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February 10, 2012
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
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Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
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Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
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Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
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January 30, 2012
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Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
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Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
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Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
June 5, 2006
/ 9 Sivan, 5766
As Bonds Hogs the Spotlight, Selig Goes 3-for-3 at the Plate
By
Evan Weiner
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Barry Bonds's 715th career home run was not the most important baseball event over the holiday weekend. Last Friday,
Minnesota Governor Tim Palwenty put his autograph on a new spending bill for a Twins stadium that will raise the Hennepin
County sales tax by three cents for every $20 spent to help fund the new stadium.
This development will have a far more lasting impact on Major League Baseball than will Bonds's historic home run. The Twins
stadium bill has, according to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig removed contraction as an issue in the ongoing collective
bargaining talks between the players and owners.
The Twins might have been headed to baseball's scrap heap of failed franchises. Just 48 hours after the Arizona
Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, Selig announced that baseball was going to eliminate at
least two franchises. The Commish and his administrators went through a list of 15 franchises that could have been eliminated,
with the Twins and Montreal Expos at the top.
Though Selig never identified to the two leading candidates to be put out of business (his announcement back November 6,
2001 may have been a shot fired across the Major League Players Association's bow as the two sides attempted to negotiate
a new collective bargaining agreement), Minnesota officials decided to fight back. The Metropolitan Sports Facilities
Commission, which operates the Metrodome, sued to force the Twins to honor their lease, and a Hennepin County District
Judge issued the injunction on November 16. The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the order January 22 in a 3-0 vote. The
Twins survived, the owners and players settled their differences, and the owners took contraction off the table until 2007.
Selig and Major League Baseball are on a roll. In March, MLB signed a lease with Washington, D.C., that will deliver the
Nationals a new ballpark by 2009.On April 4, Jackson County, Mo., voters approved a local sales tax hike with some of the
funding earmarked to renovate the Kansas City Royals' Kauffman Stadium and the NFL Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium. Selig is
now three for three - three new ballparks in three months.
Now that the Twins ballpark situation is settled, MLB is down to just two problem franchises: Florida and Oakland. The
Marlins ownership, led by New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria, has eliminated San Antonio as a possible relocation target and
instead is concentrating on Hialeah, Fla. Loria doesn't have too many choices. South Florida is a much better market than any
of the other cities available, which include San Antonio, Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., or the Hampton Roads, Va., area. New
York is off limits to the native New Yorker because of MLB's anti-trust exemption. If Loria even looked at the New
York-New Jersey market, the Yankees or Mets could simply block him.

Oakland A's owner Lewis Wolff, who just purchased an option to bring back Major League Soccer to San Jose or the San
Francisco Bay Area, knows his way to San Jose, but because of the anti-trust exemption, the city is off limits to him. The area
is the Giants' territory.
Wolff is negotiating with Fremont, Ca., city officials to build a stadium with a surrounding "baseball village" in exchange for land
and tax breaks. He offered the same deal to Oakland officials, who basically ignored the proposal. Wolff also is seeking the
same deal from San Jose for his soccer holdings, but he seems to be concentrating on keeping the A's in the Bay Area.
With contraction out of the way, Selig's biggest problem may be devising a new revenue sharing plan among the owners that
will satisfy the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and other big-money teams along with small market franchises like the Pirates and
Royals. There may be a number of owners, led by Pittsburgh's Kevin McClatchy, Kansas City's David Glass, and San Diego's
John Moores, who could push for a salary cap.
Selig has one other major issue that might cause some problems at the bargaining table. MLB may not know just how much
national TV money will be coming in because FOX has yet to renew its national TV contract. MLB had hoped that FOX
would offer a slight increase over the six year, $2.5 billion deal that was signed in September 2000. Under terms of the deal,
FOX gave baseball about $411 million annually for the right to show Saturday baseball, the All-Star Game, selected Division
Series games, and exclusive coverage of the League Championship Series and World Series.
But FOX was really paying for the exclusive coverage of the League Championship Series and World Series, not the other
games. FOX owns October in terms of raw TV ratings and is able to showcase its network programming throughout the
games by parading stars of shows or interviewing them during games.
MLB is still talking to FOX; no other network has shown interest in the package. Last September, MLB signed an eight-year,
$2.4 billion non-exclusive deal cable TV deal with ESPN, which included an exclusive agreement for Internet and cellular
content. MLB also has the right to sell a small package to another network, such as the Comcast owned OLN.
Selig and his team have done a remarkable job of bringing money into an industry that was shut down in 1994 and is embroiled
in a steroid controversy. All of the Commissioner's moves, including approving the league's idea for expanding the playoffs and
expanding baseball's global marketing, have worked. It may be hard to believe, but Selig, not Bonds, will have a more lasting
affect on the future of baseball.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Evan Weiner is a syndicated radio commentator. Comment by clicking here.
Previously:
05/30/06: State of the NBA Nation Is Strong
05/22/06: NFL owners gather to play stadium game
05/15/06: A legal groundswell builds beneath baseball
05/05/06: Four Years Later, Baseball Finds an Owner in D.C.
05/01/06: Turmoil brews beneath NFL's newfound tranquility
04/24/06: NFL and small town America wherewithal
04/21/06: The Two Scariest Words in Baseball: Salary Cap
04/18/06: Why the major leagues succeed
04/17/06: Fans welcome new stadiums; will stadiums welcome fans?
04/10/06: Fans welcome new stadiums; will stadiums welcome fans?
04/07/06: Don't mess with a congressman/sports fanatic
04/05/06: Los Angles loses yet again
04/04/06: NCAA's highest stakes are first beginning
04/03/06: The real reason Major League Baseball is worried about cheating
03/31/06: Baseball buoyant, better than ever
03/30/06: Affording to be in the big leagues
© 2006, Evan Weiner
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