Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[whodean]

Atlanta (the city) is losing its team. Cobb County is going to shelling out 70% of the cost of the new stadium, the cost of which exceeds its entire annual budget. The people of Cobb County, who tend to be conservative Republicans, are not going to be allowed to vote on the matter. Instead, the County is just going to raise their taxes.

False (or at least a huge assumption). Not only have details not been made public (or even finalized yet), but one of the commissions has stated most of the money will be paid for with rental car/hotel taxes. The Braves are committed to finance any cost overruns.

It's a great deal for the Braves. I don't think it's a great deal for either Atlanta or Cobb County. Not a coincidence that the commissioners waited till just after Election Day to let this leak.

The parking income and development of businesses around the new stadium is key, this is income that will be shared with the county. Also understand that the Ted (Turner Field) is located in a slum. In the 15 years since the Olympics exactly zero businesses have sprung up around the stadium. It is a blighted area with much crime. Attendance has been stagnant due to this. The team produced a heat map showing most of their tickets are being purchased by people who live in the northern suburbs anyway, so they are moving closer to their customers and providing what will likely be a much much better gameday experience at the new location.

The area where the new stadium will be built is already one of the busiest interstate interchanges in the country: where I-285 and I-75 meet. It's 10 minutes from downtown maybe at 3:30 AM. During rush hour, it will not be 10 minutes, and for people coming from the NE side of town, it will be hell.

This is an exaggeration. Are many baseball games played at 8 in the morning or 5 in the afternoon? Traffic is currently terrible around the Ted, it won't be any worse at the new location. It would be nice as an intown resident if MARTA (our rapid transit) had a heavy rail line up to this area but there isn't direct transit access to the Ted now either. There will be a system of buses circling the parking lots.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Traffic for baseball games usually starts to pick up around 5 PM. I know from working in downtown Cleveland for many years.

And I would not believe anything the team or Cobb County are currently saying about it at face value. The fact that Cobb County can't realy explain how they are going to be paying for it should immediately make you suspicious of the deal. In the end, it will be taxpayers. I think you are thinking of the Falcons new stadium when you talk about the hotel tax. Either way, taxes on somebody are going up in order to provide a stadium to the Braves that they feel they deserve after 17 long years in an "outdated facility".

Pro sports and our slavish devotion towards them have gotten out of hand. If I can find the old economic studies I used to have on hand, I will post them. The amount of total economic benefit to a city from having a pro sports team is extremely overrated when you factor in the long-term costs of building these facilities, the overtime you pay to cops, the overtime you pay transportation workers, etc.

You point out the Braves generated few businesses near Turner Field...if having a baseball team is such a huge driver of economic growth, doesn't that hurt the argument rather than help it? Cobb County is being sold the same promises that were made in 1996.

[whodean]

You point out the Braves generated few businesses near Turner Field...if having a baseball team is such a huge driver of economic growth, doesn't that hurt the argument rather than help it? Cobb County is being sold the same promises that were made in 1996.

You miss the main point, the Ted is in a slum, this part of Cobb is nice and huge difference from the neighborhood around the Ted.

You seem to be making a overall statement about pro sports and trying to shoehorn that argument into the local issues at work here.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Richie Incognito in high school...

[Dr. Strangelove]

You miss the main point, the Ted is in a slum, this part of Cobb is nice and huge difference from the neighborhood around the Ted.

You seem to be making a overall statement about pro sports and trying to shoehorn that argument into the local issues at work here.

I get the point that they're moving to a better neighborhood. But so what? Everything is being done in secret, away from public eyes. That gives me no confidence that the public's interest is being looked after. Given deals in other cities that the public has swallowed, I have a pretty sound basis for believing that the taxpayers will end up footing most of the bill, and getting little back in return. And of course there's no guarantee that the Braves won't threaten another move before Cobb County has finished paying off this current stadium.

[Mike]

At least Cobb County has about a dozen straight NLDS losses to look forward to before the Braves move again.

[Ghengis Jon]

I know this has been reported elsewhere, but the BBC coverage of the story is the best. It shows how irrelevant that politics, doom, gloom, murder and mayhem that are used by the media to sell their product really is. And it shows what can happen if people would take a little time just to do something good. Gosh, think of what this world might be like if people did something well intentioned once a month?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24964100

[Tony G]

Girls' coach accused of biting player

Nov 18, 2013
ESPN.com news services

CARTHAGE, Miss. -- A girls' high school basketball coach in Mississippi has resigned, police say, after being accused of biting a player in the face.
Leake County Sheriff Greg Waggoner says Leake Academy coach Doyle Wolverton is accused of biting a player during a timeout in a Nov. 12 game in Marion County.

The player was taken to a hospital emergency room in Carthage after the team returned, and hospital employees called the sheriff's office because the injury allegedly stemmed from an assault.
A police report obtained by WJTV-TV states a deputy took pictures of the bite mark.

Toby Thaggard filed the report on behalf of his daughter, whose name was not released. The report alleges that Wolverton grabbed the player "by the shirt and then bit her on the right side of the face" after a bad play, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported.

"I have no comment on any of that," Wolverton told the Clarion-Ledger on Monday. "It's all still being ... I can't say anything right now."
Waggoner says the family is declining to press charges. "We haven't been involved with anything directly since (the hospital) because the parents and coach are trying to settle matters themselves," Waggoner told the newspaper.

Waggoner said Wolverton resigned Monday, but the coach told the newspaper he couldn't "confirm nor deny" that he stepped down. A school official told the Clarion-Ledger that there would be a statement on the incident Tuesday.
Last year, Wolverton became the No. 2 all-time winningest girls' high school basketball coach, trailing only Leta Andrews of Granbury, Texas.

The Neshoba Democrat reported Wolverton coached at Leake Academy in Madden for 38 years and has more than 1,200 career wins.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Haven't been to Wal-Mart today?? What are you waiting for?!?!

[youtube]QWVV__VWw7Q[/youtube]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/28/walmart-fight-black-friday_n_4357939.html

[Tony G]

Reminds me of a season I worked at a Toys R Us back when Simon and Merlin were the things

[Rocky Bleier]

The great unwashed masses of stupid, gullible, easily manipulated wage & tax slaves herding into Walmart to buy cheap plastic crap that will be broken within a few weeks of operation. The "elite" puppeteers sit back and laugh.

[Ghengis Jon]

It serves them right for shopping at Wally World. Just another case of "How low can you go?"

[Rocky Bleier]

I know that sounded harsh, but I hate that people can't see how they're manipulated. The world adopts a holiday started by Pagans. Media spreads the prpoganda. Business prospers. Poor people stand in line, then push and shove to spend what they can't afford. The Walton family laughs at them. Sad...

[whodean]

Miscellaneous/OT

We've been Avery'd

[Mike]

Good ole John McKay. I laughed my ass off!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/491017-john-mckay-remembering-a-football-legend-through-quotes