Posted on 01/28/2013 5:07:26 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
The Miami Heat's upcoming four-game trip will feature a welcomed detour.
The White House announced Wednesday the team will meet Monday with President Obama at the White House to commemorate the franchise's 2012 NBA championship.
According to a memo from the White House press office, "President Obama will welcome the NBA Champion Miami Heat to the White House to honor the team and their 2012 NBA Championship victory. The President will also recognize the Heat’s ongoing support to the men and women who serve in our military and their families, continuing the tradition begun by President Obama of honoring sports teams for their efforts on and off the court. While in Washington, the Heat will also meet with wounded warriors."
The Heat made a similar White House visit with President Bush following their 2006 NBA championship.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.sun-sentinel.com ...
but the Obama buttlicking Miami media didn't really care...of course NOW they are all orgasmic about the team (some have attended fundraisers for the clown) visiting D.C.
I cannot understand the affections otherwise intelligent conservatives have for professional sports, which is merely entertainment, and taxpayer subsidized, crony (I hesitate to use the word) capitalism.
Oval Office thug hug.
Totally agree with you.
Totally agree with you.
There apparently are not many on this board who agree with us on this subject.
When someone starts a sports discussion, I usually reply with a Heilein quote - The United States has become a place in which professional athletes and entertainers are mistaken for people of significance.
I often get flamed.
If I was president the whole “visit with sports champions” thing would be high on my list of traditions to eject. It’s just dumb, and they’re delayed so long these days it doesn’t really have meaning, they won this back in June, half that team is gone.
You get flamed for it because you’re being an ass. Why go on a thread you’re not interested in? Just walk away, like most folks do with 99% of the threads that pass them by. We like sports because we like sports, we find them entertaining. You don’t, good for you. I know a lot of people who don’t, people are different, that’s what makes them fun to hang out with.
I love sports. I hate that they get taxpayer subsidies, and so should you, if you want to honestly call yourself a conservative, rather than the ass that you seem to be.
That’s a government problem though, not a sports problem. State and local governments have a long history of bending over for high profile corporations, and not just sports, look at the bidding wars car companies get when they start talking about building a new factory. If government keeps wanting to bend over I don’t blame corporate leaders for taking advantage of the situation, it’s just plain good business to not pay for you don’t have to.
I know 70% of NFL players have guns.
Maybe Baraq can give them a sermon on getting rid of their firearms.
Thhe team owners go to the politicians and they threaten to leave if they don’t get a subsidy, and they leave for a better subsidy, like the Browns/Ravens did. You don’t blame them? Do you blame welfare recipients? Public employee unions? They all use political clout to get government subsidies. So do professional sports team owners.
We fought off a government subsidized stadium for ten years until the local muck mucks caved. Pittsburgh and the surrounding counties voted down a sales tax to build a new sports complex, after which the owners (Obama supporter, I’ve heard) went to the governor, and got the whole damn state to pay for their playpen.
You ant to call me an ass, go ahead, knucklehead.
“I know 70% of NFL players have guns.”
We know at least one of them shot himself in the foot.
The exact same thing happens in tons of businesses. Every car factory that’s been built in the last 20 years had multiple candidate sites and various “deals” (tax incentives, free land, whatever they can think of) offered by the local politicians. Saw it right here where I live, Microsoft was talking about putting a support center somewhere in the country other than Redmond, bidding war ensued, Tucson “won” by offering 5 years tax free and made a big deal in the press about how once a support center was here MS was sure to put high paying dev jobs here. Six months after they opened the doors MS subcontracted out all support, the other company took over, after the tax waiver expired they outsourced half the staff to India.
All they’re doing is taking advantage of an existing system. As the street crowd used to say “don’t hate the playa hate the game”, as long as state and local politicians are willing to act like prostitutes somebody in corporate America, in all industries, will take them up on the offer. If you want it to stop the place to fight it isn’t sports, it’s government. It’s a behavior that needs to stop across the board, not just with stadiums but factories, retail outlets (WalMart is amazing at getting land deals), call centers, you name it. As long as there are politicians that think crowing about how many jobs they “brought in” by using our money to lure businesses this will continue. Focusing on the sports angle is complaining about a symptom and ignoring the problem.
IOW, steal it before someone else does.
It’s not stealing if they beg you to take it. These corporations are making the right financial decision for them. I’ll never fault anybody for making the right decision for them. The layers of government shouldn’t be making these offers, dozens of studies have been done showing they ALWAYS lose on these deals (not just the sports deals, all the “lure” deals), and yet they keep making them. If the governments would make the right decisions for them the offers wouldn’t exist, they don’t, so then the corporations get to make the right decisions for them, which is take the deal. If somebody offers to pay for you to have a new house built, you spec it, you hire the contractors, no feature is too crazy, whatever location you want, and don’t worry about cost over runs, what should your answer be? Welcome to the world of sports, factories, retail, any other “desirable” company.
The taxpayers don’t name the offers. At best, the team owners are receiving stolen goods. At worst, it’s s extortion.
Sometimes the taxpayers do approve the offers. And even if they don’t they elect the guys that made the offer. They are our duly elected representatives spending money on our behalf. Not stolen, not extortion, they are BEGGED to take the money, and it’s a sound business decision. And remember, it’s not just sports teams, it’s EVERY major corporation in this country. How did Toyota get that Tennessee plant? How did WalMart get their location closest to you? How did MS give away support to India? All through the same thing, BEGGED to take it. Focus on the problem, bad government; stop whining about the symptom, sports teams making sound business decisions.
We are a republic, not a democracy. The majority does not have unlimited authority to spend the taxpayers’ money, or take theei lakd by eminient domain, which is how some stadiums, including ours, got the land for their playpens.
Taking money from some people to give to others, for the political benefit of the takers, and the economic benefit of the recipients, is theft, morally, if not legally, wrong.
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