I detected some amusement on the other end of the line.

“I guess I’m not the first person from Ottawa who’s called today?”

“No. No sir, you’re not.” came the reply, with a thick southern accent.

Unable to sit around and wait for the press to tell me what had happened with the CanAm bid, I was determined to get out ahead of the story. Maybe even to get the story. I had called the offices of the CanAm League in North Carolina, hoping to arrange an interview with League Commissioner, Miles Wolff.

“Mr. Wolff’s not at this location. Let me get you the number.”

Two minutes later I was calling Quebec City, home of the Capitales de Quebec, one of two teams he owns. To my surprise, I was transferred immediately to Mr. Wolff. I was caught completely flat-footed; I just wanted to schedule an interview but due to his busy schedule, he suggested we just do it there and then. What the heck, how many opportunities am I going to get?

I pressed ahead, identifying myself, my m.o., and gave him the blog address. Apparently convinced that I was a “Friend of independent baseball in Ottawa”, he answered the questions in a very straightforward manner. I asked about his thoughts about the recent bid to put a roof over the Stadium and convert it into a soccer/concert venue. It made no financial sense to the commissioner - “You’ll never get that kind of money back.” He was at a loss to explain why the CanAm bid was being shelved; he found out about the Mayor’s change of heart through the media. He characterized Lynx Stadium as the best baseball facility in Canada, “a gem”. The deal that in July seemed to have an “80-90%” chance of succeeding, called for an inflatable dome in winter managed by Thunderbird Management Inc. and soccer would be played in the off-season. The grass would be replaced with the new “Field Turf”. Lynx Stadium would be open year round and would be the home for Baseball Canada.

I wondered aloud if the Stadium Group bid wasn’t just a red-herring, with the City’s real intent being to sell or lease the land for office/retail space. It seemed to touch a nerve.”If that’s the case, why doesn’t the City just sell off all it’s parks and recreation facilities? Stadiums, museums, concert halls - those are what makes a “good” city great. There’s a reason why stadiums are going up in the United States; baseball stadiums can be important.”

Here’s the killer:  The CanAm League deal has no strings attached. It wasn’t contingent upon finding a local owner, arranging funding or any other proviso. As has been widely reported, they would undertake a five year lease agreement with the City, picking up the remainder of the Lynx lease at the same cost - even though they were only playing 50 games.

Here’s another:  Even though he couldn’t guarantee he would have a local ownership group in place, or ANY owner for that matter, the CanAm League would still honor the lease - even if not a single pitch was thrown. The plan was for the “Grays” - a travelling road team with no current home park, to play at Lynx Stadium.

So what went wrong? As recently as two months ago there was a meeting with the Mayor and four or five members of his staff. Mr. Wolff left that meeting with, in his own words, “an 80-90%” certainty that the CanAm League was coming to Ottawa for 2008. The Mayor was on board, his directive to staff was “to make this happen”. And what about that “gag request”? According to Mr. Wolff, there are always political and contractual considerations, particularly in this instance. They were asked to keep it quiet until all the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed.

I asked what he thought the chances of the CanAm League playing in Ottawa were next year. With some resignation, he now thought they stood at “less than 50%”. They need to know by the end of September what’s happening, with the first week in October being the absolute “drop-dead” date; they have to set their schedule.

My questions then for my local councillor are: “What kind of proposal do you favor - a guaranteed five year agreement or what appears to be a hastily thought out proposal that raises more questions than it answers . Apparently, Mr. D’Angelo of Steelback Brewery fame is NOT on board.

More importantly,

“What kind of Ottawa do you favor - one that preserves it’s recreational spaces at no cost to the taxpayer, or one that sells them off for office space and big box retail?”

The real head scratcher - Why does Jacques Legendre seem now to be in favor of bringing a huge influx of traffic into his ward?

My God. This City never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Mr. Wolff took some positives away from Monday’s game, arguing that it should be regarded as proof positive that people will show up for baseball. And he offered this bit of advice for local fans of baseball: “People who want to see baseball in Ottawa are going to have to let their politicians know. Public pressure is what it’s going to take now.”