Professional sports is like a soap opera for men. Individual characters come and go, but the roles remain the same. Plot lines vary, but never too much. Each season builds to a crescendo—then it all starts up again in a few months. The saga of baseball in Richmond is turning into a soap opera, too—full of fickleness and betrayal, on-again/off-again relationships, speculation and intrigue. The latest news says the owner of the Connecticut Defenders has asked permission to explore the possibility of moving the team to Richmond, after a group here failed to scrape up the dough to buy the club.

Richmond lost its Triple-A baseball team. The future of The Diamond—located on the Boulevard—is in question. And a significant amount of Shockoe Bottom remains in decay. Good people want to do something to address all of these issues. The City of Richmond’s government is considering allowing the relocation of a baseball field from The Diamond’s site on the Boulevard to a new location. A competent development team is highly motivated to locate it in Shockoe Bottom. What would be the magnitude of the impact of this development on the rest of the city and on the region? What might be the unintended consequences?

I have a small business in Shockoe Bottom in a little building that I hope someday will overlook right field of a new state-of-the-art ballpark. But right now, it’s around the corner from a weed-laden, macadam lot where a historic slave shack has been parked on a trailer for as long as I can remember. Down the street are boarded-up buildings, the remnants of where the Lovings used to do business, and a bunch of lots where MCV researchers and nurses battle for parking.

For all sane people, there’s only one proper reaction to the passing into history of another Super Bowl: Just a few more weeks until spring training! Yes, baseball fans, the long wait till next year is almost over. Except in Richmond. Virginia’s capital city will be without professional baseball for the first time in 44 years. We’ve parsed endlessly the reasons why. So let’s look to the future.

We have a few more. With the help of another Church Hill resident, we suggest:—Dig a hole and allow the area to flood, as it probably will again someday, and just make it a lake. That way the city can charge for rowboats and other aquatic conveyances. Have bass fishing tournaments in the lake rather than the river.—Spruce up the Farmer’s Market by attracting artisans. Maybe even an art show from time to time.

Developers want to build a $60 million ballpark in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom capable of hosting a variety of events. They detailed yesterday how they believe they can pay for the project without tapping tax revenues that currently flow to the city and state.

With the economy the way it is, that money could go toward more needed projects in the city and surrounding area—and with Tim Kaine in the governor’s mansion, we do not need any more additional revenue streams to help pay for a stadium that has limited uses. Look at The Diamond—how many other events have been held there that did not involve a ball and bat?

Rubble reflects progress for University of Richmond football. Fresh off its Football Championship Subdivision title, UR recently started the on-campus stadium ball rolling with demolition at the site of the coming facility.