Cincy Stadium Woes in NY Times

In case you missed the Christmas day article in the NY Times, the financial train wreck over the lopsided Bengal's Stadium was explained:

...the gap between expected and actual sales taxes continues to grow, something the county administration had been warning for years. In August, the administrator predicted not only a $14 million shortfall next year, but also a $94 million gap in 2014, a year after interest payments on the stadium bonds rise 44 percent. By then, the Reds will no longer be paying rent.

Last month, two of the three commissioners voted against cutting the property tax rebate, fearing a voter backlash. Raising the sales tax again was not proposed for the same reason.

“It can’t be 100 percent on the backs of taxpayers,” said Greg Hartmann, the lone Republican commissioner. “We gave away too much to keep the Bengals in Cincinnati. There has to be some middle ground.”

Hartmann and Portune want to introduce a tobacco tax, but lawmakers in Columbus, the state capital, may be unwilling to approve it.

So they have ordered more cuts in basic county administrative services, something that creates a slippery slope, said David Pepper, the commissioner who voted against the proposal.

“It’s like the movie where the blob keeps growing and eating away at other elements of county government,” Pepper said. “We’re beginning to cross a line in the sand by taking money from the general fund to pay for the stadiums. Once you put that money in jeopardy, you put the whole county at risk.”

Coaches

I did not play sports much growing up. Well, that's not entirely true, as we played lots of neighborhood baseball and stuff like that. There was a summer or two where we played baseball almost every day. But as far as organized sports I only endured soccer for a couple years, and no other sports. It just didn't interest me, and my parents gave me the choice. Plus I wasn't very good.

But despite my lack of athletic abilities, I remember fondly my two soccer coaches. One was Mr E. I don't think he knew much about soccer, but he was a good man, who gave a lot of his time. He wore cut-off jeans and his son played with us. The other coach, Mr V, was an immigrant who obviously knew the sport well. He had a mentally handicapped son, who was about my age, and the son would help with the equipment etc.. Mr. V was an exceptionally kind man. I remember one particular instance, in which one kid on our team who was overweight was being harangued by the rest of us for taking so long to do his laps, and Mr. V had a talk with us about it. And I am sure that he wanted to be coaching his son, not a bunch of stranger's kids, but his son was not able to play, so he treated us as his own.

I am remembering all this as I sit and watch my son being coached at wrestling. Now this is a sport that until last month, I had never even seen, much less participated in. But my son is much more into this stuff than I ever was, and he asked about wrestling, and it seemed like a good fit. But I sit here and watch these men come in 3 nights a week and organize a whole wrestling program completely as volunteers including Sunday tournaments. And what reminded me of my childhood coaches was when I saw one of the wrestling coaches coming into practice holding a daughter with Down's Syndrome. And he started the coaching session holding her until his wife could get there. And I remembered my soccer coach from 30 years ago, kindly holding his son's hand while he coached other parent's kids.

Why do they do it? They seem to take the responsibility as a fact of life. Whatever the reasons, I really appreciate it. Thanks guys.

Amateur Boxing

I am pretty excited about the streetcar election results, but really don't have much to say about it. It has all been said ad nauseum. I was against the casino. But casinos are in most states now, and having them in an urban environment is better than having them out in a cornfield, I guess. I worry about raising a family a few blocks from a casino. I hope never to enter.

I want the first streetcar painted with Bengal Stripes.

BTW, has anyone here ever been to one of these ameteur boxing matches? I see these handbills every once in a while, and I'm curious:
 

Withrow Marching Band at Dribblethon

Just like last year, we had a great time watching the very entertaining Withrow Marching Band at Dribblethon. Here are a couple of very short videos highlighting the drummers:

Being Santa

Posts have been minimal here, because Christmas preparations have been grueling.

The only thing my son wanted for Christmas was a tetherball set. At first I said no, because we don't have a yard in which to install it. Then my dear wife thought of a wonderful idea that I could make a portable one with a pole and some concrete in an old tire. This way it would be portable, and we could take it in and out and eventually maybe take it permanently to one of the grandparent's house.

Fortunately old tires are easy to come by in this neighborhood. I found one on the sidewalk a few blocks away. I rolled it home, and put plywood in the bottom. Then I filled it with concrete mix and stuck a pole in it. I drilled put an eye-hook at the top, and presto we had a tether ball pole. Now the problem was that I had put over 120-lbs worth of concrete in this tire, and I could barely move it. Add to this that the concrete was still curing, and at 2am last night, I was starting to picture an extremely disappointed son waking up in five hours to a non-functional tetherball pole.

But, I got it together, and set it up in our vacant first floor storefront. I made it so a 1 1/2" pole was permanently attached to the tire, and 1 1/4" pole slides inside of it to make a tall pole. I brought the longer, skinnier pole up by the Christmas tree with the rope and ball attached. I put a note on the pole from Santa, saying the base was downstairs. The boy loved-it, and later in the day he challenged all his cousins, and even some aunts and uncles.

He is so happy, and I must thank my wife for making me build it.

The best part about Christmas for adults is not the anticipation, but the rest afterwards! I think we all will be hitting the sack extra early tonight. Good night and Merry Christmas!

...what exceptional gift did either you or your child get?

Dreaming of Baseball

I was just agreeing with Westender that by the time Christmas is over, I am done with winter. I'm pretty warm-blooded, so the cold doesn't bother me too much, but the high heating bills are a real drag.

There just isn't enough sunshine this time of year. So here's to spring time and opening day:

 

Soccer in Washington Park

While kicking the soccer ball in the park, a group of kids surrounded us and played. One kid (not shown) made quick attatchment to me. He said "do you play with your son a lot?" Me: "yeah" Him: "I wish you were my dad." That was heavy.

mushrooms:

Where in Cincy is this Painting?

come on, name this west-side establishment:

 

UPDATE:
Drew of Drew-O-Rama answered named my quiz photo quite fast:

We had a good time with the kids at Cancun and then bowling:

Flashing Flag Pins:

Hoinke Classic Winners:

Erwin Hoinke Pin Presented at Hotel Gibson, March 17, 1945:

UPDATE: here are some scanned images, Western Bowl and Hoinke Classic:

Tennis at Lincoln Rec Center

Just to the south of the Jet In, there is a public tennis court. It doesn't seem that well-used, but it is decent. I can't get over the fact that the Lincoln Rec Center is never open on Saturdays:

Dribblethon

Nast Trinity sponsors this event every May. Kids dribble around Washington Park, get a free basketball and meet some sports heroes. This time they were meeting UC football players.

There was a dribbling parade, with Withrow band leading the way. Jeff Berding was here. I see him at a lot of events like this with his kids. Seems too low-key to be much of a politician:

We had a great time. The Withrow Band was rocking, and my son dribbled his first basketball, and he loved it.