Tuesday, September 7, 2010

It's About the Superbowl, Stupid!

Some quick tidbits this morning:
  • Caught Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard on the Abdul show this morning. When asked about the ACS parking deal, the Mayor emphasized that a major, if not THE major, reason to do the deal is that the $35 million up front payment could be used for downtown infrastructure improvements before the 2012 Super Bowl. I seem to recall Candidate Ballard in 2007 talking about how this City spends too much on professional sports. And now the Mayor wants to mortgage the next fifty years to get upfront cash so the City looks nice and presentable for one football game?
  • ACS has been working hard to get African-American councilors to vote for the deal, extolling the minority hiring it plans to do.
  • Turns out the 200 new, non-parking jobs the administration is bragging that ACS had agreed to bring to the City as part of the deal isn't actually in the contract. When this fact was uncovered, City officials responded that they can't put the ACS job pledge in the contract because the contract deals with parking. I assume this is being said with a straight face and not horrible legal advice. Of course they could put it in the contract - there are many non-parking items in the contract, such as the requirement that ACS develop a battery recycling program.. But hey, let's not the truth get in the way, right? You make the job program a separate written pledge by ACS and it is unenforcable from a legal standpoint because there is no consideration for the promise. The parking contract also has an incorporation clause (attorneys will know what that means), which would preclude anything the parking deal from providing the necessary consideration for the job pledge.
  • ACS is bragging about how they already have two Democrats in the company's pocket for the vote on the parking deal. Not sure which two, but I'll bet the family farm that Jackie Nytes is one of them.
  • Abdul mentioned this morning that he doesn't think people in Indianapolis have the "collective intelligence" to pull off a conspiracy. At the same time, he has been suggesting that much of the anti-IMPD sentiment is being secretly orchestrated by the Melina Kennedy's mayoral campaign as part of a carefully orchestrated plan (can't say "conspiracy") to undermine the Ballard administration.


Cato said...



Indy's pathway to legitimacy is through the Colts and the NFL. They've leveraged everything on this team.

Man, that Jacksonville sure has become the next Hong Kong since they held their Super Bowl.

How many of you even remember that JAX even held a Super Bowl? Anyone readily remember the year?

varangianguard said...

Regarding that last item, two thoughts.

1) First, I agree with Abdul about the conspiracy stuff, but for a different reason. While local Republican cronies are certainly clever, I don't think that there is much depth of thought there. Too superficial to think beyond their putzes or their bank balances.

For the last part (which suspiciously sounds like a "conspiracy theory"), the penduluum swings, and payback can certainly bite one in the butt sometimes. lol

Paul K. Ogden said...


I agree with your conspiracy comment. But I think you're talking about real conspiracies like the claim the U.S. government was behind 9/11, that man didn't walk on the moon, that the CIA shot JFK.

Abdul though labels the other side in political debates as touting "conspiracies" as a way to mock and discredit those people. For example, pointing out that the CIB leadership is in bed with the Pacers organization, is hardly touting a "conspiracy" as that term is generally understood. It's simply connecting the dots.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Sorry for the screwup. Not sure where I got CSA from. I really need an editor...

guy77money said...

Actually Cato ask most casual sports fans who won the Super Bowl, final 4, World Series and NBA Play Offs two years ago and most people will (unless their team won it) draw a blank. Until these stupid politicians realize that sports is not a very economically (with the possible exception of baseball) sound way to promote growth or tourism we will keep throwing money down the drain. Major league Baseball is the exception to the rule. It's in the summer and many people will pick a city to see a game or two and will spend a couple of days at the local tourist spots. Cincinnati and St Louis both have well established balls teams and affordable family prices. They both have amusement parks and world class zoos. Throw in the City Museum (a must see in St Louis),the Arch, Grant Park and a kids science museum (did I mention the best Italian food on the planet ;) ) and you have a tremendous vacation. Most people would never take a family vacation to see a NFL or NBA game. I know many friends that will take a weekend and rent a hotel room and catch a Red's game and go to Kings island or the aquarium across the river. I never met anyone (lived in St Louis and Cincy) that said lets take the kids and catch a Pacer's or Colt's(or any NBA team) and see Indy. The only exception might have been the Bull's with Jordan but you still would have paid through the roof for tickets.

Marycatherine Barton said...

I find your above comment about government conspiracies profoundly childish and thoughtless, Paul. You need to open your mind, and spend some time doing more research. You owe that much to your students.

Downtown Indy said...

Since the NFL selection committee, and our own proposal committee, spend huges amounts of time and money choosing Indianapolis based on what it is, it seems ridiculous that we need to dump millions of taxpayer dollars into turning the city into something it's not. We know it will revert to its prior state soon after the game is over.

M Theory said...

sheesh! wasn't the wishard referendum a conspiracy? what's abdul talking about?

varangianguard said...

Oh, I get it now Paul.

Pointing out that the CIB membership are "in bed" with any local sports organization is simply ludicrous.

You must see that the CIB membership are "giving it up on the street for free" for any sports organzation that even looks their way.

I wonder if the CIB members have to get a certain tattoo (or "stamp", if you will) when they get confirmed on the Board?


Paul K. Ogden said...


Sorry, but I don't believe in the 9/11 conspiracy that the U.S. went out and intentionally killed thousands of Americans to take the country into a war against Iraq. (People conveniently forget that the war we went into as a resultof 9/11 was Afghanistan and that 9/11 didn't have anything to do with invading Iraq.) Any conspiracy that reuire tens of thousands of people to remain silent about the conspiracy isn't going to work. I've watched a lot of documentaries on the subject and the evidence conspiracy theorists point too have been thoroughloy debunked.

I don't believe in the JFK conspiracy either. I've read and watched numerous documentaries. The idea that Oswalt was part of a conspiracy by Cuba or the CIA has also been pretty thoroughly debunked. The whole idea that Oswalt could not make those shots or a bullet that hit multiple targets had to bend its trajectory just isn't true if you look at the evidence.

My favorite conspiracy is the moon landing. Given the state of technology at the time, it's difficult to imagine how we landed a manned spacecraft on the moon. Most of the evidence supporting that theory has been debunked as well.

I do keep an open mind on these conspiracies. But any conspiracy that require thousands of poeple to remain silent about the conspiracy - like 9/11 - strain any credibility.

Cato said...

Paul, what "debunking" explanation have you heard or read? All the ones offered on Nova and by Popular Mechanics were so farcical that they've been laughed off the stage.

Dylan Avery stands ready to debate any denier, anywhere, but nobody dares take him up on his offer.

"Pancake theory?" Come on. WTC 1 & 2 were built with 47 box columns. Box columns don't pancake. The Underwriters Laboratory standard for the steel in WTC 1 & 2 couldn't melt or weaken in a jet fuel fire.

WTC7 falls in a perfect demolition collapse in the only fire, ever, to cause a steel framed building to collapse.

Where's the plane at the Pentagon, and why did the impact route coincidentally follow the ILS system in the Pentagon lawn for the helipad?

Here's the pickle the deniers are in: whether Arabs or the government, either group is a conspiracy. Which group of conspirators are better equipped to pull off something this big, and which group is capable of causing all US defenses to be on stand down or redeployed on 9/11?

Cato said...

Hey, Paul:

Debunk away.