Don’t Like the Play-calling? Too Bad…
September 19, 2008FIGHT!! Gary Sheffield Worked By Fausto Carmona, Tigers By Indians
September 20, 2008
The Cleveland-New York news just won’t stop, folks. A round of Great Lakes to Vince Grzegorek for passing this one along. While Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are dropping some serious coin on their new facility, while the current stadium is not even that bad, a Dennis Kucinich-led congressional panel is giving the Yankees the business over their soon-to-be home stadium.
WASHINGTON — A congressional panel took tough swings at the New York Yankees and New York City government over a new stadium for the Yankees. But neither the team nor the city budged from their positions on the $1.3 billion structure.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich charged Thursday that he had found “waste and abuse of public dollars” in the financing of the new stadium under construction in the South Bronx.
Claiming that a state used inflated property values is actually a pretty serious accusation – akin to adjusting revenue recognition to boost quarterly earnings. However, given that the Yanks have already broken ground and are well on their way to season ticket sales, I wonder if anything can be done about this. Will Kucinich’s claim carry any weight, or will he just be considered another delusional-yet-jealous Yankee-hater from Ohio?
Congressional panel rips Yanks, NYC over new stadium’s financing [ESPN]
10 Comments
Given the the fact that government is going to need every dime it can get its hands on to bail out wallstreet, the fact that the Yankee’s pulled a fast one to get better loans for their stadium may actually have some serious play. If you look at all the firms getting bailed out, they are just happen to be in NYC(financial capital of the world and all) and people may decide that New York has to decide which it cares more about, money for a stadium or saving the economy.
Obviously they won’t stop the stadium or anything, but there are certainly ways to make the Steinbreners pay a hefty price for their shenanigans.
“Obviously they won’t stop the stadium or anything…”
Unless its to dig up a buried red sox jersey…
“Unless its to dig up a buried red sox jersey…”
I would love to find out how many other Red Sox-related articles of clothing/tchotchkes/etc have been tossed in since that jersey got fished out.
I’ve gotta think there’s at least a Ted Williams bobblehead swimming around down there, by now.
No, that’s actually Ted Williams’ frozen head.
*rim shot*
Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week. Just remember kids, the 8:30 show is completely different from the 10:30 show.
Not to be “that guy” but I am glad all the problems with Dennis’ district are solved so he can grandstand on a national stage to continue to boost his dubious reputation. I think the rest of the nation still doesn’t know that Kucinich was the worst mayor the city of Cleveland has ever seen, this side of Michael White.
Read the dude’s Wikipedia page sometime. High comedy there.
Joe Biden just talked huge trash about Ohio State…uh.oh..
He does bring in a lot of money to his district…I’ll give him that.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to cast this issue in terms of Indians fans vs. Yankee fans, or Ohio sports fans vs. New York State sports fans. It was good for a laugh, but the problem is one Kucinich has every right to put his finger to and we should be thankful that someone in the national government is willing to stand up to this apparently outrageous abuse of public money. The cities of many cities have faced similar abuses of their tax money by sports club owners, and the tide has recently turned against such bamboozling initiatives. So, it is not a problem that is limited to New York City, nor, surely, to the American League or the presumed rivalry between the Yankees and the Indians.
p.s. I do not “know” that Kucinich was the worst mayor of the city of Cleveland, although I am from the area and followed the press carefully when he was in office; the claim sounds juicy, but let’s not be snarky enough to assume that everyone should “know” and thus share one commentator’s personal view. But the question of Kucinich’s legacy as mayor is a rather large can of worms for anyone to open under this post. I personally think Kucinich represents Ohio very well and is one of the few honest and courageous politicians in Congress today. Who else of his stature has consistently stood up to the brain-locked Bush administration for years? He is not alone, but the names are few.
correction: the citizens of many cities
A highly recommended essay on the new Yankee stadium by Bill Moyers:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09192008/watch3.html