Monday, March 14, 2005

Orioles ad says they're seeking Nationals' TV deal. The Baltimore Orioles are working on a deal that would provide television coverage for the Washington Nationals, a point they ... [USATODAY.com MLB AL - Top Stories] Ah, now this is the one I have been looking for.  It would seem that the owner (and I use the term loosely here) of the Baltimore Orioles seems to think that the region that he was granted when he purchased the Orioles all those years ago extends from Baltimore, south of Washington D.C., almost all the way to Richmond, VA.  Documents of the purchase seem to indicate a much smaller region. However, will all the jerking and bouncing that has been done to the Nationals this year, it is amazing that the Nationals have any media.  Of course, this is not news to those in DC.  Since this thing started, all those years ago, there have been a mess of things that have kept the Nationals from succeeding. To wit: 1) The District of Columbia, who has been fighting to get this team, seems hell bent on blowing the deal.  First the DC council tried to submarine the deal by trying to renegotiate the stadium deal only to have the League beat the City government over the head.  Second, the transit system (METRO) has decided that they are not going to run trains if the game goes into extra innings.  Now if the transit system in the City of New York pulled that stunt, there would be rioting at both Yankee and Shea Stadiums.  Chicago too (and a half a dozen other cities).  2) Major League Baseball, which 1) have yet to sell the Nationals to anybody and 2) are crawling on bended knee to the owner of the Orioles to keep him from whatever it is they think he can do.  So far, he has done a fair bit. 3) Peter Angelos, the owner of the Orioles.  Working hard to mess up the Nationals, a team in the other league, drawing people from the DC area which, on a bad day is so far from Baltimore than no one in their right mind would try and get there.  It is a couple of hours to DC.  It is more than that to get to Baltimore.  A round trip of four hours is common to an Orioles game from most of Northern Virginia...why would we want to go to Baltimore? It is time to end the charade.  Major League Baseball has shown it can flex its muscles when it wants to.  If it wants the Nationals to succeed, NOW is the time. 9:34:34 PM    comment []

Baseball Chief to Testify About Steroids (AP). AP - Major League Baseball gave a congressional committee about 400 pages of documents on drug testing and said commissioner Bud Selig was willing to testify at Thursday's hearing on steroid use. [Yahoo! News: Top Stories] OK, so Bush handing out awards on technology is only less scary than Selig talking about steroid use... 9:13:20 PM    comment []

Bush hands out technology awards. President George Bush today awarded the National Medal of Technology to three individuals, including Ethernet inventor and former InfoWorld CEO Robert M. Metcalfe; a technology team from Corning Inc.; and two organizations. [Computerworld News] Bush handing out awards on technology is just wrong.  This is the same man that that argues against real science... 9:09:52 PM    comment []

Aviation System Said Vulnerable to Attacks (AP). AP - The nation's aviation system remains vulnerable to attacks by al-Qaida and other terrorists who may be targeting noncommercial aircraft and helicopters, according to a government report. [Yahoo! News: U.S. National] Now, maybe I am just not trusting the media much any more, but how this smacks of "keeping it alive" rather than a real threat.  This is not to say that the bad guys cannot pull it off (after all, who would have thought that they would put an airplane into a building or three) but at some point, we have to stand back and ask what are we really preparing for and against?  And, more importantly, are we really preparing or is it business as usual? 9:07:39 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 David Lane.