The Lady and Her Baseball-sy Maneuver

Linda Cropp's adroit move to slip in a provision requiring 50% of the financing of any new National's stadium venture to be poneyed up by private donors was a bold move, indeed. But, apparently, some late-hour negotiating with Mayor Williams has reduced the bite of the provision and perhaps saved, the Nationals, formerly the Expos, for the District.

While it's true that Cropp almost torpedoed the Expos/Nationals deal with her negotiating antics, there definitely was some merit to requiring some private financing. In the wake of the steriod scandal and the almost guarantee of a bi-yearly strike in baseball, maybe Sen. McCain's right. Maybe it's time that MLB stops living off the public's dole, unless it significantly improves itself.

Otherwise, it's hard to stomach increasing taxes to bring a bunch of juiced-up cry babies to town.