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Wondering about numbers at the end of the year
NEWS-TIMES
J.J. SMITH
I’m wondering about numbers as the 2008 sports year winds to an end. After all, isn’t sports all about numbers? Fans pore over statistics such as yards, touchdowns, points, rebounds, strikeouts, home runs, goals and assists, among many others.
Maybe you’ve been wondering about some of these following numbers, as well?
I’m wondering why the New York Yankees are immune to the recent economic downturn, recession, depression, however you want to label it.
Earlier this month, the Yankees doled out a truckload of cash to two free agent pitchers. CC Sabathia signed a seven-year contract worth $161 million and A.J. Burnett signed a five-year contract worth $82.5 million. Sabathia’s deal is by far the biggest contract for any pitcher in Major League Baseball history.
Among all players, it trails only two other contracts, both of which belong to Yankees players. Sabathia’s deal comes in third behind Alex Rodriquez’s 10-year, $275 million deal and Derek Jeter’s 10-year, $189 million contract. With Sabathia’s and Burnett’s deals, New York has committed about $159 million to 14 players for next season.
And they might not be close to being done. The Yankees have reportedly offered free agent pitcher Andy Pettitte a one-year, $10 million deal, and according to a report from Dominican Newspaper Impacto Deportivo, New York is on the verge of signing free-agent outfielder Manny Ramirez to a three-year, $75 million contract.
All of these players will take the field next season at the new $1.3 billion Yankees Stadium, which is still under construction.
Speaking of Sabathia’s contract.
I’m wondering if you’ve visited ESPN.com’s “Salary Crunch: Compare yours to Sabathia’s Web page.
You truly haven’t lived until you do, and you truly haven’t felt as depressed about your own personal economic situation until you do.
As an example, I typed in the 2007 U.S. real median household income, which is $50,233, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, and compared it to Sabathia’s $23 million-a-year deal. According to the Salary Crunch, Sabathia needs only to pitch half a strikeout or pitch half an inning to earn $50,2333.
Nice work if you can get it.
The Salary Crunch also lets you know how many years you will need to work in order to make Sabathia’s annual salary. According to the Web page, those making $50,233 annually will need to work 457.87 years to make what Sabathia makes in one season.
I’m guessing CC isn’t in need of a federal bailout.
Speaking of federal bailouts.
I’m wondering why Citigroup Inc., doing business as Citi, needed a bailout recently when it had the money to purchase the naming rights to the new New York Mets stadium and the money to sponsor the Rose Bowl.
As part of a rescue agreement, the federal government is investing about $20 billion directly and guaranteeing $306 billion in loans and securities on Citigroup’s balance sheet.
Citigroup purchased the naming rights to the new $850 million Mets stadium, known as Citi Field, for a cool $400 million. After the federal bailout, New York City Council members James S. Oddo and Vincent Ignizio, both Republicans from Staten Island, proposed the new park be named Citi/Taxpayer Field.
That’s not a bad idea. Perhaps the “Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi” should be renamed the “Rose Bowl Game presented by the American taxpayer.”
Back to pitchers for a moment:
I’m wondering which Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) Hall of Fame voters will fail to vote for Greg Maddux when he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame in five years.
Maddux retired earlier this month as the greatest right-handed pitcher since World War II. Maddux ranks eighth on the career wins list with 355 wins and 10th on the career strikeout list with 3,371 strikeouts. He won four National League Cy Young Awards (1992-1995), finished with a 3.16 ERA and won a record 18 Gold Gloves, including one this year.
Since World War II, only one pitcher (Warren Spahn, a lefty) has won more games than Maddux. Since World War II, no pitcher has more 15-win seasons. Maddux won 15 games or more for a record 17 straight seasons. Cy Young is second-ever in this regard, with 15 straight 15-win seasons.
And although a number of pitchers have recorded 3,000 strikeouts, Maddux is one of only two in baseball history who have done so while allowing less than 1,000 walks.
However, no player has ever been a unanimous choice in the BBWAA Hall of Fame voting.
Yes, that’s right.
No player has even been a unanimous choice, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Joe Dimaggio, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby, Walter Johnson, Mickey Mantle, Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, Spahn, et al.
So, because none of those legendary players were unanimous choices, some moronic, idiotic, lobotomized Hall of Fame voter will leave Maddux off his ballot.
Those who do should have their vote rescinded.
I’m wondering how many people noticed when a Pete Maravich 39-year-old record was tied two weeks ago.
On Friday, Dec. 12, in a 112-111 triple-overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin, North Dakota State’s Ben Woodside tied Pistol Pete’s NCAA record of 30 made free throws, which was established Dec. 22, 1969.
The 5-11, 185-pound senior from Minnesota made 14-of-32 field goals and 30-of-35 free throws for 60 points in the loss. Maravich made 30-of-31 free throws in a LSU and Oregon State match-up to set the bar.
Even more is impressive is how Woodside scored the 60 points.
He didn’t score a single point in the opening nine minutes and 14 seconds of the game. He had made only one foul shot with 10 minutes left in regulation. He had only seven points at halftime, and only 12 with 9:22 left in regulation. But he scored 49 points in the final 8:51 of regulation time and the extra periods, which amounted to 24 minutes.
Speaking of the “Pistol,” I’m wondering if Davidson’s Stephen Curry is interested in breaking a record many thought would never be broken.
Maravich scored an NCAA record 3,667 points at LSU from 1968-70 with an average of 44.2 points per game over 83 games. Of course, had freshmen been eligible to play, and had there been a three-point line during his career, Maravich’s record would have been unreachable.
But if Curry returns for his senior season, a highly unlikely scenario, he has a reasonable shot to break the record. Curry had 1,661 points in 70 games through his first two years, and this year he’s averaging 30.0 through 10 games. If he were to play 70 games over his junior and senior years, he would need just under 29 points per game to break the record.
However, Curry is projected to be a top-10 pick in next summer’s NBA Draft, meaning he would have to forego millions of dollars to return to Davidson for his senior campaign.
That’s not likely to happen.
I’m wondering why Ron English is just the fifth black head football coach at the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision NCAA schools after being introduced at a news conference on Monday as the new coach at Eastern Michigan University.
The other black head coaches in the FBS are Buffalo’s Turner Gill, Miami’s Randy Shannon, Houston’s Kevin Sumlin and New Mexico’s newly hired Mike Locksley.
The fact that only five black head coaches man the sidelines among 119 schools in a sport in which 46 percent of the players are black is scandalous.
According to a recent study, co-authored by Dr. Richard Lapchick, founder and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics In Sport, there have been 199 available head coaching jobs since 1996. Only 12 of those jobs have gone to black candidates.
Even more unfathomable, is the fact that 23 black coaches have ever been a head coach in the history of Division I-A football.
The most egregious example of a black coach being passed over for a head coaching job came at Auburn earlier this month. Auburn hired Gene Chizik, who went 5-19 in his two seasons as head coach at Iowa State, and ended the 2008 season with a 10-game losing streak.
Auburn could have landed the red-hot Gill, whose Buffalo team has won six of its past seven games, finished the regular season at 8-5 and earned its first Mid-American Conference championship this season, upsetting previously unbeaten Ball State 42-24 in the Dec. 5 conference championship game.
Gill took over one of the worst programs in college football “ yes, worse than Duke’s “ if not THE worst program three years ago. The Bulls had won 10 games in their first seven seasons (79 games) at the Division I-A level.
Gill guided Buffalo to 13 victories during the past two seasons combined. And this at a school where recruiting is less than ideal. Your average teenage football star isn’t too keen on going to Buffalo, where the average yearly snowfall is 93½ inches.
However, it may not have been only Gill’s race that played a part in the Auburn hire. ESPN.com football writer Mark Schlabach reported that two other Southeastern Conference coaches told him that Gill would never get the Auburn job because he’s married to a white woman.
Lovely.
Way to represent the South there Auburn.
Former NBA star and Auburn alum Charles Barkley spoke to Gill when Auburn was going through the hiring process and claimed that Gill was concerned his marriage would be a factor before he even took the interview.
I’m wondering why we still have to deal with this unconscionable violation of human decency in 2008?
I’m wondering if 2009 will be better?
(Send comments or questions to evans@thenewstimes.com)
I’m wondering about numbers as the 2008 sports year winds to an end. After all, isn’t sports all about numbers? Fans pore over statistics such as yards, touchdowns, points, rebounds, strikeouts, home runs, goals and assists, among many others.
Maybe you’ve been wondering about some of these following numbers, as well?
I’m wondering why the New York Yankees are immune to the recent economic downturn, recession, depression, however you want to label it.
Earlier this month, the Yankees doled out a truckload of cash to two free agent pitchers. CC Sabathia signed a seven-year contract worth $161 million and A.J. Burnett signed a five-year contract worth $82.5 million. Sabathia’s deal is by far the biggest contract for any pitcher in Major League Baseball history.
Among all players, it trails only two other contracts, both of which belong to Yankees players. Sabathia’s deal comes in third behind Alex Rodriquez’s 10-year, $275 million deal and Derek Jeter’s 10-year, $189 million contract. With Sabathia’s and Burnett’s deals, New York has committed about $159 million to 14 players for next season.
And they might not be close to being done. The Yankees have reportedly offered free agent pitcher Andy Pettitte a one-year, $10 million deal, and according to a report from Dominican Newspaper Impacto Deportivo, New York is on the verge of signing free-agent outfielder Manny Ramirez to a three-year, $75 million contract.
All of these players will take the field next season at the new $1.3 billion Yankees Stadium, which is still under construction.
Speaking of Sabathia’s contract.
I’m wondering if you’ve visited ESPN.com’s “Salary Crunch: Compare yours to Sabathia’s Web page.
You truly haven’t lived until you do, and you truly haven’t felt as depressed about your own personal economic situation until you do.
As an example, I typed in the 2007 U.S. real median household income, which is $50,233, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, and compared it to Sabathia’s $23 million-a-year deal. According to the Salary Crunch, Sabathia needs only to pitch half a strikeout or pitch half an inning to earn $50,2333.
Nice work if you can get it.
The Salary Crunch also lets you know how many years you will need to work in order to make Sabathia’s annual salary. According to the Web page, those making $50,233 annually will need to work 457.87 years to make what Sabathia makes in one season.
I’m guessing CC isn’t in need of a federal bailout.
Speaking of federal bailouts.
I’m wondering why Citigroup Inc., doing business as Citi, needed a bailout recently when it had the money to purchase the naming rights to the new New York Mets stadium and the money to sponsor the Rose Bowl.
As part of a rescue agreement, the federal government is investing about $20 billion directly and guaranteeing $306 billion in loans and securities on Citigroup’s balance sheet.
Citigroup purchased the naming rights to the new $850 million Mets stadium, known as Citi Field, for a cool $400 million. After the federal bailout, New York City Council members James S. Oddo and Vincent Ignizio, both Republicans from Staten Island, proposed the new park be named Citi/Taxpayer Field.
That’s not a bad idea. Perhaps the “Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi” should be renamed the “Rose Bowl Game presented by the American taxpayer.”
Back to pitchers for a moment:
I’m wondering which Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) Hall of Fame voters will fail to vote for Greg Maddux when he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame in five years.
Maddux retired earlier this month as the greatest right-handed pitcher since World War II. Maddux ranks eighth on the career wins list with 355 wins and 10th on the career strikeout list with 3,371 strikeouts. He won four National League Cy Young Awards (1992-1995), finished with a 3.16 ERA and won a record 18 Gold Gloves, including one this year.
Since World War II, only one pitcher (Warren Spahn, a lefty) has won more games than Maddux. Since World War II, no pitcher has more 15-win seasons. Maddux won 15 games or more for a record 17 straight seasons. Cy Young is second-ever in this regard, with 15 straight 15-win seasons.
And although a number of pitchers have recorded 3,000 strikeouts, Maddux is one of only two in baseball history who have done so while allowing less than 1,000 walks.
However, no player has ever been a unanimous choice in the BBWAA Hall of Fame voting.
Yes, that’s right.
No player has even been a unanimous choice, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Joe Dimaggio, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby, Walter Johnson, Mickey Mantle, Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, Spahn, et al.
So, because none of those legendary players were unanimous choices, some moronic, idiotic, lobotomized Hall of Fame voter will leave Maddux off his ballot.
Those who do should have their vote rescinded.
I’m wondering how many people noticed when a Pete Maravich 39-year-old record was tied two weeks ago.
On Friday, Dec. 12, in a 112-111 triple-overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin, North Dakota State’s Ben Woodside tied Pistol Pete’s NCAA record of 30 made free throws, which was established Dec. 22, 1969.
The 5-11, 185-pound senior from Minnesota made 14-of-32 field goals and 30-of-35 free throws for 60 points in the loss. Maravich made 30-of-31 free throws in a LSU and Oregon State match-up to set the bar.
Even more is impressive is how Woodside scored the 60 points.
He didn’t score a single point in the opening nine minutes and 14 seconds of the game. He had made only one foul shot with 10 minutes left in regulation. He had only seven points at halftime, and only 12 with 9:22 left in regulation. But he scored 49 points in the final 8:51 of regulation time and the extra periods, which amounted to 24 minutes.
Speaking of the “Pistol,” I’m wondering if Davidson’s Stephen Curry is interested in breaking a record many thought would never be broken.
Maravich scored an NCAA record 3,667 points at LSU from 1968-70 with an average of 44.2 points per game over 83 games. Of course, had freshmen been eligible to play, and had there been a three-point line during his career, Maravich’s record would have been unreachable.
But if Curry returns for his senior season, a highly unlikely scenario, he has a reasonable shot to break the record. Curry had 1,661 points in 70 games through his first two years, and this year he’s averaging 30.0 through 10 games. If he were to play 70 games over his junior and senior years, he would need just under 29 points per game to break the record.
However, Curry is projected to be a top-10 pick in next summer’s NBA Draft, meaning he would have to forego millions of dollars to return to Davidson for his senior campaign.
That’s not likely to happen.
I’m wondering why Ron English is just the fifth black head football coach at the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision NCAA schools after being introduced at a news conference on Monday as the new coach at Eastern Michigan University.
The other black head coaches in the FBS are Buffalo’s Turner Gill, Miami’s Randy Shannon, Houston’s Kevin Sumlin and New Mexico’s newly hired Mike Locksley.
The fact that only five black head coaches man the sidelines among 119 schools in a sport in which 46 percent of the players are black is scandalous.
According to a recent study, co-authored by Dr. Richard Lapchick, founder and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics In Sport, there have been 199 available head coaching jobs since 1996. Only 12 of those jobs have gone to black candidates.
Even more unfathomable, is the fact that 23 black coaches have ever been a head coach in the history of Division I-A football.
The most egregious example of a black coach being passed over for a head coaching job came at Auburn earlier this month. Auburn hired Gene Chizik, who went 5-19 in his two seasons as head coach at Iowa State, and ended the 2008 season with a 10-game losing streak.
Auburn could have landed the red-hot Gill, whose Buffalo team has won six of its past seven games, finished the regular season at 8-5 and earned its first Mid-American Conference championship this season, upsetting previously unbeaten Ball State 42-24 in the Dec. 5 conference championship game.
Gill took over one of the worst programs in college football “ yes, worse than Duke’s “ if not THE worst program three years ago. The Bulls had won 10 games in their first seven seasons (79 games) at the Division I-A level.
Gill guided Buffalo to 13 victories during the past two seasons combined. And this at a school where recruiting is less than ideal. Your average teenage football star isn’t too keen on going to Buffalo, where the average yearly snowfall is 93½ inches.
However, it may not have been only Gill’s race that played a part in the Auburn hire. ESPN.com football writer Mark Schlabach reported that two other Southeastern Conference coaches told him that Gill would never get the Auburn job because he’s married to a white woman.
Lovely.
Way to represent the South there Auburn.
Former NBA star and Auburn alum Charles Barkley spoke to Gill when Auburn was going through the hiring process and claimed that Gill was concerned his marriage would be a factor before he even took the interview.
I’m wondering why we still have to deal with this unconscionable violation of human decency in 2008?
I’m wondering if 2009 will be better?
(Send comments or questions to evans@thenewstimes.com)
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