DISCERNING DODGER OWNERS PUNCH TICKET TO SUCCESS: One the reasons people flock to my home, Los Angeles, is this place is the entertainment capital of the world. And making a contribution to that reputation every day is Los Angeles Dodger Owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.

After a rough start, the McCourts have made a public relations comeback in the city, and that probably has to do with their care and concern for longtime employees.

An anonymous source recently informed SbB that this season, the McCourts have decided to the eliminate the longtime practice of providing four tickets per home game to all Dodger fulltime employees. No doubt it was a necessary move by the McCourts, considering the insatiable demand for tickets to Dodger games.

That move has indeed initially ruffled some organizational feathers. But the jilted reaction of Dodger employees will soon morph into sheer joy when they find out the McCourts will be fielding a Dodgers-themed float in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena next year - at a cost well in excess of $1M (the move has yet to be publicly floated, but a source tells SbB it’s a done deal).

The LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS reports that a typical Rose parade float costs around $150K, so I guess the extra $850,000 will go towards the installation of Tommy Lasorda’s DVD player (along with large supply of paper towels) and a sleap apnea-fighting CPAP machine.

With that price tag, the Dodgers will be under a lot of pressure to come up with a float as cartoonishly racist as good as the one they fielded back in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking MLB’s color barrier. Perhaps this time they’ll honor Fernando Valenzuela’s esteemed career, fitting Fernando with an oversized sombrero and El Pollo Loco employee uniform.