Expos: 1; D.C. taxpayers: $TK,000,000

Tim Cavanaugh | December 21, 2004

Washington's City Council reverses itself on last week's requirement that half the $500+ million cost of the new ExpoNationals stadium be privately financed. The Nationals are now scheduled to play ball the day before tax filing day, 2005. In reporting the deal, the Wash Post's Thomas Boswell so thoroughly demolishes all previous records for tortured metaphors and clumsy marriage/courtship analogies that Commissioner Bud Selig has ordered a probe of possible steroid abuse by columnists.

Comments

|12.22.04 @ 6:53AM|#

If the Washington NFL team can fill a stadium for 9 years with losing tesm it will be just as easy for the Washington Nationals Baseball team to do the same. By the end of April the media stories will be Where are the fans. The fans will say put a winning team on the field.

|12.22.04 @ 6:55AM|#

If the Washington NFL team can fill a stadium for 9 years with losing team it will be just as easy for the Washington Nationals Baseball team to do the same. By the end of April the media stories will be about low the attendance in DC. The fans will say put a winning team on the field.

|12.22.04 @ 9:45AM|#

Any freedom-fighter out there give me a generic log-in for these registration sites? [e-mail] doesn't work anymore.

I am so completely pissed, and am glad, at least, I'm a suburbanite, and not a citizen of DC.

Apparently, when Cropp announced the reversal, she appeared very tired and barely managed a faint smile. The mayor also looked very nervous. Someone must've worked these people over hard. I'm talking about Abu Ghraib, here. I wouldn't be surprised if pictures show up of the DC council members stacked up in a naked pyramid.

j|12.22.04 @ 9:47AM|#

"Any freedom-fighter out there give me a generic log-in for these registration sites? [e-mail] doesn't work anymore."

Try www.bugmenot.com

|12.22.04 @ 10:54AM|#

"I wouldn't be surprised if pictures show up of the DC council members stacked up in a naked pyramid."

AAAHHHHH! MY EYES!

|12.22.04 @ 11:20AM|#

Damn. Damn. I really thought they were going to stand up to the Ripoff Bullies. Damn.

|12.22.04 @ 1:51PM|#

"In reporting the deal, the Wash Post's Thomas Boswell so thoroughly demolishes all previous records for tortured metaphors and clumsy marriage/courtship analogies that Commissioner Bud Selig has ordered a probe of possible steroid abuse by columnists."

Ain't that the truth. This column is truly sickening, and is pure propoganda. I quote the column:

""But today they call Lambeau Field 'the shrine,' " Selig said. "The point that's forgotten is that, ultimately, the team and the ballpark makes the community better."

That, of course, is a sales pitch. But it's a good one. Especially since the evidence can be seen from coast to coast." End quote

That's it. This asshole offers no evidence whatsoever to back up this assertion. You would think that MLB, while dictating this article to Boswell, would at least provide him with some bullshit figures and examples.

I guess it's too much to expect sportswriters to not be total whores for the Big Leagues.

Jimmie|12.22.04 @ 2:20PM|#

It's worth noting that some of the "public funds" that will be used to build the stadium include a special business tax. The tax will last for a specific period of time, will go to a specific project (the stadium), and can not exceed a certain amount (based on the gross receipts of the business).

The kicker is that this isn't really a "public fund" after all. The businesses agreed to this tax beforehand and negotiated the amount and the terms with the Mayor before he made the deal with MLB. In fact, the only thing that actually makes it a tax is that it's going to be collected using the city's tax-collecting machinery. Otherwise, it was a voluntary donation no different than giving to United Way.

The reporting on this, from both sides, has had more than its share of distortion.