgers Examiner Jonathan Moncrief, and here for great insights from LA Sports Examiner Paula Duffy.
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Comments
Hey McCourt, see the brick? EAT IT!
I say "if it doesn't hurt, it helps"! LOL Maybe it helps the psychologically? Who Knows....
Tony - "FEELIN' YOU!"
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