Academy Update

One of the conditions of the stadium funding was that the team would have to establish a baseball academy in DC. We haven't heard hide nor hair about it since the proposal was initially released and a friend's inquiry with the team was rebuffed with a standard form letter essentially boiling down to "we'll let you know when we let you know." Well, the Times gets around to letting us know a bit, even if there's not a whole lot of news. On the brighter side, it does mention a few projects that the Nationals Foundation is working on, including the previously known children's diabetes facility.

Someone on one of the billion or so message boards I skim mentioned the idea of the team contributing to funds for spousal abuse and domestic violence. I kind of laughed at the idea at first, but the more I think about it, the more I think that would be a meaningful direction for them to head, especially with the cast of characters they've had over the last few years (Wil Cordero, Dmitri Young and now Elijah). It doesn't have to be anything other than grant money from their foundation to local community groups, but if they're going to exploit the actions of those players to acquire them at reduced costs, then it would certainly be fitting to pay the community at large back. They accept grant requests, but the ominous-sounding warning at the top of the page makes it look like any group who applies is going to get a standard "We're sorry, but.." letter.