Anyone remember the movie Leprechaun? Eh, I don't really either---though perhaps I should. Not only did it apparently star a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston, but guess who played the evil leprechaun?
Really, guess.
Why, none other than Warwick Davis!
YUB - YUB!
Anyway, I basically remember Leprechaun for perhaps the only time David Spade has ever been funny. During one of his "Hollywood Minute" bits, Spade claimed that Leprechaun was "the best movie of 1994." He then noted that, thus far, it was the only movie of 1994.
Well, I laughed.
Similarly, I have to think that this Capitol Punishment entry is the best post so far in 2005 (though it is early!) Quite simply, Needham performs a rhetorical colonoscopy on Bob Dupuy, who penned a piggish op-ed piece that was published in Tuesday's Post.
Highlighting Chris' outstanding post is---in my estimation, at least---one of the most reasonable takes on the D.C. City Council and its obviously significant role in this mess. Dupuy had just lamented doing business in DC, because the City Council is so inept and corrupt (then why did MLB agree to come? are these characteristics new?), when Chris butted in:
That's exactly right.
People who get things done attack tough issues, not easy targets. They work hard, rather than point out how hard their work is. They derive solutions, instead of whining about problems.
The Seligulans are within their rights to take this to mediation and then to arbitration and then to wherever the next step takes them. It's their right to press the issue. They can play good cop-bad cop all they desire (though I'm having trouble locating their "good cop"). In short, they obviously can do what they will to protect their business interests.
But, at the end of the day, it's worthwhile to realize that the District has already committed $535 million (actually, $578 million) to the project. Now, no one expects that the Seligulans will actually pump in overrun cost guarantees; they've got to protect every ounce of their precious investment, after all.
But is it too much to request that they exhibit the teeniest bits of temperance and patience and understanding here? They screwed around for months on end before drawing up the lease provisions with the DC-SEC. The White Sox were in the Series, people! They helped contribute to this delay, and they didn't meet their promise (admittedly, nothing more than a verbal expectation) of selecting an owner by then, or then, or then.
Things need to be worked out, and they will be; Mayor Baseball just needs more time to get things under control, but in time things will indeed be under control---to the satisfaction of both the requisite seven-vote bloc and to MLB itself.
Until then, we should probably disregard anything coming from a source containing the letters D-U-P-U-Y. His suck ain't go no alibi.
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This isn't to say that Needham's post is the only worthwhile thing to note---far from it:
- Distinguished Senators scores a big fake interview with America's least favorite medhead. Factual Bolshevism!
- Brick notes that it was DC-baseball-related Sam Crane's birthday on Jan. 2. Don't worry, though; this isn't the murderous Sam Crane. Rather, it's the adulterous and larcenous Sam Crane. Much better.
- Curly W, a new papa, returns to the Nattysphere with a heartfelt post about the Nats.
- Nats Triple Play looks at the Diogenes Ramon Ortiz signing and compares the '06 rotation to the '05 edition. It's an interesting though. To tell the truth, the comparison is probably surprisingly desultory. We forget things in a year, but if I recall, Zach Day (the prospective fourth- or fifth-starter) hadn't had a sub-100 ERA+ season entering last spring.
- Beltway Boys takes a long look at Ryan Zimmerman; among the nuggets in there is the fact that Dutch made it to the bigs mere months after being drafted. Yes, that is pretty rare. My ramblings on the subject are in the comments section.
- Just a Nats Fan already misses P.B. Bennett. (On a related note, I'm still bitter that my hopes for an RFK GW alumni appreciation society with Flash Flaherty were dashed.) While I agree with Yuda that Wiki Gonzalez is a superior player to old P.B., it still seems kind of hollow that we're replacing such a sentimental favorite with a non-roster invitee.
- Quick! Name the probable starter in center for the Potty Nats . . . Why, it's Ender Chavez! Check out the indispensible Nats Farm Authority Big Board for easy organizational reference.
- Finally, I want to shout out an enormous plug for John Sickels' 2006 Prospect Book. He's an excellent evaluator of minor league talent, and he's a fellow SBN blogger. There's a certain disconnect inherent in a guy like me trying to plug a work by a guy like him, but I'll still do what I can to help his sales efforts!