To the surprise of no one who has ever had a clue (this of course excludes the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors), the non-existent Loudoun Hounds extremely minor league baseball team announced yesterday that “due to stadium delays” the Hounds will . . . continue to be non-existent throughout the 2014 season.
As we all fondly recall, the all-Republican Board of Supervisors, taking on the roll of cheerleaders extraordinaire, last year kept telling the public how wonderful it was that wholesome family entertainment in the form of baseball was coming to Loudoun, how it was absolutely essential to sweep aside all citizen concerns and rush through approval of a series of special zoning exceptions for the stadium on a fast track to meet the deadline of opening day 2014, and how anyone who did try to raise concerns was “against baseball.” (Supervisor Geary Higgins, R-Catoctin, was so enthusiastic he posted on his official county website an offer to send citizens their very own free Hounds bumper sticker. How’s that for constituent service?)
The fact that recently ousted Hounds CEO Bob Farren is a close friend of Board Chairman Scott York (R-At Large), accompanied him on “official” trips to Germany, and arranged for $70,000 in campaign contributions to York and the other Board members from the stadium investors, had absolutely nothing to do with this very special treatment the stadium deal received from our dedicated public servants.
All along, it was clear to most people who have a clue that the Hounds were never anything but an empty promise, and that the stadium is actually being built as a party, concert, and rental venue. A few months ago the “construction” activity at the site still consisted of a few concrete pipes lying on bare ground. Plus a sign. It looked the same the other day.
Up until very recently the Hounds management kept saying they would begin playing next year at a temporary facility. Then yesterday they explained that part of the reason they would not start playing next year was “not wanting to begin in a temporary facility.” The fact that they hadn’t even started hiring a baseball team just might be a little obstacle to playing baseball, too. Or that they have still not received approval from the league to have the team at all.
You can still go to the Hounds website and read all sorts of happy PR corporate baloney boilerplate about the excellent “customer service” the Hounds will provide, which might be just a tad more convincing if the Hounds had (a) any service to offer and (b) a customer.
It’s amazing how much our public officials have been in the tank selling this whole rotten deal, and how little responsibility they are showing now that everyone in the world can see that the whole thing is a sham, if not a scam.
realloudoun 