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MATTS-MATICS: NY Jets vs NY Rangers |
BRAVE Fan Talks REDSKINS
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SABRES, PENS, SHOTGUNS & METS |
BILL BUCKNER WAS INNOCENT |
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Spring Break Training PART I |
Spring Break Training PART II |
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TheMatts
Posts:1642
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| 12-04-2008 - SelecA - |
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CITY HALL, NYC – This headline reads like a potential case the Supreme Court might hear in their next session. Who would be the defendant and who would be the plaintiff? Those are the questions. Michael Bloomberg has had an unprecedented run of popularity in New York City during his almost two terms. Contrary to the grumblings of the bloggers on Meet the Matts, New York is a far better place than when he took office. The streets are cleaner. There is more open space. He kept businesses from fleeing after 9/11. The city ran on budget until the financial crisis. He is accountable and accessible as a mayor. As an executive in politics, he has proven that it is far better to be a successful businessman than a run of the mill lawyer. Yankees Suck, would you prefer to live in the lawless, filthy, polarizing and fiscally irresponsible days of John Lindsey, Abe Beame, Ed Koch and David Dinkins? We like Koch actually but Gotham was a cesspool when he was mayor. Sure we can lament that it’s not the same city as when many of grew up, but that is the evolution of an urban environment and to handcuff it to the past would be to encourage decay.
That being said, Bloomberg has drawn the legitimate ire of political pragmatists, supporters of term limits and opponents of omnipotent megalomania. The strong-arming of the sycophantic City Council was a political blunder and embarrassment. In reality there should be no term limits on any elected office but if they are in place as either law or public mandate they should remain there unless overturned in an open referendum. Sports enthusiasts could also legitimately gripe about the Westside Stadium, his anti-labor positions and his recent demand for a 3-year jail sentence for Plaxico Burress. Rather than letting due process run its course, the mayor felt obligated to pontificate on the receiver’s appropriate punishment. Another smaller story of interest to sports fans flew slightly under the radar this week, as the city demanded a free luxury box at Yankee Stadium.
The New York Times reported that,
“The Bloomberg administration was so intent on obtaining a free luxury suite for its own use at the new Yankee Stadium, newly released e-mail messages show, that the mayor’s aides pushed for a larger suite and free food, and eventually gave the Yankees 250 additional parking spaces in exchange. The parking spaces were given to the team for the private use of Yankees officials, players and others; the spaces were originally planned for public parking. The city also turned over the rights to three new billboards along the Major Deegan Expressway, and whatever revenue they generate, as part of the deal.
The e-mail messages between the aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Yankees executives were obtained and released by Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, Democrat of Westchester, who questions whether taxpayers were adequately protected in the city’s deal with the team.
Mr. Brodsky said what emerges from the e-mail correspondence is a sense of entitlement ingrained in Bloomberg officials…Lonn Trust, the Yankees chief operating officer, wrote to the city on Jan. 26, 2006: “For clarity, no seats, no suites, no tickets, and as they say in Brooklyn ‘No nothin’.’ ” In response, a lawyer for the city, Joseph Gunn, warned that “No nothin’ can go both ways,” At another point, raw personal feelings emerged, as evidenced during this exchange, starting June 29, 2006, between top city officials about Randy Levine, the Yankees president.
“If we want a deal on the suite, he wants 250 spaces,” Seth W. Pinsky, then the executive vice president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, wrote to Dan Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor. After Mr. Doctoroff did not respond, Mr. Pinsky, a bit sheepishly, wrote the next day: “It comes down to how much we’re willing to rely on Randy’s word.”
“Let’s not give,” Mr. Doctoroff replied. “I don’t trust him.”
The city also demanded that the luxury suite be provided with food — just like all the other suites. But the Yankees balked. In one message dated July 26, 2006, Stephen Lefkowitz, a Yankees lawyer, wrote to a city official ‘Randy believes he told you ‘no food’ and that you agreed. If this is so, please let me know and we can drop this from our list of irritants.”
The city, of course, disagreed. And that prompted Mr. Lefkowitz to respond this way: “It’s really ridiculous, but it sticks like a bone in everyone’s craw. The Yankees feel the city should pay for any food it wants to consume, and I think it’s a little unseemly to require ‘free’ food.”
It’s not every day of the week that the men in blue and orange stand with the men in pinstripes but call this a cold day in hell. When the city demands a luxury suite with 12 not 8 seats, with a center location not a left field location with gratis food service and in return trades billboard ad and parking spaces where the monetary difference is a wash, we’re talking farce. Not only is it a farce but it further exemplifies the omnipotent demagoguery that Bloomberg and his loyalists are prone to. It is also a mockery of altruism for the city to say the suite will be used to honor and reward model city employees and citizens. Baloney. The fringe benefits will be used for fat cats and friends of Mike. It can be argued that when the Levine and the Yankees the city had an unscrupulous plan with former mayor Rudolph Giuliani (Official Yankee kiss *ss) that stood to cost the taxpayers an estimated half of the 1 billon dollar price tag, Bloomberg judiciously found an escape from that deal. Since that time, there has been plenty of help from the city in the form of tax-exempt bonds, real estate and a continued tax-free status. We still like Mike but a potential third term doesn’t seem so golden right now.
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Cookie
Posts:693
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| 12-04-2008 - SelecA - |
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Hmmm... first things first. Didn't those jingles teach you that it's 'B-O-L-O-G-N-A.' (Oscar Meyer does have a way with it. Mmmmmm.)
It seems to me that Bloomy is just exercising his businessman negotiation skills in getting what he wants in exchange for other goods. While it seems they are getting all nit picky and greedy... I at least applaud Mike's muscle men for being above the board... which is more than I can say for most politicians.. and certainly many of those in NYC governments of yesteryear.
Speaking of... while I agreed with YS that NYC has become a playground for the rich... I am not sure I want to have it back to the Koch/Dinkins days. I lived through that... and through the Summer of '77. I give special thanks to my mom for making a 80 block walk in the pitch black city streets where looting and chaos was occurring fun. It coulda scarred me for life as a child.. but didn't.
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jgclancy
Posts:619
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| 12-04-2008 - SelecA - |
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The 1970's were a disaster for the entire country not just NYC. Dinkins was awful and Giulani was just as bad in a different way. Koch's name is scum in our family since he personally screwed a family member.
None were as awful as those Knicks last night!!!!! |
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ANGRYWARD
Posts:765
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| 12-04-2008 - SelecA - |
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| Clancy, when Koch was screwing that person in your family, did he scream out "How'm I Doing?" |
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Cookie
Posts:693
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| 12-04-2008 - SelecA - |
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| AW... priceless comment. I am shocked you could come up with it though.. because i was horrified to near paralysis with the visual of him screwing someone. |
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jgclancy
Posts:619
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| 12-04-2008 - SelecA - |
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I tossed that line out there knowing it would take a
beating but don't be getting Koch confused with Mr. Perdue. He jsuts did stuff with chickens.  |
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ActiveForums 3.6
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How Philly Won |
One Of Our First
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ROY HOBBS ON STEROIDS??? |
MEAGHAN & JAKE: COOLEST FANS |
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Nobody Remembers The Loser |
Giant/Super Tuesday |
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MATTS-MATICS: Hockey Nuts Go At It |
See us on: "Law & Order" |
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MATT FACTS:
Plaxico Burress is no longer spokesman for Thigh Master. Chad Pennington is NOT a Brett Favre fan... Hillary Clinton and Don Nelson have never been seen in the same place... Jerry Manuel is not related to Charlie ManuelJerry Manuel is not related to Charlie Manuel... Somebody namd Michel coaches the Pittsburgh Penguins... Tiki Barber quit the Giants. The Giants then won the Super Bowl... The New England Patriots only lost ONE game out of 19!!! Aaron Heilman was actually funny in re to Eli and Plaxico Burress helping the Mets as a pitcher and outfielder, respectively. Repeat, Heilman was funny... Jessica Simpson would rather date Tom Brady - trust us... Eli Manning is better than Archie - now... Alyssa Milano is a Met fan. RRRRR... Rickey Henderson speaks in the 3rd Person... Shawn Green has big ears... Howard Johnson likes to stay at the Holiday Inn, ironically... Sandy Alomar, Sr. is the youngest of 9 kids. That's why he was quick around the dish. Jiminy Cricket was the Philly Phanatic in a previous life…Fred Wilpon is pals with Sandy Koufax... Mike Ditka is a really tough guy.. Buffalo has a Triple A baseball team. They are NOT called The Snowballs... Chan Ho Park has people thinking of naming a ballfield after him - it would be called Chan Ho Park Park... John Maine has never been, oddly enough, to Maine... Curt Gowdy, Jr. has never been to Yellow Knife, Canada... Kevin Mitchell played 6 positions for the Mets in '86 and, according to Doc Gooden's book, didn't like cats... John Olerud & Wayne Gretzky have never been seen in the same place... Kevin McReynolds now makes his living doing laugh tracks for sit-coms... Tony Gwynn is nearing 300 lbs... Carlos Beltran has Mercedes Benz dealerships named for him in Barcelona, Spain... Willie Montanez was called Guillermo by Lenny Randle... Rusty Staub beat Jeff Kent in a race – TODAY... Jay Horwitz is a dynamite Cricket players – somebody said... Jeff Wilpon was a decent minor league catcher... Ziggy Palfy lives in Slovakia and is a big Met fan... Superman Returns, yet still can’t hit Billy Wagner... David Wright will win the Triple Crown – on a horse... Omar Minaya is Tobey McGuire’s stunt-double in Spider Man 3... Hilary Clinton has Mr. Met pajamas – we think... Albert Einstein was a HUGE Met fan... The Metropolitan Opera House was named for the Mets after their 2nd season in ’63... Wally Backman, ’86 sparkplug, considered changing his name to Wally Back-Matt... Neil Allen and Mike Stanton, former Mets, have Allen & Stanton Streets on Lower East Side named for them.
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