Thursday, August 30, 2007

More Money Than Sense

When I first started reading this story about a Danville, California family -- the Lowes -- who built a private baseball field on their property which has offended the neighbors and the local zoning commission, I was prepared to root for the family and hate on the NIMBYs who want it torn down. Then I read this:

Lowe, a private equity investor, offered to lower the fence around the field to 6 feet and obscure it with landscaping. But Planning Commissioners on Tuesday called those measures too little too late.

Lowe said he built the sports field because he wanted to coach his son's team but could not make the 3 p.m. weekday practices at a local sports field.

"Son, because I'm an important private equity investor, it is far too inconvenient for me to leave work early a couple of days a week to coach your little league team. I can, however, buy a parcel of land, hire lawyers to attempt to obtain a zoning variance, clear the land, and construct a baseball diamond, fence, and batting cage so that your team may come here to play." Now run along, son, Daddy has some prospectuses to peruse."

I think the biggest losers in all of this has been the little league team coached by Mr. Lowe. Based on the example he has set, there is no conceivable way that he has taught his players how to sacrifice.

3 comments:

  1. Maybe the coach realizes that sacrifices are usually counter-productive, and is teaching his players as much.

    Ouch! Just got shocked by Tim McCarver. I'm going to talk about Bob Gibson now. He was mean! He hit batters who looked him in the eye!

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  2. Every time McCarver mentions Bob Gibson, I'm reminded by an anecdote from that documentary about the Tigers and the 1967 Detroit race riots called City on Fire from about five years ago.

    Seems that when Gibson broke the World Series strikeout record in Game 1 of the 1968 series, McCarver trotted up to the mound to offer congratulations. Gibson told McCarver to shut up and get on with the game.

    I wish Gibson would tell him the same thing come this post-season.

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  3. This past weekend, I'm pretty sure that McCarver referred to Gibson as "the hardest friend I've ever made." I screamed at him that it's probably because Gibson hated his sycophantic ass.

    I should really stop yelling at my TV.

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