Public financing of stadiums and tax money spending

This post is being made based on Bill Simmons' recent article about Seattle losing the Supersonics. Normally, I don't read his stuff cause I'm not a big Boston sports fan, but I find it utterly ridiculous that owners of sports franchises demand the city pay for new stadiums or else. I mean, the current trend in the United States is to let schools, roads, electrical grid, parks and everything else completely go to shit while a city will drop 300 million for a stadium to promote economic development. I'm assuming they mean economic development for some already ridiculously wealthy white guy. I had suspicion that no economic development really occurs when an existing stadium that is already bringing in money is replaced with a modern facility. So I did what all good grad students do and I went to journal articles. I found this. I'll summarize some of the finer points in this post. Essentially, the data (which has several flaws that the author discusses, but has some strengths also) states that no metropolitan area really benefited in terms of per capita income growth by having a new stadium, and actually, three cities had negative impacts. The shocking thing to me was that having a professional sports team didn't help growth either in most cases. So the findings from the study are that its not a sound civic investment to invest in stadiums. I'm not going to explain anymore of the article, but its worth the read, it is interesting.

Don't get me wrong, I love watching sports, I love going to sports, I love playing sports, but why is our tax money going towards stadiums that are used in a for profit company? The idea of giving tax breaks to companies is that your city will benefit if they move a plant there by gaining jobs, hence economic growth. Maytag pulled some bs in Newton, IA where they essentially asked for so much tax money, the return of them being there wasn't worth it, so Iowa told them to go fist themselves. They gave small tax breaks to a few companies that are producing wind turbines, to move into the old Maytag plant, now Newton is gaining some of their jobs back.

I can understand building venues in places like Des Moines, where they have multiple semi-pro teams using the arena, host high school state tournaments, have concerts, and whatever else you can think of. Speaking of the Iowa Events Center, good for them for not using Ticketmaster. I'll explain my dislike of them later. I digress, sorry. I can also understand if the city chunks in some money cause it is a large investment. But I don't feel that tax payers should have to pay for something that a person is going to use to make exuberant amounts of money off of.

So in an era when public money is slim we buy stadiums. Good for us, we like luxury items more than things that actually encourage economic growth. It's messed up, and thats why the Seattle Supersonics moving makes me so angry. Them leaving because the city of Seattle wouldn't pay half a billion dollars for a new stadium is going to put other cities in the same situation. Do we vote it down cause we can't really afford it, risk losing our team to some crappy town like Oklahoma City, or do we just pass a tax increase and pay for the damn thing? Then theres the Yankees. They're paying 1.1 billion for their own stadium. The MN Twins are $140 million out of $450 million, the county is paying the rest. I guess we'll see what the Vikings do. Detroit did it right with Comerica, they added a rental car and hotel tax to pay their 40%. I could research this forever, but I think the point is, cities shouldn't pay for stadiums specifically designed for one sport team only.

American Idol - Season 7 - Four more voted off

Well, I'm surprised. Even though I picked two of the four voted off, I was caught off guard by the other two. I had Alaina and Robbie right in the middle of the pack. Kady (Houston native) just barely made it by in the bottom 3, which is where I had her. And Luke M. made it through again when I didn't think he should have. Looks like he was in the bottom three as well.

David Archuleta remains the overall favorite. After two weeks, I think Carly is the favorite for the girls. Brooke White was the big gainer over last week, bumping up 5 spots amongst the girls. Alexandrea was the biggest fall, dropping from where I had her as the 3rd best performance last week to being voted off (9th place) this week. Hosed was Alaina, who I had as the 4th best girl before she got voted off.

There's still a lot Idol left for the year and Idol voters can be fickle.

Picking the Losers:
5 for 8 62.5%
including bottom three: 7 for 10 70%

American Idol Season 7 - 10 chicks

Well, the 10 girls were tough to rank, but not because they were good. The first two started off strong, but it quickly got worse after that. It's going to be a while before we get strong performances out of all the girls. The boys sound pretty good comparatively. Again, these decade weeks should be lending themselves to the girls. A * is a lock to advance, anyone marked with an -x is in the danger zone (note how many more x's there are)

1. Carly* - good performance, got after it, didn't look real comfortable, though
2. Syesha* - better than the judges gave her credit for. could get really annoying though
3. Alaina
4. Ramiele - bad song for her, but she's definitely in the top 3 for female contenders
5. Brooke White -x - good song choice, mostly because she looks like 70's Carly Simon
6. Kristi Lee Cook -x - didn't think she was good enough to advance, but then four other people performed
7. Overmeyer -x
8. Kady -x
9. Asia'h -x - very, very bad, but I think she'll move on
10. Lushington -x - was stoked for some Chicago. she picked the lamest Chicago song ever. I thought they only came out with good songs in the 70's. Turns out I was wrong

Based on my own American Idol - Season 7 Power Poll, I think Kady and Alexandrea are out this week but wouldn't be surprised if Kristi Lee Cook or Overmeyer got bumped.

Lebron to the Nets? pt2

Note: this started as a comment, but quickly evolved into a dissertation; hence, the separate post.

One thing is undeniably clear, LeBron James is the most business savvy basketball player that has ever played in the NBA. I think Jordan took what was given to him (to use a terrible cliche). Nike came calling, and he obliged. So did Fruit of the Loom, and so on and so forth. But he really didn't do much other than play basketball and take his money. He was pretty quiet, and let the marketers define him. This was a wise move on his part - to let professionals build him into a global icon. However, the other ventures he's led weren't maximized in a business or marketing sense (baseball, team ownership, team management, etc). LeBron came out of the gate and took a shorter contract in order that he might make more money in the long term. Unheard of, but pure brilliance, none the less. Most in the NBA business were surprised by it. Something so simple yet so obvious is a mark of business genius. Everyone else in the class (Wade, Bosh, Carmelo) obviously thought so. The Cleveland Cavaliers know LeBron has a different mindset. They know he's about more than basketball. I'd bet they've talked with him about it. The Cavs haven't won anything relevant in a really long time. Getting to the finals proved to LeBron and the team that they can get close. I would not argue that LeBron wants to win a championship for his "hometown" team. Immediately elevates the legacy. However, I don't think he needs to win multiple championships there. The Cavs and LeBron have decided to pull all the stops for him to win a championship in Cleveland and then see what happens from there (see: Brooklyn Nets). Cleveland is happy (kinda), the front office can say it tried, and LeBron won one for the home team. He'll might be vilified by Cleveland for jumping ship, but the national media will love the move.

All these articles give great reasons for him to go, now a couple, small, reasons it might not work.

1. Cleveland can give him more money.

One of the best parts about the NBA. Allow the team that has a player give him a larger max contract than anyone else. Every other pro sport allows a player to get poached from the team that drafted him, but the NBA gives a player's current team the upper hand. It's why Kobe stayed in LA, it's why Carmelo will stay in Denver. Some smaller markets can't afford the max contract, but Cleveland would for LeBron. He wouldn't make more money in NY unless he had a stake in the operation ...

2. Players can't own part of the team.

This is one way that the NBA is similar to other pro sports. A stake in a franchise would make a lot of sense to someone like LeBron who already makes more money off other sources than basketball. It would also allow LeBron to capitalize on the marketing money that his name would draw in NY. Unless, of course, Jay-Z would go 50-50 with LeBron on his new marketing company and get in on some of the advertising revenue the new stadium would bring in with the game's biggest star. Let's not forget ...

3. Jay-Z is not the Nets majority owner

Bruce Ratner is the principal owner. And as such, would probably want as large a chunk of the LeBron pie as he could get. He's a developer, the one who initially floated the idea of bringing the Nets to Brooklyn. Landing LeBron makes his investment increase ten-fold. The 'new' New York team, with LeBron? Shoot. Good luck prying any of the marketing money out of his hands. LeBron and Jay-Z could try some auxillary marketing opportunities, but without NY, they'd have the same opportunities in Cleveland as they would in Brooklyn.

4. What would he do with that house?!?

American Idol - 10 dudes

The guys started really slow last night. There wasn't a standout performance until David Hernandez halfway through the show. Four out of the last five were really good. Again, the * designates a J.Meeks lock to advance.

1. David Archuleta* - Still the favorite. Really, really good rendition of Imagine. People always sing it, but he made it his own. He's had the two best performances so far.
2. David Hernandez* - I've liked him from the beginning. Simon's criticisms have really driven him.
3. Chiekieze* - I liked his performance last week. We'll see how he does after the decade weeks.
4. David Cook*
5. Noriega - again, unfortunately, he passes to next week
6. Robbie
7. Castro - I like the guitar, not the strongest performance, but he'll pass on, too
8. Michael Johns - he's middle of the pack at best. seems to have lots of potential. he'll get by on that for at least one more week, should do well if next week is the 80s (INXS!!!)
9. Yeager - didn't think he did that bad of a job, judges harsh and he was towards the bottom last week
10. Luke M. - weird performance. I had him at the very bottom last week. its over this week.

New Jersey "King James/Jay-Z" Nets

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Aj9mhzgQwwaMH.KAZNa3gx28vLYF?slug=aw-lebronjayz022508&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

This is the link to an interesting article on the close relationship between Jay-Z and LeBron James. Cleveland had better start planning ahead as the Nets currently are if they want to keep their franchise from falling back into the dump. Jay-Z and LeBron together in New York could be huge. With the plans for a new arena in the works and Jay-Z's guidance, LeBron could be one of the biggest stars, sports or not, this country has ever seen. On the basketball end....remember that trade the Nets just made? Well, they dumped some salary, picked up some younger players, and old balls Van Horne, and two first round draft picks in 2008 and 2010, the year LeBron is due for free agency. Could these be the complimentary players James is looking for? Expect the Nets to do something with Carter if they are serious of this pursuit of James. That free agency class could be huge with James, Wade, Bosh and I think Carmelo. Can you imagine James in New Jersey, Wade in Chicago, Bosh just in the US and Caremlo inside of a Hershey's bar? Sounds tasty. Read the article it makes more sense than me.

We're on Google!

We've finally made it! Someone out there found our blog somehow and that was it! We exist in the world of Google!!!




We also got our first comment spam. Such an exciting time!

Bonds

Sorry, I am really bored and just hooked up our wireless so I can sit on the recliner in the living room.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2008/news/story?id=3264187
The latest news links Bonds to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I think Bonds would be a good fit in Tampa. They could sign him for cheap and he would improve their offense. This is a team that will be fairly competitive this year without him and could make some noise with him. By DRays consideration, noise mean over .500. It would bring some fans to the Devil Rays and be good for baseball. His troubles will be overshadowed now by Santana and the Tigers and most of the buzz around the Devil Rays should be positive.

Baseball Season Again!

I have been looking forward to baseball season from the time the Cubs got swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Cubs first Spring Training Game is this Thursday and although I am filled with much anticipation for the Cubs season, there are many intriguing storylines I look forward to following throughout the year.

Same Faces, New Places

It is always fun look at the same players in different uniforms. This offseason has been fairly active and has made some teams and divisions much different.

1) I am most looking forward to watching the 2008 Detroit Tigers. Dontrolle Willis and Miguel Cabrera are key additions. I don't look for Willis to be a dominating pitcher, especially in the AL where the hitters are better, and he can't hit. He will add some depth to their staff that has been oft injured the past few years. To me, Dontrolle Willis was free for the Tigers, the key to that trade was Miguel Cabrera. I have always been a big fan of Cabrera and I seriously believe he has the ability to win the American League MVP maybe not this year but possibly in the next few years, especially with this lineup in which Pudge Rodriguez could be hitting 8th or 9th! Oh yeah they improved at shortstop where they added another former Marlin Edgar Renteria.
2) The second best pitcher in the game has been traded to the National League. Johan Santana, who most refer to as the best pitcher in the game will undoubtedly change the National League and the Mets. To me, Josh Beckett is the best pitcher in the game right now. Santana had a down year by his standards last year (15-13, 3.33 ERA, 219 IP) and I look for him to improve on those numbers this year being in the NL and with the Mets. However, I don't think this move is as huge as everyone says. Santana's innings I think will be right around 200 this year because there will be games when he must be replaced in a game for a pinch hitter. The move will certainly improve the Mets and put the NL East winner at around 93-94 wins. I look for Santana to put together a season of around 19-7, 3.01 ERA and roughly 200 IP. He will get a few wins with poor performances simply because the Mets will score some runs and they have the Cabrera/Willis-less Marlins and the Nationals in their division.
3) Fukudome could be a great addition for the Cubs. Or he could turn out like the rest of the Cubs additions. I think he will have a good year after a slow start adjusting to the MLB. It makes the Cubs lineup more of a threat and adds some speed. It sounds like Pinella will use him in the third spot followed by Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. Pinella wants to add some speed to the top of the lineup with Soriano, Theriot and Fukudome followed with the power of Lee, Ramirez and rookie catcher Geovany Soto. I still would like to see Lee in the third spot, he is the best pure hitter the Cubs have and his power numbers were down last year. It will interesting to see it play out.

Players to Look For:

John Maine (SP NYM): With the addition of Santana and the health of Pedro Martinez, Maine will no longer be opposed with front-line starters and will have a chance for more victories. Maine still managed 15 wins last year couple with 10 losses and a 3.91 ERA. I look for him to add a few wins and subtract a couple losses with the Santana trade and lower his ERA just a titch. Maine is a young solid pitcher and will be overshadowed by Santana most of the year which could be an advantage for him. I look for statistics around 17-8 with a 3.75 ERA.

Hanley Ramirez (SS FLA): Ramirez will lose some protection and runs with the loss of Cabrera but Ramirez who came to FLA in the Josh Beckett trade is one of the best young players in the MLB. Ramirez is another guy I look for to potentially win an MVP if placed on a good team. His statistics last year (.332 BA, 29 HR, 81 RBI, 51 SB) from the leadoff spot were very solid. The Marlins are considering moving him to the three hole which I think could hurt his BA and SB but improve his HR and RBI. I look for him to have about the same statistics if left in the leadoff spot with fewer RBI's. His teammate Cameron Maybin could be a candidate for NL Rookie of the Year along with Cubs catcher Geovany Soto.

Chad Qualls (RP ARI): Traded from the Astros to the D-Backs for Jose Valverde, Qualls is one of the best set-up men in the league. Put on a good team in the Diamondbacks he will have an opportunity to record the oh-so valuable hold quite often. The Diamondbacks were smart in realizing how overrated the save statistic is and just rewarded themselves with an 8th inning shut-down man. He had a 3.04 ERA with 84 K's last year in just about 85 innings pitched last year. He could post an ERA below 3, very good for a set-up man, and compete for the prestigous Rolaid's Relief Award.


I'll include my predictions for the season as Opening Day comes closer.

Week Six

I haven't reported for awhile. In fact, not since my Super Bowl blow-up. You probably have figured I quit after that, or you probably don't care. I managed to back down to normalcy after a week or so following the Super Bowl. I regret eating so much because it put me back at least one week and if you really think about it, more like two because I could have lost weight that week instead of gaining, a double edged sword. However, it is behind me and I have continued my decline. I don't really report what I eat anymore, I use the site to look at healthier options and to report my weight to keep track of my progress and goals. This morning I weighed in at 214.4 for a total loss so far of 4.2 pounds. I have hit a low of 213.2 in the past week. I like to keep track of my lows overall as well as my weekly weight because it gives me more motivation and confidence. Water can fluctuate(sp?) my weight but as long as those fluctuations keep going down I am happy. I have noticed tremendous gains in the weight room too. I orginally started my bench press at three sets of ten repetitions at 115 pounds just to ease my way back into lifting. After six weeks I am currently doing three sets of ten repetitions at 165 pounds. I wouldn't say my bench has gone up 50 pounds because I could have probably started at more than 115 but it has improved dramatically. Part of this may be due to my regime in which I do two different excercises for the main upper body areas and make sure to lift the opposite muscles ex: (tricep and bicep or chest and lat). Almost all of my lifts have gone up at least 20 pounds in just six weeks. My goal is to get to 200 pounds and hopefully 185 pounds by Opening Day (March 31st).

Starting Weight: 218.6 lbs
Current Weight: 214.4 lbs
Total Loss: 4.4 lbs

Average weight loss of a little more than 2/3 of a pound per week.

American Idol Season 7 - First Vote Off

I did pretty well. 3 of my bottom 4 were voted off. And the one dude who wasn't in my bottom four was in my danger zone. Obviously, I have an eye for this. Or I've just watched way to much AI in the past. No surprises yet, either good or bad. The group song sucked - which is to be expected. Don't know what next week's theme is. Look for David A. to do well again, look for David Hernandez to get a little more face time. I think Alexandrea Lushington is one to watch, even if she isn't the most talented. Again, I say the top of the dude pool is strong, even if the girls might be a little deeper top to bottom. If we're counting advances, I'm 19 of 20. Should hav started an AI pool.

American Idol Season 7 - 12 Girls

The girls started out slow. They picked up towards the end. Same format as with the guys. No one really stood out. There's a lot of potential with the girls, but the top guys had better performances than the girls - not good, considering the genre nights generally lend themselves better to the females.

Ramiele*
Carly
Alexandrea Lushington* - fun performance, gets props for singing Amy Winehouse during Hollywood week
Asia'h
Syesha - maybe thinks she's better than she is
Alaina Whitaker
Kady Malloy
Overmeyer
Brooke White
Kristy Lee Cook
Joanne
Amy Davis - yawn

American Idol Season 7 - 12 guys

For the real American Idol fans, the season has finally begun! Just got a chance to watch the 12 guys perform for this season's American Idol. You can find recaps anywhere else on the internet, so I'll just drop my rankings from the first show. Looks like 10 will advance, and I didn't see 10 worth advancing. With the rankings, some comments. Also, the * designates a J.Meeks lock to advance.

1. David Archuleta* - got after it while singing, immediately knew he didn't nail it, favorite so far
2. D. Hernandez
3. Cook - good take on familiar song
4. Jason Castro* - AI finally caught on to let people play an instrument. They probably wish they would have with Chris Daughtry.
5. Robbie
6. Michael Johns - he thinks he's a little better than he is. liked the beginning of the song, lost intensity/focus
7. Chiekieze
8. D. Noriega - unfortunately he'll move on
9. Colton - ditto
10. J. Yeager
11. Garrett - not good
12. Luke M. - didn't even listen to the whole song

Week Three

I would first just like to say that the Super Bowl killed me. My approach going in was not conservative by any means and I decided I would eat and drink all that I wanted to and I did. Was it worth it? The drinking yes, the food no. One of the best football games I have watched was the culprit of a weight gain this week. For the first time I gained weight and I did it in one day. I was 215.6 going into the Super Bowl day. If I could have maintained it would have been a loss for the week but instead I ended up at 217.4 the next day for a gain of 1.6 pounds for the week. Some of this hopefully is water weight. This helped me realize though that I can't eat and drink whatever I want and I have to watch myself. Here is to a better week, gotta go to class.

The lending 'crisis'

If I had money, I could offer to loan it to an individual. In offering that loan, I would evaluate the probablily that said person would repay the loan. Depending on that evaluation, I would request that they pay it back in a manner that is front loaded, based on how I evaluate their ability to repay the loan. Should I give a loan to said person, I am taking on the risk that the loan will not be repaid. However, I have assumed the risk that my loner will not repay me. And with that, I apologize for all those whom have take an elementary economics course.

My point comes now! This is the state in which many lenders (read: huge, huge banks) find themselves. Big banks, along with the investment houses that bought consolidated loans, assumed huge risks through giving loans to individuals and families that perhaps could not have paid them.

My point is that banks, not the federal government, should shoulder the burden of loans that have defaulted. These banks, which have posted incredible returns, should be assuming the burden of these defaulted loans. There is no reason why the federal government should be bailing these companies out. Banking is a for-profit endeavor. Or for-loss endeavor.

Patriots Song!

I found this on youtube. It is pretty sweet. Pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole thing. Enjoy!