The Sporting Life category archive
Amateur Athletics 0
Yeah.
Right.
The University of Tennessee athletic department, with an operating budget of $126.6 million, spent $18.2 million on salaries, or 14.3 percent of its budget. The University of Memphis athletic department, with an operating budget of $43.4 million, spent $11.2 million on salaries, or 25.8 percent of its budget.
Yesterday, my local rag carried an interview with ESPN commentator Jay Bilas. When asked about “amateurism,” Bilas had this to say (follow the link for the full interview):
Warning Label 0
Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:
. . . as if high school kids ever pay attention to warning labels.
Want to know what it feels like to drive 100 miles an hour on a curvy country road late at night? I know an ex-high school kid who can tell you.
Goodell for What Ails You
0
MarketWatch marvels at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s $34.1 million compensation in 2014 (the most recent information available) and wonders whether the NFL is getting their money’s worth*:
In fact, of the 21 stadiums built throughout the league since 1997, team owners and the NFL itself have dedicated more than $180.5 million to just nine of them. Even among those stadiums, only five had the majority of their costs covered by the league and owners’ outlays.
At points in 2014, it was questionable which was the better investment: an inanimate object that works for the NFL less than 14 days out of the year or Roger Goodell.
__________________
*I say that the short answer is “No.” The long answer is “Hell, no.” Follow the link for MarketWatch’s opinion.
Indeed, I doubt any one, even the most magickal mythical mystical CEO, contributes worth to an enterprise that deserves compensation at an hourly rate of $16,000+.
But Soft! What Light on Yon Diamond Breaks? 0
I understand that there was a sporting contest yesterday. I had no interest in it.
Nevertheless, there is hope.
Pitchers and catchers report next week.
Cheaters Never Almost Never Occasionally Don’t Prosper
0
I find it gratifying that the New England eleven were unable to devise a method of cheating their way into to this year’s Big Game.
Bowling for Dollars 2
Bob Molinaro captures in one sentence the absurdity that is now big-time college football:
Gambling Gambols 0
Daniel Ruth notes that two Florida legislators want to pass a law declaring that playing “Fantasy Football” for money is somehow not gambling. Not Coincidentally . . . .
And what did the association get for their $20,000 ante? Under bills sponsored by Gaetz and Negron, the fantasy sports sites would be formally regarded as games of skill and not gambling. That would counter a 1991 legal opinion — and a rather accurate opinion at that — written by Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth that prohibited the fantasy leagues from collecting money and disbursing winnings.
Read the rest.
Dog of the Hair 0
Horrible people.
(snip)
Most of the girls on the ages 8 to 16 team are white, with naturally straight hair, and Makayla is Hispanic and biracial. In the conversations about styling, Kevin Tonner, the program’s all-star cheer director, told Fallaw, “I know other mixed kids and you can put relaxer in her hair,” Fallaw recalled.
Relaxer isn’t the right tool for Makayla’s hair, and Fallaw didn’t want to damage it with heavy heat or chemicals.
Read up on what’s in hair relaxers. Maybe Mr. Tonner should try drinking some to straighten himself out some himself before recommending them so casually.
Furrfu.
