The football club I support (it won’t be hard to deduce which one) is owned by a Russian oligarch who amassed his fortune during the post-Soviet privatization of state-run industries. He appears to occupy (or once occupied) space in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, and as a result, he has been sanctioned by the U.K. government. His British assets, including the club, have been frozen. The club must be sold by the end of this season in order for it to continue operating.
Last week bids were submitted to purchase the club, expected to sell for somewhere in the eye-watering £2-3bn range. At that asking price the bidders list is short, and it includes a billionaire fan with ties to the Saudi state, a couple of real estate developers, and noted Trump supporters and ruiners of sports clubs, the Ricketts family.
Fandom is complicated when you consider extracurricular factors. When anybody in the organization — be it an athlete, front office exec, or an owner — is discovered to be a bad actor, it can become a referendum on your fandom. Can you continue to support the club if it supports the bad actor? And are you complicit if you continue to support the club? Is it too much to ask the club to do the right thing, whatever we think that is?
Nobody becomes wealthy enough to purchase a top-level sports club by having a completely unassailable character and zero skeletons in their closet. You have to crack hundreds of millions of eggs in order to make a billion-dollar omelet. By the time the oligarch bought my club, I was already supporting it and I had no knowledge of who he was or how he made his fortune (and probably cared less back then). In his 19 years of ownership he has been a mostly silent benefactor, putting £2bn of his own cash into the club and not having taken back any repayments. In a vacuum, this is what you want your owner to be. It’s the closest thing to having an owner that’s not a total Burnsian ghoul — except that he might have been one in a past life, so really it’s sportswashing at its finest.
To paraphrase the great Jürgen Klopp, sports is the “most important thing of the least important things.” So I know that the issue of having an owner with a non-checkered past is not the biggest deal. Similarly as we root for our teams do well on-field, we continue to hold out hope for everybody involved to be good off-field. We wish for the Mr. Burns who picked up discarded cans on the beach, even if we know deep down we’ll probably end up with the Mr. Burns who produced fish slurry.
— JY
Answers from last week’s issue
Three active NBA players played college ball for the Wichita State Shockers. Who is the only one who was drafted?
We all know about the exploits of undrafted All-Star Fred VanVleet, and in Los Angeles, the legend of Austin Reaves grows day by day, but Landry Shamet (2018, 26th overall) is the only current NBA player who was drafted out of Wichita State.
Only four coaches in NFL history won more Super Bowls than what man — who, after playing linebacker for Wichita State (then the University of Wichita), was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 7th round of the 1964 draft.
Bill Parcells played his college ball at Wichita State. Although he did not end up playing in the NFL, he ended up leading the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories in his Hall of Fame coaching career.
What retired slugger played his college ball for Wichita State before clubbing 396 career homers in the majors and finishing in the top 20 in MVP voting every year from 1988 to 1994 — despite getting traded twice during that span?
That would be 1993 World Series hero Joe Carter, who played three seasons as a Shocker before being drafted second overall by the Cubs in 1981.
What NHL team plays its home games closest to Wichita, Kansas?
As the crow flies, the Dallas Stars (548 km) are the closest, ahead of the St. Louis Blues (632 km) and Colorado Avalanche (702 km).
#cluecrobitaille
After the Celtics and Lakers, the Warriors are tied for the third-most NBA Finals appearances. What franchise are they tied with?
The Los Angeles Chargers were the San Diego Chargers from 1961–2016, but for one year before that, 1960, they played in the AFL as the Los Angeles Chargers. The team’s original owner (from 1960–66) was a member of one of America’s most famous business families. What is that family’s surname?
What NHL player, most commonly remembered for his years as a Toronto Maple Leaf, was the first-ever captain for the Oakland/California Seals? (NB: before becoming the California Golden Seals in 1970, the team was known as the California Seals and then the Oakland Seals.)
Of all the currently-used Major League Baseball stadia in the state of California, which one has the shortest distance from home plate to the centre field wall?
#postscript
RIP 1962 World Series MVP Ralph Terry.
Many thanks to Luc Robitaille for being named his name and to you for being named your name, unless your name is Chael Sonnen because Jesus Christ can we go one week without some current or former athlete committing obscene acts of violence off the field?
Until next week, be the Ezequiel Carrera you wish to see in the world.
— DJ/JY