Uh, skip that last blog...
About that previous blog on your Olympics thoughts? What I meant to say was...
...what do you think of Sports Illustrated picking the Blackhawks in the NHL Finals and Puck Prospectus' computerized "VUKOTA" rankings predicting the Hawks to be the league's best team?
...why does everyone want Carlos Zambrano to leave town? Here are two sets of numbers. In one of these seasons, Z finished 5th in the NL Cy Young voting. In the other, he won't get close to getting a single vote.
ERA WHIP H/9 BB/9 K/9 ERA+
3.95 1.33 7.8 4.2 7.4 118
3.77 1.38 8.2 4.1 8.1 116
ERA+ means how Zambrano's ERA compares to the National League average.
The top row of numbers is Zambrano's 2007 season, when he finished fifth in the Cy Young balloting because he had 18 wins and the Cubs won the Central.
The bottom row is Zambrano's 2009 season, where people are evaluating him solely on his lack of wins (he's 9-7) as if he's in sole control of his win total. C'mon, people. It's 2009. We're smarter than that now.
...why is Jake Peavy pitching? Barry Rozner explained the issues thoroughly in Thursday's column (http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=325557), but I think it bears repeating. It's all-risk, no-reward when it comes to pitching Peavy this weekend.
LW
The people of Zion will get to pay for their new ballpark with increased taxes.
How do I know this?
I don't.
Nobody seems to care, however, so I wish you well when the bill comes due on Unnamed Stadium, home of the Lake County Fielders.
Whenever they decide to build it.
You will all come to see it, right?
To be honest, you mentioning Kevin Costner and Zion rings a bell with me, but I'm afraid I haven't been following this thing at all.
I can bring this up with our crack Lake County staff...who have you been contacting?
LW
First off, I tried to get the L-C News Star to care about this question. They don't seem to have the concept down.
I did write to Delaine Rogers, the redevelopment director for the city of Zion, and she pawned off a vague reply that suggested a public-private financing.
The site itself is a brownfield so there will probably be some federal money to develop the ground itself, whatever that includes. Infrastructure is not something I can totally address, not living up there. I assume sewers, water lines and all that jazz ... this is an old landfill, and I assume it has methane valves.
The park has a ton of renderings and has a front office in place, or the appearance of one, even has a kiosk at the Gurnee Mall and a Website selling tickets and goodies.
But I just wanted to know how they intend to finance this park, through junk bonds, tax ticks or maybe through more sales of Coca Cola at the subway station.
The team promises to be on the field in June, but best guess calls for a road warriors team next year. All well and good and I don't much care about that.
I just wanted to know who was financing the ballpark. Other questions will be relevant come spring.
I guess this is related to the Olympics and to baseball, though not in that order.
I've been asking reporters from your paper and the L-C News Sun to help answer a question that seems all too obvious:
Then again, let me confuse you with the facts.
Who is paying for the 8,000-seat Field of Dreams that Zion claims is being built?
You may have heard of this minor-league Lake County Fielders team that Kevin Costner owns. You may have heard they are selling tickets and have a logo and hats and all that stuff.
They claim to have drawings of a ballpark in a landfill, not far from the cornfield where Joe Jackson will emerge with the $30 million or so that they will need.
I don't know who is coming up with the rest. Maybe Kevin will mortgage the farm.
Can you help answer this? Your reporter seems unwilling to ask the question.