Losing the Blue Jackets?

The Columbus Dispatch printed an article today stating that the local hockey team was losing 12 million dollars a year. The culprit is a bad arena lease. It is a possibility that the team will move if their financial needs are not met. What is a fan of the team to think?

This is typical for professional sports today. Cities have to ante up in order to keep teams viable. And why not? After all, cities will tax the players so as to gin income for the city coffers. Businesses in the Arena District thrive because of the Blue Jackets (just look at the restaurants and their business on a game night). The Blue Jackets foundation gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity. All of this and more will be lost if the team moves. The city and county can keep the Arena District thriving, with businesses open and people employed at these businesses by putting the pieces of the puzzle together to keep the local shinny team in Columbus.

As for me, I am not going to worry about it. You see, there is nothing I can do. I don't live in Columbus or Franklin County, so if there is an election held on this issue, I wouldn't get a vote or voice. So I will sit on the sidelines, and leave the worrying to those in office up in Columbus. They know what they have now in the Jackets, and they know what they will stand to lose if the team leaves. It makes too much sense to get some deal done to keep the team here. My wife says not to borrow worry. So why worry? There is nothing I can do about the situation. Let the money people work it out. And if they don't, they will embarrass themselves and the region.

The Yankees Win Another One

So the New York Yankees have won another world championship. Whoop Dee Do! Shouldn't they win the championship? Just look at their payroll. The Yankees have bought a championship for $280 million dollars. To put this into some perspective, the Yankees' payroll is almost 1/3 TRILLION DOLLARS! The Red Sox are close behind. With a player payroll of over 150 million dollars, shouldn't you win the championship EVERY SINGLE YEAR? The Yankees win is not newsworthy. A Red Sox championship or for that matter any big market championship in baseball is not newsworthy. SPENDING THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY, THEY SHOULD WIN!

I find it interesting that the fans of these big market teams will justify these payrolls because they have more media revenue and have larger attendance figures (they DO have a larger metropolitan area to draw from) and even thumb their nose at fans of smaller market clubs when the cry goes forth for revenue sharing. So, here is an idea, why not just put the Yankees and Red Sox and other big market teams in their own league? Why not just let the Yankees play inter squad games so that they can claim their own championship? Let the Red Sox compete with the Red Sox! Give them their own intramural championship trophy. And then let the mid to small market teams such as Cleveland, St. Louis, and others compete for the World Series, if the big market teams don't want to share revenue or resources to a greater extent than they are now, so as to level the playing field, then give them their own championship. It would be worth as much as the championship we saw awarded last night.

The Magic of Manchester United

The football club that is Man U is magical. Down 3-1 today they rallied with six minutes to go to pull out a tie and go through to the next level of Champions League play. I have been fortunate to be able to see Chelsea play in 2002, I have seen Rangers and Hearts play in 2002 and in 2008. Locally, I am able to follow the Crew (while I haven't made a match this year due to my schedule. However, the play of Man U over the past few years under the leadership of Sir Alex has been astounding. They always seem to be in the hunt for whatever the championship and the comeback today is nothing short of amazing. Indeed, it is magical.

Blowing Up The Browns

Earlier on this blog I advocated blowing up the Cleveland Indians and starting over as an organization. Well, guess what, it is time to blow up the Browns. The present edition of the Cleveland Browns, while they may be nice people, is an EMBARRASSMENT TO ALL FANS OF THE ONCE PROUD FRANCHISE. Think of it, here we are on November 2, and the Yankees are on the threshold of winning their 27th championship. The Browns used to be the Yankees of professional football. When I was young, the Browns were always on top of their division, contending for the NFL Championship. Before I was born, they were the class of all football franchises. But not anymore. They have become an embarrassment and a joke.

It is hard to watch a Browns game, knowing that if the opponent scores a touchdown, the Browns have already lost the game! My son and I have plans on going to the next game, on Monday night football November 16 against the Ravens. Shall we wear bags over our heads? With the sorry state of this franchise, do we publicly admit our embarrassment?

Today the Browns fired their GM, George Kokinis. In my mind, they should have cleaned house, Mangini needs to go as well. Then they need to get top notch football people in the organization to rebuild this once proud franchise. If someone knows what he is doing, it should take long to rebuild. Sadly, it looks as if Mangini doesn't have a clue.