I read in the Charlotte Observer today that Coach K was paid $5 Million in the year 2009 making him the highest paid employee at Duke University. I am sure he is the highest paid by employee by leaps and bounds. I wonder how much the president of the university makes?
Coach K declined comment on the article. I find his silence amusing because He has become a Public Relations machine over the past 10 years or so. If something can make him look good or he is cashing a check, his face is out in front of it or he is hawking it. I don't guess a polish sausage company could come up with enough money. I am guessing he declined comment on the article because it cast him in a negative light.
I am sure the $5 Million doesn't include all of his endorsement deals. His salary is only topped by his ego. The only reason that figure was made public was because Duke University had to report it.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
The Drafts: A Sports Goobs Dream
This past week Has been a Sports Goobs dream. The NBA Draft and the NHL Draft on back to back nights and the Major League Baseball Draft about a week ago. I just love drafts. I love sorting thru my teams draft picks especially if I have never heard of most of the players such as the Seattle Seahawks from this years NFL Draft and reading what the so called experts think and what their projections are.
The Major League Baseball draft is usually not relevant until about five years down the road and that draft is probably the hardest one to project. You can just about name the players on one hand that have been placed on a major league roster without ever having played in the minors and contributed right away. I believe Bob Horner of the 1978 Atlanta Braves may have been one of the last to do so.
The NHL Draft is usually about 50/50. Some of the players can step in and play and contribute right away and others need more time to develop. The Carolina Hurricanes hit the jackpot with Jeff Skinner in last years draft. He was the #7 selection overall, stepped in and played immediately, and won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie just a few days ago.
The NFL and NBA Drafts are probably the most relevant and the most analyzed. Those players, especially the top ten picks or so, are expected to step in and play immediately and be major contributors to their teams success.
The Major League Baseball draft is usually not relevant until about five years down the road and that draft is probably the hardest one to project. You can just about name the players on one hand that have been placed on a major league roster without ever having played in the minors and contributed right away. I believe Bob Horner of the 1978 Atlanta Braves may have been one of the last to do so.
The NHL Draft is usually about 50/50. Some of the players can step in and play and contribute right away and others need more time to develop. The Carolina Hurricanes hit the jackpot with Jeff Skinner in last years draft. He was the #7 selection overall, stepped in and played immediately, and won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie just a few days ago.
The NFL and NBA Drafts are probably the most relevant and the most analyzed. Those players, especially the top ten picks or so, are expected to step in and play immediately and be major contributors to their teams success.
Monday, June 20, 2011
The U.S. Open Golf Championship
I am not a golf fan. I am not a golfer. I might be the only person on the planet that thinks its funny to watch Tiger Woods implode on a golf course and it doesn't happen much. I think I have been to the driving range maybe 5 or 6 times in my life and that was just to swat the hell out of something. I did watch the final round of the U.S. Open yesterday because I had heard so much about Rory McIlroy.
I do not understand why golfers have to have complete silence when they putt or do anything else. Basketball players have to try to sink free throws with people screaming at them and waving objects in the background and Field Goal Kickers have to try to make game winning field goals with 80,000 people screaming at them and raising all sorts of hell. I want to see golfers sink that 20 foot putt with all of this going on. Tiger Woods has lost it before when a photographer took a picture of him before while he was trying to hit a shot. All he heard was the click. If he needs that much silence to concentrate maybe he should try a different sport.
Watching golf on TV is a desperate act for me. It means nothing else is on and it is raining outside. That is how I ended up watching the U.S. Open yesterday. Watching the golf officials is funny. The player named Yang hit one into the spectators and you had 10 golf officials immediately tear into the crowd and start clearing a path. I would love to see one of the spectators pick up the ball and throw it back onto the fairway like the fans do when an opposing player hits a homerun into the left field stands at Wrigley Field. When the officials do clear a path and the player is ready to hit his shot the officials all face the crowd and hold their hands straight up in the air. I don't if they are asking for silence or letting their armpits air out. I wonder how they would react if a spectator said "Hey numbnuts! You're blocking my view!"
I do not understand why golfers have to have complete silence when they putt or do anything else. Basketball players have to try to sink free throws with people screaming at them and waving objects in the background and Field Goal Kickers have to try to make game winning field goals with 80,000 people screaming at them and raising all sorts of hell. I want to see golfers sink that 20 foot putt with all of this going on. Tiger Woods has lost it before when a photographer took a picture of him before while he was trying to hit a shot. All he heard was the click. If he needs that much silence to concentrate maybe he should try a different sport.
Watching golf on TV is a desperate act for me. It means nothing else is on and it is raining outside. That is how I ended up watching the U.S. Open yesterday. Watching the golf officials is funny. The player named Yang hit one into the spectators and you had 10 golf officials immediately tear into the crowd and start clearing a path. I would love to see one of the spectators pick up the ball and throw it back onto the fairway like the fans do when an opposing player hits a homerun into the left field stands at Wrigley Field. When the officials do clear a path and the player is ready to hit his shot the officials all face the crowd and hold their hands straight up in the air. I don't if they are asking for silence or letting their armpits air out. I wonder how they would react if a spectator said "Hey numbnuts! You're blocking my view!"
Saturday, June 18, 2011
College Players Are Paid
Whether college athletes should be paid or not has been widely debated for the past couple of weeks or so. I, for one, think they are already paid. They are paid with a college education. That is why they are called student athletes.
It is not the college's fault or the NCAA's fault if they do not finish their degrees or do not take their education seriously. In some of the top flight educational institutions, that education is worth $200,000 or more. A non-athlete almost has to have an Einsteinian IQ, grades that are off the charts, and have extra curricular activies that guarantees no sleep while they are in high school in order to qualify for admission.
The NCAA is a major business enterprise and they are only kidding themselves if they do not believe that. The TV contracts, licensing contracts, and sponsorship money rake in millions and millions of dollars for the NCAA and their member institutions and it probably is disproportionate to what the cost of a college scholarship is. The athletes are still being paid with that education.
It is not the college's fault or the NCAA's fault if they do not finish their degrees or do not take their education seriously. In some of the top flight educational institutions, that education is worth $200,000 or more. A non-athlete almost has to have an Einsteinian IQ, grades that are off the charts, and have extra curricular activies that guarantees no sleep while they are in high school in order to qualify for admission.
The NCAA is a major business enterprise and they are only kidding themselves if they do not believe that. The TV contracts, licensing contracts, and sponsorship money rake in millions and millions of dollars for the NCAA and their member institutions and it probably is disproportionate to what the cost of a college scholarship is. The athletes are still being paid with that education.
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