Um, that would be me in the role of “media wh-re”, not Miles. 

OK - it’s fixed.  Over on the right you can see a “My shared files” box.  Just click on the “cbc interview” link and it should open.

I was momentarily stumped by the interviewer’s “how did you do it?” question, and after listening to it today I thought I should try to do a quick recap of the events for the blog.

Stay tuned.

And definitely worth the effort:

WHEREAS, the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Lynx are involved in a legal dispute pertaining to Ottawa Stadium;

AND WHEREAS the parties desire to provide some clarification on the permitted use of Ottawa Stadium at 300 Coventry Road without prejudice to the rights of either party in the current pending dispute; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: 1.         On the understanding that such action will be without prejudice to the rights of the City and the Ottawa Lynx in the current and pending litigation between the parties, staff be directed to move forward to expeditiously conclude an agreement with the Ottawa Lynx and the Can-Am League in a manner that allows the parties to mitigate anticipated damages, to the extent possible, should the Ottawa Lynx Company not play its home games at the Ottawa Stadium, including permitting a professional baseball team from the Can-Am League to play its home games at the Ottawa Stadium for the 2008 and 2009 baseball seasons at the same cost as the Lynx, namely, $108,000 per season, payable at the end of November in each of the above two seasons. 2.         That the City Manager be given delegated authority to negotiate, conclude, in conjunction with the City Solicitor, and execute on behalf of the City, the necessary agreement. 

And that, as they say, is that. Couple of things though - note who moved and seconded the motion. Both Mr. Monette and Mr. Jellet, as well as Rainer Bloess deserve credit - and if you’re in their ward, your vote.

More later.

At least for a little while.  Today’s positive news (from all outlets, by the way) stands in stark contrast with the years (yes, YEARS) of relatively bleak news concerning the Lynx.  There’s a lot of hard work ahead for Mr. Wolff, and having come this far I’m hopeful that the groundswell of support will be maintained.  Having witnessed first hand the loss of our AAA team and the departure of many fine people in the Lynx organization, I am painfully aware of the consequences of my own indifference.

But rather than look too far forward, or too far back, I’m going to try to just enjoy the moment. 

Tomorrow, the work protecting the Lynx’s legacy begins for all of us.

Tenacity

Miles Wolff displayed a willingness to keep coming back - long after most would have walked away, angered.  This quality will serve him well in the coming years in the Nation’s Capital.

Dogged determination

Our good friend - we’ll call him “Bruce” simply refused to accept “no” for an answer.  Always ready to listen to any idea - no matter how outlandish, and never willing to quit on his simple dream:  A baseball game to watch with his son next year.  There was no other angle, no financial interest, nothing.  It was just that straightforward, and unfortunately, just that maddeningly complex.  I learned a few lesssons working with Bruce and Miles, but none larger than this:  Never quit.

Unwavering class

Kyle Bostwick and Ray Pecor.  Let’s be honest:  These gentlemen don’t owe the City anything - not $3.1M and certainly not any “good will”.   That well should have run dry long ago.  But, they continue to confound the cynics and the naysayers with their seemingly endless capacity to do the right thing - even when there wasn’t anything in it for them.   And doing the right thing has nothing to do with any “public relations” calculus, nor how things will play in the press - it’s just the way these people are.  And we ran them out of town on a rail.

Please never underestimate or discount their part in what happened this evening - Ottawa City Council has given the go-ahead to the Can AM League to negotiate an agreement for the use of Lynx Stadium in 2008.

More, as they say, later.

*** UPDATE ***

It’s later.   Just one last quick note for this evening.  Neate posts up on it here, and he adds what I forgot - acknowledging our good friends at City Hall:  Bob Monette, Rainer Bloess and Rob Jellett.  These three councillors supported the notion of Independent Baseball in Ottawa from the get-go.  Gentlemen, I thank you.

No.  Not that cause.  A friend from the other side of the Ottawa River has sent this request:

We are currently in the promotion of trying to bring Jacques Doucet into the baseball hall of fame, if possible and if you agree, it would be nice if you can mention a word on it on your blog, here is the link for more details:

http://encorebaseballmontreal.com/cgi-bin/encore.cgi?lang=en&options=140&section=home&profile=

and here is a press release:

TO ALL BASEBALL FANS THAT HOPES TO SEE MR JACQUES DOUCET BE ADMITTED INTO
>> THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME IN COOPERSTOWN IN 2008. IT IS STILL
>> POSSIBLE BECAUSE ALL WE NEED IS FOR EACH OF US TO VOTE ONCE A DAY
>> EVERYDAY DURING ALL THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 1. IF MR. DOUCET
>> IS IN THE TOP 3 OF THE POPULAR VOTE LIKE IN 2005, WE CAN ALL HOPE THAT
>> THE DOORS TO THE PRESTIGIOUS BASEBALL OF FAME IN COOPERSTOWN WILL BE
>> OPENING WIDE FOR HIM. NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED YOUR VOTES EVERYDAY TO
>> HELP THE CANDIDACY OF MR JACQUES DOUCET FOR THE 2008 FORD C. FRICK AWARD.
>> YOUR HELP IS VERY PRECIOUS AND IMPORTANT. WITHOUT YOU IT IS IMPOSSIBLE
>> FOR JACQUES DOUCET TO BE IN THE TOP 3 FINALIST OF THE POPULAR VOTE. IT IS
>> VERY EASY TO VOTE JUST GO THE WWW.ENCOREBASEBALLMONTREAL.COM AND CLICK ON
>> THE PICTURE OF JACQUES DOUCET.  VERY EASY TO DO, FOLLOW THIS LINK
>> WWW.ENCOREBASEBALLMONTREAL.COM JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF JACQUES
>> DOUCET VOTE ONCE PER DAY EVERYDAY
>>
>> THANK YOU !

This of course, meshes nicely with a recent post over at Out of Left Field concerning Tim Raines’ chances of getting into the Hall. It’s tough when you have to ask voters to go a little deeper and actually conduct a little research.

“It was an awful lot of media attention for what was essentially a basic tree-trimming kicking off a Christmas fundraising drive. “

                                                 [Ottawa Sun, November 27, 2007]

No kidding.  A front page story complete with picture.  And let’s be honest, it wasn’t exactly a “slow” news day here in the Nation’s Capital.

Let’s hope that baseball gets the same amount of exposure come spring.

Okay - I’ve removed the offending post. I suppose, in some respects, I’ve let the “glass is half-empty” outlook cloud my judgment on this a little bit. And in the interest of “full disclosure” let’s be clear: I’m responsible for the editorial commentary on the blog (not that anyone else would want credit for it, but you know what I mean). The bitterness and opinion is all mine.

I’m hopeful that we’ll have an answer in the next few days/weeks. And I remain hopeful that the news will be favorable. As long as the CAN AM League is hanging in there - and as far as I know, they’re still “in there”, I’ll hang in there with them (and keep the negative thoughts to myself).

And for today, I’ll leave it at that.

You hope your friends are wrong.

Just a quick hit here until later today (possibly).  A couple of people have asked where FOTL, Erin Nicks went.  As of yesterday, her blog is breathing again.

Anybody interested in heading down to Connecticut in January and February and catching up with a blog favorite, follow the link:

Gary Burnham Boot Camp

If Gary’s at the helm, you know it’ll be fun.

More later.

A very (very) crude Google translation follows.  This was a piece written in Le Droit almost two weeks ago, but it allays some of the concerns/questions/issues raised here.

Le jeudi 15 novembre 2007

Can-Am : lueur d’espoir à Ottawa

Miles Wolff préférerait sans doute accueillir un club d’Ottawa dans la ligue Can-Am en 2008, plutôt que de miser de nouveau sur une équipe itinérante comme les Grays. Photothèque Le Soleil

Carl Tardif

Le Soleil

Une ­lueur d’es­poir ­vient d’ap­pa­raî­tre ­dans les ­yeux du com­mis­sai­re de la li­gue Can-Am de ba­se­ball in­dé­pen­dant. Au mo­ment où Mi­les ­Wolff en­voyait le ca­len­drier 2008 à ses ­huit équi­pes, plus ­tôt cet­te se­mai­ne, il re­ce­vait un ­coup de fil d’un avo­cat de la ­Ville d’Ot­ta­wa lui de­man­dant un dé­lai de quel­ques ­jours ­afin de trou­ver le ­moyen de join­dre les ­rangs du cir­cuit dès la sai­son pro­chai­ne.

«Il ­s’agit d’une ex­cel­len­ce nou­vel­le, car ­c’était mon pre­mier vé­ri­ta­ble ­contact ­avec les au­to­ri­tés mu­ni­ci­pa­les de l’en­droit. Au mo­ment où l’on se par­le, Ot­ta­wa pour­rait en­co­re ­être l’une de nos ­huit for­ma­tions ­pour la sai­son 2008», ad­met­tait le com­mis­sai­re et co­pro­prié­tai­re des Ca­pi­ta­les de Qué­bec, ­hier mi­di, quel­ques heu­res ­avant la da­te de tom­bée.

Se­lon ­Wolff, la pré­sen­ce d’Ot­ta­wa ­dans les ­rangs de la li­gue se­rait im­por­tan­te, et ce, ­pour plu­sieurs rai­sons. ­Après les re­traits des fran­chi­ses de ­North Sho­re et de New Ha­ven, la li­gue Can-Am ­avait été for­cée de confir­mer le re­tour de l’équi­pe iti­né­ran­te ­pour une deuxiè­me an­née de sui­te.

«Si Ot­ta­wa em­bar­que, les ­Grays n’au­ront ­plus ­leur rai­son ­d’être. ­L’ajout d’une conces­sion en sol ca­na­dien en­ver­rait un si­gnal po­si­tif à nos ama­teurs et à nos par­te­nai­res. ­Avec des ­clubs à Qué­bec et Ot­ta­wa, ça ­nous ai­de­rait aus­si à dé­ve­lop­per le mar­ché de Mont­réal en 2009, et ­peut-­être ce­lui de To­ron­to», ajou­tait ­Wolff.

Bataille juridique

La li­gue Can-Am est ce­pen­dant coin­cée ­dans une ba­taille ju­ri­di­que en­tre la ­Ville d’Ot­ta­wa et les ­Lynx. Mal­gré la ­fait qu’il res­te en­co­re ­deux ans à ­leur ­bail, ­ceux-ci veu­lent s’in­stal­ler à Al­len­town, ­mais la ­ville ­leur im­po­se­rait une amen­de ­pour le non-res­pect du ­contrat. Les ­Lynx ont ré­pli­qué en dé­po­sant une pour­sui­te ­contre les au­to­ri­tés ­pour ­avoir bri­sé les ter­mes du ­bail.

«La ­ville étu­die tou­jours la pos­si­bi­li­té de ­nous ­louer le sta­de aux mê­mes condi­tions que le ­bail ori­gi­nal des ­Lynx. a expliquéWolff. On de­vrait ­avoir une ré­pon­se ven­dre­di, au ­plus ­tard. J’ai de­man­dé aux équi­pes de ne pas pu­bli­ci­ser ­tout de sui­te ­leur ca­len­drier ­pour 2008, au cas où la ré­pon­se d’Ot­ta­wa se­rait po­si­ti­ve.»

Si Ot­ta­wa dé­ci­dait d’ou­vrir ses por­tes à la li­gue Can-Am, les pro­prié­tai­res des équi­pes ac­tuel­les de­vraient vo­ter en fa­veur de son en­trée. L’au­tre im­bro­glio se­rait de dé­ni­cher un pro­prié­tai­re ­pour ad­mi­nis­trer la fran­chi­se on­ta­rien­ne.

******************************************************************************************************** 

And now in (cough) English:

Can-Am: glimmer of hope in Ottawa

Carl Tardif

Le Soleil

A glimmer of hope just appear in the eyes of the commissioner of the Can-Am league baseball independent. When Miles Wolff sent the calendar 2008 to its eight teams, earlier this week, he received a phone call from a lawyer for the City of Ottawa asking for a few days to find a way to join the ranks of the circuit from next season.

“This is an excellent news because it was my first real contact with the municipal authorities of the place. At a time when we are talking about, Ottawa could still be one of our eight formations for the season 2008, “admitted the Commissioner and co-owner of the Quebec Capitales, yesterday noon, a few hours before the deadline.

According to Wolff, the presence of Ottawa in the ranks of the league would be significant, for several reasons. After withdrawals franchises North Shore and New Haven, Can-Am League had been forced to confirm the return of the roving team for a second straight year.

“If Ottawa loads, the Grays will no longer their raison d’être. The addition of a concession on Canadian soil send a positive signal to our fans and to our partners. With clubs in Quebec City and Ottawa, it would help us to develop the market in Montreal in 2009, and perhaps that of Toronto, “said Wolff.

Legal Battle

The Can-Am league, however, is stuck in a legal battle between the City of Ottawa and Lynx. Despite the fact that there are still two years to their lease, they want to settle in Allentown, but the town they impose a fine for breach of contract. The Lynx responded by filing a lawsuit against the authorities for having broken the terms of the lease.

“The city still is studying the possibility of us rent the stadium on the same terms as the original lease of Lynx. A expliquéWolff. We should have an answer Friday at the latest. I asked the team not to immediately publicize their schedule for 2008, if the answer is affirmative Ottawa. “

If Ottawa decided to open its doors to the Can-Am league, the owners of existing teams should vote for his entry. The other imbroglio would be to find an owner to administer the Ontario franchise.

*****************************************************************************************************

Finally, I understand that there may be an interview with Miles Wolff published in the Citizen and or Le Droit in the next few days.