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Weekly Briefing for Monday, June 2, 2008 |
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June 02, 2008 |
≡ 7 Days ≡
 Ruth: best-hitting pitcher of all time! |
= To Our Readers =
You can now find us in two different places on the Web: in addition to The Sports Examiner, we now write three times a week on Olympic sports for the World Championship Sports Network site, WCSN.com in a column called “Inside the Rings.”
Here at The Sports Examiner, we have changed our format to include a weekly intelligence briefing, with commentary, for the astute sports fan called “7 Days” on Mondays and a bonus posting called “Fun & Games” during the week. Thanks again for your continued support; please ask your friends to sign up for the Tip Sheet and the free newsletter.
= The Top Story =
>> Boston, Ma.: The Celtics and the Lakers will have at it for the 11th time in their history in the 2008 NBA Finals that starts on Thursday. Who will win?
How about the team that’s played the best most recently? That would be the Lakers, who are 12-3 (4-3 on the road) in the playoffs and 19-4 (.826) since April 1; the Celtics are 12-8 in the post-season (1-8 on the road) and 20-9 (.689) since the beginning of April.
Moreover, the Lakers and Celtics haven’t been much different in the second half of the season. Since the All-Star Break and including the playoffs, the Lakers are 34-11 for a winning percentage of 75.6 while Boston has gone 37-15 or 71.2%. The difference in their records was in the first half, when the Celtics were an amazing 41-9 compared to Los Angeles’s 35-17.
Boston won both games from the Lakers this season, but those results are meaningless since both were prior to February 1 when Los Angeles acquired Pau Gasol. Last season, the Lakers swept Boston (2006-07) with Kobe Bryant averaging 40.5 points per game in the two wins.
= The National Pastime =
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: The Beatles sang “money can’t buy you love” but they could also have been thinking about wins, especially in the American League.
With a third of the season completed, here are the Monday morning major-league standings, incorporating each team’s current-year salary obligations (ranked 1-30) based on their rosters as of Friday, May 30:
American League East:
1. Tampa Bay: 35-22 (29. $43.4 million)
2. Boston: 35-24 (4. $133.2 million)
3. Toronto: 31-28 (12. $97.0 million)
4. New York: 28-28 (1. $207.1 million)
5. Baltimore: 26-29 (21. $66.8 million)
American League Central:
1. Chicago: 30-26 (5. $121.2 million)
2. Minnesota: 29-27 (25. $56.9 million)
3. Cleveland: 25-31 (15. $79.0 million)
4. Detroit: 24-32 (3. $137.3 million)
5. Kansas City: 23-34 (24. $57.9 million)
American League West:
1. Los Angeles: 34-24 (6. $118.8 million)
2. Oakland: 30-27 (28. $47.2 million)
3. Texas: 29-29 (22. $66.3 million)
4. Seattle: 21-36 (9. $116.9 million)
National League East:
1. Philadelphia: 33-25 (13. $95.5 million)
2. Florida: 31-24 (30. $22.7 million)
3. Atlanta: 29-28 (10. $102.8 million)
4. New York: 28-27 (2. $137.4 million)
5. Washington: 24-34 (26. $54.2 million)
National League Central:
1. Chicago: 36-21 (8. $118.0 million)
2. St. Louis: 34-24 (11. $99.6 million)
3. Houston: 30-28 (14. $88.9 million)
4. Milwaukee: 29-28 (17. $74.7 million)
5. Cincinnati: 28-29 (18. $74.1 million)
6. Pittsburgh: 26-30 (27. $48.7 million)
National League West:
1. Arizona: 32-25 (23. $66.2 million)
2. Los Angeles: 27-29 (7. $118.2 million)
3. San Francisco: 24-33 (16. $76.2 million)
4. San Diego: 23-35 (19. $72.6 million)
5. Colorado: 20-37 (20. $68.7 million)
Among teams with winning records, Florida ($244,086 per win) and Arizona ($690,583 per win) have done the most with the least cost (for a third of a season) in the National League and Tampa Bay ($413,333) and – as usual – Oakland ($524,444) have done the best, dollar-for-dollar in the American League. The worst? The New York Yankees, with an average cost of $2.47 million per win for one-third of the season.
From a corporate financial standpoint, the Yankees are especially amazing, with a .500 record, baseball’s highest payroll and an operating loss from last year and probably from this year. Although they’ll move into a new ballpark next season, ticket prices are projected to rise considerably; will anyone other than Wall Streeters be able to watch them in 2009?
>> New York, N.Y.: SI.com came out with a list of the top hitting pitchers of all time. Arizona’s Micah Owings – this year’s sensation – ranks second, but he’s a far cry from the best-hitting pitcher of all-time: Babe Ruth. Wes Farrell won 193 games and had a .280 career batting average (1930s) for third, followed by Red Lucas (157-135 and .281 average in the 1920s) and Jim Tobin in fifth (105-112 and .230 average in the 1940s). One other great stat: the great Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators (1907-27) is the only man to win 20 games in a single season while also batting over .400: he hit .433 in 1925 while going 20-7!
Comment: The point of all this should be clear: Ruth was, at the same time, one of the best – if not the best – pitcher in the game as well as being the best hitter. He averaged 19 1/2 wins a season and a 2.05 earned-run-average for the Red Sox from 1915-18 and in 1919, he started 15 games (9-5 record, 15 starts, 133.3 innings, 2.97 ERA) while also playing the outfield and setting a then single-season home run record with 29.
When he was converted to a full-time outfielder by the Yankees in 1920, he produced seasons of 54 and 59 homers in his first two years while batting .376 and .378, probably the best back-to-back seasons of any player in history. He was – and is – the greatest player in baseball history.
>> Baltimore, Md.: Manny Ramirez popped his 500th career home run against the Orioles on Saturday and became the 24th player to hit 500 or more in his career.
ESPN added an interesting note about Ramirez’s batting success over his 16 seasons with Cleveland and Boston: with a .312 career average, only three players have hit 500 or more homers and enjoyed a higher career average: Ted Williams (521 HR and .344), Ruth (700 and .342) and a much-underrated star of the 1920s and ‘30s: Jimmie Foxx, who slugged 534 home runs and had a .325 average.
>> Detroit, Mi.: The Detroit Free Press reported that Tigers third baseman Carlos Guillen is having a tough time: he has hemorrhoids! Manager Jim Leyland said Guillen was having such a bad time last week he could hardly move . . . so why did he start him at third and have him bat fifth?
>> San Diego, Ca.: A great line from Jay Posner in the San Diego Union-Tribune last Friday:
Padres TV ratings are plummeting, but Craig Nichols, the man in charge at Channel 4 San Diego, said he isn’t concerned because “it’s a long season.”
Tell Padres fans something they don’t know.
San Diego is 23-35 and 9 1/2 games out in the National League West. Ratings are down almost 30% this season and Posner noted that “We were talking on the phone, so I couldn’t tell if Nichols was just being his usual optimistic self, or if he was holding a four-leaf clover or rosary beads or maybe just crossing his fingers.”
>> St. Louis, Mo.: Thanks to complaints about allergies, the Cardinals are setting up a peanut-free section in Busch Stadium on July 21. It will be specially dusted and signs showing that it is peanut-free will be posted, plus additional ushers and possibly a paramedic will be on hand!
A similar section has been set up for River City Rascals minor-league games in O’Fallon, Mo. one night a week through August. For the first game with the peanut-free section, the seats were, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “empty for much of Wednesday’s game.”
Said a representative of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America office in St. Louis, which has been supporting the Cardinals’ experiment: “Inhalation of peanut particles would be enough to cause a life-threatening reaction.” Great, just great.
Comment: If peanuts are so dangerous to a segment of the public, why are the Cardinals risking attendance by people who could die if they leave their peanut-free seats for a trip to the restroom or souvenir stand? There is no end to the number of special sections which sports teams are going to have to create in their ballparks.
In Seattle, a ruckus is currently underway over the ejection of two female fans who kissed each other during a Mariners game. A security guard was asked to intervene by a mother whose son saw the two women – who happen to be lesbians – kiss and the two women were told to “stop or leave” according to a story on KOMO TV. So now we can expect to see gay-OK and straight-only sections at Safeco Field? A possibility if the Cardinals’ stadium management was running Safeco in this post-tolerance era.
= The NBA =
>> San Antonio, Tx.: The Lakers defeated San Antonio in five games to move on to the NBA Finals, but not without some controversy in game four last Wednesday as Derek Fisher fell into Brent Barry as the game ended.
Comment: One reason the Spurs didn’t complain quite as much as they could have was because they knew the referees also missed the call on Fisher’s missed shot on the previous play that did, in fact, graze the rim. If that play had been called correctly, the Lakers would have had possession with the shot clock turned off and 6.5 seconds to play in the game after the Spurs knocked the ball out of bounds. Game over, but you didn’t hear the NBA correcting that play, did you?
>> Chicago, Il.: Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote what a lot of people thought when it was reported that Doug Collins was going to take the head coaching job with the Chicago Bulls:
He’s a critically acclaimed analyst on TNT, a Charles Barkley with diction and dignity. He sees his kids and grandkids and doesn’t have to deal with immature, overpaid brats in sneakers who defy authority, try to get coaches fired, and, on a given night, might be carrying a cannabis cigarette and cognac in an open container.
Excuse me, Mr. Doug Collins, but are you absolutely, positively certain that you want to coach the Chicago Bulls again?
Mariotti’s take is that he’s not sure Collins is “into” this assignment, but hopes he is.”The Bulls need Doug Collins more than Doug Collins needs the Bulls.”
>> New York, N.Y: The NBA announced that players will be fined beginning next season for obvious instances of “flopping,” that is, acting as if a foul has been committed when little or no contact has been made.
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein wrote that “The league office has yet to determine exact fine amounts for offending flops and how fines might escalate for repeat offenders, but in-game arena observers and video reviewers will be instructed to report instances of theatrical flopping for potential punishment as part of postgame records on officiating and other matters.”
Comment: There’s no word yet on whether the Screen Actors Guild will require players fined for three or more flops in a season to become members to continue appearing on television!
Also, no post-season award for the best flop or flopper of the year has been announced, but footwear companies which make beach sandals – a.k.a. flip-flops – could be willing sponsors.
= The NFL =
>> London, England: The NFL reported that it sold 40,000 tickets in just 90 minutes for the San Diego-New Orleans match-up at Wembley Stadium on October 26, on a pace to sell-out the place again.
Comment: Rumors are already starting that if this kind of enthusiasm continues, the NFL will either play more games in London or try to enter a team in the English Premier League!
>> Baltimore, Md.: It was reported that the Baltimore Ravens are working out former Philadelphia Eagles and UCLA wide receiver Freddie Mitchell, who’s been out of football since 2004. That prompted ProFootballNews.com to recall New England coach Bill Belichick’s comment before Super Bowl 39 after Mitchell talked about what he was going to do to the Patriots’ secondary: “He’s terrible and you can print that.”
= The NHL =
>> Toronto, Canada: You can’t really say it’s a surprise, but the Toronto Star noted that it’s the Canadian teams which are responsible for what growth there is in the NHL.
“The six Canadian teams account for 31 percent of the $1.1 billion (U.S.) In league ticket revenue, and have gone through league-leading double-digit increases over last season, according to the internal NHL report.
“Overall, the league has seen its ticket revenue rise almost 10 percent, but 11 of the 24 U.S.-based clubs were either revenue-flat or lost ticket income.”
The story, by Rick Westhead, also quoted a U.S. team exec with more alarming news:
“If you take out the Canadian teams, which have done so well since the lockout largely because of the Canadian dollar, the league’s revenues are actually only growing at a 2 per cent clip per year,” says an executive with a U.S.-based NHL team, who requested anonymity.
“It’s not enough. We’re really not growing as a sport, and we’re still invisible in the U.S.”
This despite total league-wide revenue of $2.56 billion U.S., 22% more than the $2.10 billion in the 2005-06 season, which was the first under the new labor agreement (and salary cap). The moral of the article: either expansion teams or existing teams should be placed in Hamilton, Winnipeg and/or Quebec City.
Comment: The report is undoubtedly factual, but it’s also worth pointing out that all three Canadian candidate city are NHL losers: Hamilton had an NHL team from 1920-25 and would likely have to pay a market-loss fee to nearby Buffalo and Toronto; Winnipeg had the NHL Jets from 1979-96, when the team was moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes because of financial problems and Quebec City had the Nordiques from 1972-95 before moving to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.
>> Chicago, Il.: The NHL is planning its second annual Winter Classic, this time for Chicago with a possible New Year’s Day match between the Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings at Wrigley Field! The official announcement isn’t expected until next week and it’s unknown whether Cubs fans will come out in the cold to cheer on the Blackhawks.
Comment: Just to be sure there’s no jinx on the Blackhawks, they should let the descendants of Billy Sianis bring a goat to Wrigley for the game. Sianis, owner of the famed Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, brought his pet goat to the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field (and had a ticket for him), but was asked to remove the goat and put a “curse” on the Cubs. He dies in 1970.
Sam Sianis, Billy’s nephew, has paraded a goat around Wrigley several times since then and the Cubs have done well, but sill haven’t won a World Series since 1908. As the Blackhawks missed the playoffs last season and will face the likely Stanley Cup champions as the Red Wings lead Pittsburgh, 3-1, going into tonight’s fifth game of the Stanley Cup finals.
= College Basketball =
>> Kansas City, Mo.: One of the best rip jobs we’re read in a while comes from Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, noting that Kansas State is paying assistant basketball coach Delonte Hill a reported $420,000 per year on a five-year contract because “Hill just happened to be in the right place at the right time, befriending the right tall grade-schooler.”
Further, “As of now, he delivered Michael Beasley for two semesters, a home victory over Kansas, an NCAA Tournament appearance and a postseason victory over USC. That’s not a bad haul. But you have to factor in that USC got virtually identical results from O.J. Mayo without lavishing a baby-sitter-turned-coach with a five-year, $2 million contract. The Trojans finished 21-12 (same as K-State), beat UCLA on the road, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and lost to K-State in round one.”
But Whitlock is nothing if not complete in his reporting: “K-State clearly appears foolish – at the moment – for overpaying for Dalonte Hill. Maybe that perception will change in two years when (or if) Wally Judge and Rodney McGruder, two more DC Assault recruits from the Beasley AAU pipeline, make it to campus. Maybe then paying Hill’s $2 million will make sense.”
= On Campus =
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: As the Internet-driven controversy continues over whether the USC song girls are pretty enough, the Los Angeles Daily News posted a poll question last Wednesday on its USC blog: “What’s the biggest problem at USC right now?”
The choices were the song girls, the baseball program, the O.J. Mayo investigation or the Reggie Bush investigation. After five days of voting, the song girls lead Reggie Bush by 37% to 32% with the baseball team third at 17% and Mayo fourth at 14%! Wrote reporter Scott Wolf on the blog, “I’m starting to think the Song Girls are the no. 1 topic of interest on this blog.”
>> San Diego, Ca: In the ongoing legal battle between Bush and his might-have-been agent, Lloyd Lake, Lake’s attorneys requested answers to 70 questions in a legal process known as discovery. Bush’s attorneys objected to 61 of the questions and he answered only nine. Said Lake’s attorney, “They’re completely bogus objections.” Said one wag: “About the same as when he was at SC!”
The Mayo investigation got deeper on Friday when the California Attorney General’s Office confirmed that it is looking into violations of the state’s charitable trust laws regarding the use of a credit card by a sickle cell charity that allegedly resulted in benefits being funneled to Mayo and his friend Rodney Guillory. A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office said that Mayo would probably not be charged with any offense, however.
= Soccer =
>> Prague, Czech Republic: If you think American school kids have trouble with geography, what about our friends in the Czech Republic? Well, the Czechs played Lithuania in a friendly in Prague last Tuesday night, but you couldn’t exactly be sure!
You see, the game program featured a team photo and the national flag of Latvia, not Lithuania! Then, before the match, the national anthem of Latvia was played. Following the Czechs’ 2-0 win over whoever they played, the Czech soccer federation sent an apology and the top two members of the federation’s communications department either resigned or were fired. No word on whether they agreed to take a geography class in order to receive their severance payments.
>> Washington, D.C.: Marion Barry nearly wrecked his own life with convictions for drug possession and for failing to file tax returns. Now, he and two other District of Columbia council members are trying to wreck the District’s already precarious finances.
Barry and one or more fellow Democrats are planning to submit legislation that would authorize Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) to spend $150 million on a soccer-specific stadium for D.C. United of the MLS. The stadium would be part of a reconstruction project in Barry’s district in an area called Poplar Point.
Regardless of the merit (?) of the project, the $150 million in construction bonds that would be issued would push the District’s debt service to more than 12% of its revenues. That’s less than the law allows in D.C. (18%), but more than the District’s chief financial officer wants to have in order to maintain lower borrowing rates from lenders.
Comment: Let’s see: lower borrowing rates will save the District millions of dollars per year vs. building a soccer stadium seating 27,000 that will host 15-20 MLS games per year. By the way, D.C. United averages 18,802 fans a game thus far in 2008 at 56,692-seat RFK Stadium. Looks like those living in the District may not be able to have both bread and circuses; they may have to choose between the two. But, then D.C. has had a bad case of BarryBarry for nearly 30 years!
= The Five-Ring Circus =
>> Beijing, China: Looks like the Chinese are moving smartly into first-world status with reports of every kind of scam going on as the 2008 Olympic Games approach. The official news agency Xinhua reported that there are eight main types of fraud going around, including one where people are told by text message that they have won a prize for the Beijing organizers, but must pay the tax up front to receive the gift! Another sells non-existent tickets to events and a third offers special Olympic bonds, even though no such thing exists.
Comment: The Chinese have come a long way to earn their status as a first-world nation; even their crooks are now world-class!
= Potpourri =
>> London, England: From Britain’s Daily Star on the recent exploits of Mike Tyson: “The former world heavyweight boxing champ is touring Britain revealing how he has quit booze, drugs and the hell-raising which landed him in jail for rape.
“But following an after-dinner speech in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, he headed straight to a lap-dancing club and stayed there for around three hours.”
The story reported that the manager of the Blue Velvet club said Tyson “was very polite to everyone and came across as a very nice man.” He stayed in the VIP area.
Tyson was also reported to have a large entourage with him and upon arrival for the speech, required a separate taxi for his 20 pieces of luggage!
>> London, England: The British tabloid The Sun reports that Natalya Neidhart, daughter of one-time national-class UCLA shot putter and later WWF star Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart has taken up wrestling herself.
Says The Sun: “There are lots of second generation stars in the wrestling business – bot none currently as pretty as Natalya.”
>> Atlanta, Ga.: The physician who prescribed steroids to professional wrestler Chris Benoit – who eventually killed his wife and son before committing suicide last summer – was indicted on Friday on 175 counts of illegal prescription abuse to 20 different people, including Benoit.
Dr. Phil Astin III is now living a nightmare from his medical exploits. His medical license was suspended last July, he is now indigent and being represented by a public defender and has been working at Strickland’s Towing Service in Atlanta when not under house arrest.
>> New York, N.Y.: The International Federation of competitive eating published its updated list of world records and there are some that will be hard to break! Like one and a half gallons of chili in 10 minutes by Richard LeFevre. But the most unbreakable record might be the 44 whole Maine lobsters in 12 minutes by Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas set in 2005!
~ Rich Perelman
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