SportsHubLA

So now we know where Manny’s money went. To a new beachfront home in Malibu for Jamie McCourt. Wait, not one home.

Two of them, side by side.

For $46 million dollars.

Who can afford Manny or a pitcher like C.C. Sabathia when you’re writing fat 8-figure checks to Coldwell Banker? If you’re a Dodger player, you’ll never get a max contract here because Jamie already has one with Remax.

As Donald Sterling can attest from the first 20 years of his Clippers’ ownership, it’s hard to hit a home run in free agency when you’re taking your best swings in real estate.

In case you’re wondering, $46 mil qualifies as one of the higher-end home purchases in all of California.

Look it up, the median home price in Malibu today is $1.15 million. You want ostentatiousness? Jamie’s new digs cost 40 times more than that.

Heck, Steven Spielberg is richer than Rockefeller and he just bought a home in East Hampton for around $18 million. I pity the pauper.

Here in the Southland, Newport Coast is considered the ritziest zip code in Orange County and it’s ranked #4 nationally. Know what the average home costs there? It’s $2.8 million.

$46 mil isn’t just garish, it’s WAY over the top, especially when Mrs. McCourt was recently quoted saying how tough times are, how the economy calls for more prudent decision-making, and that’s why the Dodgers ought to reconsider big-money investments in top-end free agents.

What hysterical hypocrisy!

Maybe I’m a home buy or two behind, but don’t the McCourts already own some giant mansion in Holmby Hills? Like some $20 million dollar palace?

Who is Jamie’s role model, Saddam Hussein?

I guess when you’re a nouveau L.A. celebrity, gotta have that beach house too. But instead, like an alcoholic drunk on wealth, Jamie made it a double! What’s next, shopping sprees with Sarah Palin?

So the next time you True Blue fans plunk down another 7 bucks for a Dodger Dog and 12 bucks or whatever for parking, you might keep in mind where your money is going. It’s going to double-sized homes on the beach side of PCH across from Cher.

OK, I know, as F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, the rich ARE different from you and me.
This is America, the McCourts can invest in property and own as many houses as they want.

But at the same time, owning a civic treasure like the Dodgers, a team that also belongs to the city and the fans, does put the owners’ personal spending habits more necessarily under the microscope.

Fans have a right to know what’s more important, winning a World Series or living next door to Jennifer Aniston?

In the case of Jamie McCourt, it looks like you now have your answer.

Ted Green is a former L.A. Times sportswriter and currently Senior Sports Producer for KTLA Prime News.

Discuss: