Locus pocus

. . . So St. Peter meets Bud Selig at the entrance of the Pearly Gates and says, "Bud, so nice to see you! We've been expecting you."

And Bud replies, "The pleasure's all mine. Glad to be here."

And St. Peter smiles, and he nods at the wondrous city awaiting at the other side. "I knew you would be, Bud." He opens the latch and beckons Bud. "And you should see your accomodations!"

Bud halts half-way through the threshold and summons a paper, folded four-times-over, from his breast pocket. "Right. Speaking of which . . . "

I know. That little tale is unfair to Mr. Selig. Why, he's not trying to re-open an agreement in which he was awarded everything. Nah, he's just (currently) refusing to re-open an agreement where he was awarded everything.

Now it looks like Linda Cropp---motivated by principles of equity, political opportunism, and wanting to get an owner finally picked for this stupid team---wants the City Council to vote on the ballpark lease agreement, which:

• was negotiated by Mayor Baseball, whose spokesman says the terms were "kept within the parameters of the original [ballpark financing] agreement"; and,
  
• stipulates, MLB officials insist, that DC is responsible for cost overruns.

I suppose I could feign a fearful or frenzied reaction to this business, but I won't even put you through the motions, dear reader. This ballpark drama, played out in real-time over multitudinous chapters, has reached a Pete Rose for the Hall level of annoyance for me. I'm tired of arguing passionately on the issue; the more passionate I get about it, the less persuasive I become. If this were the only issue in the world, I'd happily become a recluse---or perhaps a Stylite.

Plus, what is there to say, really? I thoroughly despise the manner in which MLB has conducted itself, but even demonizing the Seligulans can lose its novelty. And what of Cropp & Co.? Well, although this posture may be overly facile and suffer from a lack of results-oriented, er, principled concerns (I WANT MY NATS!!!), ultimately, who am I to tell the D.C. City Council what to do? It's not my city council, and it hasn't been for over five years.

Instead, I commend you to check out Ballwonk's take, in which the Wonkster analogizes the Seligulans' bargaining tactics to, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor, overplaying one's hand in chess. It's a fine angle---and one, I might add, that pegs Selig/Reinsdorf/Dupuy as the proximate cause of whatever terror and/or confusion that Cropp might confect.

___

Hey, the Nats cleared $10 million this year!

Our cousin-thru-Loria, the Florida Marlins, might not have been so fortunate and might be on the move by 2008. I recommend you check out Fishstripes for incisive commentary on the latest. In addition, if Loria-hate is your thing, take a look at John Brittain's light-least-favorable-to-Loria at The Hardball Times.

I have no real desire to see the Marlins move, but if they were to do so, I almost guarantee you a number of cities/areas are non-starters, including:

• Charlotte
  
• Norfolk
  
• North Jersey
  
• Brooklyn

Why? Television, of course. Call it the MASN mandate. Ugh . . .