Illitch Brings the Dolans Back Into the Spotlight

There are plenty of old bits in Cleveland sports. How could the NFL not force the financially strapped Art Modell to sell, or what if LeBron hadn’t been coddled the way he was, or why didn’t Sandy Alomar go out to the mound and yell at Jose Mesa when he was shaking him off in game seven of the ’97 World Series, or Joel Skinner’s stop sign starting the chain of events which began the unraveling of the ’07 ALCS. But perhaps the oldest of bits and one that was brought back to the forefront last week was a classic; say it with me: “The Dolans need to sell the Indians.” I have long been a defender of their ownership in our market, with the emphasis on the “in our market” portion of that sentence. Let’s get the facts out of the way: • They were rooked by Dick Jacobs when they bought the team, purchasing the Indians at the absolute peak of their value. Larry Dolan and his son Paul, who is President of the team, had stars in their eyes. They were/are big Indians fans and allowed that to su...