Total team salaries:
Cleveland Indians = approx. $61 Million
NY Yankees = approx. $195 Million
Boston Red Sox = approx. $143 Million
The combined cost of paying NYY’s Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez for one year could pay for the WHOLE team of Florida, Washington, Pittsburgh or Tampa Bay.
The combined salary of NYY’s Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi is $10 million more than the cost to pay all 22 players of the current Cleveland Indians team.
It just shows that money may buy you glitz and glamor but doesn’t necessarily make you are good team. Someone once told me that there is no ‘I’ in the word ‘Team’. Isn’t that the truth!
Espn’s salary breakdown for the various teams:
It’s down to 4 teams - Cleveland, Boston, Colorado and Arizona for the right to call themselves 2007 Major League Baseball World Champions.
Thought I might profile the 4 team mascots…
The Cleveland Indians mascot is a pink heffalump called Slider. Birthdate is July 29, 1990. Origins unknown, he lives between homeplate and the teams dugout. Loves Popcorn, Hot Dogs, and Pizza and Strawberry Shakes. Supposedly hangs out with best buddy mascots Billy the Marlin (Florida), Philly Phanatic (Philadelphia), The Moose (Seattle), Slugerrr (Kansas City), Dinger (Colorado) and Pirate Parrot (Pittsburgh) in the off season. I’m not sure how they came up with Slider as his appearance has absolutely no relation to baseball or anything associated with Cleveland. Not my personal favorite but he seems a hit with the kids.
Wally the Green Monster is the official mascot for the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team. Born on April 13, 1997, he lives in the famous 37 foot wall called Green Monster in left field at Boston’s Fenway Park Stadium. He actually looks like a Muppet and has his own blog called Wally’s Blog (hmmm very original). His pals are Lefty and Righty (um, a pair of baseball playing red socks).
Dinger is the official mascot of the Colorado Rockies. He is a a purple triceratops. The team decided on this mascot after dinosaur bones were found at their Stadium construction site. Purple happens to be the official team colors — hence a purple dinosaur. Unfortunately, Dinger is not as well liked by his fans with constant petitions being made to drop him. Has been spotted in Cleveland on many occasions with his buddy Slider.
D. Baxter is the mascot of the Major League Baseball team the Arizona Diamondbacks. Baxter was born in 2000 and lives just close to the stadium’s centerfield in The Den. The choice of animal came about from Jay Bell’s son (an Arizona player at the time). He thought it would cool to have a Bobcat as part of it spelt BOB (which was the initials of their stadium at the time i.e. Bank One Ballpark). The name rights to the stadium have seen been sold and it is not longer called Bank One Ballpark.
Mascot links:
List of Major League Baseball’s Mascots
Mascot Hall of Fame
As a Cleveland Indians fan, shame on me to watch a movie instead during the game. We watched Ben Stiller’s The Heartbreak Kid instead. Didn’t realize it was rated R until J told me as I was surprised at the nudity and crudeness. Overall a funny movie, Jerry Stiller was his classic funny self as usual.
I digress… good couple of games by the Indians and they are up 2-0 in the series. Now it’s to New York for a sweep. Though I don’t think they’ll win on Sunday, I think they’ll take game 4.
Go Tribe and hope they go all the way!
Barry Bonds hit the record 756th home run yesterday.
The big question is — how much will that ball be worth? I would probably like to know who caught it too.
ESPN wrote an interesting article of what will factor into how much the ball is worth. Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball fetched $3 million.
Personally, I feel that Hank Aaron is the true home run king and Barry Bonds’ record has a slight question mark over it with the steroids issue. We will never know will we, as he was lucky enough to never get caught.
So what will you do if you were lucky enough to catch that prized baseball?
For me, I’ll definitely sell it immediately as the ball’s price will be devalued with every extra home run Barry Bonds hits. I won’t take anything less than $3 million and will probably sell it at an auction (where the price often inflates) instead of selling it at a fixed price. Then I’ll give some of it to my family, my wife’s family, leave about $500,000 for J and myself to spend (including buying that fabulous H2 Hummer that I love), put some of it into investments and leave the rest in the bank to earn interest.
It was very ironic that Andre Agassi’s last tennis match was against a guy with the same initials (and last name) of his old rival … Boris Becker. On Sunday, as expected his back gave out on him against his match with Benjamin Becker, and his last public speech on court fittingly paid tribute to his fans and showed that we have “lost” a unique, gifted character and one with the biggest heart in tennis …
The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn’t say is what it is I have found. And over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I’ve found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I’ve found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life. Thank you.
He will always be a winner in my mind, a guy that showed that nothing is impossible … a person who succeeded against the odds, regardless of public doubt/ pressure and personal situations off the court. I am especially happy that he was given a standing ovation and cheers from his fellow players when he walked into the locker room after his last match. James Blake also paid a classy tribute by wearing a similiar bright tennis outfit/ spandex shorts/ bandana in his tennis match i.e. that of what Andre used to wear in the late 80s.
Here are some great links paying tribute to Agassi (courtesy of ESPN and Head.com):
- Agassi’s last ever post match interview
- Agassi was the best sound byte
- Career photo gallery
- Agassi gave until his body gave out
- Agassi’s career ends with four-set loss to Becker
- Evolution and appreciation of Agassi
- Decision to play on the right one
How coincidential that I was talking about my very first PC games and American Express comes up with a “my life” tennis TV advertisement that features Andy Roddick vs. Pong. Everyone remember Pong? I love that game!
Andre Agassi, the flamboyant ex-rebel turned elderly statesmen makes his final appearance (of his 20 year career) on the tennis court this next couple of weeks in the 2006 US Open Grand Slam Tennis Championship. Hopefully he can survive long enough to make a grand finale. Andre is one of the last out of the super brat pack and great American tennis hopes to retire i.e. the last of the talented American quartet consisting of (Agassi), Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang. Also deemed the most natural and versatile player of his generation, he holds the current record for the only man in the modern era to win all 4 Grand Slam tennis titles (The Australian Open, The French Open, Wimbledon and The U.S Open) - a feat not even tennis greats like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker and Roger Federer could do.
American tennis and tennis is general will lose it’s flavor without characters like him - an old school tennis player. The last great tennis rivalry of Sampras vs. Agassi, is a distant past… no one has actually matched/ lived up to the hype of their exciting rivalry of the 90s. He was the face of tennis for a long time, and will be greatly missed.
Thank you Andre for the interesting roller coaster career, the Hollywood appeal, the dramatic Grand Slam tennis wins, the great hype and for making tennis as popular as it is today. Thanks for also giving back so much to the sport and its community (with your Agassi Foundation for underprivileged kids and Agassi College Prep Academy).
We may not wait long to have another Agassi to star in particular sport, he and tennis legend wife (Steffi Graf) already have two children. I won’t bet against at least one of their kids having a natural sports talent - let me take an educated guess… in tennis?
Seeing Ohio State win the 2002 NCAA College Football Championship and being from Ohio - I have almost an “automatic” loyalty and sense of biasness to the college. With that, it is very sad to see Maurice Clarrett’s fall from grace.
Here is a guy that had tremendous talent but it all went wrong (real fast!). Through a mixture of arrogance, lack of maturity and a lot of unwise decisions … he ultimately went down the wrong path. This, from an athlete that was suppose to have a very bright future indeed. This so called “star” was filled with potential but it never really took off. With only one year of football under his belt, he is currently known for his now abundant troubles with the law instead of the accolades that earned him the title of “rising star”. Also, who could forget that wonderful touchdown he made for Ohio State. I painfully summarise his “tabloid” worthy events: Continue Reading »
As with many athletes (who test positive for drugs) , they always plead innocent … wait a minute, what am I saying… ofcourse they do! There is always a case of “innocent until proven guilty” but aren’t there a little too many cases of athletes failing drug tests to be a coincidence??
Their so called excuses or reasons are always the same Continue Reading »
Floyd Landis is out … fired by his team and is no longer Tour De France Champion. The “B” sample test confirmed the first - “testosterone was taken in an exogenous way”. The levels of the “B” substance tests turned up a testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 - far in excess of the normal 4:1 limit. Landis had claimed the testosterone was “natural and produced by my own organism,” and once again maintained his innocence. I must say that his reason for “high testosterone levels” is a first in one of many other reasons given by athletes testing negative on tests. I wish him luck in rebuilding his career.
