My Morning in Exile

by
October 2, 2009

I don’t know what to think about Chicago not getting the Olympics. Is it that Chicagoans don’t bribe people anymore or that they’re simply not good at it anymore? And to be honest, I’m not sure which of those two things would make me more sad:

  • Hatin’: you’re doing it wrong.
  • Somebody wake up Cito Gaston and tell him that he’s lost the confidence of his team. Wait, forget it. He looks so peaceful like that.
  • When people ask me why I don’t believe in God, I tell them “because if there was a God, he wouldn’t ensure lifetime employment to Brian Sabean while really good GMs like Kevin Towers are left to dangle.”
  • I tend not to put a lot of faith in “OMG, baseball is teh broken!” arguments, but when the Nats are among the most profitable teams going, some things should probably be changed.
  • The Mets aren’t hitting a lot of home runs at home, so someone has the idea to move the plate forward ten feet. They’re not hitting a lot of home runs on the road either, so whaddaya gonna do about that?
  • If you read only one article that contains the phrase “spraying tiny pieces of frozen head around the room” today, make sure it’s this one!

    • If the experts are right, the U.S. TV rights for the 2016 games just got cheaper, which means NBC will have more money on hand than it had planned to have. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go ask someone for a raise.


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    Mark
    14 years ago

    I can’t say I disagree with Pierce’s characterization. He lays it on a little thick, but in 1 instance at least—blaming him for the 2004 team’s loss to Boston—he’s completely right. The Cardinals pitchers spent 5 games nibbling around the strike zone to a team that had spent the whole season demonstrating that they will not, under any circumstances, swing at junk like that. what was the stat—the Red Sox swung and missed a total of 13 times, something like that? Hard not to blame the manager for that.

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    The Rabbit
    14 years ago

    “When people ask me why I don’t believe in God, I tell them “because if there was a God, he wouldn’t ensure lifetime employment to Brian Sabean”
    I share your view; however, you could have reached a different conclusion. From one of my favorite movies: “Why do you think you’re Christ?” “Because when I pray, I find I’m talking to myself.”

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    ElBonte
    14 years ago

    I live in Milwaukee.  I couldn’t be happier that Chicago was denied the Olympics.  I already get pissed off enough when I have to drive to Indiana (or Ohio or Kentucky or Tennessee or…) and hit “rush-hour” traffic at 8:30pm on a Wednesday.

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    Rob²
    14 years ago

    “The Cardinals pitchers spent 5 games nibbling around the strike zone to a team that had spent the whole season demonstrating that they will not, under any circumstances, swing at junk like that… Hard not to blame the manager for that.”

    Yes, and had the Cardinals pitchers realized that the Series ended after Game 4, they probably would’ve thrown more strikes in Game 5.

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    Wooden U. Lykteneau
    14 years ago

    Craig – You should bear in mind that Boswell is pandering to the Nationals “fans” that have been bitching ad infinitum about the payroll, to which the real fans note: You’re complaining that the Lerners aren’t being like Peter Angelos.

    Furthermore, nowhere in either Boswell’s column or in the Forbes article is the amount of revenue sharing received by the Washington Nationals specified. If we can extrapolate from Maury Brown’s reporting <http://bit.ly/67sEk&gt;, it’s doubtful that Washington received significantly more than the revenue sharing they did in ‘05, if they received any at all</a>.

    Those of us who are professionally trained to check it out will point out that Boswell did not include <i>Forbes’ disclaimer regarding the operating income figure, so I’ll do the heavy lifting that Boswell didn’t: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

    I’m no accountant, but I strongly suspect that’s like saying I ran the best time in the Boston Marathon for someone my age, weight, and height.

    Also suspiciously missing from the Boswell article: That Washington’s franchise value DECREASED 12% from 2007 to 2008, according to Forbes.

    Think about that: A new stadium, and the franchise LOST value. And everybody and their grandmother will tell you that the deal to build Nationals Park was as good as it gets from the perspective of an owner.

    There may be a story about revenue sharing being abused by certain franchises, but Boswell ain’t telling it, and there’s simply not enough evidence to support his delusion.

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    Will
    14 years ago

    I admit to a fair bit of schadenfreude over the Chicago thing. The President really shouldn’t have been involved in the bid unless it was a slam dunk, and it wasn’t. He wasted a bunch of time and money flying all the way to Copenhagen just to get humiliated.

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    YankeesfanLen
    14 years ago

    I am disappointed that Chicago did not get the Olympics.  Traffic around Chicagoland is awful regardless but from what I can understand of the placement of venues. it would not be any worse than a major convention at McCormick, and using the Dan Ryan even 20 years ago never brought anything than heartache.  Anyway, it would have done a lot to showcase a world class U.S. city.
    As for the Mets moving home plate, the old saw “re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic” applies.

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    Richard Dansky
    14 years ago

    FWIW, apparently the heads of states of all the bidding cities made appearances, so for Obama not to have gone no doubt would have been seen as a slight by the ever-touchy IOC.

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