A Quagmire of State Socialism and Greed

Not everyone is as enamored with the Steelers as Mr. Hewitt. Dave e-mails from the Steel City to share his thoughts:

Did Hugh know what he was associating himself with when he made that bet over the Steelers hat? I was never much of a football fan to begin with, but things really turned sour for me about six-seven years ago, when there was a referendum on whether to build new football and baseball stadiums using public money via a tax increase. The referendum appeared on the ballot in several counties surrounding Pittsburgh, due to the geographically wide fan base that the Pirates and Steelers enjoy in western Pennsylvania.

The voters wisely rejected the proposal. Undaunted, the cabal of team owners and local politicians devised the rather mysteriously-named Plan B, making the whole thing sound like a bad James Bond spoof. And of course, it involved use of public funds anyway, much of it coming from the state level. The whole project went from bad to worse.

The final nail in the coffin for me was when Democrat head coach Bill Cowher invited Al Gore onto the practice field for a photo op in the Fall of 2000. I did not need to see that.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Steelers owner Dan Rooney recently received $4 million from Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (former DNC chair under Clinton) to help build an amphitheater next to the new football stadium. Apparently light rail is also part of the project. This subsidy adds to the enormous debt incurred by costs not only for the new stadium, but for the gone-but-not-forgotten Three Rivers Stadium. Yep, still costing us money three years after demolition.

(more information here, if you care to look)

The new football stadium, incidentally, is HEINZ Field, as in Teresa HEINZ Kerry. When I look at the picture of Hugh wearing a Steelers cap while holding little Ralphie, I can't help imagining him wearing a Cambodian Magic Hat with a "Kerry for America" sticker on the front while squeezing a little John Edwards plush doll.




Few things are as disheartening as seeing the favorite local pastime devolve into a quagmire of state socialism and greed.

I feel your pain Dave. That perfectly captures my opinion of municipal liquor stores.