October 26, 2007
Link-O-Rama
I remain as confused as ever about why exactly someone would send out an e-mail like that, but last year I replied to one after settling on $1.2 million as my asking price. I figured it was such a ridiculous, random number that it might be so intriguing to the prospective buyer that they couldn't help but pay it. Sadly, I didn't hear back. I'm thinking of asking for $10.6 million this time, just because I turn 25 years old in January and it's probably time to retire to an island somewhere. What do you think? Too low?Good morning,
My name is Chris and I am writing to ask if you know if the aarongleeman.com domain name may be for sale?
I am looking to purchase numerous websites in the entertainment industry, so I am emailing websites that I have in my bookmarks.
I appreciate this is not your usual request, but could you please put me in touch with the site owner.
Many thanks,
Chris
Ricky Davis and Mark Blount for Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien, and a future first-round pick. Simien was a first-round pick in 2005 and at 24 years old still has a chance to be a productive NBA player if he can get healthy, but it doesn't sound like he's in the Wolves' plans. That means they turned Davis into what will likely be a mid-first rounder in 2008 while swapping the three seasons remaining on Blount's albatross of a contract for the two seasons remaining on Walker's albatross of a contract.
A mid-first rounder and salary relief isn't a great haul for the team's second-best player, but Davis is a pending free agent whose departure clears minutes and shots for the team's building blocks. Walker would be a horrible fit on such a young team (or any team, for that matter), so hopefully McHale can make him disappear. It sounds like several other trades are in the works, which makes sense given that the Wolves currently have more players under contract than can fit on the 15-man roster.
It's too little too late and he's only in this position to begin with because of his own decision-making ineptitude, but so far at least McHale's rebuilding effort has been a pleasant surprise. It's nice to see the Wolves actually gaining future draft picks in trades after doing the opposite for far too long and between Al Jefferson, Randy Foye, Gerald Green, Corey Brewer, Rashad McCants, Sebastian Telfair, and Craig Smith there are some intriguing long-term pieces in place.
Along with SBG, the league's skippers include Curt Schilling, Doug Glanville, Will Leitch, Dan Shanoff, David Pinto, Sean Forman, Jeff Sackmann, Chris Mottram, and Jeff Sullivan. That's a murderer's row and it doesn't even include the two guys who I'd most like to be in a league with: Gary Dell'Abate and Jon Hein from Howard Stern's radio show. The idea that I turned down a chance to manage a pretend baseball team alongside Bababooey is something that keeps me up at night.
It turns out that last year's Gophers victory was an accident, but not quite in the way that Hartman meant. Apparently the computers were right, because the Gophers were "caught" on another "bad day" while losing 27-21 at home to a Division I-AA team. On a related note, I'm usually not shy about pointing out when a prediction that I've made turns out to be right, but this time friend of AG.com Al Bethke was kind enough to point it out for me.The Jeff Sagarin computers ratings make North Dakota State a one-touchdown favorite to beat the Gophers on Saturday at the Metrodome. The Las Vegas oddsmakers don't offer a line on any games involving teams in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). However, the Sid Hartman pick is: Gophers 42, North Dakota State 21.
This is a game the Gophers won't lose, even though with 25,000 visiting fans in the stands, there might not be much of a home-field advantage. NDSU (6-0) has an impressive record but against non-Big Ten opposition. ... I'm convinced that last year's narrow escape by the Gophers--a 10-9 victory over NDSU--was an accident. They caught the Gophers on a bad day.
I can't imagine leaving a gig as the back-page columnist for SI and the magazine reportedly offered Reilly $7.5 million over five years to stick around, but apparently the lure of television, radio, and the many other opportunities that only ESPN can offer were too strong. The non-compete clause in his contract means that Reilly can't start his new job until June, at which point he'll no doubt begin screaming opinions into the camera alongside the other writers who're now ESPN "personalities."
One of the many reasons why I'm such a big Neyer fan is that his story reminds me an awful lot of my own, from dropping out of college to sort of lucking into a great opportunity to write about sports for a living. He discussed all of that within the interview, and also re-told the story of how he came to work for Bill James.Jaffe: Growing up, were you always a baseball fan? Who was your favorite player as a kid?
Neyer: Gosh, that was a long time ago. My first memories of Major League Baseball are from 1973 or '74. We lived in southwest Michigan, and my best friend Joel Proud must have been a White Sox fan, because I remember listening to the radio and hearing a great deal about Wilbur Wood and Richie Allen. But earlier we'd lived in Minnesota, and while I'd never become a Twins fan, at some point I did adopt Rod Carew as my favorite player, which lasted for a few years. When I was in the fifth or sixth grade, we had to make a photo collage on a silhouette of our head, and the dominant element in mine was a photo of Carew I snipped from Sports Illustrated.
Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.