The truly evil empire

There's a piece in the Washington Post today on the skyrocketing prices of Washington Nationals tickets for the new stadium. In a quote, team president Stan Kasten channels trickle down economics: "It's the money that comes from those upscale customers, from the upscale businesses, that really helps us, that really enables us to keep the low-end ticket prices that we want so desperately as well... So all of those people who asked about the high-end pricing, [those ticket buyers are] getting great service, but they're also providing great service for Joe Fan... We want to make the most money we can. We want to have as many customers there. We want to make the stadium as good as it can be, which costs money. And we want to have the best team we can have, which costs money. And we want to do all of this while also keeping our game affordable."

So if you drop $150 per seat to watch a roster emptied from years of mismanagement and crooked trades from a four year span in which MLB owned the franchise, you're doing some sort of charitable act? What about all the taxes you've paid for the $611 million publicly funded stadium? What about the hike in your cable bill so Comcast can televise Nationals games to line the pockets of Orioles' owner Peter Angelos, in a deal that reeks of monopolistic business practices and demands an examination of MLB's antitrust exemption?

The jingoistic press coverage led by Thomas Boswell is absolutely disgusting. There is absolutely no reason to believe the Nationals are anywhere near reaching mediocrity. Let alone competing with marquee teams on any significant level. But never mind the product on the field. This is a team that was owned by Major League Baseball for the majority of the time they've been in DC. How can any personnel move be not questioned in terms of how it positively affected other teams, each of which were owned by part owners of the Nationals? Like when Jim Bowden sold Jamey Carroll to the Rockies for a nominal sum.

The Post won't criticize the Nats because if they pull back the curtain the Nats could pull their numerous advertising from the Post's media channels and make it harder for their reporters to cover MLB. Since the Orioles are looking after the well being of the Nats - the better the ratings are for MASN, which televises most Nats games, the better it is for the Orioles' owner Peter Angelos - a slap at the Nats is a slap at the O's. So Comcast Sports can't criticize the Nats, because maybe Angelos takes the Orioles off of Comcast when the current TV deal expires. So every media outlet becomes a partner with the Nationals, promoting an unlikeable product, just like NBA employee Michael Wilbon sells the NBA today on page E1.