JORGE
Pawel Wolak and Jorge Teron have scheduled bouts, to be shown on TV as part of the Sho-Box series, for August 1st 2008 at Aviator Sports in Brooklyn. Teron will defend his NABO Lightweight title; he is currently RANKED number seven in the world by the WBO. Meanwhile Wolak continues his climb up the Junior Middleweight ranks.
JULY4th REPORT CARD
On July 4th the Yankees record was 45-41, .523 and were 8 games 0ut of 1st place; they were 4 games out of last place. To reach the 95 win mark they must win 50 of the final 86 games or play .581 ball.
Jon’s “Muts” are 42-43, .494 and were 4 ½ games out of 1st. To reach 90 wins they have to win 48 of the remaining 77 games (.623)- HA, FAT CHANCE!
MY POSITION
I emphatically deny the rumors that I’ve been visiting Madonna’s apartment late at night when her husband was away. My wife and I love each other very much and those rumors are false and unfounded. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Is that rumor more bizarre than the fact that Tampa had the best record in baseball (52-32, .519) on July 4th? You decide!
A DIFFERENT STAT
Did you ever wonder how all the money spent by a MLB was broken down per win? I compared a team’s active roster payroll to the number of wins to see how much each win cost the team
TEAM TOTAL PAYROLL 2007 WINS PER WIN
Yankees $ 209 mill 94 $ 2.2 mill
Mets 138 mill 88 1.6 mill
Red Sox 133 mill 96 1.4 mill
Marlins 22 mill 71 .3 mill
From this point of view, the Marlins, with their 44 wins as of 7/6 are both the most successful AND most valuable.
OLYMPIC BASKETBALL
The US Olympic Committee announced the team for this year (in alphabetical order: Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Dwayne Wade, and Deron Williams). Prince, a 6-9 forward is the defensive specialist who can guard four positions. These young men have quite a task ahead of them- to remove the bitter aftertaste created by the 3rd place 2004 team. Even though Basketball was created in the US, the IOC has restructured the international rules to favor non-American teams. The World Championships, held between Olympics, haven’t been successful for us (2002-6th/ 2006-3rd) at all and show us that we, now, MUST beat them at their own game.
While this year’s team looks awesome, let’s see how Coach K does with THEM. A lot of NBA stars declined to commit to competing FOR THEIR COUNTRY. Among them are: Amare Stoudemire, Marcus Camby, Chauncy Billups, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett (the three Boston heroes), Tim Duncan, Lamar Odum, Alan Iverson, and Stephan Marbury. They lost to Lithuania, do you believe it LITHUANIA! Remember this “Beijing Bunch” when it comes to buying THEIR merchandise.
I agree with Bernie Lincicome when he says: “If this (the proposed Olympic team) is not the best team the U.S. could be sending to China- that will not be true of all the other countries. It may be good enough. It should be good enough. How different the objective now, not to confirm America’s place at the top of basketball, but to get back something that should never have been lost in the first place.”
OLYMPIC DOMINANCE
The U.S. swim team SHOULD leave everybody in their wakes for the FIFTH strait time. Now the IOC might drop swimming as an approved sport as they did with Softball, OR change the rules to favor European swimmers as they did with basketball.
Speedo/Nike/Tyr aren’t interested in doing the right thing as much as making money. Speedo introduced its LZR in February and now just before the start of the Games we’re hearing about the Blueseventy that’s supposed to be faster and add more to a swimmer’s buoyancy than the LZR. Turmoil and frenzy in swimsuit endorsements have become the Sneakers-War of these Games.
It would seem to me that more scientists are working on swimsuit designs than are working on disease cures.
MY OLYMPIC THOUGHTS
Equestrian teams, “pixie gymnasts”, or rhythmic dancers shouldn’t be there.
Boxing, track & field and weight lifting are the heart and soul of Olympic competition.
“JAMES-TOWN”
The Nets are positioning themselves to take a strong run at LeBron James when he becomes a free agent. Kiki Venderweghe traded Richard Jefferson and his big ticket salary for 20-year old Yi Jian Lian and Bobby Simmons. That should put the Nets $20 mill UNDER the salary cap. That’s exactly what I wanted the Knicks to do.
PASSING THOUGHTS
The Knicks should have taken Lopez and not Gallinari. They could have taken JaVale McGee who is a true big man at 7 feet, 237 lbs. Not a 4/5, he’s what Wilbon calls a “run stuffer, not afraid to knock somebody down or put a knee in somebody’s chest.” I’m tired of seeing our guys get pushed around and have sand kicked in their faces.
VEEERY INTERESTING
TRIPS
Ex-defensive tackle Warren Sapp told the St. Petersburg Times that he’s retiring with no regrets: It would’ve been real nice to get 100 sacks and all that, but I’m OK with 96.5. Its triple digits, right?”
“CHA-GONE”
Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon (8-years, 45-61, 4.99 ERA) had a “physical altercation” with Houston GM Ed Wade and the team terminated his contract. That means he was fired for punching the boss.
He cleared waivers (NO TEAM put in a claim) and he was released.
Now, the PA is filing a grievance saying that he was released without cause. HA! Would you believe it?
SOCCER SUIT
This from Dwight Perry: Several broadcasters are threatening to sue after a fierce electrical storm in Vienna, Austria and the resulting power outages wiped out their satellite feed during the Euro 2008 match between Germany and Turkey.
“God’s lawyer could not be reached for a comment.”
