This is really gonna happen, kids. The Tribune Co. is oh so close to dumping their seemingly only entity of worth right now, the Chicago Cubs, onto a really rich dude. The Trib has the details on the three final bidders: Tom Ricketts (a name we’ve heard as a front-runner all along), Marc Utay and Hersch Klaff.

First, Mr. Ricketts:

Cubs connection: Tom Ricketts grew up watching the team on WGN. Once lived in an apartment above a bar across the street from Wrigley Field. Met his wife in the bleachers at a Cubs game.

Ricketts scores points with Cubs fans for his cutesy, fairytale story of fandom. This may also doom him as an owner.

Second, Utay:

Business style: During the 1990s put together leveraged buyout deals in media, telecommunications and entertainment for investment banker Wasserstein Perella. A director of IMAX Corp., the large-format film company. Said to have bid on two hockey franchises without winning either.

Utay scores points with Cubs fans as they sympathize with him losing out on two hockey franchises. This may also doom him as an owner.

Third, Klaff:

Sports background: An avid soccer fan. A boxer in his youth while doing a required stint in South African Air Force. An exercise devotee who has been known to bicycle between meetings with papers tucked in a backpack.

Klaff loses points with Cubs fans as he doesn’t seem to have any strong ties to the team and its fans. Dude likes soccer, and he boxed. This is not your typical Cubs fan. This will not doom him as an owner.

Ricketts and Utay are your people’s champs; Klaff is the outsider with the low-profile business approach. My vote is for Klaff; I’d like to see him navigate Wrigley’s narrow walkways on a bicycle, wouldn’t you?