Paying for wins?

Intriguing baseball payroll graphic. Fenway Park review coming soon.

Week 3 Power Rankings from Major League

	Week 3
	Team	Opponent	SoS Remaining	Sos Thru Week 2
1	New Orleans	ATL	19.8	20.5
2	Green Bay	@CHI	15.1	25.0
3	Indianapolis	@DEN	14.4	8.0
4	Houston	DAL	14.3	11.0
5	Pittsburgh	@TAM	15.8	14.5
6	New England	BUF	13.7	9.5
7	San Diego	@SEA	16.8	21.5
8	Miami	NYJ	13.2	26.5
9	Cincinnati	@CAR	14.0	8.5
10	NY Jets	@MIA	13.9	8.5
11	Baltimore	CLE	14.3	9.5
12	NY Giants	TEN	15.7	15.5
13	Chicago	GNB	15.1	22.5
14	Tennessee	@NYG	11.7	16.0
15	Atlanta	@NOR	16.9	17.0
16	Denver	IND	16.1	20.5
17	Jacksonville	PHI	15.2	11.5
18	Philadelphia	@JAC	14.2	12.5
19	Washington	@STL	15.4	13.0
20	San Francisco	@KAN	20.5	12.5
21	Minnesota	DET	14.9	4.5
22	Dallas	@HOU	12.9	16.0
23	Detroit	@MIN	14.9	15.5
24	Seattle	SDG	19.6	18.0
25	Tampa Bay	PIT	15.4	29.0
26	Kansas City	SFO	17.8	18.5
27	Oakland	@ARI	13.9	22.5
28	Carolina	CIN	15.3	18.5
29	Arizona	OAK	19.5	23.0
30	Cleveland	@BAL	11.1	25.5
31	St. Louis	WAS	18.5	28.0
32	Buffalo	@NWE	13.0	5.0

NFL Observations

-There are five teams named after birds (Eagles, Ravens, Falcons, Seahawks, Cardinals)
-Four teams share the common theme of cats (Panthers, Jaguars, Bengals, Lions)
-The next most popular connected nicknames are horses (Colts, Broncos), pirates (Raiders, Buccaneers) and Native Americans (Chiefs, Redskins), with two each.
-Did you know the Vikings play at Mall of America Field? Interesting sponsorship decision there. If you live in Minneapolis or thereabouts, don't you HAVE to go there to buy clothes, electronics, jewelry, etc.? It's the biggest mall in the country, I just don't get the sponsorship. Are they competing with other rinky dink town malls around the Twin Cities?
-Running Back seems like the only major position in sports where having a tandem works so effectively, to the point that almost every team employees that strategy. It wouldn't work at QB, point guard, shortstop, etc.
-Instead of charging money for checking bags, why didn't airlines just build it into the cost of airfare? We expect things to increase in price over time (food, airfare, gas, rent, etc.) so why not just increase ticket prices gradually over six or twelve months. It just creates more problems when people stop wanting to check bags, over-stuff their carry-ons, and therefore shove these huge bags in the overhead or under the chair.
-How annoying must it be for James Brown and the studio hosts to have to run over the same game update several times for each game going on? I mean I'd still take the gig, but it's got to get tired calling the same TD play back to back to back.

Major League's 2010 Opening NFL Power Rankings

	Week 1
	Team	Opponent	SoS	2009 Sos
1	Indianapolis	@HOU	14.5	15.8
2	New Orleans	MIN	17.5	17.9
3	NY Jets	BAL	15.4	15.2
4	Baltimore	@NYJ	15.4	15.1
5	San Diego	@KAN	17.9	17.4
6	Green Bay	@PHI	15.7	17.9
7	Minnesota	@NOR	15.2	17.4
8	New England	CIN	13.4	13.8
9	Dallas	@WAS	14.2	16.9
10	Cincinnati	@NWE	13.3	14.6
11	Houston	IND	12.7	15.4
12	NY Giants	CAR	15.2	16.2
13	Tennessee	OAK	13.8	14.1
14	Pittsburgh	ATL	14.8	15.1
15	San Francisco	@SEA	19.7	18.3
16	Miami	@BUF	14.4	12.6
17	Atlanta	@PIT	16.4	15.2
18	Carolina	@NYG	16.9	14.5
19	Denver	@JAC	15.6	14.5
20	Jacksonville	DEN	14.9	15.5
21	Philadelphia	GNB	13.2	15.8
22	Washington	DAL	14.7	16.5
23	Arizona	@STL	18.1	16.9
24	Detroit	@CHI	15.2	15.1
25	Chicago	DET	14.4	15.8
26	Oakland	@TEN	16.2	14.0
27	Kansas City	SDG	17.9	16.1
28	Tampa Bay	CLE	16.2	13.6
29	Seattle	SFO	18.6	16.6
30	Cleveland	@TAM	13.4	14.5
31	St. Louis	ARI	18.9	15.6
32	Buffalo	MIA	13.0	13.0

Indy – I mean, they win about 95% of their regular season games for the last 5 years (if you exclude the games they play 2^nd string). Since this isn’t the playoffs, they are the #1.

New Orleans – Playing Tampa and Carolina 4x a year must be nice. Madden curse alert.

Jets – This is inflated because Rex Ryan’s speeches unfortunately can’t be their own team. I need a GD snack.

Baltimore – On paper, they’re good. I want to see how 3 possession receivers do though before we have Denny Green crown them.

San Diego – Uhh, why do people think V Jackson is that big of a deal? They have more than enough to hide his absence.

Green Bay – Everyone is talking about Aaron Rogers, but I’d just like to thank Ryan Grant for helping me win my work fantasy football league last year

Minnesota – They rank this high now, but I’m guessing they are in the teens after week 4. Expect the IR to start filling up.

New England – Tom Brady’s hair is just the worst. It looks like Justin Beiber grew up, went to the hair stylist, and asked for the McGuyver.

Dallas – They’ll be good early, and suck late. Which btw, great summary of a date.

Cincinnati – I love me my Bengals. However, I’d like to see Palmer not overthrow too many people before I trust him some more.

Houston – 8-8 seems to be their motto. I expect Andre Johnson to regress a little this year.

NY Giants – Sneaky good this year. All they have to do is retire Brandon Jacobs jersey. Maybe he’ll take the hint.

Tennessee – Say what you want about Vince Young, but he wins. And throws punches.

Pittsburgh – You think Ben’s pocket vision works at these bars where he can find the unsuspecting girl to ruffie?

San Francisco – They are the best team in the worst division ever. Congrats?

Miami – Until your defense can stop anyone, I don’t want to hear about how good that offense is.

Atlanta – Matt Ryan is okay. At best. They’ll be better this year, and maybe even make the wild card, but it will take a few weeks to shake the rust off.

Carolina – No Jake Delhomme = A good thing.

Denver – Who is their primary receiver? No really. I don’t know.

Jacksonville – 35,000 fans are very nervous about MJD’s injury status. Only half of those fans have season tickets.

Philly – Too much turnover to be good right out of the gate. But on offense at least, they have the talent.

Washington – McNabb and Portis are a deadly Combo. In 2004.

Arizona – Not a good sign that starter wasn’t good enough for the Browns! And Delhomme is better!

Detroit – Jahvid Best is a great name. Not as good as Kareem Huggins, but still.

Chicago – This turkey is done cooking. Cubs suck. So do the bears.

Oakland – Jamarcus Russell was a worse decision than MTV execs not having Jersey Shore cast mates in a Real World Challenge yet.

Kansas City – Thomas Jones adds a valuable piece to this team. Experience in winning. That’s 1 of 53 for those keeping track at home.

Tampa Bay- This team looks like somebody took a crap or dump in the printer.

Seattle – God hates Seattle. A lot. I think they’ll be fighting for 2 wins.

Cleveland – God hates Cleveland. Maybe even more. Howeva, I think they win 5 or 6 games this year, but unfortunately, it’ll come after they’re out of contention.

St Louis. – Terrible. Take a lap.

Buffalo – A real chance of going 0-16. CJ Spiller can’t run when there’s 9 guys in the box. Trust me

College Football Bets Week 1

I like these picks, but hate having to pick against the mighty RedHawks.

Northern Illinois (+5) at Iowa State
Arizona (-15.5) at Toledo
Miami University (+36.5) at Florida
Illinois (+12) at Missouri
Purdue (+11) at Notre Dame

Also, on our next Meatball feature, I'm going to take a look at the 2nd best city in America. Early nominees include Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Trenton NJ, DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Mansfield OH, Nashville, Memphis, Owensboro KY, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle.
Couple jokes in there, get it?

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?

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 28^th 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