We often hear in Baltimore about the desire for more local or family ownership (see Tribune/Baltimore Sun, Pimlico Race Course). But family ownership has its problems too.

Last month, Jamie McCourt, a Baltimore native who was CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the highest-ranking woman in baseball, and her husband Frank, announced their seperation. On Oct. 21 Frank fired his wife and Jamie filed for divorce the following week.

On Thursday, Jamie McCourt lost her bid to be reinstated as the team’s chief executive in what is already an ugly divorce. McCourt, 55, is accused by her husband of having an affair with her bodyguard-driver, also a Dodger employee who was fired. Frank McCourt, 56, also claims she was doing a poor job in her role as chief executive.

And on top of all that, the Dodgers have 16 potential free agents this off-season, including slugger Manny Ramirez, who is deciding whether to exercise his $20 million option for next season. The team has the ninth-highest payroll in the MLB at $100 million and the team is worth $800 million.

A Superior Court commissioner still has to rule on whether the Dodgers are community property or whether they fully belong to Frank McCourt, who bought the team in 2004. The couple has been married since 1979.

If the team is community property, Jamie McCourt could be reinstated. Some say that would have an adverse effect on the team. Hmmm, you think? If they don’t want to be married anymore, I doubt they’d be able to run a business together very well. And a $100 million payroll is a lot to mess around with.

Allegations aside, McCourt’s achievements in professional baseball were pretty significant for her gender and it’s a shame it has to end in L.A. like this. But I had the chance to meet McCourt last year and if there’s one place she can go and always be loved, it’s Baltimore. And it seems the feeling is mutual.

Wonder if there’s room in the front office at Camden Yards?

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Is anyone following this Baltimore Celebrity Smackdown tournament The Baltimore Sun is running? I have to say, as a sports fan, I’m a little disturbed at some of the results so far.

Most of the celebrities are media personalities, sports heroes or politicians. In round one, Oriole Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson pounded Gov. Martin O’Malley, 92.7 percent to 7.3 percent and Raven Ray Lewis easily handled Wheel of Fortune’s Pat Sajak, 77 to 23. But Oriole Brian Roberts lost out to former Gov. William Schaefer and Raven Todd Heap was overtaken by radio personality JoJo Girard.

And in round two, our beloved Cal Ripkin Jr. is losing to WWE diva Stacy Keibler in a landslide, 75.2 percent to 24.8 as of Friday afternoon. The beating has even caught Sports Illustrated’s attention.

Of course this is by no means scientific. And I seriously doubt anyone’s legacy (from Ripken to O’Malley) will be affected by losing early on (we still have three more rounds to go). Just because the Iron Man is about to lose to a former Ravens cheerleader does not mean that Baltimore isn’t still a great sports town. I hope.

In fact the only thing really significant about this tournament is the amount of traffic it is driving to The Sun’s Web site. I’m imagining the Web editors over there gleefully watching the number of votes tick up — along with their online viwership. And that’s what we call a smart business move.

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After all the questions in the media about whether Orioles manager Dave Trembley needs to go, this came down late Friday from the organization:

“The Orioles today announced that they have exercised their option for the 2010 season on the contract of Manager Dave Trembley.

“This season is Trembley’s 25th in professional baseball. He won two league titles and earned Manager of the Year awards in three leagues in 20 years managing in the minor leagues before joining the Orioles as bullpen coach and field coordinator in 2007.”

Since this summer, Trembley has been on thin ice for his management of the team and the young squad’s needless errors.

So who’s responsible for Trembley staying? Owner Peter Angelos? GM Andy MacPhail? The O’s also won last night, snapping a 13-game losing streak.

Is this a sign that the team is or isn’t moving past the days of mismanagement that has plagued it during the Angelos era? Do you agree with the decision?

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All right, before you start freaking out over that subject line, I’m sure Camden Yards is perfectly safe. But it did get you to click on this post, didn’t it?

But as for the question at hand, we may have a specific answer in a few months after a safety study on the ballpark is finished. The Maryland Stadium Authority recently hired Chicago-based Hillard Heintze to conduct a comprehensive security threat and vulnerability assessment of the Camden Yards Sport Complex (which includes the ballpark, the warehouse and M&T Bank Stadium).

Stadium Authority officials at their last public meeting mentioned that the impact the sports complex’s proximity to D.C. was an element they wanted covered.

But here’s my question — what about the little things? The last several times I’ve gone to either ballpark (D.C. or Baltimore), I’ve noticed the bag check at the security has gone a little lax. So far it’s just encouraged me to try and sneak food into Nationals Park (thank you O’s for letting me bring in my own food without the risk of getting mustard on my wallet).  But what kind of tricks could ill-intentioned people pull?

And the same does not go for football games — especially the Ravens, which seems like the equivalent of going through airport security. At least it is for the guys…finally a perk to being a woman that involves shorter lines!

What’s your assessment as a fan of the security at sporting games? Are some venues in this region better than others?

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If you follow Orioles attendance totals at all, I know what you’re thinking about that headline: “What?!? But Camden Yards is down nearly 9 percent right now compared with last year!”

OK, true. Sixty-six home games into the season, the Orioles have drawn 1.6 million to the ballpark while last year the team drew 1.76 million in as many games. But hear me out:

1) The team drew about 25,000 Monday night for its first game in a three-game series against the Yankees. (That’s a little more than half-capacity but it’s still way better than the team’s usual 15,000-19,000 on a Monday night.) I predict the series can keep that pace — nice weather and the Yanks being a playoff team — the series should total about 75,000.

2) Next up is a Friday through Sunday series with the Texas Rangers. The last time that team came to Baltimore on a weekend, game attendance averaged nearly 25,000. Prediction: 74,250 series total.

3) Unfortunately the O’s will kill any attendance-building progress with it’s next series: a Monday through Thursday homestand against the Tampa Bay Rays (Sept. 14-17). Combine weekdays, which are usually a shoddy draw for Camden Yards, with a team that doesn’t generate much interest on the road, and let’s just say there won’t be any long lines at the concessions stands for this one. Last time the Rays visited during the week the per-game attendance averaged a little more than 15,000. Prediction: 60,700 series total.

4) Grumble all you want about visiting fans but the next series against Boston (Sept. 18-20) will help kick attendance back up in a big way. The Sox are in a playoff hunt and it’s the weekend — a perfect storm for baseball. Last time Boston visited on a weekend, the games averaged more than 45,000 in attendance. Prediction: 137,000 series total.

5) Lastly, the O’s season will end quietly with a three-game set against Toronto. It’s a weekend series (Oct. 2-4) which should help but with neither of these teams in a playoff hunt, it should be a pretty anti-climactic finish for Camden Yards. The last time Toronto visited on a weekend, the games averaged about 26,900 in attendance. But last year’s weekend series against Toronto to close out the 2008 season only drew about 18,600 per game. I’m leaning more toward the lower end of that scale. Prediction: 65,000 series total.

Add it all up and I’m predicting the O’s will finish out the season drawing 1.99 million to Camden Yards. That would be a 2 percent increase over last year’s total of 1.95 million. It may not be much compared with other ballparks that regularly draw 3 million fans, but when you factor in a recession and a team that’s looking to finish yet another season with a losing record, it’s a sign the ballpark may be back on the upswing.

So, do I have any takers for more than 2 million fans to Camden Yards next year?

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Well, we’re at the All Star break and it’s time for another Orioles attendance update. And this time — are you sitting down? — it’s good news!

If you’ll remember, back in early June I predicted we’d start seeing a boost in our beloved O’s attendance rate because the Birds were hosting a string of high-drawing teams, Matt Wieters had arrived and school was out.

I love being right.

After the June 9-11 series against Seattle, Oriole Park’s total attendance for the year was 692,891 — a whopping 21 percent down from its corresponding 32nd game at home last year. Since then, the O’s have hosted Atlanta, the New York Mets, Boston, Washington and Toronto and picked up 15 points in the meantime.

The team is still down from last year, but only by 5.2 percent. And that’s pretty much in line with the rest of Major League Baseball attendance, which is down between 4 and 5 percent, according to the Sports Business Journal.

Meanwhile, since Wieters joined the club on May 29, more than 600,400 people have passed through the gates at Oriole Park in 21 games. During the previous 26 games, attendance totaled about 541,000.

Now, not all is well — I attended Sunday’s matchup against Toronto (which drew about 21,600) as a plain old fan and the atmosphere was almost sleepy in the upper reserves. And this was despite the fact the Orioles won and had the lead for most of the game. Toronto’s not the kind of team that will draw road fans (as opposed to the previous clubs I mentioned), and with just orange and black shirts to fill the stands, the emptiness was palpable.

I know many Orioles fans who pride themselves on their baseball knowledge and their steadfast support of the team (although maybe not always its ownership). And while maybe it’s not as bad as attending a Sunday afternoon game at Nationals Park, it’s still a little depressing to see the lack of turnout from home fans on a beautiful day when you can get tickets for as little as $9.

The visiting fans are doing their part for Orioles attendance — if more Orioles fans showed up to support their team, Oriole Park may even beat its attendance total from last year. But the ball’s in your court — we’ll see how the second half of the season goes.

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Yesterday’s ninth-inning comeback from the Red Sox — one night after the Orioles executed a similar feat against them — highlighted what has become a theme for Baltimore this year: you never know which O’s squad you’re going to get.

The Orioles have been streaky this year, to say the least.  Seven-game losing streaks, five-game winning streaks. They blanked the Rays one night then allowed 11 runs the next. They were scoreless against the Yankees on May 8, then touched home plate 12 times the next night. More than half of their wins have come from runs scored in late innings.

I recently heard a radio ad highlighting the fact that the Orioles have been an exciting team to watch because you can’t count them out in the later innings. Last year, the O’s marketing team launched a tongue-and-cheek promotion around the team’s bad luck on Sundays. At that point, the Orioles had a 13-game losing streak at Camden Yards on Sundays and marketers launched a “You Win We Win” promotion on July 6 that promised to give fans a free ticket to a future, non “prime” game to fans in attendance that day if the O’s broke their Sunday streak.

From talking with fans, I get the sense that there isn’t really any ill will about the streakiness because most know it’s just a characteristic of a young squad.  That being the case, can you market this unpredictability? The radio commercial I mentioned touches on it, but I wonder if team marketers can take it a step further and design a promotion around the team’s come-from-behind drama they’ve frequently displayed at home.

For example, they could print up a bunch of $8 off and $9 off ticket coupons and have them ready to hand out after a game for an eighth- or ninth-inning comeback (making it clear to fans that the go-ahead run is scored in one of those innings for the promotion to take effect).

On the other hand, as the manager of a ball club, you want to see your team jump out early and hold on to the lead. Would a promotion like the one I mentioned be a conflict in philosophy?

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If you’re a AAA member, you’ve got a chance to rake in the discounts and freebies at this Friday’s Orioles game against the Nationals. AAA Mid-Atlantic is sponsoring Traffic Safety Night in which the organization will be staked out at Gate C offering traffic safety-related activities for fans.

I know, sounds boring, right? But check out the goodies:

• AAA members can purchase upper-reserve seats for $6.
• Half-price admission Friday at the Sports Legends Museum for AAA members.
• Fans 14 years old and younger get a gift.
• AAA members who swipe their membership card will receive a free tote bag.
• Adults requesting a free insurance price quote will receive a free AAA insulated reusable bag.
• Discounted AAA memberships ($50 Basic/$25 first additional member) will be for sale.

Not a bad night for $6 a seat — plus you could nab two reusable bags in case Baltimore ends up passing that tax on plastic checkout bags.

I wonder though, if this promotion benefits AAA more than it will the Orioles. Friday night games have averaged more than 31,000 in attendance this year — not bad considering what team we’re talking about here. Plus the Nationals games (the annual Battle of the Beltway) have traditionally been well attended here. I’m betting the auto club will gain a few more memberships tomorrow from passers by than the Orioles will gain in seats sold because of this particular promotion.

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New to Oriole Park? Don’t know where to park? Want to get the lay of the land before you arrive at the ballpark? The Orioles and the Harris Corp. have teamed up to offer “Virtual Birdland,” an online virtual tour of the park and its surroundings aimed at visitors unfamiliar with the area.

Harris Corp., a Melbourne, Fla.-based international communications and information technology company, has created 3-D flyover videos that show the park, adjacent parking lots, entrance roadways and the nearby Inner Harbor.

“This is especially convenient for first-time visitors who…want to become more comfortable with where they are going, and how to get there,” said Greg Bader in a news release. “We are confident that Virtual Birdland will demonstrate the ease and convenience of attending a game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and we’re very excited to offer this capability to our fans.”

I’m wondering what kind of difference this will really make for people attending Camden Yards for the first time. I mean, doesn’t Google Maps’ satellite view essentially do most of this already? I know I use that option when mapping a new destination with which I’m unfamiliar.

The new campaign is, however, in line with the team’s marketing angle that its ballpark is accessible and a tourist destination. But will it help sell tickets? Won’t most of the people checking out Virtual Birdland be doing it to plan their routes and have already have purchased a ticket?

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I may be a reporter but I do love crunching some numbers every now and then. I know. It’s weird. But when you’re talking about the Orioles’ abysmal attendance so far this season, looking beyond the surface numbers has it’s advantage.

Let’s start with the bad news: through 29 games, attendance at Camden Yards is down 19 percent. That’s not just a dip, that’s a flat-out drop. That’s one person out of every five who came last year bowing out.

Attendance has fallen short of 11,000 (that’s less than 25 percent capacity) four times this year, including a Camden Yards, all-time low of 10,130 on May 26 against Toronto. Last year, the park missed the 11,000 mark twice the whole season (both times in April).

OK, time for the good news: the summer weather is upon us, the kids are out of school and it’s tourism season. All three of those factors will help with attendance, especially from casual fans.

Secondly, two words: Matt Wieters. His debut on Friday, May 29, drew 42,704 to the ballpark that evening, and the weather even did its best to deter fans by dumping what seemed like most of the Chesapeake Bay onto Baltimore that evening. That Detroit series drew a total of 121,441 fans over four days, a 14,000 increase over the four-day Detroit series last year.

Thirdly, check out the high-drawing competition that had come to town through 29 games last year: the Yankees (six games), the Red Sox (six games), Nationals (three games). This year, the Yankees have visited for six games and one of those included opening day, which is typically a sell-out no matter who’s playing.

Looking ahead, we’ve got 15 more games with the Nats, Yankees and Boston. Toss in the fact that the Mets will be here mid-month (those fans seem to come out of the woodwork, too), I think the O’s will be OK.

And by “OK,” I mean the ballpark figures should be just as sorry as last year. It’s not like they’ll crack the 2 million mark or anything, but at least they shouldn’t be worse. How’s that for some good old Baltimore optimism?

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