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October 2, 2009

It came from the Blogosphere...

Russia!, Mikhail Prokhorov Bought the Nets Because He Read That He Bought the Nets

DO YOU KNOW how Russian oligarchs buy NBA team? They read that they bought the team, which is not true, get aggravated and buy the damn team. At least, that's what happened to Mikhail Prokhorov a few weeks ago.

Mr. Prokhorov, 44, currently Russia's richest man, explains in his LiveJournal blog how he decided to by the New Jersey Nets for $200 million dollars. "I learned that I am involved in the Nets purchase from newspaper reports. Imagine my surprise when, few days following the publication, the Nets owners approached me with the offer [to buy the team]!"

In other words, Ian Thomsen, who first broke the story on the Sports Illustrated blog, came up with a bogus, absolutely groundless rumor of some oligarch buying an NBA club. The rumor was almost ignored by the US media and barely reported in Russia. Prokhorov, however, issued a statement denying his plans to buy Nets. But the Nets owners liked the idea so much that they surprised Prokhorov with a $200 million offer, and Prokhorov accepted almost immediately.

It does sound a little fishy. But we choose to believe Mr. Prokhorov. We like to believe that a newspaper rumor can trick a mogul into buying something.

Manhattan Adult Entertainment, From Russia with rubles: a Nets gain?

This site, which bills itself as "All The News For Manhattan Escorts," picks up on the sale of the Nets to Mikhail Prokhorov — thanks to the Russian oligarch's seeming predilection for prostitutes.

Enter Prokhorov's billions. The Russian achieved notoriety in Europe when it was alleged by French authorities that he procured prostitutes from Russia to visit clients who were on holiday at France's swish Courchevel ski resort. France's then presidential hopeful Nicholas Sarkozy is reported to have uttered at the time: There's a man who wants to please. The French authorities eventually dropped the charges.

SLIPPERY WHEN NETS, Everything You Wanted to Know About the 2009 Nets...But Had Better Things To Do Than Ask

Team Name: Brooklyn New Jersey Nets

Last Year’s Record: 34-48

Key Losses: Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson, Trust of the Fanbase, $25 Million

Key Additions: Courtney Lee, Terrence Williams, a scary Russian Billionaire, Ridiculous Marketing Decisions

1. What Significant Moves were made during the off-season?
...

Owner Bruce Ratner tried to start his own lemonade stand, but did not have enough money to buy one of those "LEMONADE" signs with the "E"s turned backwards. VP of Marketing Brett Yormark's summer was sponsored by Coca-Cola, Coppertone, and Stiletto's on Paterson Plank Road!

PECHEFSKY FOR CITY COUNCIL, THE SPEAKER IS THE ISSUE

Green Party candidate for City Council in Brooklyn's 39th District David Pechefsky believes reform in that body begins with the role of the Speaker.

But the reality is that the power of the Speaker is such that unless you have a Speaker committed to devolving power or as a Council member your support is so crucial to the Speaker’s political and personal agenda, going along with the winner may get a Council member some of those things but at the expense of their independence (if they had any to begin with). So you end up with a Council Member who gets maybe $200,000 more to give to non-profits in their district but sits on the fence about a big issue (something like Atlantic Yards for example).

REPUBLICAN BLOGSPOT, Oh, No, Can Republicans Stand Up to Real Estate Interests?

A review of Tom Angotti's new book, New York for Sale: Community Planning Confronts Global Real Estate, includes the following passage:

Developers continue to be strong interests. They are large forces in current major planning projects, such as rebuilding on the former World Trade Center site, developing Hell’s Kitchen’Midtown West, which included a proposed sports stadium that was halted, and Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn where local residents have objected to proposed large business developments. At Atlantic Yards, the developer agreed to make half of new rental units be for low and middle income tenants, a move that divided community opposition.

DANGER ROOM [Wired.com], The Kremlin’s Eeeevil New Plan to Rein in Bloggers

Earlier this year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev published his own internet manifesto, which made a subtle pitch for greater state control of the online world.
...

So what, exactly, was Medvedev driving at? Writing at the indispensable Net.effect blog, Evgeny Morozov seems to have an answer. The Kremlin wants to create a “national consultative body” composed of internet personalities and prominent bloggers who would decide the rules for proper online behavior.

This scheme comes courtesy of Sergei Mironov, who heads the pro-Kremlin “A Just Russia” party. In a speech yesterday, Mironov said that “antisocial and criminal elements” in the online world should be subject to government censorship. And who would set the guidelines? Why, Russia’s new virtual hall monitors.

NoLandGrab: If those "antisocial and criminal elements" include those who blog about basketball-team-buying billionaire oligarchs, we say "nyets to you."

Posted by eric at October 2, 2009 11:23 AM