Down in Atlanta, the owners of the Atlanta Braves have decided that 17-year old Turner Field is inadequate to house their perennial playoff stumblers. So they've managed to find a new county full of suckersto fleece. We went through a long period in which cities laughed off this kind of blackmail -- It's one of the reasons that the current ownership of your WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON RED SOX decided to keep playing in America's Most Beloved Ballpark. Nobody would build them another one. -- and now it seems that the greedy-bastard worm may be turning again.

Schiller, an executive vice president of sales and marketing, said financing will come from the Braves and the Cobb County government. The team will be responsible for cost overruns. He declined to say how much taxpayers will be responsible for, saying that information as well as the length of the new lease will be made public soon. The Cobb Marietta authority will own the stadium, with construction scheduled to begin next summer.

I have a guess. I ran it through my own mathematical formulae several times and every time the answer came out: A Whole Shitload.

Anyway, the proposed shakedown of Cobb County's taxpayers has hit at least one snag, all politics being local.

Joe Dendy, chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, says that he has two conditions for supporting the Braves' proposed move (h/t Jim Galloway): 1) That Cobb County citizens won't have to pay higher taxes as a result, and 2) "It is absolutely necessary the (transportation) solution is all about moving cars in and around Cobb and surrounding counties from our north and east where most Braves fans travel from, and not moving people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta."

Because we don't want people moving into Cobb By Rail From Atlanta.

No, thank you, I won't be needing the Enigma Machine today.

This is not about race because nothing is ever about race.

UPDATE -- In related news,screwing the indigent is always an effective corporate strategy, too.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io