Mama, I'm Coming Home

The St. Louis FC is up for sale according to the Post Dispatch. Current owner Chip Rosenbloom long maintained that he wasn�t going to sell the team. And that obviously was lie. There was no way that he was going to be able to hold on to the team because of inheritance taxes. But he wanted to make sure that he gave his mother (the filthy whore) the proper sendoff that she deserved. And with a 2-14 record in 2008 that certainly was a befitting farewell, though one could argue that two wins was too many for her.

Now that the season of the Georgia patches has faded away, Rosenbloom is ready to sell the team.

And of course, there is one website that pointed this out to year last year while all of the big boys chose to ignore this angle. But that�s cool. This isn't a time to gloat.

Rosenbloom wants to sell the team to a local owner in St. Louis. Right. Do you think anybody in St. Louis has the money to buys the team? Not frigging likely. To quote Jack Buck, "if St. Louis was its own nation, it would be a third-world country. Ethiopia would be sending them wheat."

So don�t count on a local bidder to step up.

Co-owner Stan Kroenke would like to own the team, but NFL rules prevent him from owning professional franchises in other leagues. (He owns the Avalanche and Nuggets along with the Pepsi Center.) So he�s out. But he�s going to hang on to his 40 percent, meaning that the new owners won�t have to fully fund the $ 1 billion that the team is worth.

The only alternative is for a buyers in Los Angeles to purchase the team and move the club out to the City of Industry. And believe me, the wheels have long been in motion for this deal. I would be surprised if a deal already hasn�t been worked out in principle. But the Rams will be playing in Los Angeles soon.

Some might point out that the St. Louis FC has a lease that cannot be broken until 2014. That doesn�t matter. The new owners will pay whatever fee is necessary to ensure that the Edwards James Dome turns into the world�s largest WalMart.

Make no mistake, though, this is happening. And St. Louis should just surrender the team now in time for the 2009 season. Do the right thing, St. Louis, let the team come home.