So now that Sam Zell and his merry men at the Tribune Co. have agreed to terms with Tom Ricketts and his crew, all ownership will be ceded to Ricketts, right? This is how a sale works. Or maybe this isn’t how a sale works?!

*dramatic pause*

As it turns out, Zell is trying to pull a crafty little maneuver, one that seeks to get out of $300 million worth of taxes and has the Tribune still retaining part ownership. I had to read this Washington Post piece like three times to figure out what is going on here — TOO MANY NUMBERS, MAN — but I think I understand it now.

Some time before the sale, Zell changed the Tribune Co. from a standard C corporation to an S corporation to avoid taxes. BUT, if you sell assets — ie. the Cubs and Wrigley Field — within 10 years of such a move, you owe corporate gains taxes. But Zell doesn’t like taxes. He likes straight cash, homie.

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So, what was going on behind negotiation doors during the Cubs sale? Was it like the interrogation room scene in “The Dark Knight” with Sam Zell playing the role of the Joker and the Ricketts family as Batman? Did Sam Zell tell Tom Ricketts he’d “changed things forever” and then started maniacally laughing for no good reason at all? Did Ricketts talk in an insanely deep voice that was sort of distracting to the overall character of Batman and really kind of unnecessary? And where is Maggie Gyllenhaal during all this?

In my Cubs sale fantasy (and yes, I had those … didn’t you?), this is what happened. It’s the only way the sale could have dragged on for this long; Sam Zell just pretended to be the Joker for the hell of it.

However, the Chicago Tribune is reporting things contrary to my fantasy today. Apparently, the Ricketts family, the side that wasn’t really in a position of power considering Marc Utay’s group sneaked back in at the 11th hour to renegotiate terms with the Tribune Co., decided to give an ultimatum late last month: they wanted a deal done in a few weeks, or no deal would be done at all. They would walk. Oh snap, son.

Well, as we all know, they did not walk. A deal was struck within a few weeks, and now pending MLB owners’ and court approval, the team is the Rickettses.

Let this be a lesson to all negotiators out there: when you’re dealing with a company that needs to pay off mass debt and has filed for bankruptcy within the last year, threaten to walk if negotiations stall for a long period of time.

I guess the Rickettses had the power position all along. See, that’s totally why they were Batman in my scenario.

As the world continues to turn in the imminent-but-then-again-maybe-not-so-imminent sale of the Cubs, Bloomberg is reporting the team may file for bankruptcy.

A brief Cubs bankruptcy would be a legal maneuver to clear the team from any future liability in the Tribune bankruptcy, according to two of the people familiar with the matter. Sam Zell, chief executive officer of Chicago-based Tribune, pledged the company’s interest in the Cubs as collateral when he negotiated the deal to take the publisher private in 2007, according to one of those people.

It’s a clever move by the team, because it frees them from Tribune creditors. The Cubs would be a separate entity, and that just makes things easier all the way around for a sale to go through. Couple this with last week’s news that the Tribune Co. sent preliminary paperwork to MLB outlining a deal with Tom Ricketts, and the talk that Marc Utay might have a deal structured for the team as well, and it’s yet another indication that things are heading more into sale territory instead of no-sale territory. I have made an illustration to track this for you:

I will update this illustration as news progresses. Carry on.

It’s up for debate right now. Last night, Darren Rovell tweeted this: “Haven’t yet found a bank who will admit they’ve agreed 2 finance Utay’s second Cubs bid. Is this deal real or a bluff?”

Today, the Sun-Times has a source that’s calling the report of a second deal for the Cubs involving Marc Utay, the one separate from the deal sent along to MLB involving Tom Ricketts, “flat-out wrong.”

So, this is the situation we have right now: anonymous sources saying completely opposing things to different news outlets. Fun! As has always been the case here, nothing is over till it’s over, and even when it appears to be over, it’s not over. I half expect Marc Utay and Tom Ricketts to have some sort of Face/Off transformation, so Ricketts appears to be the owner, but it’s actually Utay’s body. Maybe they can split the bid and become co-owners, and there can be a zany reality show on NBC about their struggles to compromise on key issues.

They can call it “Marc and Tom Plus 25.” I see no reason why it wouldn’t be an immediate success. I look forward to seeing them on the cover of US Weekly for 30 consecutive weeks.

Remember this morning when I wrote how that second suitor Sam Zell was going after vanished, and him and Tom Ricketts came to a preliminary deal of sorts, and though not final, it’s been sent along to MLB? This was progress. Finally.

But it looks like Sam Zell has one-upped the Ricketts group. He actually dipped back into the pool and grabbed Marc Utay — one of the four finalists bidding on the team before the Tribune picked Ricketts to exclusively bid. And Marc Utay and Sam Zell have some fancy paperwork that details a deal for the Cubs, too. What a sly fox that Zell is.

Reuters has the details:

One of the sources reporting the Utay group’s deal said the new offer is “a higher price but less cash upfront” than the Ricketts bid.

“I don’t think it’s completely over yet,” said the source, who asked not to be identified because the sale process is ongoing. “By the same token, Ricketts has a real edge here.”

Tribune, which has been trying to sell the team for more than two years to reduce the company’s debt burden, said no agreements are in place.

“We have not reached an agreement on terms with either party,” Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman said.

It’s actually quite the savvy business move by Zell. By submitting two deals to bankruptcy court (if the Tribune Co. chooses to do that), it only increases the chances of something going through. One has to feel for the Ricketts group: they were basically assured a date to the prom, but now will have to battle it out with some other bro for the Cubs’ hand at the dance.

Who knew the sale of a team would have this many twists? Mark Cuban, you still out there?

Friends, it seems Sam Zell and Tom Ricketts have smoked the proverbial peace pipe, and the talks of turning to another suitor is a thing of the past. The Tribune is reporting documents outlining a proposed deal between Ricketts and the Tribune Co. have been sent to MLB. Some of their sources didn’t go so far as to say these documents were a “tentative sales agreement,” but the fact that something resembling numbers and particulars of a deal are now in the hands of Bud Selig and company means things are pointed in the right direction for all parties involved.

But, as has always been the case here, nothing is set in stone. These are not the final documents. And, if and when the final papers are sent along to MLB, there’s still some hoops to jump through. The Tribune creditors and a bankruptcy judge must be cool with everything, and 75 percent of MLB owners must approve of the deal. (And you never know how Peter Angelos is going to vote!)

Setting all the yet-to-come hurdles aside, this is the first significant breakthrough after months of stalled negotiations. It’s like they just learned how to get past the elevator stage in Donkey Kong, or that the Earth may indeed be round.

It’s round, right?

Maybe. With a strong case of probably not.

According to the Tribune, Tom Ricketts reached out to some celebrities to raise that $25 million a head he was looking for last month. Simply put: banks aren’t being as forthcoming with cash for him to complete the sale, because, well, you know why that is. (Though, it does seem like the sale is almost complete.)

As such, here’s who Ricketts reportedly turned to:

As talks with Tribune Co. grind on, Ricketts, an investment banker who lives in Wilmette, has held separate discussions with a handful of celebrities to raise money from them and other wealthy Cubs fans willing to pony up as much as $25 million. In addition to Murray, he’s met with Jim Belushi and John Cusack, said two sources familiar with Ricketts’ proposal. The meetings took place several weeks ago, and sources were not sure if the talks had advanced. Representatives for Murray and Cusack did not respond to requests for comment. Belushi’s publicist declined to comment.

This is an awesome idea. I think all three of these dudes should totally team up and buy their favorite franchise, bring in a bunch of wacky and zany players, a rouge outsider, a young up and comer and a fireballing pitching who is struggling with control.

They should film it all and call it Major League 5: Cubs Win! and it will go down as the third best sports movie of all-time, behind Hoosiers and Field Of Dreams.