We Want Larry!

No, not the desperate housewife Larry "Drama" Brown (see Is Larry Brown Golden?, Larry Brown to Coach the Warriors, Larry Brown's Got Next?), but Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Mr. Oracle has been rumored for years to be dying to buy a sports franchise in the Bay Area.

It looks like Ellison was a major player in the recent bidding war for the Seattle Sonics too. From the NY Times:

"There were many prospective owners who came to the table who were disingenuous about their efforts to keep the team here," Schultz said.

There were two other bidders in the final stage of the process, one from Kansas City, Mo., and another from San Jose, Calif., led by Larry Ellison, the chief executive of the Oracle Corporation.

The Seattle Times offers further evidence of Ellison's serious interest in making the San Jose Sonics a reality:

At a news conference Tuesday, Schultz said he had turned down offers of more than $350 million in order to sell the Sonics and Storm to a group that would try to keep the teams in Seattle. Sources told The Seattle Times last week those offers included a $425 million offer from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who wanted to move the team to San Jose, Calif.

The most exciting part of the piece for Warrior and Niner fans has to be this reiteration of Ellison's past intentions (NY Times):

Ellison has expressed interest in buying the Golden State Warriors and the San Francisco 49ers... He has a basketball court on his yacht.

I'll be my last cabarkapa that that none of the current Warrior (mis)management has a hoops court on their yacht. Ellison is both loaded and a real fan of the game.

Say what you want about how Ellison does business or runs Oracle, but there's no doubt that the man has a lot of pride. If he was the owner there's no way he would let the Warriors or 49ers rot like Chris Cohan and John York have.