I think he's giving the owners too much credit. Conspiracy theories are nice, but knowing this ineffectual group of fools, the whole thing reeks of incompetence, not some grand scheme.

Fully agree with JC. The grassy knoll thoughts are nice and all, but I have a hard time thinking the owners could really orchestrate something like this.

It probably has more to do with MLB's usual foot-dragging than any diabolical plan.

For this to be true, each owner would have to consider preventing these potential hires by the Nats worth over $10 million dollars, his individual share of the $300 million profit that the sale will earn. I think they'd rather have the cash.

Yesterday, on his radio show, Rob Dibble told of his experience involving an MLB owner. (The people that've
gotten the money together to buy baseball teams could
each write volumes about how to make deals. Guys that
run hedge funds, pirouette real estate deals, work out
huge civil or malpractice lawsuits, etc., have the DNA
to do things most of us would never dream of). Dibble
said that Angelos has such a hold on MLB that he held up
the radio and TV deals for the Nats. until the day before
the season was supposed to start. Angelos had been
threatening to reveal certain information about MLB or
its owners as part of his wheeling and dealing to get
cash or consideration for his pocketbook. Dibble was
being considered for a color announcer for either Nats
radio or tv, but since there was no broadcast deal up
to the day before the season was supposed to start,
Dibble and his agent decided to withdraw and accept
a contract with another broadcast outlet. It's not only
Angelos. There is at
least one convicted felon among known MLB owners.
There are several others who have tapped taxpayers
for a stadium for which the owners then realized big
profits. Blackmail has gone on. Many of these people
don't have a conscience. That's how they got where
they are. Sure, they may be bunglers in some ways.
But, they are a small, insular group of master manip-
ulators who have a lot of dirt on each other. Just
about anything could be going on.

I agree that these guys do things we as "normal" Americans could never do. I live in a small house, drive an average car, and at times, have a little difficulty paying for all the things that my family needs. I sold cars for three years, and made a great deal of money [Some months in the $8,000-$10,000 range, but never reached six figures for the year], but I had no fun spending my income because of the way I earned it. when I finally refused to "play the game," to lie and cheat and steal, my income dropped dramatically and the owner of the dealership gave me 30 days to "shape up" or I'd be out on the street.

The world needs "average folk" who just get by in the world because our values and morals and ethics keep us from doing what Bud and the boys do on a regular basis. But baseball is too great a sport for Bud and Peter and George and the rest of them to destroy. Baseball will survive long after these men are gone from this earth.

Yawn, I know, MLB should have built Montreal a new stadium, like Jim Caple said.

I know $450M doesn't seem like much to you folks, but it is. If it takes a couple extra months to get a business deal done, so be it. The Nationals only "burden" thus far has been Bowden givign huge deals to below average players like Guzman and Castilla.