Hello everybody, and a seasons greetings to all! During this holiday break, I found myself intrigued with the fan message board on texasrangers.com. Messaging other fans about the Rangers with your opinion is fun, and I invited everyone to try it out sometime. My welcome didn't seem too warm at first, and to some the welcome is still not there. The topic of Tom Hicks is a topic that some Ranger fans don't like to talk about. The post, I sent out titled "Help Liberate the Rangers!" received a negative reaction from a few consistent commentators. They simply thought I was crazy. They also accused me of trolling (fishing for people to look at your blog). I guess my idea of liberating the Rangers is more radical then logical. What I did notice, is the word, "liberate" is a word that sparks a reaction within people, good or bad. So, I want to go on the record, I don't intend on liberating the Rangers from Tom Hicks, but I do intend to analyze, and point out obvious things he says to show Ranger fan's that he does not care about the Rangers winning as much as he cares on how much profit they produce.

While researching online one night, I stumbled upon an article titled, "Rangers owner talks sport business". The article is a fluff article exemplifying Tom Hick's accomplishments as a superior sports investor. It really is a revealing article about Tom Hicks, and his intentions. Look at the quotes made my by Tom:

"All of these teams have become businesses in the past 20 years," Hicks said. " ... This business has to do with fan affinity and brand devotion. It doesn't necessarily have to do with winning."

......... He said it.....

"Our community is over 6 million people," Hicks said. "The two cities are growing together."

---This shows our vulnerability as a fan base.

"That fan base, like the 100-million-plus associated with Hick's new Liverpool FC football team in England, is a prime target for advertisers" - Holli Estridge

---Be careful Liverpool!

"Today you can watch a ballgame from anywhere in the world, except Dallas-Fort Worth, on MLB.com, or you can get on your Blackberry or other handheld device to check game stats or news."

---Not everyone has a Blackberry like you do, Tom!

I wonder if he would have made these comments if the title of the article was "Liverpool owner talks business"? As fan's we must question our upper management. Especially, when the Rangers have had consecutive losing seasons, and profit is still rising. It seems that Hicks has lost his will to compete with Rangers, and has moved on to a bigger team. He doesnt have the drive to win like Jerry and Mark. If nobody is going to say anything than nothing is going to change. Why would Hicks change anything he if can create profit with a losing team? The method works, and has proven so.



http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2007/05/07/daily47.html
original article