Capitalism and Politics

Over the weekend, the Rams’ #1 draft pick, quaterback Sam Bradford finally signed his contract and it was for a lot of money. A believe the parlance is a “panty dropping amount”. No. 1 overall draft pick Sam Bradford agreed to a six-year, $78 million contract with the St. Louis Rams Friday night, with $50 million in guaranteed money. The Rams and the former Oklahoma quarterback concluded negotiations in time for the first full-squad workout, set for Saturday. [Read More]

A few days ago we told you that former Cardinal catcher Mike Matheny might need to crash at your place for a little while. Nothing perminant. Just until he can get his feet under him. Two weeks tops…maybe a month. Oh and he says you’re out of Lucky Charms.

Former Cardinal catcher and still crowd favorite Mike Matheny is catching something else these days: Heat from a lawsuit filed against him and a few others by the Business Bank of St. Louis.

Matheny’s home is up for grabs and soon…like next Monday soon.  All yours for $2.5 Million dollars!

Our friends at Cards Diaspora came across this news and asked us for an update on Matheny’s situation.

From the excellent website Punching Kitty comes this tid-bit about former Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny: his house is in foreclosure and is or has been recently put up for public auction. Can we get PK to find out more about this story, please? Did this house sell? How the hell did Matheny get in this situation after only being retired a couple of seasons?

Ask and you shall receive! We have an update, but lets take these questions one at a time:

Can we get PK to find out more about this story, please?

Yes. Actually we just said that. Pay attention.

Did this house sell?

No! Our initial post on the dealings said that Matheny’s home was going on the auction block July 19th, but at the last second, the auction was cancelled. According to St. Louis Business Journal:

Larry Parres, the Lewis Rice attorney who represented the bank, confirmed the sale had been called off on the 10,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom home at 2034 Joe’s Way in Chesterfield.

Business Bank originally scheduled its foreclosure sale on the Matheny home for July 12 but then delayed the auction until [July 19th].

As of this writing we still couldn’t find any answer as to why the auction was killed the morning of it’s scheduled time, but as of right now the bank is still in control of Matheny’s home.

How the hell did Matheny get in this situation after only being retired a couple of seasons?

Matheny and his wife used their house as collateral for loans given out by the Business Bank to a real estate investment business owned, in part, by the Matheny’s. Not only that, but the Matheny’s are also on the hook for another 4.2 Million down do the same bank.

It appears investing in real estate was a bad idea in the last few years. Maybe he should have stuck to “Protege Baseball” videos.

via St. Louis Business Journal

[Read More]

Everyone knows those Dirt Cheap ads with that dumb Chicken jumping around. What you didn’t know is that Dirt Cheap has spent upwards of _$9._2 Million dollars in advertising between 1993 – 2009! That little detail was a nugget of WTF information embedded in the court documents about the trademark lawsuit between Dirt Cheap and competitor Cheap Cheap. Dirt Cheap, a chain of 12 St. Louis-area discount liquor and cigarette stores, filed a suit this week in federal court in St. [Read More]

A recent opinion piece posted in the Post Dispatch recently is making the rounds. The piece, written by UMSL professor Charles D. Schmitz is entitled “St. Louis is a world-class city” it’s a well-written rah-rah piece that someone from another town might brush off as self-aggrandizing, it makes some pretty cogent points. The focus of the piece is one major issue: St. Louis City should swallow St. Louis County. Schmitz ran the data as if that was the case and came up with the following: [Read More]

St. Louis is poor. Mayor Slay is about a month away from having city employees sell cheese and sausage to their families. If only there was another way! If the city could only fine a service they provide and then charge more for it… City residents can expect to see their water rates increase, and a new $144-per-family annual trash fee. The city also talked about charging a $10-per-person entry fee for recreation centers, though that precise number may not stick. [Read More]

On Monday, St. Louis’ very first female Postmaster went to work. Nancy Fryrear became the city’s 36th Postmaster when she stepped in to her office and did…I mean I guess she like got some coffee and then…geez. …what does a Postmaster do again? She will oversee the collection and delivery of mail to the 490,000 business and residential customers in the 631 ZIP code area. Her area of responsibility includes 28 stations and branches, 16 finance units and nearly 1,800 employees. [Read More]

Missouri Representatives Lacy Clay (D) and Russ Carnahan (D) hate the internet…or at least the old white guy with his hand up their asses is making them say that. A slew of House Democrats have sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission warning the agency not to go forward with its plan to partially reclassify ISPs as common carriers, a move needed to impose net neutrality rules. “The uncertainty this proposal creates will jeopardize jobs and deter needed investment for years to come,” wrote Texas Congressman Gene Green on Monday. [Read More]

Pujols’ agent, Dan Lozano, pulled a Jerry McGuire Tuesday, leaving his prominent sports agency and taking with him his list of big time clients. “Danny Lozano has left Beverly Hills Sports Council, and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” said agent Jeff Borris. Lozano’s departure is likely to have major ramifications within the industry. Pujols, an eight-time All-Star and three-time Most Valuable Player with the St. Louis Cardinals, is closing in on free agency, and is expected to sign an enormous contract in the aftermath of big recent deals for Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer, Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard and others. [Read More]

You know those signs states put up on their borders that you normally don’t pay attention to until the end of a really long road trip? (“Yea! Kentucky!”) Hold on to your butt because Missouri is revealing their all-new welcome signs! …and here they are! There it is! All $110,000 dollars worth. At this point we aren’t sure if making it part of it look like a Billy Joel cover was extra. [Read More]

St. Louis’ newest station 100.3 The Sound, owned by ClearChannel might be gone before it ever really got started according to a source of STLMedia.net: Clear Channel is very close to selling/donating 100.3 to one of the groups that tried to stop the KFUO transfer. Its a double win for Clear Channel, triple if you consider that The Sound is a complete failure. All of this is being done with San Antonio because of the complex nature of the deal, but it could be done by July 4th. [Read More]