Archive - Feb 5, 2008

MLB.com has a free head to head fantasy game that opened up today and I thought some of you might want to play along. It seems simple enough and you can even win $10,000. Since I'm already tied to a few other leagues that waste enough of my time, I thought this one would be easy to maintain as the scoring is pretty simple, you only have to set-up lineups once a week and to be eligible for prizes, you can't have trading. So if you're interested in a low-key fantasy league with your fellow TCR'ers, this is the one.

I created a private league and the live draft is Tuesday, March 4th at 2:00 PM CST. If anyone is interested in joining, shoot me an email and I'll give you the league name and password to join. It's a 12 team league, but if there's an enormous outpouring of interest, we can just open up a few more leagues.

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Also, reader Carlos has taken it upon himself to start a little contest of guess where Kyle Lohse will sign? Just choose a team and the terms of the contract and drop them in the previous post.

There's been a lot of talk lately about the potential sale of Wrigley Field to the state of Illinois. Many seem to be wondering why Sam Zell would risk devaluing the Cubs by selling its most valuable asset. The answer is simple...and obvious; more money.

While searching for the answer last night, I stumbled across the writers at Field of Schemes, who, in my humble opinion, are doing the Lord's work. It's been my long-held opinion that public subsidized stadiums are nothing more than corporate blackmail. The owners ask the state or local government to pay for their stadium. In return, the team won't move...how nice of them. The Field Of Schemes authors have a book whose subtitle explains it best: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit. Bingo! The octogenarian's in Florida have it right though, don't pay. In most cases, the teams need the city and its population more than the city needs the team (except Green Bay which I'm certain would be swallowed up by the Earth if the Packers left).

But how does this all relate to the Wrigley Field situation, you ask? The Chicago Reader explains what some of the reasoning might be behind Zell's plan (link found via Field of Schemes):