First, the Yankees: A watchdog group has alleged that the Yankees have been using public funds to buy ridiculous indulgences.

The group Good Jobs New York says the team turned in receipts for the 2005 year to the city for such extravagant items as crystal baseballs, post-season bar tabs, wool baseball caps, and gifts for corporate clients. The group adds that the "privately financed" project of building a new Yankee Stadium is actually costing taxpayers $795 million.

The Yankees deny the story. Meanwhile, Mark Cuban is openly using his Sharesleuth site to make him money on shorted stocks. The New York Times calls this "about as basic an ethical violation as there can be." But at least he — and George Steinbrenner — can dance!

Yankees Using Public Money To Buy Themselves Nice Things [Sports By Brooks]
Owner Mark Cuban Trades Stocks On Sharesleuth's Advance Info [Wired]

But as The Red Reporter — which is all over this story — points out, it's a unique case in Cincinnati. Lindner had the taxpayers built a stadium for him, and he rewarded the community by ... signing Ramon Ortiz? Cincinnati is one of the great baseball cities in the country and is passionate about its team, but Lindner had turned the whole metropolitan area against the team, to the point that the biggest hero in the town is probably still Pete Rose.

The new ownership could make Cincinnati relevant in the baseball world again, which is great, unless of course you're black, in which case, nothing in Cincinnati is all that great for you.

Meet The New Owner [The Red Reporter]

Another thing a lot of people didn't realize about Mara: He was a staunch pro-life advocate, once writing an open letter to former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo blasting him for his criticism of Church opposition to abortion.

And he was notorious for showing up at every Giants game. It almost became a Giant team tradition to give him a game ball toward the end of the season, apparently for surprising them all and surviving the year. Expect a very, very long column by Mike Lupica tomorrow that was probably written six years ago.

Wellington Mara Dies [ABC Local]
Mara's Response To Cuomo [Life Athletes]

Marlins blogger Fish Stripes is eager and just in calling bullshit.

Something doesn't add up here. Think about it. If you were crying poor (from your mansion) and I offered you $100,000,000 dollars if you'd only let me verify that you were poor, wouldn't you do it? Of course you would. But baseball isn't doing that here because they don't want to be called to the carpet about how the sources of their losses (in reality it's book losses like depreciation that cause a team to "lose money"). All of that would come out if this IPO would come to be.

So, what we've learned is that keeping their financial details private is worth (on average) more than $100,000,000 per team. That's amazing.

Baseball Owners Turned Down $3 Billion From Potential IPO [CNN/Money]
Marlins Turn Down $100 Million [Fish Stripes]

Today, the angry one rants about sports leagues' insistence on releasing attendance figures, saying it provides a competitive disadvantage, even though we're having trouble coming up with other entertainment options that don't release their numbers. (Maybe TV? Six Flags? Strip clubs?)

Whats more, since teams do report attendance, it gives media something more to analyze. They want to dissect how we get to the number. Is it paid attendance ? If the number was X, why were there so many empty seats ? Which in turn allows them to speculate even further about what they think is impacting attendance. How stupid are we for reporting attendance ?

We're no expert in this stuff, but when the Mavericks miss the playoffs next year, we're guessing that will have an impact on attendance. (Don't hate us, Mark! We come in peace!)

Because That's The Way We've Always Done It [Blog Maverick]

"Upon seeing the ring, President Putin, a great and knowledgeable sports fan, was clearly taken with its uniqueness. At that point, I decided to give him the ring."

Uh, we don't believe him. Do you?

Kraft Cites Circular Joys Of Giving [Boston Globe]

And Putin pocketed it.

No, really. Putin apparently believed the ring was a gift from Kraft and took it. The ring was then deposited in the Kremlin library. Kraft has yet to say how (or whether) he'll get the ring back, but ring's value is said to be "way above $15,000." Best part: Someone in the picture above blatantly stole something, and it wasn't Rupert Murdoch.

A Gem Of a Cultural Exchange [Boston Globe]

That sound you hear is Devil Rays manager Lou Pinella having his sixth heart attack today.

Naimoli's Bleeding D-Rays Dry [Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel]

Nationals Go Up For Bid [Washington Post]

This is what MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is going to do to Colin Powell: See that Powell is an extremely popular public figure; give him an initial high-ranking, visible position (top investor in the Washington Nationals); do most of the major maneuvering behind his back (with Peter Angelos); wait until he needs Powell's public persona the most and use it to defend a shaky premise (a publicly financed stadium in DC); and then leave Powell to take the heat when that premise is proven faulty.

Who ever said a couple of good car salesmen couldn't find themselves a quality sucker?

Powell Joins Nationals Investors [Washington Business Journals]

—On the way he was portrayed on Seinfeld: "It was accurate."
—What he likes to eat: "I like White Castles very much. I get them brought to the stadium for games. Krispy Kremes. I get calzones, Krispy Kremes and Dunkin' Donuts."
—His favorite television show: "'Mary Tyler Moore.' No two ways about it. The cast was so great. The people were all in the right place. When they went elsewhere, they didn't do as well."

In Rare TV Appearance, The Old Steinbrenner Speaks [New York Times]
YES Network Sunday Schedule [YES]

Assembly Passes "Disclaimer" Bill [Los Angeles Times]