Mariotti Column Name Sold

[Lip Man 1]

Gang:

Jay has a column today in the Sun Times on the naming rights being sold. Most of you are probably not going to like it. He does make some good points, however, at least in my opinion. Here's a sample:

I'll never forget my conversation with a rep from Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum, also known as HOK, designer of various cool retro ballparks and one clunker. ''Why was Comiskey your only lemon?'' I asked a few years ago.

''Reinsdorf wanted it his way,'' he said.

This confirms something I read in a book titled "Ballpark The Story Of The Building Of Camden Yards..."

That book has a chapter on Comiskey (ooops, I mean U.S. Cellular Field) and has basically the same comment from that design company. Apparently that organization offered Uncle Jerry a retro style park and he turned them down flat so they built it the way that he wanted it. Mariotti also asks the same questions I've seen here at WSI, how is this money going to be spent, how are they going to pay for the reported major structural changes and will any of it be spent of actual players.

Lip

[RichH55]

Wow...that Moron column was next to verbatim by some of the posters mocking him before he even wrote it....its good to be predictable I guess

[RedPinStripes]

Any little chance you get to take a shot at JR huh Lip? :)

[viagracat]

I've been to Camden Yards, and it's a great place to see a ballgame. Same goes with the Ballpark at Arlington. been there too. To be fair to HOK and even Jerry Reinsdorf, though, the timing of Comiskey's new construction was bad. It was proposed and initially designed well after the dull ballmalls of the '60s and '70s and is better than Busch, Riverfront (demolished) and Three Rivers (also demolished, with good reason). But it was designed before the idea of "retro" parks became widely accepted. Is Comiskey (I will NEVER call it US Cellular) a great ballpark? No. Does it get a bad rap? Absolutely. But any guy who adores Sam-mememe as much as Mariotti does cannot be taken seriously anyway.

[Lip Man 1]

Red:

I'm just telling you what I read in the book. If you want to consider that a shot at Uncle Jerry that's fine with me.

My point is Uncle Jerry was offered an alternative and in his short term myopic thinking way turned it down, then according to Sox historian Rich Lindberg when the park came in under budget that money was not used to improve design flaws. Again that was Uncle Jerry's decision.

As you correctly pointed out Uncle Jerry didn't spend ANY of his money in the first place but somebody is paying 13 years later for his stupidity aren't they?

and just think if he got it right originally, perhaps he'd now be using that money to increase the payroll and get better guys instead of being hamstrung into having to spend it correcting his stupidity.

Just a thought.

Lip

Lip

[RedPinStripes]

Originally posted by Lip Man 1
Red:

I'm just telling you what I read in the book. If you want to consider that a shot at Uncle Jerry that's fine with me.

My point is Uncle Jerry was offered an alternative and in his short term myopic thinking way turned it down, then according to Sox historian Rich Lindberg when the park came in under budget that money was not used to improve design flaws. Again that was Uncle Jerry's decision.

As you correctly pointed out Uncle Jerry didn't spend ANY of his money in the first place but somebody is paying 13 years later for his stupidity aren't they?

and just think if he got it right originally, perhaps he'd now be using that money to increase the payroll and get better guys instead of being hamstrung into having to spend it correcting his stupidity.

Just a thought.

Lip

Lip

Dont get me wrong. I'm not defending him. I'm one of his biggest critics, but you seem to enjoy it more then i do. And that's pretty serious. lol

[RichH55]

Originally posted by RedPinStripes
Any little chance you get to take a shot at JR huh Lip? :)

And using a Mariotti column to do it....sort of a deal with the devil