Sports Arguments And No-HItters

One of the great half-wits in sports media, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, will release a book this week called The One Hundred Greatest Sports Arguments of All Time. Some of the arguments listed were:

1. Which was the greater achievement, Ted Williams’s .406 season or Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak?

For my money, the greater achievement should be measured by the likelihood that the achievement won't be matched or broken. Since DiMaggio's 1941 streak broke Willie Keeler's mark of 44 set in 1897, Pete Rose has come the closest, with 44 in 1978. Paul Molitor hit in 39 straight games in 1987 and Luis Castillo hit in 35 straight last season. The closest anyone has come to DiMaggio was .79% of the number of consecutive games hit safely in.

When Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941 it was the highest single season batting average since Rogers Hornsby’s record of .424 in 1924. Since 1941, Tony Gwynn hit .394 in 1994, George Brett hit .390 in 1980, Williams himself hit .388 in 1957 and Rod Carew hit .388 in 1977. The closest anyone came to topping Williams' mark was 97% of his average.

It would seem easier and more likely that someone will hit .406 again than someone will hit in at least 56 consecutive games again.

2. Who’d be left standing in a battle between Joe Louis and Mohammed Ali?

A nice article by Monte Cox explores the possibility of such a fight and concluded that Joe Louis is the one man who would knock Muhammad Ali out. I think the reach advantage of Ali and Ali's speed and quickness would have outpointed Louis in the end. Then again, I still root for a Mike Tyson comeback. What do I know?

3. Which NBA team was the greatest of all time—the ’66–’67 Celtics? The ’71–’72 Lakers? What about the ’95–’96 Bulls?

In doing a little research on past teams, I came across the Tendex rating system which concluded that none of the teams Russo lists were the best. The conclusion of Tendex was that the best NBA team of all-time was the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks featuring Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

4. Who would dominate the ultimate Pebble Beach showdown—Ben Hogan or Tiger Woods?

The answer is: Who really cares? If this is a big argument, then you might as well complete the snooze-fest and argue about who was the better bowler, Earl Anthony or Dick Weber. Or better still, the answer to the question of who would have won if Tiger Woods had played Ben Hogan in the 1948 US Open (Hogan's first US open victory) would be that Tiger might not even have been allowed to play on the course or in the tournament. How integrated was pro golf in 1948?

5. Who was the most important athlete of the twentieth century?

What athlete has had a bigger impact on his sport than Jackie Robinson?

Mind you, none of the above is any kind of endorsement of that offensive, screeching blatherskite, Mad Dog Russo or his book. The book's sole redeeming quality will be the fact that you don't have to listen to him read it aloud.

*****

Another interesting question came up in Michael Dowd's column on the "Top 5 No-Hitters". Dowd selected Jim Abbot's no-hitter against the Indians in 1993. It is pretty phenomenal to throw a no-hitter with no right hand, but then again, he was left-handed. In my own life, these are my top 5:

1. Hideo Nomo 4/4/2001 against the Baltimore Orioles: The best reason of all -- it was the only no-hitter I've ever seen in person.
2. Doc Gooden 5/14/1996 against the Seattle Mariners: Doc had just come off a year and a half suspension from baseball and only two months into the season, pitched a no-hitter.
3. Nolan Ryan 5/1/1991 against the Toronto Blue Jays: Let's face it. Who else is going to pitch a no-hitter at the age of 44?
4. Hideo Nomo 9/17/1996 against the Colorado Rockies: A no-hitter in Coors Field? What's next, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?
5. Dock Ellis 6/12/1970 against the San Diego Padres: move over Fat Man Wells. Ellis claims to have pitched his perfect game while tripping on acid. Whoa.

*****

Something I'm still scratching my head over is Daunte Culpepper getting a $102 million contract extension with the Vikings yesterday, becoming one of the NFL's highest-paid players.

The 10-year deal includes a $16 million signing bonus. The 26-year-old quarterback had one year left on the deal he signed after the Vikings drafted him with the 11th overall pick out of Central Florida in 1999.

The total potential value would be the third highest in NFL history behind Eagles QB Donovan McNabb ($115 million) and Bills QB Drew Bledsoe ($103 million).

Let's set aside for a moment, the fact that there are at least 10 quarterbacks better than Culpepper currently playing in the NFL. What has Culpepper done to merit such an absurd amount of money? Was it his performance in the 2000 NFC Championship Game when he helped lead the Vikings to a miserable 41-0 humiliation at the hands of the NY Giants by completing only 13 of 28 passes for 78 yards and throwing three interceptions? Or is it his stellar touchdown to interception ratio since then? After all, he's thrown 32 td passes since then and had only 36 intercepted.

Using this sort of scale, does this mean a stiff like Trent Dilfer merits a $500 million contract extension? At least he won a Super Bowl title.

Now imagine that the Vikings are also paying Randy Moss $75 million and you gotta wonder what are they going to pay everyone else with, Iraqi dinars? How many freaking used cars is Red McCombs going to have to sell to cover his nut on this one?

*****
Hello Rey Ordoñez Deux:

"I've never been in a situation where the home fans boo the home team," Cliff Floyd said in this morning's Daily News. "To me, it's mind-boggling, because I've never been associated with that type of thing. ... We need more support, we need cheers, we need happiness. You want the pressure on (the other team), not us. We need all the help we can get."

Whaaaaat? Clearly this guy's been eating the same hippy-go-lucky pills as Hula Howe. We need cheers? We need happiness? This is almost too absurd for words. What does he prefer, a group hug? A Group Therapy Session before every game at Shea? The Mess are hitting .236 as a team. And Floyd is hitting a whopping .241 for his $6.5 million salary. Cliff Floyd is lucky they are only booing instead of throwing garbage, bags of urine and golf balls at his head. Maybe when the delicate little ego of Cliff Floyd realizes he's not playing in a graveyard of somnambulists like he did in Florida, he'll realize that in some baseball towns, the fans are actually going to hold the players accountable for their performances. If it's too much for Mr. Floyd to handle, maybe he should join Fat Mo on the permanently incompetent and injured list. Either that, or save his whining for someone who'll hold his hand and kiss his witto booboos better, like Art Howe.