July 29, 2003 [LINK]

Red hot rivalries

This past weekend featured two excellent series between old rivals: the Red Sox won two out of three from the visiting Yankees, sending Bostonians into euphoria. Mr. Steinbrenner warned Boston not to get its hopes up. In Montreal, the Expos managed to beat the Braves two out of four games, including one dramatic extra-innings squeaker and one complete blow out. Marcus Giles, Gary Sheffield, and Javy Lopez have all been batting like crazy lately.

Yesterday's Washington Post had an article explaining how Federal Tax Code encourages baseball stadium construction by making interest payments on bonds taken out to finance such facilities exempt from taxes. The public usually doesn't notice such obscure legislative provisons, but it all adds up to a huge hidden subsidy to team owners, and a drain on the U.S. Treasury.