Boycott the O's
If greedy trial lawyer and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos blocks the move of the Expos to DC, it will be time boycott the O's until Angelos sells the team or is reunited with his evil master in the earth's fiery core. In fact, I am officially on O's strike until the president throws out the first pitch in DC for the new Washington Senators. Just to be clear, Northern Virginia is not DC. Angelos will not get another penny from me or another ratings point for my TV viewership until this issue is resolved in favor of the Nation's Capital.
In today's Post there is a Q&A about the possible relocation timeline as it relates to today's ownership committee meeting. Here are the two most important paragraphs to remember:
Q. Will the District get a team today?
A. It's very unlikely. If owners settle on the District, baseball observers expect long, difficult negotiations with Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos, who opposes the move.
Q. What about Northern Virginia?
A. With its hopes fading, Loudoun County's best bet is to become the only way for the league to placate Angelos, but questions remain about stadium financing.
MORE: Thomas Boswell sums up the Angelos problem and how Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf are prepared to handle his whining.
Angelos has spent the last two years deluding himself that Selig and Reinsdorf were assiduously protecting his interests. Instead, Bud and Jerry have been doing what they always do: shopping for the best deal for baseball. Which is what they should be doing. If matters also had worked out well for Angelos, then they'd have said, "See how we took care of you, Peter."
Michael Wilbon talks about the wisdom of building a new stadium next to the Navy Yard. Believe me, I know what it's like down there, and it's been downright scary at times. A stadium combined with surrounding related development would do wonders for that area. He also makes the case for abandoning the Loudon option:
And that, in today's culture of sports as entertainment, is done downtown, not 20 miles from the central city, which is why Capital Centre became obsolete and why FedEx Field, which never should have been built there in the first place, sits alone and is now the single most resented building in the entire region. Getting there is dreadful, getting out is dreadful.
It's also why a new stadium in Loudoun is less an unacceptable option, unless the new ballclub plans to attract folks only from the western suburbs in Northern Virginia. I lived in Fairfax County for nine years and loved every minute of it. But ask anybody who heads north on the GW Parkway, or west on Route 50, I-66 or the Dulles Toll Road how early you'd have to leave downtown D.C. to arrive at a ballpark in Loudoun County by 7:30 on a weeknight. On a good night? 6 p.m., and on a bad night? 5:30.
Peter Angelos would love that, but it's not a viable option for a team planning to call metropolitan D.C. its home.
In today's Post there is a Q&A about the possible relocation timeline as it relates to today's ownership committee meeting. Here are the two most important paragraphs to remember:
Q. Will the District get a team today?
A. It's very unlikely. If owners settle on the District, baseball observers expect long, difficult negotiations with Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos, who opposes the move.
Q. What about Northern Virginia?
A. With its hopes fading, Loudoun County's best bet is to become the only way for the league to placate Angelos, but questions remain about stadium financing.
MORE: Thomas Boswell sums up the Angelos problem and how Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf are prepared to handle his whining.
Angelos has spent the last two years deluding himself that Selig and Reinsdorf were assiduously protecting his interests. Instead, Bud and Jerry have been doing what they always do: shopping for the best deal for baseball. Which is what they should be doing. If matters also had worked out well for Angelos, then they'd have said, "See how we took care of you, Peter."
Michael Wilbon talks about the wisdom of building a new stadium next to the Navy Yard. Believe me, I know what it's like down there, and it's been downright scary at times. A stadium combined with surrounding related development would do wonders for that area. He also makes the case for abandoning the Loudon option:
And that, in today's culture of sports as entertainment, is done downtown, not 20 miles from the central city, which is why Capital Centre became obsolete and why FedEx Field, which never should have been built there in the first place, sits alone and is now the single most resented building in the entire region. Getting there is dreadful, getting out is dreadful.
It's also why a new stadium in Loudoun is less an unacceptable option, unless the new ballclub plans to attract folks only from the western suburbs in Northern Virginia. I lived in Fairfax County for nine years and loved every minute of it. But ask anybody who heads north on the GW Parkway, or west on Route 50, I-66 or the Dulles Toll Road how early you'd have to leave downtown D.C. to arrive at a ballpark in Loudoun County by 7:30 on a weeknight. On a good night? 6 p.m., and on a bad night? 5:30.
Peter Angelos would love that, but it's not a viable option for a team planning to call metropolitan D.C. its home.
posted by Mike C | 8:58 AM
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