Baseball Thoughts
As a district resident, I'm not excited about baseball returning to D.C. It's the $440 million dollar publicly financed stadium that I have an issue with, which I think is a waste of money.
Be that as it may, everyone (including NPR) seems to be excited about the new team and the possibility of renaming it. I'm not sure why you need to change the name from the Expos--I mean, if you can have the Utah Jazz, why not the Washington Expos.
These are some of the names from NPR:
Nationals
Martians
Lobbyists
Fat Cats
Duplicitors
Generals
Greys
Capitalists
Filibusters
Politics
527s
Monuments
Of course, since Congress controls all the other aspects of our life here in the District, I expect that they'll step in to name the team themselves. And given that recent outpouring of grief, it wouldn't be any surprise when they select this as the new team name:
The Washington Reagans
You read it here first, but it's already on a bill on Denny Hastert's desk.
Comments
I liked one I heard on WTOP this morning - the Washington Statesmen.
It works on its own and as a background reminder of DC's statehood problem...
I do have a soft spot for Lobbyists though. Or Interns.
Posted by: Steve B. | September 29, 2004 11:27 AM
In addition to names, there is also the issue of owners. The Post reported there is a consortium of business people who may buy the team. But, I think they should sell shares in the team so it is publically owned by D.C. residents, like the Green Bay Packers. This guarantees a constituency and there is wonderful irony that the U.S. Senators may run disenfranchised D.C. but we'd run our own franchise the Washington Senators.
Posted by: j | October 2, 2004 10:47 AM
"But, I think they should sell shares in the team so it is publically owned by D.C. residents, like the Green Bay Packers "
Would MLB allow a team to do that? My understanding is that the NFL doesn't allow that any more: each team has to have a single majority owner. (Green Bay was grandfathered in when the NFL made this rule.)
==Dwight
Posted by: Dwight Brown | October 5, 2004 11:44 AM
And I hate to post twice in a row on the same topic, but this wasn't up when I made my original comment:
Great minds think alike: Gregg Easterbrook also suggests public ownership of the new baseball team in his "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" column:
http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/7769106
(There's no way to link to individual entries, so you'll have to scroll just past the photo of the Rams cheerleader to get to his comments.)
==Dwight
Posted by: Dwight Brown | October 5, 2004 10:18 PM