Billionaire’s Club ⌂: Monopolists, Game On!

“Greed, for lack of better word, is good.” – Wall Street

For some “Life is like a box of chocolates.” But in the real game of life, it’s ALL about winning and ramming down your throat every goddamn nugget!

RAMS Fans, it seems we have a new Commodore in the States, Enos Stanley Kroenke, aka “Silent Stan.” Kroenke reportedly played baseball in high school, but it doesn’t appear to be the Real Estate developer’s game of choice when it comes to business.

Sport teams & stadium owners run Cities as Steel and Railroad magnates once did. Stealth as an F-16 Fighting Falcon, “Silent Stan” appears to have “built a portfolio that makes him one of the most powerful people in sports. He owns the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association…” among other sport teams including the Super Bowl winner, Los Angeles Rams.

No question, Kroenke went “From an Owner to the Quietest Sports Emperor” as Jeré Longman with the New York Times reported in 2010. Yet, this Emperor is well clothed. But will he “give the shirt off his back” for you?  A betting man may likely say, “Not a Chance!” A man who has “more money than God” doesn’t have to play by God’s rules. Hell, he’ll just invent his own!

Centuries ago, Greeks wrote of “Clash of Titans” but we in the New World have Clash of Billionaires: How Inglewood Got SoFi Stadium And The Super Bowl. The Roman Coliseum it is not. SoFi Stadium price tag? $5 Billion. Kroenke is the owner of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.

Speaking of entertainment and $, let’s get back to the game. For those who may not know, the game “Monopoly” was reportedly inspired by “The Landlord’s Game.” Well, “Silent Stan”, it seems your real estate experience served you well.

Ironically, “Monopoly” appears to follow the second set of rules laid out by the creator of “The Landlord’s Game.” That is, eliminate the competition and true to form monopolize the playing field. Well, Stan looks like the game rules were made just for you. Yep, sure looks like you got the bases loaded. Sure baseball is not your game?

Speaking of baseball, come see how US plays games. “US, Strike Three! ‘Field of Dreams,’ Corruption and Toxic Landfills.

See, for gamers and antitrust players, it’s not about learning but winning! They leave tax laws to the lawyers. Speaking of taxes and stadiums, “Kroenke promised no taxpayer dollars would be used to build the stadium or the surrounding retail, residential and entertainment projects.” Somehow, I suspect Americans are going to pay for this one way or another.

Unlike members of the Billionaire’s Club House, real life trajectory for an increasing number of Americans is from the “poor house” to bankruptcy to homelessness. But before they do, like in the Monopoly game, they’ll spend time landing on houses and apartment spaces paying taxes and rent OR buying tickets to stadiums spending their hard earned money before a good number of them land in prison.

But, let’s not forget the “silent partner” of “Silent Stan.” Walmart, a popular store where millions of Americans shop for food and household items, is reportedly partly owned by Stan’s “better half.”  Monopoly game creators, it’s high time you update the board spaces to include Sports Teams, Stadiums and Shopping Marts!

Whose Your $ on, Man or God?

For the Man who has “more money than God,” what could possibly get his attention? Losing it or getting more and more and more! Well, if you’re in New York or California, you’re in the right States when it comes to getting more. Hell, you’re in the right country.

Speaking of God, wonder who’s the insurer for SoFi Stadium? Remember, it’s California and the return of a massive earthquake would make even God shake. BUT, there’s one caveat. Unlike Mother Nature and God, I play dice and do not look fondly on Desert States or Men and their fault lines.

If memory serves me well, I am reminded of one such Man and his poignant words, T. Boone Pickens:

“In my final months, I came to the sad reality that my life really did have a fourth quarter and the clock really would run out on me. I took the time to convey some thoughts that reflect back on my rich and full life…One question I was asked time and again: What is it that you will leave behind?”

In “A final message…,” Pickens notes a few stanzas from one of his favorite poems, “Indispensable Man,” by Saxon White Kessinger:

Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul; 

Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is a measure of how you’ll be missed. 

You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you’ll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.

“You be the judge of how long the bucket remembers me.”

Carl Celian Icahn and Enos Stanley Kroenke, wine glass in hand reflecting proudly and silently on your past, pray tell how you would like to be remembered? What you will leave behind?  Teams, stadiums, ranches, activism, vineyards, donations…?  

Carl and “Silent Stan,” interested in the bouquet wines of Leticia’s Vineyard?  Sure Stan, it’s no “Screaming Eagle.” Still, I’m told this year’s vintage includes a formidable “Fighting Raider” Cabernet and a winning “Raging Ram” Chardonnay. Vintage is best enjoyed chilled and with music by Wagner’s Die Walküre….

Umpire of Empires

“There is something about jumping a horse over a fence, something that makes you feel good. Perhaps it’s the risk, the gamble. In any event it’s a thing I need.”  –  William Faulkner

Let me be clear, real cowboys you are not. No matter your billions, your many acquisitions stop short of owning a true majestic “Yellowstone.”

Carl and “Silent Stan”, it is in my nature to smile upon traits of brute force and stealth. Interestingly, one enjoys a good fight as the other a done deal.

I venture to say with delight how you two Men join me in the spirited maxim that the rouse is not about capturing the treasure as it is about the game, the fight, the hunt!  It’s a thing I need.

“… Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”

“Emperors” of Enterprise, remember, it’s not what you take or g$ve but how you live life or end it. Mark my words, no amount of power or philanthropy will reward you immortality, as Paul with the Soft micro company discovered.

Greedy Bastards, heed the fallen – good or not, knife of greed cuts deep.

Your Aces, “Get out of jail free” and “Pass Go” cards will expire. No more “time-outs.” Unlike life’s “Box of Chocolates”, you know exactly what you’re going to get. Death is the Box.

I remind you, “no one can stop a ticking clock.” Dare play poker or chess with the Master?