Writers don’t always pick their headlines.

$550M.

They absolutely were trying to extort the city (and state and county—I believe each is responsible for part of the financing in this instance). They just had the league making the threat.

So they got the team at a discount, had the NBA play bad cop for them, then, if they couldn’t get an arena deal, would have had to sell it... back to the NBA for $25M than they bought it for.

Hey Scott:

The NBA played bad cop so the owners didn’t have to shake down the city/state/county themselves?

You can be a fan of a team, attend games and still think it is wrong for taxpayers to pay for the costs of a stadium when nearly all the revenues that stadium generates flow to the owners.

“What you “wager” isn’t really based on anything...”

Are they better? Or just being aligned better to increase the number of outs without there actually being a substantial increase in player skill?

Okay, great. He’s got an exemption for a PED.

No mention of his suspension for testing positive (amphetamines, I believe)? I know DS’s general attitude is, “Drugs are great because we are entertained!” but if you’re a club it’s part of the risk you have to price in. Even if the suspension is without pay, there’s a probability you will be without Davis for a…

I’ll place a bet if you answer one question first: Are you Tony LaRussa?

Erik Bedard was actually a great pitcher.

Any matches not played in two halves?

Clemson also beat FSU and UNC.

That’s growth, not absolute viewers numbers (of which there are none for the men in that Awful Announcing piece you linked to). If I have one viewer in 2011 and three viewers in 2015 HOLY SHIT VIEWERSHIP INCREASED 200%!

A) Yes, Stephen A. is that stupid (although that’s separate from whether he believes what he says).

What are Haslam’s ties to Tennessee? Is that the state where he defrauded taxpayers out of the most money with rebate scam?

Feel like this discussion would be a lot more productive if everyone put 1) their ethnic background, 2) the region of the country they live in, 3) their income, and 4) whether they are a Sicilian New Yorker circa 1974.

“and the possibility for an imbalance of information”