Chron (syndicated) columnist criticizes Washington sports boondoggle

Here is an excerpt from a bizarre column by Chronicle "Couch Slouch" columnist Norman Chad:

To: My hometown of Washington

From: A fallen son who will not return

Re: Your new baseball stadium

So, how's that spanking-new, paid-for-by-the-people Nationals Park working out? The Nats are 12th out of 16 National League teams in home attendance in the first year of the fresh-faced, gleaming facility — your tax dollars hard at work!

Washington: First in War, First in Peace and First in Half-Filled State-of-the-Art Ballparks Funded Entirely From Public Coffers That Are Now Nearly Empty.

I first saw the retro ball yard on opening day, courtesy of ESPN. It looked like a picture postcard. Outside, the city looks like a living nightmare.

(Sure, some readers might ask: Why are you moaning about the Nationals' new park one week after moaning about the new Yankee Stadium? Because I'm tired of sports franchises feeding off the public dime and I'm tired of the public's compliance in this process. I'm tired of rich men pillaging the poor and then asking them to clean up afterward. If Nero were alive today, he'd be fiddling in a luxury suite at the Colosseum while Rome burned.)

Actually, some readers -- including this one -- might ask, why so much interest in what other cities are doing in terms of sports boondoggles, and not Houston? Isn't our city in the middle of trying to build another one, and didn't Jeff Cohen once say the name of the newspaper is the HoustonChronicle?

And while we're asking questions -- what is the purpose of a "couch slouch" column in the sports section anyway?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/15/08 10:44 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (8)

Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry

Trackback

Unfortunately, abusive spammers have forced us to disable incoming trackback pings. The Technorati link should list related posts. Feel free to drop us an email if you've linked a post and would like to let us know about it.

SITE MENU

+Home
+About
+Archives/Categories
+Bad Sports
+Bloggers
+Chron Headlines
+Contact Us
+Donate
+Forum
+Local Blog Talk
+PDA Friendly
+Sponsor
+Syndication

ADVERTISING