Cavs vs Raptors Behind the Box Score: One ugly way to win a game
March 25, 2014
Jimmy Haslam discusses relationship with Bill Parcells, role in NFL Draft
March 26, 2014
I don’t really like math. So I don’t really ever sit and just do some for fun. Maybe that’s why this piece on Gene Smith threw me for a loop. The Ohio State Athletic Director will get a bonus of $18,447.94 for junior wrestler Logan Stieber’s national championship from the weekend. Smith gets bonuses for teams or individuals from the Buckeye programs winning on the national level. I understand the idea behind these bonuses. They are incentive for the AD to build winning programs.
What really threw me was the revelation that this bonus was equal to one week’s pay for Smith. One week? Are you serious? Like I said, I’ve never really bothered to break down a million dollar salary by the week as it wasn’t really necessary for my family budget. That just seems unbelievable to me. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Smith probably shouldn’t have survived this long at OSU. What a lucky man.
—-
Grantland’s Bill Barnwell takes aim at QB pro days in his latest piece, and specifically seems to go to bat for Teddy Bridgewater. I agree to an extent that the pro days don’t tell us the whole story. Perhaps the pro day is kind of a waste of time when you compare it to a private work-out. Maybe that’s why Ray Farmer has already told us he won’t be attending Manziel’s pro day. Hey, it sure would be nice to have a front office ahead of the curve in something.
—-
Some really good nuggets in this piece about tanking. “Since 1985, when the NBA’s draft lottery began, 19 of the NBA’s 30 teams (63 percent) have played in the Finals, but only eight franchises (27 percent) have won a championship. By comparison, over that same time span, the NFL has seen 25 different teams (78 percent) reach the Super Bowl, with 14 teams (44 percent) winning the Lombardi Trophy. The NHL has had 22 teams (73 percent) face off for a title, with 15 different franchises (50 percent) hoisting the Cup. And MLB — the least payroll-balanced of the four major leagues — has had 25 teams play in the World Series (83 percent) with 18 different victors (60 percent).”
Of course the Cavaliers figure prominently in any discussion of the topic. They tanked once and hit the jackpot in the lottery by getting LBJ. Then there is the recent history. Think of what the Cavs could have done with a couple high draft picks right after drafting LeBron. Imagine getting LaMarcus Aldridge or Brandon Roy to pair with James. The 2005 draft could have brought the point guard the Cavs needed in Chris Paul or Derron Williams.
Sigh.
—-
No thanks, I’m not hungry now. Not that I was ever a big Skyline Chili fan before (sorry, that isn’t chili, it’s coney sauce on spaghetti) but this is just gross. Skylines in Louisville, Kentucky are dyeing their spag red and blue for the UK-UL sweet 16 match-up. Click at your own risk. It isn’t pretty.
39 Comments
as alternative to yet another wise head intoning about unimportant qb pro days … perhaps you would be interested in who the browns select at #4 if bortles and robinson and watkins are off the board. this is a terrific piece (not by me).
http://jimkanicki.com/2014/03/26/browns-clowney-krm/
If there were no NBA draft, what % chance is there LeBron would have chosen to sign with the Cavs? Like 10%? I agree with the premise, that the lottery has not improved parity in the NBA, but the problem is, no matter what you do, in the NBA above all other sports the star players all want to play for a select number of marquee franchises.
I can understand why Gene Smith needs cash incentives to build winning programs. If you think he’s going to bust his hump for just a regular paycheck and personal pride, you’re nuts.
Seriously, I hope he is shamed into donating this stupid bonus to the wrestling program or something else.
“A quarterback shows effective footwork after weeks of drilling for a
pro day, only to immediately lose that footwork and resort to bad habits
once Aldon Smith or Robert Mathis starts bearing down on him.”
Or, as Mike Tyson said, “Everybody’s got a plan … until they get hit in the mouth.”
You mean LeBron wouldn’t have take his talents to Edgewater Park Beach?
I’m with you on Skyline chili, Rick. That is not chili, and I never understood the appeal.
This anti-tanking parade is so, so dumb. Why do fans of other teams care that the Philadelphia 76ers are giving their fan base a Cleveland Steamer in *hopes* of having the chance to draft the right player come the summer? People love to complain. It’s all loaded with inflated self-worth.
I actually like the stuff (a lot), but agree that it’s not chili. It’s “Cincinnati chili.” If you put “Cincinnati” in front of anything, it will completely change the meaning. That city is so lame.
Yeah, It may not be “chili”, but…
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn2/Gold_Star_Menu_i-coneys.gif
http://www.nerdtopiacast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/homer-drooling.png
To those hot dogs, I say… meh. At this point after declaring that Skyline chili is not actually chili (which I think most are agreeing), we come down to subjective taste… a fight that I want to win and cannot. Give me anything from Swensons over Skyline any day (NE OHIO 4 LIFE!)
apparently it has gained steam with the owners though as Silver has suggested that he is going to make radical changes to the lottery at some point (wouldn’t give a timeline).
I agree that it is silly to complain about. In basketball, you need the best players to compete and might be able to without the very best if you happen to have one of the very few coaches that can squeeze together wins (but you won’t win a title doing it that way – see: Chicago).
while you can still miss in the draft, the best players are near the top of the draft. so, you need to get as many of those picks playing together and growing together and then add in the correct veterans. it is still incredibly hard to do (as we have seen), but the only other solution is to put together a bunch of middling veterans or hope that one of the FA stars comes to your team. Do you think Utah, Sacramento, Cleveland, or Charlotte is going to have ANY real hope of that happening if they get rid of the only true chance at landing a star for 6-7 years?
I thought I knew chili. Really, I thought I did. Then, I went here and it changed my life:
http://chilifest.org/
ok, it changed my tastes towards chili. mmmmmmm, chili.
It is hard to argue with that analysis on Clowney, but still, I can’t help but think that I’ll be disappointed if the Browns go this route. Sometimes BPA is right; sometimes you just have so many holes that maybe there should be some caveat (i.e., (1) BPA, if (2) BPA meets position of significant need.).
The Turnpike Troubadours didn’t change your life?
Anything with, like, half a pound of cheddar cheese on it is glorious in my book.
That’s the ONLY thing I get from Skyline…with hot sauce.
Mmmmm…Swensons…
But, yeah, NE OH 4EVER!
I miss it up there. đ
No, no they did not. But, if they played the ChiliFest, then perhaps they could (sorry, they weren’t there but they ARE playing this year’s ChiliFest as I just looked).
Me too, buddy… me too.
This conversation is making me extremely hungry, and I skipped breakfast. Is 10:45AM too early to get lunch? Let’s all agree that it is not.
all-u-can eat brunch should be served everyday!
Roger that.
Concur! I’m off, then!
The other thing I never understood about the tanking debate: Didn’t the Heat “tank” to land LeBron and Bosh? Sure, they were still making the playoffs because they had a top-10 player in Wade, but for at least a couple of years they made no moves to better their team in order to hoard cap space in hopes of striking free agency gold.
http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Captain-America-Salute-Reaction-Gif.gif
http://www.madmoizelle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/butdanslavie.gif
Including another half pound of cheddar cheese
Is Gold Star Chili the same thing as Skyline? Still boggles my mind that Cincinnati has two chili chains.
More than two. Gold Star Chili, Blue Ash Chili, and Skyline Chili all have multiple locations, and are basically the same exact thing with slightly differing recipes.
The only time I had it was circa 2 am. It was a mounds of cheese v. chili cage match in my internal organs. PS. As anything does at that time, it tasted pretty good.
54 wrestlers have 19.9 scholarships to go around, shameful.
I’d like to be the Rolaids rep of Hamilton County.
Title IX has something to do with it. Honestly, pretty good on Ohio State for having scholarships there at all, many programs have stopped.
I like to avoid Hamilton County whenever possible.
Stark County 4 LIFE!
That’s not just any athletic department, it’s the premier money making department in the country. It can afford to pony up some pork for the wrestling program too. As a disclaimer, my brother wrestled for them a long time ago without a scholarship.
Looks like Blue Ash Chili has only two locations (that’s not really a chain in my mind). But it looks like they do have an interesting distinction, the “Blue Ash Chili No Freakinâ Way Challenge”. Which from the website is: “We start with 2.5 lbs. of our steaming spaghetti, add 2.5 lbs. of our award-winning premium chili, then crown the whole dish with 2 lbs. of shredded Cheddar cheese and 1 lb. of jalepeno caps. Thatâs 8 lbs. of classic Cincinnati-style goodness.”
I’d rather be water boarded.
You know they’re not doing this in Russia. Putin wins again.
Every wrestling scholarship they offer must be doubled because there must be a balancing with a girl scholarship. That was my only point. They can certainly afford to do that if they wish.
We win for the freedom to eat eight pounds of it if we desire to try. FREEDOM!