Mike O'Connell

A short but illuminating piece from last week’s Loudoun Times-Mirror (fast becoming my favorite local rag) describes the actions “transparency advocates” have taken to shine a light on incentives offered by local governments to Amazon re: its “HQ2” development. This is the sweepstakes Amazon is running as its board decides where to build its second headquarters, somewhere in North America. Will your local government be the one to offer enough from you the taxpayer?

Apparently we’ll never know. According to NoVaSaysNo.com: “Our state and local governments have signed non-disclosure agreements with Amazon, preventing residents from even knowing what is being offered with their tax dollars.”

Loudoun officials declined to answer questions from the Times-Mirror. The “Loudoun County Department of Economic Development” (I’m reaching for my wallet already) gave a bureaucratic response referencing Virginia Code sections eight numbers long.

The best bet at any sunlight on this particular issue is through Freedom of Information requests. Such requests have been submitted by, among others, members of the D.C. Metro chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Democratic Socialists of America.

Shouldn’t they favor something like government support (I’m actually thinking of a nastier word) of business ventures? Anyway, I think it’s the first time I’ve ever found myself on their side.

First time for everything.

You know what they say about politics and bedfellows.

Did I just see newly-acquired Yankee slugger Giancarlo Stanton hit not one but two home runs in his first game as a Bronx Bomber?

Oh, yes. And it’s still March.

And this is going to be fun.

From Twitter: @moconnelljr… If anyone asks about my bracket I’ll say I got half the teams in the Final Four. And leave it at that. #MarchMadness

That pretty much sums it up. For all the upsets and bracket chaos we still ended up with two number one seeds in the Final Four. One team that has absolutely no business being there, and another that will be America’s most hated team Saturday evening. (Sorry, Michigan. It’s true.)

The story, of course, is Loyola-Chicago, darlings of the Midwest, the nation, and the world. It’s not just that they’re an 11 seed. They’re an 11 seed that nobody had ever heard of, from a bottom-of-the-barrel conference, that somehow pulled off three squeaker victories before taking it to Kansas State this past Saturday.

Not since UNLV won it all in 1990 has a team from a “weak” conference won it all. And UNLV was a powerhouse team. The last time a nobody team from a nobody conference won the national championship? Probably these same Loyola Ramblers in 1963, though Texas Western pulled off the same feat three years later. The list of “bad conference” champions the past 50 years is exactly three names long. UNLV, Marquette (which wasn’t in a conference), and Louisville, who won two titles as a member of the “Metro Conference.”

Oh, this would be sweet to see Loyola-Chicago bring it home for the…

(Have you Googled it yet?)

… Missouri Valley Conference, home of basketball powerhouses Bradley, Drake, Evansville, and Southern Illinois, among others.

Cinderella story… comin’ outta nowhere.

Gotta love a snow day on the first full day of spring. Makes you think this theory might not be so crazy after all.

Nailed it.

It’s always football season in D.C.

Even among March Madness, Spring Training, Champions League games, and cherry blossoms, it’s always football season here.

Yesterday D.C. fans were treated to the first public visit/commentary from Alex Smith, new quarterback of our local football team (that would be the politically-incorrectly-named Redskins). Other deals and signings dotted the news this week as well, making us forget that there’s, you know, Madness out there to see. (Upstate New York still going strong, by the way, with Buffalo’s upset win over Arizona last night.)

It’s not all seashells and balloons coming out of Ashburn, though, remember. Those balloons come with a price. A story in my local Loudoun Times-Mirror (a weekly rag I’m liking more and more) reminds us Loudouners of the price we pay for Skinsmania. The story points to the financial burdens placed upon the City of Richmond, hosts of Redskins training camp, and how it adversely affects Richmond taxpayers. Lest one think this is simply a Richmond problem… “Loudoun drinks burgundy-and-gold Kool-Aid too.”

Ouch.

“As part of an unusual eight-year marketing deal [signed] in 2012, Loudoun’s supervisors agreed to pay $2 million to the NFL team, which practices and has its headquarters in Ashburn. In exchange, the county received “marketing assets” (their italics) that brand Loudoun as the corporate home of the Redskins in on-air mentions, advertisements and news releases, and on the backdrop that appears behind speakers at the team’s news conferences.

“The county also received special access to events at Redskins’ practice facility in Ashburn, pregame field passes, club-level game tickets and the use, one game a year, of a FedEx Field premium suite, which county officials used to entertain business leaders and prospects.”

Must be nice.

And I’m still waiting for my invitation to the premium suite.