StanSpeak: A Continuing Series
The patented StanSpeak translator works not just with our heady Team President, but with all of baseball's major figures, including our very own beloved owner to the north, Mr. Peter "C. Montgomery" Angelos (file photo). (You might remember him from the late-night asbestos ads in between episodes of The People's Court at 2 AM)
Anyway, the cheery and (did I mention?) much-beloved owner (file photo) spoke to the Baltimore Sun. So let's run his (file photo with Fred Manfra) remarks through the ol' StanSpeak translator.
"There's no law against visiting the other franchise. In fact, were it not for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees fans visiting our ballpark, our seasonal attendance would be 1/3 of what it was" Angelos said in an interview with The Sun.
"Originally, I said [Washington and Baltimore] were very close to each other, which I have since confirmed by looking at a map" Angelos said. "But nonetheless, it is the nation's capital, and the team is there, and it ought to be supported [isn't the passive voice wonderful?], and hopefully, both franchises will provide successful baseball, although success to me is defined by my profits -- come to think of it, so is the Nats -- so I'm hoping to expand to 40 games played against divisional opponents next season."
"We (my bankers and me) definitely want them to succeed," Angelos said of the Nats. "We're partners (hahahahaha, in a forced marriage sense) in the MASN baseball network [ed: apparently he hasn't heard about the Eastern Carolina University Coach's show!!! Or Anita Marks!!!], and we have an excellent relationship with the Lerner family, one that involves me taking everything I can from them, and with Stan Kasten, who is an old friend of mine." [ed: Anytime a scumbag lawyer says "friend", tighten your sphincter and back away slowly]
"I think the park is going to be very popular if their cheap owners every invest in the on-field product [ed: OK, that was me]. Some of the money-making features are really good, and I wish we had thought of them." Angelos said. He continued, "But did you see those garages? Yeesh!"
The Orioles had a record-low announced crowd of 10,505 for a game last week.
"That's an example of the weather having a very depressing effect on attendance, and not my inability to put a winning team on the field since I stumbled into some good luck in '97, a decade ago," the owner said. "We would have had very substantial crowds, the way we've been playing, had it not been for the weather. In fact, I'm pretty sure we would've sold out the game, all 48,000 seats had it been 80-something. I mean, who doesn't want to watch a Devil Rays and Orioles game?. I know that this was our second game of the year, and that we were 0-1, but dammit, the stupid fans should have realized that we were going to win six in a row and responded accordingly! Stupid, ungrateful fans. ::eats baby::"
Thanks to the Enquirer for the link!
Anyway, the cheery and (did I mention?) much-beloved owner (file photo) spoke to the Baltimore Sun. So let's run his (file photo with Fred Manfra) remarks through the ol' StanSpeak translator.
"There's no law against visiting the other franchise. In fact, were it not for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees fans visiting our ballpark, our seasonal attendance would be 1/3 of what it was" Angelos said in an interview with The Sun.
"Originally, I said [Washington and Baltimore] were very close to each other, which I have since confirmed by looking at a map" Angelos said. "But nonetheless, it is the nation's capital, and the team is there, and it ought to be supported [isn't the passive voice wonderful?], and hopefully, both franchises will provide successful baseball, although success to me is defined by my profits -- come to think of it, so is the Nats -- so I'm hoping to expand to 40 games played against divisional opponents next season."
"We (my bankers and me) definitely want them to succeed," Angelos said of the Nats. "We're partners (hahahahaha, in a forced marriage sense) in the MASN baseball network [ed: apparently he hasn't heard about the Eastern Carolina University Coach's show!!! Or Anita Marks!!!], and we have an excellent relationship with the Lerner family, one that involves me taking everything I can from them, and with Stan Kasten, who is an old friend of mine." [ed: Anytime a scumbag lawyer says "friend", tighten your sphincter and back away slowly]
"I think the park is going to be very popular if their cheap owners every invest in the on-field product [ed: OK, that was me]. Some of the money-making features are really good, and I wish we had thought of them." Angelos said. He continued, "But did you see those garages? Yeesh!"
The Orioles had a record-low announced crowd of 10,505 for a game last week.
"That's an example of the weather having a very depressing effect on attendance, and not my inability to put a winning team on the field since I stumbled into some good luck in '97, a decade ago," the owner said. "We would have had very substantial crowds, the way we've been playing, had it not been for the weather. In fact, I'm pretty sure we would've sold out the game, all 48,000 seats had it been 80-something. I mean, who doesn't want to watch a Devil Rays and Orioles game?. I know that this was our second game of the year, and that we were 0-1, but dammit, the stupid fans should have realized that we were going to win six in a row and responded accordingly! Stupid, ungrateful fans. ::eats baby::"
posted by Chris Needham at
9:21 AM
16 Comments:
Damn you! You stole my idea of stealing your idea.
By
WFY, at 4/10/2008 9:59 AM
Yeah. Cheap owners. Everyone in Washington knows that the way to build a winner is to spend big money on mediocre free agents.
By
Dan Snyder, at 4/10/2008 10:02 AM
Question to the Danny: If you had the money to spend right now would you rather have Livan Hernandez and Kyle Lohse or Odalis Perez and Tim Redding? Note how this doesn't block any of the truly "young" pitchers of the roster.
By
Nate, at 4/10/2008 10:06 AM
FLop and PLod to the Twins for Livan.
Yes, I know it makes no sense, and no I don't care. Or maybe they would take Guzman back, and we could bring Smiley Gonzalez up. (I'm only half-kidding there)
Snyder- You can't compare an NFL franchise to a sport with no salary cap and rosters that are half the size.
By
Rob B, at 4/10/2008 10:58 AM
The O's and Nats are not partners in the sense of a forced marriage.
Rather, as a way to gain Angelos' assent to the DC franchise, MLB made the O's the majority partner over the Nats. The O's call the shots on media deals, and the Nats just go along for the ride.
The O's get 90 percent of the media ownership rights, including profit, in the deal for MASN, while the Nats get 10 percent. Over the course of many years, the Nats will eventually get a 33 percent share. But the O's will always be top dog in the MASN network, even though the Nats have the significantly larger media market.
Look at the Yankees network, YES. It is a huge money maker, and will just grow and grow.
This MLB-granted bonanza for the O's will help them build their team over time, while not having control of their own media market and revenues hurts the Nats' efforts to build.
Finally, this media deal was sprung on DC after DC made the commitment to fund the baallpark and get the team. Kind of bait-and-switch, since without the media deal, the Nats would clearly be a major market, with team success built on major market total revenues.
By
EdDC, at 4/10/2008 11:12 AM
EdDC: That's a good point about the deal getting done after D.C. had approved the ballpark funding.
The Nats do get something like $25 million annually from MASN, but obviously in a real marketplace, they would probably get more.
By
WFY, at 4/10/2008 11:25 AM
The Nats do get something like $25 million annually from MASN, but obviously in a real marketplace, they would probably get more.
Perhaps, though probably not much more.
What they would get without MASN, however, is the freedom to control their own interests. They would have the opportunity to explore a MASN-like house-run sportsnet down the road, but in the short term they'd have the ability to negotiate a package with Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, which would have been 1000% a better carrier for the team as it started up. Not only would all of the potential fanbase have been able to see them from day one, but they would have benefitted from being a CSN property, both in terms of increased coverage and better TV advertising/marketing. Instead, they were balkanized with MASN.
Not that I don't think the O's weren't entitled to their own freedom to control their own TV destiny. They had obviously drawn up plans for what MASN became years ago. I would've said godspeed to them in pursuing that. And I think the Nats would've been happy to take their place on CSN.
As it is, the only real benefit of the MASN deal to the Nats is that Angelos footed the start-up costs (less the amount contributed by MLB itself) to a network that the Nats owners will have an increasing share of over the years. However, as Eddc say, that share is an inferior one.
By
Anonymous, at 4/10/2008 11:43 AM
Who are the Devil Rays?
I kid, Chris. I kid. The media in TB is getting charged $100 a pop for every time they mention the word devil.
Damn name changing bastards!
::shakes fist::
By
Phishisgr8, at 4/10/2008 11:54 AM
You maybe could get a better deal than the $25 million because you could use your clout of striking out on your own to start up your own network, as a means of leveraging more annual TV revenues. But OK, let's say the $25 million is fair.
The big bucks in the future come from media ownership: having control of your media destiny and future, as anon points out. Yes there are start up costs involved, as with any capitalist venture, and Angelos shelled out for those. But with the start up costs plus control over two teams' media markets (including the vastly more affluent DC area media market), the O's should be able to reap huge rewards in the future.
Who knows how "media" will evolve in future years (3-D broadcasting? Mini-cameras inside players' helmets?) and how lucrative the O's stranglehold over the Nats' media market will prove to be? It should be huge.
And when we in the DC region gloat over having our own team, let's keep in mind who is in charge of DC's and our region's "own" media market. Angelos and his sons are boss. The Lerners report to Angelos.
By
EdDC, at 4/10/2008 12:07 PM
Lest anyone get the wrong idea that I am an apologist for Angelo$/MASN, I was merely pointing out that the Nats get some compensation.
Just this afternoon, someone found my site by the terms "angelos" "selig" "gutless"
By
WFY, at 4/10/2008 12:39 PM
"There's no law against visiting the other franchise"??????
So nice of him to grant permission to us commoners to attend a ballgame......what an arrogant piece of shit.
I hope he dies in his sleep tonight. (Or gets hit by an ambulance he is chasing)
By
Rob B, at 4/10/2008 1:01 PM
I know this is just batshit crazy talk, but isn't the MASN deal just another example of why MLB's antitrust exemption should be revoked? Gotta wonder who has the standing to sue for that. I'd have thunk the Lerners but since they've joined the club, they probably wouldn't want to rock that boat.
By
ghostofwadelefler, at 4/10/2008 2:15 PM
yes. The whole MASN/O's/Nats relationship was created via collusion by owners that would be illegal in any other industry. And consumers get the shaft.
By
Steven Biel, at 4/10/2008 2:24 PM
The MASN relationship is like requiring GM to report to Ford Motor in designing and implementing their ad campaigns.
By
EdDC, at 4/10/2008 3:23 PM
Quick poll...
Which is worse... MASN's HD picture, or the play of the NATS lately?
By
Ray, at 4/10/2008 4:00 PM
@Ray--you asked a trick question.
The true answer is the play of the Nats on MASN's HD. HD makes their play look even crappier than it already did.
By
Michael Taylor, at 4/10/2008 5:10 PM
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