If the party in control of Washington really wanted to put an end to all these stadium games, it could do so in an instant by passing an excise tax on all local-level subsidies, as Rep. David Minge, D-Minn., proposed in 1999, instantly making stadium subsidies undesirable. What's the point of getting a wad of cash for your stadium if you just have to pay it right back out to the IRS? Minge's bill didn't even make it out of committee before it was stymied by sports league lobbyists. If there's something to be outraged about, it's not who chooses to protest how; it's that Congress has the power to nip sports subsidies in the bud, but it never seems to find the backbone to do it.