I had every intention of writing a little bit about The Brothers Bloom since we went and saw it tonight (excellent flick, by the by) but while we were at dinner, something came across my Google Reader that made my jaw drop. Apparently I gasped when I read it and startled the Missus.
Mitsuharu Misawa died last night.
The majority of people reading this probably have no idea who that is but suffice to say that if you're a wrestling fan, you know that it's a sad day for the business as one of the all-time greats has fallen.
But deaths in this business aren't usually so shocking. Misawa died in the ring in mid-match. He took a back suplex from an opponent and went into cardiac arrest. They performed CPR in the ring but there was nothing to be done. Misawa who had survived so many lethal looking moves through his career had died inside the squared circle.
Words can't do justice what an amazing in-ring performer this guy was. Soooooo...
2009-06-13
2009-06-12
Head Trauma
Somehow, someway, I smacked my head into the side of the door frame trying to get to this computer to post for you people.
The sacrifices I make for you!
So, with a slightly pounding head, I come to write...
...and find nothing to say.
How 'bout this one?
Earlier today, I read that former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley - who left the WWE in hopes of being a black Brock Lesnar in MMA instead of a black Brock Lesnar in pro wrestling - had made some comments on Kimbo Slice's addition to next season's The Ultimate Fighter cast. I'm too lazy to go look up the exact quote right now but he said something like, "I would've loved to do it but it would do nothing for my career and my management team wouldn't let me." Wow.
You may recall that I give Kimbo many props and much love for having the balls to stand up to his management team and put his cajones... err... where his mouth was. Sorry for the imagery on that one.
So, Kimbo Slice, a street fighter who probably could've ridden out freak show fights for the rest of his life and made a decent chunk of change doing it, put EVERYTHING on the line for a shot at getting into the biggest MMA promotion on the planet. You've gotta respect the man for that whether you think he's a joke as a fighter or not.
Bobby Lashley who is a former collegiate wrestler and is a genetic freak... well, he thinks it's a bad career move to try to earn a spot in the UFC. He'd rather slap around also-rans, has-beens, and never-weres until Dana notices him. His next fight is sure to make some headlines against Bob Sapp but Sapp hasn't been truly competitive in MMA in years. He was the product of overhype and believing in that hype did his career in as a fighter. So, a win over Sapp isn't exactly going to set the world on fire for Bobby Lashley.
Mr. Lashley, it's time to put your cajones where your mouth is! You want to be taken seriously as a fighter - and I can't believe I'm about to say this - but you need to follow in Kimbo's footsteps.
The sacrifices I make for you!
So, with a slightly pounding head, I come to write...
...and find nothing to say.
How 'bout this one?
Earlier today, I read that former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley - who left the WWE in hopes of being a black Brock Lesnar in MMA instead of a black Brock Lesnar in pro wrestling - had made some comments on Kimbo Slice's addition to next season's The Ultimate Fighter cast. I'm too lazy to go look up the exact quote right now but he said something like, "I would've loved to do it but it would do nothing for my career and my management team wouldn't let me." Wow.
You may recall that I give Kimbo many props and much love for having the balls to stand up to his management team and put his cajones... err... where his mouth was. Sorry for the imagery on that one.
So, Kimbo Slice, a street fighter who probably could've ridden out freak show fights for the rest of his life and made a decent chunk of change doing it, put EVERYTHING on the line for a shot at getting into the biggest MMA promotion on the planet. You've gotta respect the man for that whether you think he's a joke as a fighter or not.
Bobby Lashley who is a former collegiate wrestler and is a genetic freak... well, he thinks it's a bad career move to try to earn a spot in the UFC. He'd rather slap around also-rans, has-beens, and never-weres until Dana notices him. His next fight is sure to make some headlines against Bob Sapp but Sapp hasn't been truly competitive in MMA in years. He was the product of overhype and believing in that hype did his career in as a fighter. So, a win over Sapp isn't exactly going to set the world on fire for Bobby Lashley.
Mr. Lashley, it's time to put your cajones where your mouth is! You want to be taken seriously as a fighter - and I can't believe I'm about to say this - but you need to follow in Kimbo's footsteps.
2009-06-11
One To Go...
Like I really was going to talk about anything else tonight.
That was a fun game to watch. Back and forth, runs and droughts, cursing, screaming, and praising. You've got to love playoff basketball.
So, the Lakers find themselves one win away from another Championship which is absolutely awesome... duh.
The game was sloppy at times and got a little chippy at points [about time!] but that didn't make it any less entertaining. A second OT game? Amazing. Derek Fisher with the 3 Pointer Of Absolute Redemption? Incredible. Pau looking like he wanted to throw down with a foo'? Priceless.
Oh, and don't forget that Kobe guy. The best player walkin'.
One more win. One more. The question now becomes do they get too lazy and blow it in Game Five or does the young Magic team fold house like the Nuggets did?
That was a fun game to watch. Back and forth, runs and droughts, cursing, screaming, and praising. You've got to love playoff basketball.
So, the Lakers find themselves one win away from another Championship which is absolutely awesome... duh.
The game was sloppy at times and got a little chippy at points [about time!] but that didn't make it any less entertaining. A second OT game? Amazing. Derek Fisher with the 3 Pointer Of Absolute Redemption? Incredible. Pau looking like he wanted to throw down with a foo'? Priceless.
Oh, and don't forget that Kobe guy. The best player walkin'.
One more win. One more. The question now becomes do they get too lazy and blow it in Game Five or does the young Magic team fold house like the Nuggets did?
2009-06-10
Is Your Favorite Here?
One of my favorite websites had this linked today - a clip of the Top 100 memorable lines in movie history. Anything missing?
2009-06-09
Split Decision
Lakers lose but is anyone super shocked by that? At work today, I had
predicted that if the Lakers were going to lose just one, it's be
tonight. They looked pretty good - sloppy at times with a lack of
defensive intensity. They made mental errors - Kobe's missed free
throws, the steal towards the end, etc.
predicted that if the Lakers were going to lose just one, it's be
tonight. They looked pretty good - sloppy at times with a lack of
defensive intensity. They made mental errors - Kobe's missed free
throws, the steal towards the end, etc.
I'm not worried - well, unless they lose Gm 4 too.
Dodgers win again, continuing this nutty season with the best record
in MLB despite being without Manny - who showed up to say hello and
apparently make sure we all know he didn't rape or kill anyone. I
still think they'll need another starter at some point though. 117
pitches for Chad tonight in 5.2 innings? Yikes!
Sent from my iPhone
2009-06-08
God Bless America
I laughed my ass off watching this and I'm sure you will too. It actually reminds me of the night Chris Jericho beat The Rock and Austin in the same night to win the Undisputed Title and one of my loyal readers - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE - threw the mother of all hissy fits and pouted the entire way home from San Diego, even going as far as giving me both tickets to Raw the following night and saying that he wasn't going.
Pure awesome.
Pure awesome.
2009-06-07
The Minor League System
I have no idea how these things happen but I woke up this morning pondering the existence of the minor league system in Major League Baseball. It might be a brief piece I saw the other night on James Loney and the MLB Draft or it might be all the talk of the upcoming Draft.
But in the middle of all this pondering, something stuck in my craw.
Why is it that MLB is the only one of the major four sports that have such a drawn-out and [possibly] bloated minor league system to work through to hit the big time?
NBA? You get drafted, you're on the big team's roster more often than not and sometimes have an immediate and huge impact. The NFL is the same way. Not sure on the NHL but occasionally you do hear about some wunderkind.
But MLB? Someone who gets drafted in MLB may wait YEARS before making the big leagues if they ever make it all. Is MLB that much harder of a sport? Is there that much difference between the sports in the quality gap between high school/college ball and the pros?
I decided to do a little research to see just how this plays out.
Thanks to this super-helpful report on sport participation up on the NCAA website, I can provide the following information...
In 2006-7, the following participation numbers were recorded.
Baseball - 29,846 (in Div I/II/III)
Basketball - 16,640
Football - 62,459
Hockey - 3,957
Okay... so from there, we look at the drafts for each sport...
MLB - 1,502 players were drafted in the 2006 MLB Draft
NBA - 60 players are drafted
NFL - 256 players were drafted in the 2009 NFL Draft
NHL - 211 players were drafted in the 2009 NFL Draft
Now, let's look at slots available for those players (and yes, I realize the math is flawed based on international, non-roster players, etc.) And of course, all of this is quite theoretical.
For the NBA, every team can carry a max of 15. At 30 teams, that means there are 450 jobs available in the NBA. Of the total number of NCAA basketball players, about 3% will get one of those jobs and rarely - and I do mean RARELY - do one of the sixty drafted not play immediately in the NBA.
For the NFL, every team can carry a max of 53. At 32 teams, there are 1696 jobs available in the NFL. Theoretically, up to 3% will also get a job in the NFL. And again, RARELY do those players not immediately play for their NFL team.
For the NHL, every team can carry a max of 20 players. With 30 teams, that makes 600 jobs in the NHL. In theory, about 2% of those college players will get a job. The numbers are probably really off on this one because of the amount of international players in the NHL who don't come through the NCAA system.
And finally, there's MLB...
At 30 teams... and I'll be generous and go with the 40 Man Roster... there's 1200 jobs available at the Major League level. Again, in theory, up to 4% of the NCAA players will end up in the Major Leagues. That's close to the other sports so that makes sense. However, when we look at draft numbers...MLB is the only sport where more players are drafted than are already in the Majors.
The Dodger organization alone carries seven minor league teams... three rookie ball teams, two A affiliates, one AA, and one AAA. That gives the Dodgers a grand total of 131ish listed players in the minor leagues with two teams not listing rosters. If we assume another 25 per team there, the Dodgers creep close to 200 players in their system. Let's say 150 to be conservative. If we assume the rest of the MLB teams do the same, that's another 4500 jobs open in the MLB system for a total of 5700. With 5700 jobs in the system, you can now theorize that about about 20% of NCAA players will get a job in the MLB system.
So, the numbers are fascinating to me but the real question is... why?
Any thoughts?
But in the middle of all this pondering, something stuck in my craw.
Why is it that MLB is the only one of the major four sports that have such a drawn-out and [possibly] bloated minor league system to work through to hit the big time?
NBA? You get drafted, you're on the big team's roster more often than not and sometimes have an immediate and huge impact. The NFL is the same way. Not sure on the NHL but occasionally you do hear about some wunderkind.
But MLB? Someone who gets drafted in MLB may wait YEARS before making the big leagues if they ever make it all. Is MLB that much harder of a sport? Is there that much difference between the sports in the quality gap between high school/college ball and the pros?
I decided to do a little research to see just how this plays out.
Thanks to this super-helpful report on sport participation up on the NCAA website, I can provide the following information...
In 2006-7, the following participation numbers were recorded.
Baseball - 29,846 (in Div I/II/III)
Basketball - 16,640
Football - 62,459
Hockey - 3,957
Okay... so from there, we look at the drafts for each sport...
MLB - 1,502 players were drafted in the 2006 MLB Draft
NBA - 60 players are drafted
NFL - 256 players were drafted in the 2009 NFL Draft
NHL - 211 players were drafted in the 2009 NFL Draft
Now, let's look at slots available for those players (and yes, I realize the math is flawed based on international, non-roster players, etc.) And of course, all of this is quite theoretical.
For the NBA, every team can carry a max of 15. At 30 teams, that means there are 450 jobs available in the NBA. Of the total number of NCAA basketball players, about 3% will get one of those jobs and rarely - and I do mean RARELY - do one of the sixty drafted not play immediately in the NBA.
For the NFL, every team can carry a max of 53. At 32 teams, there are 1696 jobs available in the NFL. Theoretically, up to 3% will also get a job in the NFL. And again, RARELY do those players not immediately play for their NFL team.
For the NHL, every team can carry a max of 20 players. With 30 teams, that makes 600 jobs in the NHL. In theory, about 2% of those college players will get a job. The numbers are probably really off on this one because of the amount of international players in the NHL who don't come through the NCAA system.
And finally, there's MLB...
At 30 teams... and I'll be generous and go with the 40 Man Roster... there's 1200 jobs available at the Major League level. Again, in theory, up to 4% of the NCAA players will end up in the Major Leagues. That's close to the other sports so that makes sense. However, when we look at draft numbers...MLB is the only sport where more players are drafted than are already in the Majors.
The Dodger organization alone carries seven minor league teams... three rookie ball teams, two A affiliates, one AA, and one AAA. That gives the Dodgers a grand total of 131ish listed players in the minor leagues with two teams not listing rosters. If we assume another 25 per team there, the Dodgers creep close to 200 players in their system. Let's say 150 to be conservative. If we assume the rest of the MLB teams do the same, that's another 4500 jobs open in the MLB system for a total of 5700. With 5700 jobs in the system, you can now theorize that about about 20% of NCAA players will get a job in the MLB system.
So, the numbers are fascinating to me but the real question is... why?
Any thoughts?
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