Yesterday, I Purchased My Last Sun-Times Ever
Posted by Mike D. on Wed, Mar 19, 2008
I am going to start by saying that I have always detested Jim Thompson, I am suspicious of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and that Sam Zell’s intention to sell Wrigley Field to the authority seems like it is an opportunity fraught with money-grabbing.
Therefore, I am more than happy to read an account of how this deal spells doom. Tuesday, Carol Slezak tried writing one.
And failed.
Look, after taking a hatchet to Carol’s colleague Greg Couch I was really hoping for tranquility in my sports page yesterday. I saw that Carol had written about the the whole affair and really, really, really hoped that our girl would deliver. Honest.
Well, I’m still waiting.
I could go line-by-line like we sometimes like to do here, but I don’t have the energy to do that today; I really don’t. I know, I know. Such a concession means the ignoramous class is prevailing, but there are only so many hours in a day. Remember–while this may be the job for people lke Slezak and Couch–it’s merely an obsessive hobby for me. Also, we really aren’t trying to make this a Chicago-centric version of Fire Joe Morgan, where our goal is to patiently and painstakingly deconstruct the ill-informed pablum that signifies most major sportswriting in this town (no small task to be sure, as FJM seems to spend about 70% of their time taking down things written in our Chicago dailies). I know the simple solution is to stop reading the paper or turn off the radio and besides, we’d rather talk about the Cubs and have a few laughs while guessing how many eggs go into a Darryl Ward omelet–it’s just that it’s hard to just let some things go.
But like I said, I’d like to be brief with this one.
First off, I would like to point out that Carol’s first sentence–
Jim Thompson went on WSCR radio station over the weekend to make his case for the State of Illinois buying Wrigley Field.
–sounds like it’s written by a Japanese person learning English.
Secondly, the basis for Carol’s argument lies in the third paragraph, which is as follows:
Thompson, the ISFA head, mentioned that with a STIF, the state would issue bonds to pay for Wrigley Field’s renovation, and pay for them with the increase in revenues generated by the renovation.
Okay, I’m not an economist, a tax accountant or any sort of policy wonk, so forgive me. But she’s just talking about selling bonds, right? So long as you find buyers for the bonds, and you can demonstrate the security of the investment (which could be a whole other ballgame, but follow me here), that sounds to me like a standard capital investment plan. The IFSA finds buyer for the bonds that they are able to pay back–at, say maybe a 6% rate–down the road after the original investment has yielded revenue. Theoretically, I’m having a hard time attacking this notion, even if I, too, am suspicious of Thompson et.al. Fairness dictates I look at this for how it’s presented unless and until new evidence comes to light.
And, oh by the way,
and oh, by the way? By the way what? You never went into why the idea of bonds are bad.
the city would have to give up its share of tax revenue growth for 30 years. Do you like the sound of any of this? Me neither.
I agree that sounds like a raw deal–the city giving over growth-based revenue to this state authority so that the authority can pay back its bonds? But wouldn’t Da Mare be pretty quick to jump on that? Oh wait, he was.
Anyway, after a brief exposition of what Thompson’s stated plan is, Slezak immediately decides to just go ahead and go for the rhetorical jugular.
While not technically a pyramid scheme, I can’t help but think of a STIF as one.
Wha wha whaaaa? Pyramid scheme? What is she talking about? Carol wrote those words immediately after discussing the bonds-based financing and a diversion of tax revenue from one party (city) to another (state authority. To help, you know, pay the bonds) How is that a pyramid scheme? More significantly, how can anyone jump to that conclusion based on the previous paragraph? It’s almost as if Carol wrote
Jim Thompson and Sam Zell are greedy meanies. I don’t exactly understand how they’re making out like bandits with this whole bonds-based capital investment and tax revenue diversion thing, but I just know that they are so I’m just going to call the whole thing a pyramid scheme.
In fairness, that’s just the 4th paragaph, of course. Carol still has 600 words to describe how, exactly, this pyramid scheme works, right? So does Carol ever come around to truly exploring what is behind this? Does she do her job as a columnist and support her hypothesis with some facts and research? Well, if sitting around the radio listening to–are you ready for this?–Jesse Rogers is your idea of research, then yes. And good luck. I’m done shredding this article.
As I’ve stressed, I am largely ambivalent about all of this business related to Wrigley Field in the first place–its name, its status, its stupid marquee, all of it. So long as the Cubs call it home, I am only interested in what goes on inside the park. I also, as stated, am not a fan of Jim Thompson and have my own reservations as to who’s getting what out of this deal. That’s beside the point here. The point is, if you’re going to write about this, know what the hell you’re talking about. Take my former colleague at GROTA, Byron, who had the opportunity, on an off chance, to ask Governor Helmet Head some questions and seized the opportunity by asking some thoughtful questions. Go read that instead. Much more illuminating than that car wreck that was in the “Bright One.”
BigFlax
StPatrick
PenFoe
CT
Bocaj
March 19th, 2008 at 1:35 am
a daryle ward omelot is made as follows:
three eggs for each runner on base
two pounds of cheese for each run the cubs are down by
one half pound of filet mignon for the inning count
one green pepper for each run the opposing team has scored
one tomato for each out in the inning (what can i say, daryle isnt a huge fan of tomatoes)
get ryan theriot or ronny cedeno to mix all the ingredients well, eat when replaced by pinch runner.
BK, the sun times has been whining about this for about a week now i think. the only thing that paper still has going for it is that it runs pearls before swine.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:37 am
No mushrooms in the omelet? What do you use to cook that beast, a sattelite dish? An old fashioned, 80’s style, land-sat dish?
March 19th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Daryle Ward is too skinny in 2K8. I had to adjust that.
March 19th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Today you purchased your last Sun-Times? Big threat. From what’s going on there, it sounds like NO ONE will buy a Sun Times again after June or so.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
The only reason I ever read the Sun-Times is when there’s free a copy lying around our break room.
It’s the only newspaper I’ve ever seen that actually wastes it’s entire front page attacking the other newspaper in town.
The way the Sun-Times obsesses over the Trib reminds me of the way White Sox fans obsess over the Cubs. Pathetic, really.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Then, why are we obsessing over the Sun-Times?
March 19th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Chicago commie pinko though I may be, I only ever read the Sun-Times when I’m at my barber or find a copy on the L.
A few years ago, when they revived their “Bright One” ad campaign, I distinctly recall looking at a Bright One ad on the L one day, one that touted the tabloid’s “positive” side, and then immediately glancing down at the front page of a copy someone was reading.
It screamed:
GIRL GANG TERRORIZES SOUTH SIDE SCHOOL
Bright, indeed.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Probably because I’m a raging hypocrite.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:22 am
The Sun Times is the equivalent to Fox news.
Just as HJE is equivalent to Desipio.
Just as the threads at the end of Phil Rogers articles on chicagotribune.com are the equivalent of howler monkeys raping each other.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
This is how this state government, as well as our federal government, funds things they really can’t afford. This whole concept of bonds is another reason our governments have debts. You had said 6% payoff (as an estimate) in your article. At that rate if they received $100 million in bond sales to pay for the renovation. Then when the bonds mature they would have to pay out $106 million just for the renovation. By that time, the government has spent those revenues that were meant to be used to pay off the people who bought the bonds and then they would have to take out a loan to pay them back… or sell more bonds, thus making the cycle never-ending. I think her problem is that she doesn’t understand what’s going on. It seems fishy to her because it is a crappy way to do things. I didn’t read the article but I can only imagine that she didn’t explain what was wrong with it because it’s completely over her head… On a side note, if those bonds were sold at a number like 6% then it would create another problem. The normal market rate is around 10-12% and whenever people buy bonds at a rate under the market rate, the pay less for them than they are sold.. If it’s sold for $100 then they buy it at around $94. It’s because of some Fair Market Valuation of bonds. Regardless, this would make the ISFA sell even more bonds because they sold a bunch of bonds worth $100 million for (let’s say) $94 million. It’s a slippery slope and that’s why it is a bad idea
March 19th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I hate the Tribune, too. Just today I read Steve Rosenbloom write
“acquiring Roberts allows Piniella to move Theriot to the eighth spot and Pie to seventh. Theriot has shown he can handle the bat with discipline and by doing so would provide a legit hitter behind Pie that would give the promising center fielder the best chance to hit.”
While the original idea is a good one, the reasoning is downright Dusty Baker dumb. Theriot can handle the bat with discipline? Theriot is a legit hitter? The batter hitting behind you suddenly takes away your weaknesses you possess at the plate?
March 19th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Thank you Irish Yenti. You did more for me in that paragraph than Carol Slezak did in her entire article.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
There are at least 7-8 very solid arguments to be made why the sale of Wrigley Field is a raw deal for Illinois taxpayers, Chicago residents (particularly in the Lakeview area) and Cub fans.
Unfortunately, Carol didn’t make any of them in that piece.
As for the Sun-Times obsession with the Trib lately, while it’s unseemly, I’ll still take that over the Zell-approved spin that you’ll get from the Tower on this issue. While I’m not a fan of putting money in Mariotti’s pocket, I still purchase a S-T every day because having a one-paper town with the Tribune unchecked by a competitor is still a worse option than being a two-paper town with one of those two papers being a schizophrenic tabloid. (And for as much as I like to mock some of the sillier things the S-T does, it bears noting that despite being gutted and robbed by Conrad Black, they still routinely kick the ass of the better-resourced Trib on local metro stories…)
March 19th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Irish Yentl?
March 19th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
whoops, i dont eat mushrooms so i didnt add any in there. feel free to add some in for the number of dumb comments jay mariotti has made in the past week. you will then be tripping balls, of course, but mmm, omelet.
and to cook it, the sun’s rays reflecting off dusty baker’s and ned yost’s stupid heads.