Friday, March 2, 2012

Nightengale = Nostradamus? (Not really)

Maybe it's time to make March 1 a new holiday. We'll call it Bob Nightengale Day. You remember Bob Nightengale. He's the USA Today national baseball writer who sent some into a tizzy when he Tweeted this on Christmas Eve:

All signs and top #MLB sources say that the #Athletics will be granted permission by Feb to move to San Jose.

Yep, he predicted -- with a tip from unnamed "top MLB sources" -- that Bud Selig would make his ruling sometime in February. As in, last month. You probably noticed that his prediction didn't happen. Just as Lew Wolff's tiny but vocal group of boosters predicted the same thing would happen last November. Then they said December. And then January. And then Nightengale's Tweet.

None of it has come true, of course. In fact, February wasn't even half over when Wolff's cheerleaders vaguely chose a new "deadline" for a Selig decision: The owners meeting in May.

What are the odds that a decision, after three years since the three-person committee was formed to study the A's stadium situation, will actually come in May? Not likely. Not likely at all.

At some point, even Wolff has to understand that no communication from his old friend over enough time is all the communication he should need. Through his three years of silence, Selig is saying, "Time to sell, Lewie. Time to sell."

And we couldn't agree more.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

time to sell Lewie

Déborah B. Santana said...

and Bud, it's time to let owners who want to stay in Oakland buy the team.

Edward Current said...

Funny, now there's a report saying MLB will deny the A's request to move to San Jose.

It isn't MLB's decision anyway -- that idea is simplistic and uninformed. Still, it keeps popping up in commentaries and blogs ("Why won't Bud Selig just let the A's move? What's taking so long?") As described here on this blog, the situation is far more nuanced and complex. The Giants and other groups can and would sue if MLB were to make such a unilateral directive. Time to sell, Lew!

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