Does Anyone Here Speak Rattoese?

Sounds a bit to me like Ratto is going for some gonzo sports journalism.  I think his main point is that Wolfe is just using the MLS play to leverage himself into SJ, either to actually move the A's there or to create a credible threat of doing to, therefore motivating Oakland to cough up some money for the new East Bay stadium.  He also seems to be making a larger point about the nefarious schemes of the guys who run MLS -- I'm surprised he has such a well-developed contempt for them, I have absolutely no idea who they are.  But then, I haven't been following the Quakes-leave-SJ story.

I actually like this piece by Ratto -- his cynicism fits perfectly well in the world of professional sports leagues and development deals.  I also have to give him lots of credit for (a) using the phrase "couldn't care less" correctly (rather than the more common but completely illogical "could care less"), and (b) mentioning Greil Marcus.

I saw Tim Romani, who does most of the major stadium projects in the US and has a company with Anschutz, speak in my sports management class.  Anschutz and his firm find run down real estate, stick a stadium in there (MLS if they must,  Anschutz owns like 50% of the league) and then build a giant entertainment village around it.  They've done it in a number of places, like Denver and LA.  Now they're trying to move the formula to Europe in Berlin.  

They take a place that typically had no people traffic and with, say a new MLB stadium, suddenly create a place with 2-3MM customers per year.  The price of surrounding real estate can go from $15/sqft for an abandoned industrial park before the deal to $500-800/sqft afterwards.

So, since Lew Wolff is a real estate developer, he is looking for the perfect combination site for a MLB stadium to create his own money printing machine.  The MLS angle gives them both additional consumers and leverage on the SJ city council.  They'll lose their shirts on the MLS investment (as everyone has), but then make a killing on the surrounding real estate.

In the end, you can interpret the article in one of two ways.  Either Wolff et al really have no intention of staying in Oakland and are just positioning the pieces for a SJ move (and if anyone can get them to SJ it's Wolff - Selig frat brother and SJ real estate developer with deep connections) or Wolff is just letting his investment partners (Beane, Fisher, etc) go in on a project with him.  I know which one I think is more likely.

It's a little hard to follow, since he's filled up the column with so much colorful language and weird allusions.

So is Ratto right?  Beats me.  But that's what he's trying to say.

Ratto is definitely what my grandmother used to call too clever by half, making his message nearly incomprehensible at times through his efforts to seem erudite.  Translated, though, I think he's on the right track here:  the A's San Jose soccer interest fits well with their more general belief that the South Bay is the most fertile Bay Area market for stadium building, particularly when combined with housing+retail development.

Vertigo's Ballpark Blog (which call's Ratto's piece excellent) has been humming along this theme the last few days; lots of different puzzle pieces taken together seem to be pointing to the San Jos-A's of 2010 or so.  And the effect of Oakland's impending Mayor race on the current Council politics (plus Raider's related general stadium gunshyness) make it really unlikely that the A's current home town will step up any time soon.  There's definitely more to piece together here, but as things stand now I'd bet on San Jose as the next A's home against the entire rest of the field, Oakland included.

Yeah, I had to read the last paragraph three or four times ... but basically he's just leaving us with the visual of our own Billy, immersing himself in hording up all the under-valued soccer talent out there.   Just to give us a chuckle.  Call me crazy but I like the challenge of trying to read his pieces.  Yeah, he does often lose me, but I feel that's a small price to pay for the enjoyment I get out of the jokes he writes that I do follow.

ratto seems lost at times. if there isn't something interesting or traumatic to write about the giants, he often goes willy nilly into speculation and ego dreams. me thinks i smell a tom collins (or five).

what is all lost in this is that these owners have a lot of money. if wolff and co were to buy out rubios fish tacos, ratto would theorize that it meant the a's were doing away with stomper, as we all know pachyderms do not eat sushi. RIGHT?

this is simply a bargain hunt.

just like the a's purchase, wolff and co see a market demand, and a hole to fill. with the quakes leaving SJ, they see a sports market to profit from. plus, with rongonzo's garbage troubles in SJ, nothing is going to move in the near future. why talk sports when you can talk about censuring and criminally convicting a well-seated mayor of one of the richest tax bases in the area?

however, ratto would love to see the end game of a territory rights fight between his beloved giants, and those "spunky" a's. it would give him something to write about without having to down a bucket of trader joes (or is joses in this case?) vodka.

ratto and radnich are one in the same. lots of noise, limited talent, and moronic hullabaloos. (in fact has anyone ever seen them in the same place?)

Maybe, just maybe, if I were ADHD and if I was off my meds, I'd be able to follow him better.  Unfortunately even that would be of little help - his timing is worse than a Ford Pinto with a missing distributor cap.

Indulge me the opportunity to draw a parallel on Ratto's overused sense of humor that seldom delivers: it's like reading a vastly inferior version of Monkeyball who, when posting his zingers, consistently responds to the wrong parent-posts and, at times, in the wrong diaries too.

His line about Magowan's salmon shirt was pretty good.

In other news, I just saw a report of a DUI checkpoint outside of the parking lot after the Raider game today, complete with a video shot of a backseat littered with empty cans and bottles.  Some might call this shooting fish in a barrel, others entrapment.  

The A's want to be a part of the new Earthquakes so they have leverage to either to do one of two things:

1.  Move to San Jose.
2.  Get Oakland jealous so that city's government can get off its ass and do something about the stadium situation.

And everytime I've emailed him after I read his column, he's emailed me back.  Generally just a few words, but there's something to be said for someone who: a.) puts his email address out there after every column, inviting everyone to tell him what a nutball he is; and b.) personally responds  to those who write him.