Were it not for Artestmania, the following incident, as reported on by the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga, might’ve gotten more play. And trust me, it looked good.
Yesterday’s gathering was preceded by a brief protest when District resident Adam Eidinger, 31, stormed to the podium and yelled, “This is a bad deal, people!” Eidinger remained on stage yelling before several officials — including 73-year-old Charlie Brotman, the former public address announcer at RFK Stadium for the Senators, and District Councilman Harold Brazil — wrestled him away, with the help of security.
Eidinger, a former candidate for the District’s shadow representative to Congress, called the deal with baseball “half-baked” and a “rip-off,” and other protesters made their presence known as well. John Capozzi, who leads a group called NO DC Taxes for Baseball!, held aloft a seat cushion that read, “I am a DC taxpayer/business and paid $500 million for a baseball stadium and all I got was a lousy seat cushion.”