That time the mayor of St. Petersburg tried to dis me on Twitter

So yesterday I wrote an item here about St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman’s plan to build a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays on the site of Tropicana Field, which comes down to “build a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays on the site of Tropicana Field, and pay for it somehow, and also let the Rays buy their way out of their lease so they can move elsewhere in the bay area.” I concluded:

I suppose if you’re mayor of St. Pete, you need to have a plan for a stadium in St. Pete, even if you’re in the middle of talks about how to let the Rays out of St. Pete, and St. Pete would arguably do better letting a new Rays stadium be somebody else’s problem and just redeveloping the Trop land without a stadium, and … you know what, I don’t know why Kriseman is bothering, but I guess we’ve now mentioned his name four times in this one item, so maybe he’s just trying to boost his PageRank.

And then this happened:

@fieldofschemes @StadiumShadow We are not "in the middle of talks about how to let the Rays out of St. Pete." Goal is to keep team here.

— Rick Kriseman (@Kriseman) October 29, 2015

@Kriseman @StadiumShadow If only goal is to keep the Rays in St. Pete, ditching lease clause requiring them to stay is funny way to show it.

— Field of Schemes (@fieldofschemes) October 29, 2015

@Kriseman @StadiumShadow Not that I think allowing Rays to buy way out of St Pete (at right price) is bad idea. But it is what you’re doing. — Field of Schemes (@fieldofschemes) October 29, 2015

@fieldofschemes @StadiumShadow Agreement ends in 2027 anyway. Goal is to keep them here beyond that. Not sure you’ve been following issue.

— Rick Kriseman (@Kriseman) October 29, 2015

@Kriseman @StadiumShadow Only been following it for 20 years or so. — Field of Schemes (@fieldofschemes) October 29, 2015

@Kriseman @StadiumShadow And I’m not clear how letting Rays move to Tampa now increases the chance they’ll stay in St Pete in 2027.

— Field of Schemes (@fieldofschemes) October 29, 2015

@Kriseman @StadiumShadow Increases chance of them staying in the bay area come 2027? Sure, maybe. But in St. Pete? — Field of Schemes (@fieldofschemes) October 29, 2015

Sadly, at that point Mayor Kriseman stopped responding, so we may never know how he reconciles these two actions. (If I had to guess, it’d be something like “Letting them look at other cities is a gesture of good faith that will make them more likely to consider our offer,” which would completely misunderstand how sports negotiations work — but really I shouldn’t go putting nonsensical ideas in the mayor’s mouth when he has enough of his own.)

Anyway, the future is weird. I can hardly wait till 2027, when the then-mayor of St. Petersburg and I can argue this some more via our telepathic brain chips.