If we see fit to dump $70 million of taxpayers' money into the Patriots and as yet untold millions into the Red Sox, why can't we spare a bit to save places such as Waterstone's?

To many Boston residents, Back Bay's soon-to-be-closed Waterstone's Booksellers is more than just a bookstore. Housed in an elegant building that was once a church and later the much venerated Exeter Street Theater (whose main distinction, it should be admitted, was its midnight showings of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show"), Waterstone's mix of skilled staff, reading rooms, children's programs and literary events made it a special place. Waterstone's was a reason for Boston residents to visit Back Bay; it was a reason for nonresidents to travel into Boston.

Indeed Waterstone's, much like Fenway Park, produced significant benefits — both economic and cultural — for the entire city. Economists call those spillover effects. Perhaps those benefits weren't on the same scale as Fenway Park, but they were still meaningful and their loss will be genuinely felt. Given that, why not some special help for Waterstone's? A subsidy? A tax break?

It's a dangerous argument, for it has no stopping point. Bookstores do enrich the fabric of our lives, but so too do cute breakfast places, funky clothing shops, and mom 'n' pop hardware stores. In the competitive marketplace, government shouldn't pick the winners and losers. The market should.

Sports teams argue for an exception, saying that the benefits they bring are unique.  But, as the Waterstone's case makes clear, that's not really true. Sports teams may have a quantitatively bigger spillover effect but qualitatively speaking, the spillover effect is the same.

The best argument for government assistance to sports teams is predicated not on their spillover effects but rather on their unique needs for infrastructure. It's an argument that House Speaker Tom Finneran understands. It's one that clearly escaped Connecticut's Governor John Rowland.

All businesses, including small retailers like Waterstone's, need strong infrastructure to conduct their business. Government makes sure people can get to and from the business by building and maintaining roads, sidewalks and public transportation. Government provides for police and fire protection, sewer and water hookups, the electrical grid, and myriad other critical services. If government didn't do these things, companies would go out of business.

Sports teams argue that their infrastructure needs are vastly greater. When the Patriots or Red Sox build a stadium, they aren't building just a stadium. They also need to provide for things like transportation — things, they argue, that government does provide to other businesses.

It's not a bad argument. When Tom Finneran ultimately signed off on a package to aid the Patriots, he took great pains to confine that aid to infrastructure improvements. Thus, the state has agreed to widen Route 1, build bridges and new connections to the stadium, improve storm drainage, and expand sewer hookups.  But the state won't be funding the stadium itself.

The same analysis should apply to the Red Sox as well. When the Sox make their aid request, it should be scrutinized carefully. To the extent that the government assists with infrastructure improvements, the aid may be justifiable. Otherwise, it shouldn't be given.

And what about Waterstone's? Waterstone's didn't fail for lack of proper infrastructure. Waterstone's was a nice place to visit, and people often spent hours there, browsing and reading. Of course, a lot of those people then left the store, armed with their list of books they'd like, and then bought them through Amazon.com. Book retailing — indeed, all of retailing — is changing because of the Internet. It's hardly appropriate for the city of Boston to meddle in that change.

Still, it's a shame that Waterstone's is closing. It's nice to have a place of literature, a place where you can talk to staff that knows books, a place where you can browse, a place where you can, if you wish, sit for a few hours and read.

Of course, we do have such a place. It's just one block south of Waterstone's. It's called the Boston Public Library.