Cup of Coffee: March 14, 2025

Good morning!

Did you know that tomorrow is the Ides of March? Yep! Which makes it the 2,068th anniversary of Julius Caesar getting stabbed to death by a number of Roman senators.

Caesar's murder was an act in defense of the Roman Republic, with his killers asserting that Caesar's claim of unprecedented and unchecked executive authority threatened Rome's republican traditions. The final straws, historians tell us, were (a) Caesar's refusal to show proper deference and respect to the Senate; and (b) some cheeky playing around with the title "king" and symbols of royalty, which the senators took to be Caesar testing the waters to see if he could, actually, pull off declaring himself king.

As with all matters of ancient history, who are we to say who was wrong and who was right in all of that? All we can say for sure is that a man who was really, really full of himself, who believed that the law did not apply to him, and who thought of himself as a king got his ass murdered. Thankfully, history never repeats itself so none of this has any relevance to the present and none of us should give the ideas contained herein any additional thought.

Now, shall we proceed with the rest of today's newsletter?

The Daily Briefing

Rays are backing out of their stadium deal

The Tampa Bay Rays had been trying to get a new stadium for over a decade. Then, last summer, the Rays, Pinellas County, and the City of St. Petersburg agreed to a deal for a $1.3 billion 30,000-seat stadium in a massive new development adjacent to Tropicana Field. There were a number of benchmarks that needed to be met for the project to go forward – not least of which was the Rays ponying up their portion of the cost – but at long last something was happening. All that needed to happen was for the dots and crosses to be scribbled out by March 31.

Now that stadium is not happening, as Rays owner Stu Sternberg announced yesterday that the team is bailing on the deal. Sternberg blamed the hurricane which tore the roof off of Tropicana Field, citing "a series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated."

Except it was more complicated than that. Yes, the hurricane created a massive headache that has forced the Rays to play in a minor league stadium in 2025 and which has led to a bunch of wrangling among the parties about whether or not to repair Tropicana Field, but it's also been pretty damn clear that the Rays owners have had buyer's remorse on that new stadium deal since at least last fall.

The Rays threw a hissy fit when last fall's elections temporarily delayed bond approval for the stadium. It didn't impact any of the relevant deadlines at all, but ownership representatives nonetheless made asses of themselves in front of city hall and the county commission and otherwise sent all kinds of weird, sometimes hostile mixed signals as to whether or not they actually wanted to do the deal that was in place. They claimed they were incurring massive costs that they would not document and then they said there needed to be more public money in the deal than the parties had already agreed to. At no point did the owners put forth any details about how they'd pay their $700 million share of the cost of the place. I've been saying since at least December that it appeared as though the Rays were looking for a pretext to back out of the deal and now they've simply backed out, so you do the math.

I suppose the Rays, ultimately, knew their BS with local government wasn't washing with anyone. That became pretty damn clear when reports circulated earlier this week that Rob Manfred and some other MLB owners are pressuring Sternberg to sell the club. My guess is that they're livid that, after all this time and all this hassle, the team was finally about to break ground on a publicly subsidized stadium only to have Sternberg get shaky about it. One of Manfred's years-long priorities has been to get the Athletics' and the Rays' longstanding stadium situations settled and now old Stu was messing that up.

So what now? Who frickin' knows. For its part, MLB released this statement yesterday:

“Major League Baseball remains committed to finding a permanent home for the Club in the Tampa Bay region for their fans and the local community. Commissioner Manfred understands the disappointment of the St. Petersburg community from today’s announcement, but he will continue to work with elected officials, community leaders, and Rays officials to secure the club’s future in the Tampa Bay region.”

I take that to mean that Manfred is going to continue to pressure Sternberg to sell and either get a new ownership group to try to get back in on that St. Pete deal or to figure out a stadium plan in Tampa proper. Not that I'm holding MLB to that. They pretty much have to say this now, but I'm guessing that, privately, league officials wouldn't be sad to see the franchise leave the area completely, what with how much of a business challenge it's been for the Rays for basically their entire existence. I mean, the team has been good, sometimes great, for 18 years now and they still can't draw. I think they'd draw better in Tampa than in St. Pete – bridges in between population centers and stadiums are death for attendance – but it wouldn't surprise me if people haven't soured on the idea of major league baseball working in the Tampa Bay area altogether.

That leaves a sale/relocation or a relocation/sale situation, which I've assumed for a few months now was what the Rays were really after. Whether that would mean selling the franchise to one of those groups trying to get a team in Orlando, Nashville, Portland, or wherever the hell else I have no idea, but none of them have a settled stadium situation either, so it'll take some time for something like that to develop.

As for the short term, the Rays will play the 2025 season in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, which is the spring training home of the Yankees and the in-season home of their Florida State League affiliate. Bombers owner Hal Steinbrenner has previously said, however, that that particular arrangement is a one-year solution and that the team will need to do something else for 2026. Maybe that means the Rays will help pony up for repairs to Tropicana Field, putting the team back in their old joint while everyone figures everything out. Maybe they become a traveling circus like the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. It's anyone's guess at this point.

Whatever the case, let no one say that this hasn't been a complete and utter shit show for many, many years. Hats off to everyone involved!

Rafael Devers is walking back his refusal to move off of third base

The Red Sox signed third baseman Alex Bregman this past winter. Just as spring training was getting underway, however, Rafael Devers said that he was the team's third baseman and that he would not consider moving to DH to make way for Bregman, despite the fact that Bregman is the far superior defender.

Yesterday Devers walked that back, saying that he'd be OK with being the DH on Opening Day. He said, "I don't make those decisions," and that he'll do "whatever they want me to do." He also said he had felt bad about creating distractions with his earlier comments.

All of this makes sense, and not just because, in a sensible world, Bregman would play third and Devers would DH. It also makes sense because Devers has still not made his spring debut yet and Bregman has not played any defensive position other than third base. If Devers was gonna be handed his job back at the hot corner you'd figure that Alex Cora would've put Bregman at second base or wherever a few times before now, yes?

Whatever went in to this, be it Devers accepting reality or a behind-the-scenes come-to-Jesus meeting, having Bregman at third and Devers at DH is the best result, so – and I mean it unironically this time – hats off to everyone.

Seems legit

From Sports Business Journal which, as this makes pretty clear, is reliably pro-owner and pro-capital:

Other stories coming soon from these guys soon:

• Should henhouses be guarded by foxes? This fox thinks so;
• Should kids be the only ones permitted to eat Trix? This silly rabbit thinks not; and
• Should the highway system have speed limits for roadrunners? This coyote voices his support.

I'll confess at this point that I did not read the article. But that's because it wasn't actually an article. It was merely an Instagram gallery with photos of Hal Steinbrenner of the Yankees, David Rubenstein of the Orioles, and Dick Monfort of the Rockies above quotes they've given to other publications in the past about how salary caps would be nice. A gallery that SBJ deleted about an hour after it went up, probably because everyone was making fun of it, both for the substance and for the unfortunate "the MLB" on it.

But don't expect the sports business papers to let this go! I mean, if they don't keep beating this pro-owner drum, what allegedly grassroots consensus for a salary cap will Rob Manfred disingenuously cite for trying to impose a cap two years from now?

Other Stuff

Yep, they're caving

There hasn't been a vote yet but yesterday Chuck Schumer made it clear that the Democrats were going to cave in and vote yes on cloture for the continuing resolution. Which means the Republicans get what they want without Democrats even attempting to fight back. The only way to combat Trump, Senator Schumer is functionally saying, is for Democrats to relinquish their power and give Trump exactly what he wants.

Schumer's actual defense of this is an admission that his and his caucus' decision was a reactive one, worrying about what Trump and Musk might do as opposed to having an actual strategy:

To say this is pathetic is an understatement. Trump has already got the keys to the city, state, and country and Musk is already destroying key government programs and services. Schumer's capitulation here ensures and ratifies that state of affairs for the next six months. Trump and Musk begged this dude not to throw them into that briar patch and and Schumer fucking bought it.

The only things that matter for a political party are whether it can deliver the goods when it’s in power and whether it will fight the opposition when it’s not. If it can’t do those things it’s worthless. The Democrats just refused to fight despite the fact the country is descending into fascism and lawlessness. To hell with these guys.

Guest Post: My Week With Gene Hackman, by Chad Supp

Disclaimer: What I’m writing is not a tribute or retrospective of Gene Hackman’s career as arguably the greatest American actor. Craig has eloquently and comprehensively covered that territory. Nor will this offer much insight into the personal side of Gene Hackman. I did not know him. My grandparents did. If you are curious about that story, my 93-year-old grandmother was interviewed for this remembrance in Gene’s hometown newspaper.

What I’m offering here is a cluster of memories I have of the brief interactions I had with Gene Hackman that occurred during one of the most memorable times of my life. In other words, and this will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me even a little, I’ve somehow made this about me. Also please note that this all happened over four decades ago. My mind works very well with the details and imagery of even distant memories, but things like specific dates and sequencing don’t leave much of an imprint on me.

Late one evening in 1988, during the spring that I was graduating from a small rural high school in east central Illinois, the phone in our kitchen rang. It was my grandma asking if we - my mother, my younger brother, and I - would like to come over to their house to meet Gene Hackman. Over the phone I could hear my grandpa in the background laughing and I very distinctly heard him say, “Oh, Chad is definitely going to want to meet you.” It was late, but their house was only a couple miles away, and this was not an opportunity we were going to miss. 

I had over many years heard my grandparents speak about growing up with their friend Gene. Most often it was when he would star or appear in a movie we were watching together, and sometimes my grandma would bring out their wedding photos from 1950 when Gene served as a groomsman:

A few years earlier, in the fall of 1985, Gene had been filming “Hoosiers” just across the state line in Indiana and had invited my grandpa and several of his other childhood friends to visit the set. All of them were used as extras in a crowd scene for one of the games, but alas my grandpa didn’t make the final cut.

Walking through the back porch into their kitchen that night, we saw Gene sitting next to my grandpa at the table. He stood up to greet us and he physically filled the room. All three of them had come from a formal charity dinner to benefit the restoration of an old local movie house - an event called “Night of The Stars” that featured Danville Illinois hometown celebrities Dick & Jerry Van Dyke, Donald O’Connor, Bobby Short, and of course Gene. As a guest of honor for the event, Gene had been wearing a tuxedo all night, and now in my grandparents’ kitchen his tux was in that “late night at the wedding reception for the father of the bride” state – no jacket, no tie, couple of top buttons undone. He was relaxed and friendly, giving us that million-dollar smile, and he was drinking a Stroh's my grandpa kept stocked in the fridge on the back porch. And he was big.

For the past 25 years I have attended an annual film festival where I’ve seen or met many film actors in person. I nearly tripped over Jason Patric on my way to the balcony restroom one year. I’ve stood next to Matt Dillon, peering down at him and wondering how this could possibly be Dallas from “The Outsiders.” I wanted to approach Hugh Dancy and tell him how much I loved the “Hannibal” television series, but I was afraid I would spook him. These guys are nearly always a lot smaller than they appear on the big screen. Hackman was somehow bigger.

We all sat around the kitchen table with him. It was intimate, despite the room being filled with my immediate family and a few of my aunts and uncles. The conversation was friendly, most of it being my grandpa and Gene reminiscing, with the occasional opportunity for one of us gawkers to chime in with a James Lipton question. Everyone kept their questions short and harmless. Everyone but me, I guess.

The first thing I remember asking was, “Have you made a film you absolutely regret? Like you would like it to have never existed.” I vividly remember getting that patented “heh-heh” grin and him giving me a “watch out for this guy” look. He gave it some thought and said he had made a French Foreign Legion movie called “March or Die.” He would be fine if that one never happened. It’s currently streaming on some free apps, but out of respect I will continue to pass on that one.

Later in the evening we were discussing his current films – recent releases, recent wraps, upcoming productions – and he offered some insight I will never forget. Again, this was spring of 1988, and he had recently worked on “Superman IV,” “Split Decisions,” “Bat 21,” and he was getting ready to film “Loose Cannons” with Dan Aykroyd. A productive time for him to be sure, but not a lot of classics in this phase. Gene described these as his “alimony movies.” He had divorced his first wife in 1986 and apparently this was his way of working through the settlement. I also asked him where he kept his Oscar for “The French Connection,” and he said she had it and most likely kept it in the bathroom. “Heh-heh.”

I continued to press with questions, and much to the embarrassment of my immediate and extended family, I dropped the hammer: “Is there a co-star in any of your films you just couldn’t stand?” This prompted another “heh-heh” and eventually a response like, “No, I’ve gotten along with everyone I’ve worked with.”
Well, this was an unacceptable answer, so I thought I’d help him out a little, “Really? Because I always thought [name redacted] seemed like a jerk.” And he immediately came back with, “Oh yeah, that guy was a total ass.”

I didn’t want to stop with the questions, but it was getting very late, both my grandparents and Gene were clearly tired (and likely everyone had had enough of me). We took a photo with him there in the kitchen (I’ve been looking everywhere for it and haven’t found it yet) and we called it a night. The organizers of the charity event had booked Gene a room at the Ramada Inn (four stars as far as Danville, Illinois is concerned), but he was opting to stay in a guest room at my grandparents’ house.

He spent most of the week there, and I frequently dropped by to visit. This was typical for me, I pretty much lived at my grandparents’ house about half the time anyway. But obviously having an Oscar winner hanging around was more motivation to visit grandma and grandpa than usual. We discussed acting a bit. I was a high school drama kid, and we had just finished doing “One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest,” which he thought was ambitious for a small rural high school (it was). I had no real aspirations to pursue acting beyond high school and college productions, but he said every time he was asked advice from young actors, he would tell them to go to New York and work on the stage, but inevitably they’d fly straight out to Los Angeles and start auditioning for commercials.

At the end of the week, they had a party for Gene at my grandparents’ house where they invited many of those childhood friends, as well as the family he still had in the area. The party didn’t have near the intimacy we had that first night in the kitchen, and some of it was downright cringey (someone had their little kids dressed up like Superman). But there were moments.

My girlfriend and I were sitting by ourselves in a side room, and Gene, clearly looking for escape routes, came in and talked to us for a bit. My girlfriend had her hair cut into a very 80’s spikey thing, kind of a cross between Billy Idol and the lead singer of Kajagoogoo, and Gene kept patting her spikes with his hand. It was really pissing her off, which I found very entertaining. He even asked if we needed anything as he walked out of the room, and I joked that I could go for a beer.

Several minutes later, long before the party would come to an end, on his way out the front door, accompanied by a fetching reporter from one of the local news broadcasts, he swung by us again and palmed me a cold Stroh's from my grandpa’s refrigerator. A quick “heh-heh” and then he left, and that was the last time I saw Gene Hackman in person. Leave it to the guy to piss off someone’s girlfriend, contribute to the delinquency of a minor, and then make an early exit from the party being held in his honor.

My grandparents kept in touch with Gene and his second wife Betsy over the years. They met on various occasions on his book tours when Gene was cowriting novels. They even spent some time at their place in Santa Fe, like for Gene’s 60th birthday party. When my grandpa passed away in 2011, my grandma gave me two sketches Gene had drawn and gifted to them - one a self-portrait and the other a portrait of Betsy.

The details of Gene and Betsy’s deaths (and the death of their dog) are horrifying and sad. I never had an opportunity to meet Betsy, but I’m very thankful I have these incredible memories of spending a little time with Gene Hackman during a very special week in my life.

Thanks so much, Chad.

Have a great weekend everyone.