the nationals are freed!

So the Nationals have an owner at last -- the local Lerner group, headed by a real estate bazillionaire family. The racial angle is being grotesquely overplayed by Marion Barry. The Lerner group does include a couple of black partners, including former Clinton Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, as well as a couple of Latinos. I think Barry and others are just mad that Theodore Lerner (obeying Bud Selig's edict to leave negotiations with the city to Major League Baseball) didn't spend a lot of time wining and dining the DC Board and local politicians.

The quiet Lerner spoke publicly today:

"First of all, this is a 'Wow' type of a day. We're delighted to receive the opportunity to own this franchise," he said today. "It's something I've been thinking about all my life, from the time I used to pay 25 cents to sit in the bleachers at Griffith Stadium. . . . We're delighted."

I'm pleased too. I'm just glad the Nixonian Malek group didn't win.

More positively, this profile of the quiet Lerner makes me hope that between him, his son, and former Braves' executive Stan Kasten, the team will be run competently and will have stable long-term ownership. For me, they could make a good start on proving their competence by relieving Jim Bowden of his duties.