Haven’t yet figured out why the Vikings signed Brett Favre? I haven’t really, either, but here’s a big part of it – in the 24 hours following the signing they sold 3,000 season tickets and 10,000 individual game tickets. They have 7,000 season tickets left, and you can only go to the Green Bay game with a season ticket, so they will certainly sell even more. The extra ticket sales and jersey sales alone will pay for the contract, and now the team won’t have to struggle with blackouts like they have in recent years.
Since I was away last week there is a bunch of stuff that I would have commented on then that I missed and want to briefly mention now:
– I didn’t see more than a few minutes of the PGA Championship so I can’t comment first hand, but I was as stunned as everyone else when Tiger didn’t close it out. I’ve been saying all along that there is something not quite right with the guy and that I won’t trust him with a bet until he changes my mind, and he certainly hasn’t done that yet. Lots of guys shoot a 75 or worse in the pressure of the final group on the big day, but Tiger has never been one of those guys. As shocking as it was, it was strangely consistent with how he has performed all year on the biggest stages.
– J.P. Ricciardi is, as you would know if you read this blog often, one of my favorite targets. Yet again the guy has proven that he is the worst GM in baseball. In fact, he did it twice in less than a week. First of all, he let Alex Rios go to the White Sox on a waiver claim without getting anything back for him. Ricciardi argues that the benefit was that they were freed from the restrictive long term contract that Rios had. That may be the case, but there is just one problem – it was Ricciardi who negotiated that contract, and he did so just last year. Ricciardi has nothing to blame for this mess. He’s gone to both extremes in the last few months – he demanded too much for one key asset (Halladay) and got nothing, and now he demanded nothing for another key asset and got it. The guy is a joke. To make matters worse, he somehow managed to fail to sign three of his top four draft choices before the deadline on Monday. Only two teams failed to sign their first rounders. Ricciardi says that the team boldly tried to draft the best players regardless of their signability . That’s fine, but what’s the point of drafting the best player available if you can’t sign him? Failing three out of four times is ridiculous, and it’s a total embarrassment for him and the team. The guy really, really, really needs to be fired.
– The Jeremy Mayfield saga, easily the best story in sports right now, added a whole new bizarre chapter this week. Remember how NASCAR is using Mayfield’s stepmother as a witness to build their case against Mayfield? She has been very critical of her stepson, accusing him of prolonged drug abuse and so on. Well, she really added to her credibility this week when she showed up at Mayfield’s place as drunk as a skunk. Mayfield and his wife weren’t there, so she physically confronted the caretakers of the property. She eventually left on her own accord, but not before telling the caretakers that she would be back to kill Mayfield and his family. She has been charged with trespassing and four counts of simple assault, and there is a restraining order against her. Mayfield says he is about to file a wrongful death suit against the stepmother, alleging that she killed his father. The father reportedly committed suicide, but Mayfield obviously doesn’t buy it. This is great stuff – you couldn’t write more compelling, ridiculous drama.
– Usain Bolt. Wow. I really hope the guy is clean. I wish I could believe that he was.
