I know it’s the height of baseball’s silly season, but when your headlines start reading like those of The Onion, maybe it’s time for a new editor. No, Fran Spielman’s piece in today’s Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs Woo Dave Matthews Despite Poo, is neither:
a) a report on Jim Hendry’s $75mil/6 offer for a new shortstop;
b) evidence that even sports reporters think Matthews’s music is shit;
or c) very interesting at all.
Rather, it’s an excuse to shoehorn a reference to our beloved DMB’s sordid past while reminding us that as long as teams are forced to abide by MLB’s dictatorial revenue-sharing policies, everyone suffers:
After committing nearly $300 million to free agents this winter, the Cubs are more desperate than ever for cash not subject to Major League Baseball’s revenue-sharing edict.
Enter the Dave Matthews Band, whose bus driver unloaded 800 pounds of human waste on a tour boat passing under the Kinzie Street bridge in 2004.
The Cubs are asking City Hall for permission to hold their second pair of outdoor concerts in two years — this time starring Matthews on the weekend that follows July Fourth.
For every dollar the Cubs earn on game days, 34 cents must be shared with other teams. For every dollar raked in at a concert, the Cubs get to keep 100 percent.Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) said he’s “not ready to give approval yet,” in part because there’s “more work to do on neighborhood protections, greater police presence and who the artist is.”