Thursday, August 19, 2010

College Football is Two Weeks Away

Alphabetically listed since we all know SEC football trumps all.

ACC: Miami. I think the U is back. Bernie Kosar is probably due to fall off the wagon again soon, anyway.

Big 12: Texas. Though Oklahoma will probably rattle off wins vs. Florida State and Cincinnati to become slight favorites for the Red River Shootout. Texas wins that game and is the clear class of the conference.

Big East: Pittsburgh. Trust in The Stache.

Big Ten: OSU. Though that makes me want to puke. They are stacked. Wisco could make a run though, so really looking forward to that game on 10/16.

Conference USA: Houston. That schmendrick Keenum has got a gun.

MAC: Miami University. No, not really, but it's fun to be a homer sometimes and I'm not about to pick OU.

Mountain West: TCU. Obvs. See below in regards to the WAC.

Pac 10: UCLA. Rolling the dice. The school with some of the most classic colors in the country will make a return this decade.

SEC: Alabama. Obviously, at this point, I can't pick against Nick Satan and the defending champs/Heisman winner.

Sunbelt: North Texas. I have to feel like Riley Dodge and his old man will turn it around.

WAC: Boise State. Wait, what- there are other teams in this conference? You sure?

Thursday, August 12, 2010

When Will Derek Jeter Get his 3,000th Hit?


We didn't ask, but the J-Dawg went to the stat laboratory and broke down numbers. Here's his recap
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Notes:

- All statistics were acquired from baseballreference.com

-Career averages calculations exclude the 1995 and 2010 season, to make sure only full seasons were factored in (also note: post season stats are completely separate from regular season stats, and play no role in the following analysis)

-All the total hits calculations are based on Jeets having 2,874 hits (Accurate as of 8-9-2010)

Data:

Career AB – 8610 (not including 1995, 2010)

Career Ave Games Played per Season – 151.6

Career Ave AB per game – 4.057

Batting Averages:

Low for Career- .280

Ave for Career- .315

High for Career- .340

Hits per game:

Low BA- 1.136

Ave BA- 1.278

High BA- 1.416

Calculations:

There are 49 regular season games left, according to Jeter’s career ave games played per year, he will play in 40.6 remaining games. For the sake of thoroughness, I have calculated figuring both 40.6 games played as well as 49 games played)

Projected hits left this year: 40.6 games played

Low BA -46.122 (79.878 hits remaining until 3000)

Ave BA – 51.887 (74.113 hits remaining until 3000)

High BA – 57.490 (68.510 hits remaining until 3000)

Projected hits left this year 49 games played

Low BA -55.664 (70.336 hits remaining until 3000)

Ave BA – 65.622 (63.378 hits remaining until 3000)

High BA – 69.384 (56.616 hits remaining until 3000)

Games projected until 3000 hits, entering the 2011 season

79.878 hits needed:

Low BA: 70.3

Ave BA: 62.5

High BA : 56.4

74.113 hits needed:

Low BA: 65.2

Ave BA: 58.0

High BA : 52.3

65.510 hits needed:

Low BA: 57.7

Ave BA: 51.3

High BA : 46.3

70.336 hits needed:

Low BA: 61.9

Ave BA: 55.0

High BA : 49.7

63.378 hits needed:

Low BA: 55.8

Ave BA: 49.6

High BA : 44.8

56.616 hits needed:

Low BA: 49.8

Ave BA: 44.3

High BA : 40

Maximum games need to hit 3000

Minimum games needed to hit 3000

Conclusions:

One can postulate based on the above data and calculations that Jeets will have 3000 hits between 40 and 71 games into next season.

Once the 2011 schedule comes out, which is usually ~November, we can use this data to pick a specific month, series, game, and even At-Bat Jeets will hit the big 3000, becoming the 28th player in baseball history to do so.

Pete Rose has 4256 career hits – that’s 1382 more than Jeter

Jeter would need to play 8.02 (hitting his career Low BA), 7.13 (hitting his career Ave BA), or 6.44 (hitting his career High BA) more seasons at his current games played per year average to surpass Rose as the All-Time Hits Leader

Will Jeets be on the field in 2018 at age 44?

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Editor's Note: I asked for a guess on dates, rather than game numbers for next year's approximate historic AB and here's what he came up with:

This might be a few games off because it was hard to tell when the last preseason game was and when the first regular season game started in 2008 and 2009...

2008 Season:

Game 40 was on May 12 vs TB
Game 71 was on June 14 @ HOU

2009 Season:

Game 40 was on May 15 @ TOR
Game 71 was on June 17 vs WSH

2010 Season:

Game 40 was on May 19 vs TB
Game 71 was on June 21 vs ARZ

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Hey, Americans: Please Stop Doing These Annoying Things

  • Don't leave me a voicemail that says "Call me." That's the point of phones logging missed calls, guy.
  • Don't, unless we are close friends, or we are dating (for a while), or you are in my immediate family, say "it's me" when you're at the door or calling from an unrecognized number. How am I supposed to remember more than a dozen people's voices, out of context.
  • Don't walk in the elevator as soon as it dings, there might be people in there trying to get out.
  • Speaking of elevators, don't press your own button and then just stand there. When you walk in first you automatically become 'person who gets to press the buttons' person. Ask me and our fellow guests what floor we're going to and hit the little button, not that hard.
  • If I'm trying to give you money, buy something from you, drop clothes off at a goodwill, etc. tell me you're not open or you just closed. This is why the recession happened. I'M TRYING TO BUY SOMETHING, let me be a consumer.
  • Don't ask me to sit down when I'm at the ballpark/ice rink/arena/stadium and my team is losing late and we need a rally.
  • Don't come empty-handed as a house-guest. If you plan on spending the night at someone's house, bring a 6-pack of beer at the minimum as a Thank You. Exceptions include one of your 2-3 closest friend's house, some family members and random late nights where you just crash on a couch.
  • Don't change lanes without your blinker. It's annoying, rude and kind of dangerous. Yeah, schmuck in the drop top Miata, I'm talking about you.
  • Don't talk to strangers about politics.
  • When you're at a party, or other social engagement, don't hold your drink in your right hand. Who wants to shake a person's cold wet hand when you meet them? No one.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

GUEST POST: Merry Christmas you Filthy Animals

And now, Major League
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Pull out wallets and hold on to your butts, because football season is fast approaching. With preseason games (worse than even MLS and WNBA) around the corner this weekend, there is no greater joy in my life right now. While athletes are battling to lose some extra weight, sharpen their skills, and grit out the onslaught of the needles they will be receiving all season long; I too have begun my NFL ritual. I’m starting my shit talking in 3 fantasy football leagues (is that considered nerdy still?). Summer popcorn flicks and dramas are being replaced by depth charts and betting trends. I’m actively searching for articles on my Bengals (not too difficult this year with the TO circus in town) and their playoff hopes. Craigslist, Ebay, and Stubhub have replaced some uhhhh.. “other” websites as my go-to for entertainment, as I try to score great seats to a few games. (Sidenote: Had season tickets for a few years, waiting to move to better seats. Never did. Got rid of them after the Philly tie in 08. So did everyone else. Now they’re back, and I could have probably had seats 20 rows up on the 30 yard line. Sigh.)

The excitement is almost here. Fantasy drafts are starting soon. Tailgating plans are in their infancy, and talking with friends about the games will far surpass any chatter of oil crisis or Bristol Palin. I wanted to let you all know that I haven’t forgotten about you all, unlike the creators of this blog, and will be updating you on what I think are valuable tidbits of information. I’ll have gambling tips, fantasy sleepers (not many before my draft with Jesse), and teams that will suck (i.e . Dolphins, Steelers, Browns). Power rankings will be coming back too, and I guarantee they are 20% better, or your money back. As a precursor to all of this though, here are the top 5 commercials I hope to see a lot of during the NFL season:

1. Old Spice Ads – Just plain funny. I don’t think the bit gets old for 6 months, just in time for the Super Bowl sendoff.

2. Shake Weight Infomercial – Just incredible foresight by those ad wizards. I’m still waiting for the 5 minute POV ad to drop.

3. Whatever Bud / Miller commercial they’ve had 8 months to work on. Step it up guys. Coors Light, feel free to step in with some PLAYOFFS?!?! talk and maybe some shots of Gina Lee and … and TWINS.

4. Halo Reach comes out in September. I want some cool commercials for it. I’m totally okay if that just cost me a date. Or two.

5. On the reverse scale of commercials I look forward to, I can’t stand all the CSI commercials that I’ll be subjected to. Please. Somebody stop this show.