A “pit” by design

Yesterday our redoubtable commissioner appeared on The John Feinstein Show and was asked about the Oakland Coliseum.

“It’s a pit,” Selig said. “It reminds me of old County Stadium and Shea Stadium. We need to deal with that. I’ve had a committee working on it for two or three years, and there’s no question we’re going to have to solve that problem.”

Couple things.

1) If Milwaukee County Stadium was a pit, it’s because its owner stopped maintaining it to persuade lawmakers and taxpayers that it needed to be replaced. If it was a pit, it was a pit by design.

2) It hasn’t been “two or three years” since Selig appointed his Very Important Blue Ribbon Commission To Solve The Oakland Ballpark Problem Once And For All, it’s been four-and-a-half years. It just seems shorter because they’ve accomplished so little. What is the opposite of a whirlwind of activity?

But hasn’t the committee been working on it for a long time? What’s the hold-up?

“We have, John, but I’ll tell you it’s far more complex,” Selig said. “Look, you have one team that wants to move and the other team doesn’t want them to move, and it’s a very complicated situation. Before I leave, I’m satisfied we’ll work out something.”

“Before I leave,” he said. He is never leaving. This Bud’s forever.

(H/T to Craig Calcaterra.)