Jeremiah

Being largely at full strength certainly has them playing better going into the playoffs. That was a nice win against a good team. I don’t like that they gave up the lead so quickly in the third, but it was great to see them get a non-S/O OT win at home. It’s something the Kings have had a hard time with all year. Now comes the challenging Canadian trip to VAN, EDM, and CAL. If they hold their own on this trip, they’ll be looking pretty good for the playoff run.

I think it can be safely said there really isn’t one.

I think the story that Shohei was paying off Ippei’s gambling debts is plausible, if not really believable. That’s a lot of money for one person to rack up in debts when, comparatively, he wasn’t making money in the millions. I find the idea that Ippei stole the money even less believable, especially since that was a quick pivot from the legal department. I think the most plausible scenario is Shohei was betting on sports, and Ippei was his go-between. It’s becoming way more acceptable to bet now, and many pro athletes have been caught up in gambling scandals over the years.

MLB wanted this to be a retractable roof. The A’s presented their pitch to the state based on a stadium with a retractable roof. Fisher says the closed stadium is for fan comfort and stadium utility beyond baseball games. I think it’s because of the cost or space constraints. Either way, I agree with you. There are a lot of adjustments that will need to be made here based on what has already been released.

I think you and I have been through this already, and were talking civilly, then you need to respond to something not directed to you and insult my intelligence while doing so. I’m an English teacher, and I wasn’t even going to harp on your typos. But If you’re going to be rude like that, then just don’t respond. I already told you.

It seems then didn’t do anything, thinking they couldn’t put Arvy and Kempe on LTIR. So they only had $2.3M in cap space. I think they should have at least moved Kaliyev, if not Roy as well. Looking at what every other WC contender did, it looks pretty rough in the playoffs now. The Knights made another huge trade of draft capital and prospects today. When those bills eventually come due, they’re going to come due badly.

I had brought up this point as well, but it was dismissed pretty quickly. I think people outside of Vegas don’t get how popular the Aces are here. They’re the only WNBA team to have sold out their season tickets for the coming season.

Perhaps you didn’t read all of it, but I did mention a big change in attitudes toward Vegas in gambling on sports now being more mainstream. So, yes, I know it’s different now. I live here, and have for 18 years. I also mentioned their overtures to the Diamondbacks in 2018, but I guess that comparison is laughable as well. I’m laying out context and history around our mayors’ public attempts to bring teams to Vegas over the past 25 years. They’ve never made a secret of those efforts. So, from my perspective, having seen previous efforts, it seems very out of character for our sitting mayor to tell a team, who has actual plans to do so, not to come. Now, if you have something to add beyond chiding people for their opinions, then I’m open to civil discussions. If you’re just here to tell people they’re wrong and that’s it, then you can keep scrolling. There’s no value in that.

II don’t think they’ll draw even as many fans as the Knights do. That won’t be a good look for MLB or the A’s. There’s no local excitement for this. The only pushback I’d offer on the hotel/casino patrons is that, from what I’ve seen at Golden Knights, Silver Knights, and 51’s/Aviators games is that most people bring their families, including kids. Those folks are likely not pre- or post-gaming at the casinos. I don’t when I bring my kids to T-Mobile. I don’t see opposing team fans being enough to support an MLB team for 81 home games. As a sports team, is that what you want anyway? The team needs majority local fan support. Fisher won’t get that unless he spends $100-$150M on the roster. Is he going to suddenly start doing that in the 40th-ranked market when he never did in the 10th-ranked one? I don’t think so. If it was an expansion team, maybe, but for this organization? No way.

If things stay the way they are now, yup. They looked pretty listless again while playing a scrub Sens team. That should have been an easy two points, but they had to take it to OT against the worst team in the Eastern Conference. Thankfully Talbot was on his game. It’ll be interesting to see what they do today. I don’t know why they don’t move Kaliyev at least. I’d be okey with them moving Roy for a good prospect or a good forward on an expiring deal as I think the team’s blue line is in good shape.

You’d have to wonder if that glass wall would produce some kind of greenhouse effect. Also, if that opening truly faces west with no obstructions, then it’ll be a nightmare for batters around 7:00-8:00 in the summer. There’s no batter’s eye. I know it’s just renderings, but at this point in the process, they’re supposed to be more than speculative.

Easy there, big guy. No need to shout or accuse anyone of lying. Nothing I said is untrue or misleading. All anyone asked was what you think of the comments. The Goodmans have been lobbying various teams to come here for over 25 years (evidence of which I referenced). I happen to agree that Fisher’s plan doesn’t make a lot of sense. They’ll be kitty corner to T-Mobile. Can you imagine the congestion if the A’s have a game the same evening as the Knights? Or if there is a huge concert at T-Mobile on the same night? Or the embarrassment if the Knights draw better than the A’s It’d be insane. As for if I live here in Vegas? Don’t do that. I’ve lived and worked in this town for 18 years. You want to have a civil discussion, I’m all for that. You want to shout and accuse me of lying or misleading, then just scroll on by. I’m not here for that.

Actually, I don’t agree with that at all based on the history of this area, and the multiple times that our mayors have publicly lobbied for specific teams to move here. They tried for the A’s in 2001. In 2004, the previous Mayor Goodman rolled up to the winter meetings with showgirls, attempting to woo the Marlins. They also made public overtures to the Expos before they moved to DC. All of that was before gambling on sports became mainstream, which is why leagues would say no. In 2018, they began talks with the Diamondbacks before the situation with the A’s came up again. With all of that context and history of Las Vegas openly recruiting baseball teams, it seems to me odd that our mayor would suddenly tell a team owner, basically, that we’re not interested.

Do you genuinely think an agent of Boras’s stature would not take things like that into account? The RSNs and the Dodgers deals? I’m sure he had taken all of those things, plus other things we don’t into account. You and I don’t have to like or approve of Boras or any other agent. He doesn’t work for us, and we’re not involved in any of this stuff.

So, again, the question then is, what do you think she meant? What do you infer from those comments? I live in Vegas, and I’ve heard her and her husband (our previous mayor) speak many times. They are both, for better or worse, the type to say exactly what they think. She famously said in CNN that she wanted locals to be guinea pigs to see what Covid does. In the stadium case, the public money has already been earmarked. There is no better deal to be had by trashing the deal or saying how Fisher’s plan makes no sense (it doesn’t, tbh). That’s my take, anyway.

I’ll never understand fans hoping the players don’t get paid. The only reason we pay attention to sports is because of the talent on the field/ice/court. Because of the monopolistic draft and service time rules, most of them will never see the lucrative deals of big FA contracts. Most of the ones who get to FA will only ever see one big contract, while teams and MLB make tons of profit every year. I say, get your money. If the billionaires can’t afford it, then they are playing in the wrong sandbox.

She did say they’d be better off staying in Oakland. She was pretty clear about that. Under competent and interested ownership, she’s 100% correct. That’s the caveat. What did you infer from those comments?

This is correct. Now Bally’s needs to show what they’re doing with the rest of the property. It’s set to be demolished near the end of April. Both Fisher and Bally’s kept saying each was waiting for the other to provide renderings before anything can move forward. So we’ll see where it goes from here. Supposedly it’ll be a new resort and entertainment complex, something that would be more than what was on the Trop site previously. That’s an interesting idea you have. I know SkyDome has had a hotel inside of it since it’s opening in ‘89. They could perhaps do something like that as well.

That’s the weird thing about these renderings. The first ones featured a retractable roof. That’s what the A’s used to sell this idea to the state legislature. It’s also what MLB wants. They don’t want any more fixed domes. The A’s say the full-time closed stadium is more comfortable for the fans, but ARI has been playing in a retractable-roof stadium since 1998. That glass wall looks like it would have a huge greenhouse effect. I think it’s more they can’t afford the added cost. This stadium doesn’t look like it’ll sit on 9 acres, which would be the smallest footprint in MLB (Target Field is technically 8.5 acres, but its footprint is 10.5). There’s so much of this deal that makes little sense. I don’t think this area can sustain 33,000/game for 81 dates in the summer.

Unfortunately, they missed a good opportunity last night by failing to take advantage of a struggling Canucks team on a night when VGK was off and the Preds lost. They did move percentage points ahead of both, but that was a win they easily could have had. That second period was atrocious, giving up 19 SOG. On to the next.

It’s an opinion, and reasonable people can disagree. I’m not here to make fun or insult anyone. I’m just laying out reasons why Aces wouldn’t be a good name if the A’s had to change it. As to the relative merits of the NBA v WNBA, the NBA no longer has fundamentals or defense. Double dribbling go uncalled, and it’s just an individual shooting contest now. I’ve been a Lakers fan since the Showtime days, and it’s not nearly as interesting now as it used to be as a game. Anyway, I’ll leave it at that since this is more about how the A’s released their renderings. I’ve laid out why I think that would likely not work either in other posts.

I mean, you can make fun, but I live here, and I’ve seen plenty of people wearing Aces gear around town. They are their league’s biggest draw. It’s a better basketball product than the NBA is, and Adam Silver already has his eyes on Vegas for NBA expansion. Since the NBA and WNBA still share a close business connection, there’s no way they would allow that brand to be diluted locally. Besides Sacramento’s team is already called the Monarchs, so the royalty name is already gone.

I still have doubts that this will work. Fisher would be moving his MLB team from the nation’s number 10 media market to the 40th, making it easily the smallest market in baseball. That’s hard to sell for 81 home dates, and the broadcast deal will reflect that market size. He’s not magically going to start spending $150M/year on a roster after acquiring all of the new debt. He’d have to sell out the stadium for 30 years to pay off the bonds. Not going to happen. Plus, in Vegas he’d be the 4th or 5th option for fan interest and dollars. In order, it goes: Golden Knights, Rebels/Raiders, Aces, Aviators. The Knights set the standard for how a new team here should do. The locals won’t accept a pro team that’s a loser. It’s why the Raiders have had such a meh reception here (they rank 31st in attendance). The A’s would slot somewhere around where the Aces and Aviators do. It’s not a good look for MLB. The move makes no sense.

Well, we already have the back-to-back WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, who are owned by Mark Davis, and draw about 10K/game. He despises John Fisher. No way he dilutes that local name recognition. There are also the AAA Reno Aces. If OAK makes a deal where they keep the name and visual program, I don’t see Aces as the new name. Maybe something that references the old west history of the area. We used to have an AHL team called the Wranglers. All of that being said, I think there are still legitimate doubts as to the validity of this move. We shall see.

Another win over the Canucks and the Kings will overtake VGK in the standings. Things are going pretty well now, and I hope they can get this win tonight.