COMMENTARY
New Yorkers get big bill for stadium
Fast food for thought . . .
• I’ve seen the new Yankee Stadium referred to as the House That Jeter Built. And here I thought it was the New York City Industrial Development Agency that approved more than $1 billion in tax-exempt bonds for the facility, saving the Yankees an estimated $786 million in finance costs over 40 years. Oh yeah, and the Big Apple is also footing the bill for demolition of the old Yankee Stadium, with the price having grown from $12 million to $27 million.
Once all the numbers are crunched, estimates have NYC taxpayers ultimately paying more than $400 million of the bill. And you think the subsidy given the Buffalo Bills is an outrage?
• I’m not sure why, because he’s not exactly the most insightful analyst, but I’m going to miss John Madden. Heck, I still miss Ray Scott.
• Here’s what the Sabres do: They retain Lindy Ruff and sign Sean Avery to deflect any criticism. Seriously, though, I’m totally on board with Bucky Gleason on this one. It’s not the coach.
• Credible NBA draft projection Web sites have Jonny Flynn going anywhere from ninth (ahead of Ty Lawson and Eric Maynor) to as low as 19 (behind Lawson and Maynor). He’ll likely fall somewhere in between, justifying his decision confirmed Thursday to leave Syracuse after his sophomore year. But nobody’s projecting teammates Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf going anywhere in the two-round draft. Must be they decided heading to Europe or the D-League trumped another year of free education.
• Tom Miller of East Aurora wrote two weeks back that he and others were on the boardwalk in Atlantic City when approached by someone soliciting their attendance at a time-share pitch. When Miller looked at the man’s name tag— Gary Bossert—he wondered how many of them there could possibly be? Sure enough, it was the former Kenmore West basketball star recently named to The News All-80s team.
“Among many other things, I asked him if he knew about the all-time greats series you guys are running,” Miller wrote. “He said that his brother was sending him the articles. Gary went on to tell us that he’s based in Las Vegas, but this company sent him to AC to help that operation for about two years. He much prefers Vegas.
“Gary was quite embarrassed about the fuss I made recalling his great moments, etc. He was very humble and clearly didn’t want to bask in any spotlight. Based on what you wrote about him, I thought you’d find this coincidence at least somewhat interesting.”
Quality stuff.
• I haven’t been a big NBA guy since the Braves up and left. However, I’m in front of the TV every game if it’s LeBron and Kobe in The Finals.
• UB basketball got an athletic wide body for its front line in 6-foot-7, 240- pound Mike Clifford from Bishop Fenwick High in Danvers, Mass. The nice part is that Clifford has time to acclimate to the college game with post players Max Boudreau, Mitchell Watt, Titus Robinson and Jawaan Alston returning.
• I don’t buy that the Bills-Jets on a Thursday night in Toronto is a slap to Buffalo. The Bills organization isn’t big on weekday night games because they tax regional season ticket-holders who travel some distance. Besides, NFL Network isn’t exactly mainstream TV. More disconcerting is a schedule that looks like 6-10.
• A St. Louis Blues fan wrote in rookie T. J. Oshie for mayor in O’Fallon, Missouri, and displayed a picture of the ballot on a Web site. Apparently revealing the contents of a ballot violates local law and authorities are threatening to come down hard. As well they should. This is way more serious than, say, not paying your taxes until you’re nominated for a cabinet post.
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