Who says exploiting sports fans isn't fun for the one percent of team owners?

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"smile when you say that, stranger!"

Is that a Grateful Giants fan we see?

Did the graphics artist just scoop the Sports Department?

In order to frame the topic of the exploitation of sports fans let's outline an impossible hypothetical situation:   Would citizens of California agree to use their tax dollars to subsidize the building of a new stadium in Perth, in Western Australia, for the West Coast Eagles?   NFW!   No way, Jose!  

Would tax payers in San Diego and Los Angeles agree to let the state subsidize a new football stadium in San Jose?   Not bloody well likely, eh?

Would football fans in Los Angles agree to let Los Angeles city and county subsidize a stadium to lure a major football team to their city?     It seems that is a distinct possibility.

If the politicians in Los Angeles ignore the naysayers can the wealthy team owners count on the wealthy news media owners to forbid their word slaves from stirring up any opposition to such a deal?   If the politicians fork over massive amounts of tax payers dollars for such a hypothetical project can they then (perhaps?) expect some generous re-election campaign donations from the team owners?   (Ask the Marina (del Rey) Tenants Association about that.)

Has any team owner been shameless in the exploitation of eminent domain in the pursuit of personal wealth?   Is there any example of a humble rancher or homeowner being Bushwhacked by such a move?  

If low-income housing is being defunded at the same time that sports owners are counting on getting government subsidies and tax breaks can that be used by the OWS protesters as an example of their contention that the one percenters are insatiable in their hunger for profits via the trickle up principle?

While we were traveling in Western Australia (AKA the WA), we noticed that some license plates signified that the owner was a West Coast Eagles fan.

We can not say the name of the Football team in Fremantle Western Australia because that team has been embargoed from using the word by a pants manufacturer company in the USA.

How much revenue could be raised in California if football fans could pay extra for a license plate with their favorite pro-football team's logo on it?   Would there be any similar additional "found money" funds available if a similar option was offered to baseball fans?   To basketball fans?   How feasible would that option be for fans of college football teams?  

Are regional license plates in a huge diverse state such as California a good idea?

Obviously there would be some folks in Berkeley CA who would be willing to pay extra to have a Cal logo on their license plate but would there be enough to make it an economically feasible option?  

According to an urban legend, years ago when one California town was given the three letter combination of "CBS," broadcasting personnel from all over the state flocked to that city to buy a new car which would get one of the prized letter prefixes.

While traveling in the WA, we were told that the "KBC" letters combination indicated that the car's owner was a resident of the Kalgoorlie Boulder City area.  

Recently there was a news story in Northern California about a woman hockey fan who gave a whack in the head to a person in the row in front of her.   Unfortunately the victim was a young girl recovering from recent brain surgery for cancer.   The victim had to be rushed to the hospital.   Did that story get much play from news media in (for example) Concordia Kansas?  

Do sports team owners use regional factionalism to keep fans from organizing in much the same way that Republicans use a multitude of wedge issues to keep the squabbling Democrats from forming a consensus on a party platform?   How hard would sports team owner work to discourage a national union for fans?   Would they bring in the Oakland Police Department to break up any rallies urging the formation of such a group?

Recently while visiting the Westwood section of Los Angeles, we noted that there were no bookstores selling new books other than the student book store at UCLA.   Westwood used to have a delightful assortment of bookstores including the Bruin Book Company (BBC) which operated on a 24/7 basis.

Would publishers be able to getaway with it if they could convince the politicians in Los Angeles to use tax funds to build a store where the publishers could then "do their thing"?

Would fights between people wearing Strand Books T-shirts and City Lights Bookstore T-shirts ever make the national news?   

We heard a report on KCBS news radio Monday about the conditions being imposed on 49ers fans who want to buy season tickets when (not if) the team moves to San Jose.   They mumbled something about an additional "$20,000 builders fee" to be extorted from the fans.   Would soccer fans in Great Britain put up with that kind of exploitation of their wallets?   Would Manchester United, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspurs fans put aside their rivalries and say:   "Not by the hair on our chinny-chin chins!" and cause a fuss or would they meekly fork over the blackmail fees?   We read both San Francisco papers on Tuesday morning but couldn't find any stories about the possible exploitation of the faithful fans.   Perhaps readers can do a Google news search for more about the "builders fee" nonsense called "the Stadium Builders' License" (SBL).

Is it an oxymoron for nudist camps to sell souvenir T-shirts?

When the San Francisco 49ers play in Oakland, that city usually approves extra police officers to be assigned to be on duty and monitor the game.   Do they think that somebody will try to steal home plate?

Are sports fans part of the one percent or part of the 99%?

Will regional rivalry inspire Occupy San Francisco protesters to taunt the people from Occupy Oakland with cries of:   "Our cops can beat the snot outta the Oakland PD!"?   Or "The bankers in San Francisco are meaner and more ruthless that the folks doing the foreclosures in Oakland!"?

Is it true that in Los Angeles two rival documentary film crews got into a fight over access to a foreclosure eviction proceedings event at a movie star's mansion?

If there is going to be an unused football stadium in San Francisco, how likely is it that some concert promoter will convince some altruistic rock musicians to do a benefit concert there to help the Occupy San Francisco protesters bail fund?   Folks could urge support from the SF City Council by singing:   "All we are sa-a-a-ying is give Rock a chance!"   It would be a No Nukes Muse type concert for the "No Crooks" cause of those folks who have been exploited all the way out of their foreclosed homes.

Did Yankee fans meekly surrender "the House that Ruth built" and get an inferior replacement?   Are they paying more for tickets to the new venue?  

Didn't Oakland have to provide the Raiders' owner with all kinds of perks to get him to move his team from Los Angeles back to Oakland?   Didn't he get all sorts of breaks to go down to L.A.?   Are tax breaks like sex and drugs in that "you can never have enough!"?

Is it time for sports fans to Occupy the empty football stadium and join together for their own good and form a union or are they afraid of being labeled "socialists" by Uncle Rushbo.   (Doesn't he usually get to sit in the owner's suite when he goes to a sporting event?)

Leo Durocher, the manager of the New York Giants provided a T-shirt suggestion for the one percenters when he said:   "Nice guys finish last."

Now the disk jockey will play Teresa Brewer's "I Love Mickey" (featuring Mickey Mantle), which is not to be confused with "Gimme Mick," "Do you know the way to San Jose," and the Stones' "Street Fightin' Man."   We gotta go dig out our "No Nukes" T-shirt.   Have a "Go Hotspurs!" type week.

Authors Website: marijuana-news.org/smokesignals

Authors Bio:

BP graduated from college in the mid sixties (at the bottom of the class?) He told his draft board that Vietnam could be won without his participation. He is still appologizing for that mistake. He received his fist photo lesson from a future Pulitzer Prize winner. (Eddie Adams in the AP lunch room told him to get rid of the everready case for his new Nikon F). A Pulitzer Prize winning reporter broke BP in on the police beat for a small daily in Pa. By 1975, Paul Newman had asked for Bob's Autograph.
(Google this: "Paul Newman asked my autograph" and click the top suggested URL.)
His co-workers on the weekly newspaper in Santa Monica,(in the Seventies) included a future White House correspondent for Time magazine and one of the future editors high up on the Playboy masthead. Bob has been to the Oscar ceremony twice before Oscar turned 50.
He is working on a book of memoirs tentatively titled "Paul Newman Asked for my Autograph." In the gold mining area of Australia (Kalgoorlie), Bob was called: "Col. Sanders."