According to yesterday's Washington Times, officials at the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission still maintain, despite "a growing wave of pessmism among bidding groups seeking to buy the club," that the new baseball stadium will be ready for the 2008 season: " 'There are simply a lot of things out of everybody's direct control right now, whether they be lawsuits and what a judge might do, what ends up happening with the environmental aspect of this, or contracts coming before the council,' " said one anonymous prospective owner. The article also lists some developments: the DCSE commission approved an $11.5 million relocation of Pepco utility lines to help make way for the ballpark; HOK Sport and Devroaux & Purnell, architects on the project, have selected a northeast orientation for the stadium, which will give views of the Capitol dome over the left-field wall; a construction manager to oversee the $607 million ballpark will be selected within three weeks; and DC Office of Property Management will begin making bids on the 33 parcels of land in the stadium footprint later this month. If deals cannot be struck, District officials will begin efforts to seize the land through eminent domain. As the article notes, "But the construction calendar with Major League Baseball calls for a full acquisition and rezoning of the land, as well as an environmental assessment, by Dec. 31 -- just 118 days from now." Tick, tick, tick...!