Boycott Camden Yards

On Friday, I got an email from nationals.com titled "See your Nationals play at Camden Yards next week" offering me a chance to buy tickets for upcoming series in Baltimore. While Camden Yards is certainly an attractive ballpark (though the seats don't all face the field) and about 90 minutes away I will not be going. Long-time readers of the blog know what is coming -- don't go there. Not now, not next week, not ever. No Washingtonian should attend any Orioles game so long as Peter Angelo$ or his heirs own the O's and the Nationals do not control their own broadcasting rights. Giving an additional subsidy to Angelo$ would be akin to "providing aid and comfort to the enemy."

As a reminder of the problem, here is an excerpt of last year's list of grievances against Baltimore's most cowardly millionaire and his pathetic franchise:

Angelo$ was the only owner to vote against the Expos relocating to Washington.

Remember how most of us couldn't watch the Nationals regularly for two seasons? That was Angelo$ doing. Angelo$ and MLB made a corrupt bargain to put the Nats TV rights in the hands of someone who had an interest in limiting the ability of a "competitor" to succeed. Thomas Boswell accused Angelo$ of trying to "kill the baby in the crib." This cost the Nationals from getting full media exposure during the crucial first year which could have sold more tickets and contributed to the D.C. treasury.

He is duplicitous and hypocritical -- remember when he said "there are no baseball fans in Washington D.C. that's a fiction." If that is true Petey, why you "need" the TV rights. Also, take a look at his past rhetoric for use of the term "monopolists." Isn't it something how he forgets that he sought to retain his monopoly of baseball in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The production values of Malevolent Angelo$ Sports Network -- players being named incorrectly, poor A/V fidelity, and treating the Nats like the visiting team on their own network. Malevolent Angelo$ Sports Network screwed up a Penn State telecast last season too.

He has recklessly thrown money away (see Belle, Albert; Ponson, Sidney), but now finds it more convenient to blame Washington for his inability to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox. This is the basis for his subsidy argument when in truth 15 years of bad franchise management got his team where it is now, not having another team 35 miles (and 90 minutes away on game nights) to the south.

It has been said Angelo$ wanted to by mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland. Clearly the people of that city and state knew better and are not falling for his "look, it stuck it Washington, so you should love me" actions. Washingtonians shouldn't have to suffer because Baltimore had to the good sense not to empower him from the ballot box.

In short, Angelo$ has wielded his disproportionate power to keep the Nats from fully realizing the potential of their market for petty, personal reasons and to keep himself from having to work hard. The Nats can not realize their full revenue potential because they have to subsidize Angelo$' mediocrity. Do you really want to reward that kind of bad behavior?

May the reign of failure continue for Angelo$.

Washington Nationals, Batlimore Orioles, Peter Angelo$, coward

Labels: Maryland, Nats/MLB 2008, Peter Angelos is a coward, Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot

posted by WFY @ 12:11 PM | |

Though I can't dispute anything here, I'm still boycotting the Nats rather than the Orioles. Part of it is family history -- my mom's side of the family is from the Eastern Shore. Part of it is that I can usually keep my opinion of a team separate from my opinion of the owners, as plenty of Redskins fans might also tell you. (The number of Orioles implicated in the Mitchell Report bothers me a little bit more than Angelos.)

But the truth is I probably won't see either team this year, just as I didn't last year. And that's because the manner in which the Nats came to Washington soured my impression of MLB in general. They extorted hundreds of millions of dollars from a municipality that can't even tell its schoolkids where they're supposed to go for class. I simply can't support that.

Bottom line is that there's something unsavory about both teams. How much tolerance we have for it is sure to depend from person to person.

# posted by bdure : Tuesday, May 13, 2008 7:57:00 AM

Neither MLB or the District distinguished themselves during the negotiation. That being said, I think it winds up working out very well for D.C. because a lot of the money coming in will be from suburban fans, money that would have been spent elsewhere. Additionally, the development going around the ballpark is quite impressive. The schools could learn a lot from the way the construction was managed (on time, on budget) and just well might. Allen Lew, the chief executive for the Sports Commission, moved onto lead the school system upgrade last year.

# posted by WFY : Friday, May 16, 2008 12:26:00 PM