Laying Down the Shpunt
Back from a marvelous trip to Mexico, catching up with newspapers and the mail, trying to figure out if I missed anything while I was gone. Can you say “V energy”? Yes, I leave for a few days, and holy crap, the greatest Dodger story of the year erupts in my absence: From 2004 to 2008, owners Frank and Jamie McCourt paid a Russian emigre named Vladimir Shpunt—a physicist and a healer—to send positive energy to the team, usually while watching TV coverage of the games from the confines of his suburban Boston home. Cheers to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times for dredging up this gem, “Dodgers Tap into ‘V Energy,’” from the McCourts’ mess of a divorce. Among the heroics Vlad claims to have influenced was Steve Finley’s walk-off grand slam on the final day of the 2004 season, a stupendous blast that clinched the Dodgers’ first playoff spot in eight years. “The miracle finish…was the result of V energy,” wrote Shpunt’s frontman, executive leadership consultant Barry Cohen, in an email to the McCourts. Funny, I had always thought it was Max and I, cheering from the blue Reserved Level, who had helped guide that ball over the outfield fence.
Photo: Spencer Weiner