November 6, 2004
New Stadium Plan for 'Nationals'?
There's news in the baseball stadium world. First off, it appears that the Expos' team name will most likely change to the Nationals, says the Post, which also alerts us to the shocking news that the chair of the D.C. City Council has unveiled a new stadium proposal, which the mayor says threatens the whole plan to bring baseball to D.C.
Linda Cropp, without any prior warning, has come out and said that it may be best to just build the new baseball stadium next to RFK Stadium at the far eastern end of Capitol Hill. Cropp said at a press conference in front of the Wilson Building that her plan, which would seek out public financing, would be less of a burden on the city's businesses, which would foot much of the bill.
Mayor Anthony Williams (right), who is intent on having a publicly financed stadium built on South Capitol and N streets in Southeast, is livid. From the Post:
Williams responded angrily at his own news conference an hour later, saying that Cropp's proposal could "blow ... up" the deal he cut with baseball officials to bring the Montreal Expos to Washington in the spring. Under the agreement, the team would play at RFK for three years, then move to a stadium along the Anacostia in 2008.
The City Council vote on the stadium deal is on Tuesday. Expect fireworks to fly.
Back to the Nationals for a quick second. Assuming that the baseball marketing gurus are intent on the Nationals name, they'll need to scoop up some Internet domains. First, washingtonnationals.com is already taken by an anti-Orioles fan group. And, dcnationals.com is taken by a Canadian skateboarding championship.
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I still like the Greys.
If you're going to ignore the public schools and bring baseball to DC, please, for the children, do it right.
How about mentioning that Other Team that plays at RFK, Eastern Conference Champion DC United? Whatever happens with baseball will profoundly affect DC United's effort to get its own soccer specific stadium. Over the past nine years, DC has won 3 MLS Cups and brought hundreds of thousands of fans to RFK. I could care less about baseball, and I hope the City Council recognizes the contributions that DC United has brought to the city since 1996.
Yeah, DC and the feds "ignore" the public schools by pumping in the highest per capita spending per pupil in the country--almost $9000. That's more than double the spending lavished on kids in Virginia and Maryland.
The kids aren't failing in D.C. because we don't spend enough. They're failing because their parents have failed them. They've been failing them for years. And no amount of public spending is going to change it.
Time to shut down the bullshit argument over "kids vs. baseball."
Then again, it's an easy one for the thousands of simpleton activitsts who seem to overflow in the District, hammering away at their keyboards at the Indymedia sites...
Ah, yes. The National League Nationals. D.C. creativity at its finest.
Amen, Dave. Hey Cropp, you jackass, let's explain this slowly: Either the money goes for baseball or it's not taxed at all. It's not kids or baseball. It's baseball or nothing. Got that?
What's more galling is that these malcontents are not contributing a cent to the program. And even more that baseball would be the one useful thing that DC government has accomplished since Home Rule. And most of all that Marion Barry is up on the class warfare soapbox again.
Now I can't wait for the first game.
Apparently DCist readers also lack a sense of humor.