Well, a day after promising to look into things and try to find the truth in the Mavericks situation, I have come to two conclusions:
1) – Avery Johnson is underpaid, and I expect that will change within 12 months.
2) – Reports of major conflict between Avery and Cuban appear to be greatly exaggerated.
The Latest from the Morning News …
"Right now, I have a contract," Johnson said. "And if there is a time that Mark wants to revisit it, we will. But it's really nobody else's [business]. Mark's not going to put me in a position where I can't do the best job. He's just not going to do it. He's too smart for that.
"But everything we do around here, we do it on our own timing. And whatever we're doing, we're headed in the right direction."
Meanwhile, at Cuban’s blog: Cuban has an odd entry that addresses employees getting bonuses …
When does an employee deserve a bonus ? When should you as an employee ask for one or expect one and when should you as the person responsible for paying bonuses offer one.
The answer comes from the expectation you have when you hire someone.
When I hire someone, I hire them because I expect them to be good to great at what they do. I dont want to hire some shlep that goes through the motions to collect their money. I dont want someone who does whats expected of them as an employee and nothing more. The people who will find success working for me are those who love the challenge of excelling at their jobs and find away to exceed all expectations.
Now if you are a person that does just that. Challenges yourself. Excels. Makes the company more competitive, our customers happier and our bottom line bigger, should you automatically get a bonus ?
Of course not. You are doing exactly what you were hired to do. You were hired to be great. You are expected to do great things. We pay you to do just that. You dont deserve a bonus.
In other Mavs news, Devean George could be on board soon …wow. I really like what the Mavs have done this offseason. That is potentially 5 new players to this NBA Finals roster, and they all appear to be rotation-caliber.
Yankees 6, Rangers 2 …
Adam Morris with the point of the day …
Two on, two outs, down 4 in the 8th inning, Kyle Farnsworth on the mound, and Jerry Hairston Jr. is due up.
The same Hairston who, at that time, has one hit since the All-Star Break, is 2 for his last 22, and came into the game hitting .218/.295/.291 as a Ranger, after putting up a .207/.253/.244 line with the Cubs before being sent to Texas in exchange for Phil Nevin.
Why on Earth do you let Hairston bat, rather than sending up Hank Blalock to pinch hit? Or even Rod Barajas?
It makes my head hurt to think about it.
Update [2006-7-24 23:30:33 by Adam J. Morris]: -- We talked about this a month ago, but the Rangers, with 19 pinch hit plate appearances on the year, and no more interleague games, look likely to break the all-time record for fewest pinch hit appearances (per 162 games), which is 30.
But, we cannot directly blame Buck for this one, since he wasn’t in the yard.
Joel Sherman on the festering A-Rod fun in New York ….
But they are not going to overcome the mental anguish afflicting Alex Rodriguez. Because this has become every Yankees' mental anguish. This is wearing on a whole team in a way the physical injuries did not. A groundball is hit to Rodriguez now and an entire team - an entire fan base - thinks the worst. The same when A-Rod bats in a big-time spot.
We now are examining every word said about Rodriguez by each Yankee, but
specifically Joe Torre and Derek Jeter. We look for hidden meanings, closeted agendas. It is too much for the toughest-minded, most physically fit squad to endure. And these Yankees are fragile of body, and not nearly as mentally rugged as their recent championship groups.
For these Yanks, it is all too taxing. One-third of their current roster looks like something the Long Island Ducks dragged in. So they needed the AL MVP version of Rodriguez. Instead, they have gotten a soap opera that gets more draining by the day. I initially thought the injuries to Matsui and Sheffield would force Rodriguez out of the insincere just-one-of-the-guys cloak he brandished and propel him to carry the club. But rather than put a team on his shoulders, A-Rod might be taking the Yanks down with him.
College Football Odds are posted …Norm?
Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Ohio State are considered the top three contenders to win this season's BCS championship game and college football's national title, according to Las Vegas odds.
The Hilton sports book has Notre Dame a 9-2 favorite followed by Oklahoma at 5-1 and Ohio State at 6-1. Every other team on the board is 8-1 or higher to win the championship game.
Their "Big 3" status is also reflected in the season-win over / unders recently posted at the Hilton and in the Week 1 college football lines now available at the Stratosphere.
with 4 pounds of pot, Ramonce Taylor transfers …
Without Taylor at tailback, Texas will look to Jamaal Charles, who averaged 7.4 yards per carry and scored 11 touchdowns last season, as well as Selvin Young (4.8 yards per carry and eight touchdowns) and Henry Melton (5.0 ypc and 10 TDs).
Sorry, girls. AJ Hawk is off the market …
Hawk and Laura Quinn, sister of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, were married in a civil ceremony Monday afternoon in the Green Bay downtown law offices of Liebmann Conway Olejniczak & Jerry. Attorney J. Michael Jerry officiated
Canadians extend Bob Gainey through 2010 …
Now, you know my stance on the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. His writing is phenomenal, and really his grasp of comedy, current pop culture, and sports is one of a kind. It has been suggested that we should get him as a guest on our show, but we cannot, for fear that like most writers, his spoken word is not near the genius as his written word.
Regardless, while on vacation, my two worlds collided. Bill Simmons has decided to follow English Premiership Football. Amazing. Not sure I like it, kinda like my wife getting interested in fantasy baseball, but it is sure something I did not expect. Anyway, here is the result of his new discovery:
Picking a Premiership Club …
Picking a Premiership Club II …
Liverpool fans try to convince him to join us …
And, to prove his genius Emails for the Sports Guy …
Q: Enough about Barbaro. To quote Ralphie Cifaretto ... "It was a [bleeping] horse!" If he placed at the Derby, he'd be an anonymous Euroburger right now. Instead, he's getting the "President's colon" treatment. Can we move on?
--Kernberg, Dorchester, Mass.
SG: That was this month's "Really evil e-mail that made me laugh out loud." By the way, I think Barbaro has replaced the Bonds home run chase and Clemens' comeback as the ongoing "major" sports story that nobody seems to actually care about. We're on a roll, folks! Next on the docket: T.O. and Bill Parcells may or may not be getting along! For more, let's go to Ed Werder in Dallas!
UFC Gold Coming Soon: Hughes v St Pierre 2!…
You just don’t see this type of stuff in any other sport where the job description includes punching your opponent in the face - two athletes, preparing for battle in a couple of short months, sharing a car, separated only by a few feet.
But that was the scenario last week as UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and number one contender Georges St. Pierre went on the road to Bristol, Connecticut for an ESPN spot to promote their September 23 rematch at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California.
And as expected, there were no impromptu brawls, no reason for UFC public relations director Jennifer Wenk to jump in and play Big John McCarthy to these 170-pound stalwarts. It was just another day at the office for the two best welterweights in the world.
“I have no problem with that at all,” said St. Pierre while riding to the airport with Hughes. “Matt is a gentleman and I think I am too. It’s just going to be 25 minutes of business on September 23rd, and after that, win or lose, I will shake his hand.”
By the way, since I had an additional day off yesterday to end my vacation, I basically just watched tv. Caught up on Entourage, almost caught up on Deadwood, and watched some sports. Part of that was Pride Fighting on Fox Sports net, and there, in Japan, was the ever-annoying Ken “The World’s most Dangerous Man” Shamrock getting his head handed to him again.
Here are his career stats …
Question: If you lose every time you fight, how can you be called the World’s most Dangerous Man?
Since 2000, Shamrock has lost 6 of the last 8 fights he has been in. He has nothing left. And everytime he fights, the announcers make him out to be the greatest thing ever, and then he loses in the first round.
15 comments:
I'm so tired of the summer malaise...
1st.
As for the college football odds, you can forget Notre Dame (over-rated for now as they're still 1-2 yrs away) and Oklahoma (surprise - the Big 12 is just too strong overall to go undefeated this year) winning the national championship. If Ohio State can survive their week 2 trip to Austin, they have to be the odds on favorites right now.
Leave it to the 'experts' to put OU and tOSU as two of their 3 highest rated teams. Let's look at this a little closer:
tOSU: loses NINE starters off the defense. NINE. Since when was that a recipe for a title?
OU: loses experience from an already green OL(3/5th of last year's squad is gone) and their all-world FB Runnels, plus Bomar still hasn't proven he can carry the team when a good D stacks 8-9 in the box to stuff Peterson.
Oh yea and Notre Dame, possibly the most perennially overrated team of all-time(beating out even Texas for this award).
Out of these teams tOSU has the best shot, but I seriously doubt any one of these three teams will go undefeated and play in the NC game.
-JB
p.s. Did you know that Laura Quinn is Brady Quinn's sister?
p.p.s. No really, we have a camera following her around the grocery store right now. Signed, ABC Sports
Army just got a contract extension from the Stars. I mean, after that fantastic July he had, you had to make sure to keep him around!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Reynolds
He was a studio analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight for over ten years until he was fired in July 2006.
i would say something about the U.T. program's integrity, but the record is played out. and i'm tired of hearing longhorn fans getting drawn offside, defending students who can't maintain a 2.0.
Georges St. Pierre is the most likeable guy in the UFC. Good luck to him against Hughes; he'll need it.
Jay, most of the UT fans I've talked to have said the same thing: "what a shame, he is a hell of a player, but Mack did the right thing." RT's been basically gone since March when he was 'excused' from spring practice to focus on grades.
Did that count as offsides, or did I get back before the snap?
-JB
Bowl-bound SMU. Believe it!
bowl bound A&M. believe...nevermind.
let's gooooooooooo eaton!!
Bowl-bound Mary Hardin Baylor. Believe it!
Bowl-bound Angelo State. Believe it!
BBC
Is that Don Nelson in the lead photo? What was he doing there?
Now that the Mavs have seemingly gotten better at the positions that every one said needed to be upgraded, there should be NO EXCUSE for them to win the NBA TITLE in 2007. This is a team that got to the finals and proceeded to melt like a popsicle in July. Now that they have the pieces that are supposedly going to put them at the top of bookies' choice to win it all, they have NO EXCUSES. Now all we have left to do is hope in the 1st round, we meet another high school team(Memphis), in the 2nd round, scrape by the skin of our teeth against a better team that had a player(Ginobli)pull the biggest boneheaded move this century. In the Conf.Finals, lets hope we meet another team that has its' best player (Stoudamire) hurt, and a tired and worndown MVP(Nash). After all this hoping and praying comes through, and the Mavs are extolling the greatness of thier offseason moves, they return to the Finals and WIN. Granted the Mavs dont have to face D. Wade again. The even bigger atrocity is if the Heat dont defend thier title. That means the Mavs lost to a one year wonder of a team and if that is truly what happened, then woe is me. All this posturing and playing of musical chairs, amounts to a good regular season until another team of the moment beats them. Woe is me.
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