I attended my first Lookouts game since before the pandemic Tuesday night.
It was glorious.
It also made me wonder, "I hope we never lose the Lookouts" and "What's wrong with AT&T Park" as I sat down the third-base line a couple of seats behind the dugout hoping for a foul ball or a T-shirt.
It also made me realize the difficult decisions before us. I hope a news conference and website launch today - at least that's what Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger outlined Wednesday at the County Commission meeting - will provide some answers about a potential new stadium for the Lookouts on South Broad Street.
But those answers will assuredly be one-sided - Coppinger is clearly onboard with this massive project as his 11-year term as mayor starts to be measured in days.
It's a final pitch for a project talked about for years. Coppinger has some selling to do before he leaves office, and his audience includes a lame-duck commission that has at least six commissioners who will not be in those chairs come September.
Not sure whether the public's opinion matters much right now as it feels like this is being rushed through before county leadership changes hands. But, then again, this is modern-day politics, and two things are true: 1) The public's opinion is the public's, and 2) "debate" is more about poking holes in the other side's points than making your argument.
Point number two is clear by the words levied by current and future politicians in the last 48 or so hours.
Tuesday, Weston Wamp, the runaway favorite to succeed Coppinger, delivered a social media soliloquy on the stadium. His two strongest points centered on the rushed process and transparency.
Coppinger said Wednesday at the commission meeting that we've known about the potential of the former Wheland Foundry site and the desire for a new stadium for years. He's right. But the best sketch the public has seen since then looks like it was done by Elmo during a Sesame Street sketch. And the details are so sketchy that if you shake it really hard it will turn into magnetic dust on a gray background behind a red border and two white knobs.
Commissioner Tim Boyd raised all kinds of heck at the meeting Wednesday.
"I think it's a classic case of bad government," he said. "It's really late in the term of this commission to be considering such an impactful project."
For some reason the pro-project folks are not focusing on the big picture, and it is no longer about Lookouts owner Jason Freier and Hardball Capital's business model. We will either build a new stadium - either at Wheland or someplace else - in the coming years working with Lookouts ownership or we will watch ownership move the Lookouts.
And for those who think, "Well, we can get another team to AT&T," you need to realize that as soon as the Lookouts pack the last jock strap, there will be developers swarming Hawk Hill like buzzards on road kill.
The ballpark is old. The Lookouts owners wanted a new park when they bought the team from Frank Burke almost a decade ago. Major League Baseball - which has taken a court-ordered more attentive eye toward the minor leagues of late - now demands better facilities, too.
AT&T feels fine to fans; AT&T is a dinosaur in park years. (Side note: That begs a question: If a 30-year bond is proposed for construction of a stadium, can we be sure that stadium will remain viable for three decades when most don't?)
What will happen Thursday at the news conference? Not sure.
Coppinger called it a "generational" opportunity and compared it to Volkswagen, which seems a bit over the top since VW has become the largest non-governmental employer around these parts.
Like you, I am not super keen on our county and city ponying up $80 million for a bunch of millionaires to have a venue to make more millions. I, too, am wondering why there is such a mad push to do this now. And, I also know I am 100% sure I do not want to lose the Lookouts, in the next five weeks or the next 50 years.
Maybe some wise soul - a David of Dalewood or a Solomon of Soddy - could suggest that we meet in the middle: Lookouts folks put up half; we put up half, and get the entire foundry project started.
Over the life of that deal, I think both sides would be pleased.
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