Colangelo, Cuban could take Cubbies to promised land

	Former D'backs owner Jerry Colangelo built a World Series winner in record time. Could he do the same for the Cubs? Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

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Jerry Colangelo wants to buy the Cubs, and it appears Mark Cuban might, too. And my guess is this: Neither one would let Cubs fans suffer another 98 years without a World Series championship ... or for that matter, another 51 without a National League pennant.

The Tribune Company, now in its final season of ownership after its agreement to sell the corporation this week, was especially good at getting fans to come to Wrigley Field, turning a profit and raising the value of the franchise (to $700 million or more, by some estimates). But when it came to wins and losses, it could not have been more incompetent.

Competing owners have said a few choice things about Colangelo and Cuban (especially Cuban). Yet no one can fairly call them losers. Either would be an excellent choice to own the Cubs.

Colangelo, the likable and approachable former Diamondbacks and Suns owner, is very serious about the Cubs. Colangelo revealed in a phone conversation with SI.com on Wednesday that he already has a meeting set up next week in Chicago with Sam Zell, the Chicago real estate magnate who bought Tribune Co. for $8.2 billion and is expected to be the one to find the buyer for the Cubs after this season.

Colangelo also said he heard there's "a couple very strong Chicago-based groups," which shouldn't be too surprising. A lot of folks have been waiting a lot of years for the Tribune Co. to finally throw in the towel.

I don't know Cuban beyond the two-word e-mail he sent me on Wednesday and the cartoon character he plays on TV. I do know this: Baseball can and has done worse, a lot worse. He may be a maverick, but he's proven to be enthusiastic, competent and caring as Dallas Mavericks owner.

Cuban may have a shot at the Cubs, too. When I mentioned his candidacy to someone at the MLB offices recently, the response, indicating that person could easily see it, came, "Well, we have a lot of wacky owners." I see Cuban as a solid second choice.

Colangelo, despite his many sporting successes, might have an uphill battle. Some other competing owners, and maybe even a few of his partners in Arizona, didn't love the way Colangelo spent money on players, and that could hurt his chances to win the Cubs. In the case of the competitors, their distaste came from the fact he raised the stakes and put them to shame. The bottom line is, he won a championship in his fourth year running the Arizona Diamondbacks, which is pretty hard to do (and well ahead of the Cubs' current timetable).

I remember the day the Diamondbacks and Devil Rays were introduced as baseball's newest franchises, and how impressive Colangelo was and how in over his head his D-Rays counterpart Vince Naimoli seemed. That turned out to be the case with their teams, too. While Colangelo turned the D-Backs into an instant winner, the D-Rays still have yet to top 70 victories in a season.

While spending and winning is a dumb reason to exclude anyone, especially someone who's been such a success in 40 years in sports, you can't put it past baseball owners to want to bring in another incompetent cheapskate who would help keep salaries down and field a cupcake of a team. This is the reason competing owners such as Kansas City's David Glass are well thought of in the MLB offices (until, in his case, he lost it and spent $55 million on Gil Meche).