Injuries, Pro Sports, and Patriotism

Let’s play Guess the Speaker.

“I'm very angry because once again the national teams take players and we lose out due to injuries.”

Mark Cuban? Nope.

It’s AC Milan CEO Adriano Galliani, talking to the media about his disgust with the fact one of his defenders, Oguchi Onyewu, was injured while playing for the U.S. against Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday and may be out for six months.

As a result, Galliani will now be paying Onyewu to watch Milan from the sidelines– something that is understandably irksome to him.

But is anyone surprised this happened? It’s not the first time, obviously, that a professional player has been injured while competing on the world stage, but what makes this case unique from others before is that Galliani is demanding the US Soccer Federation provide compensation to AC Milan for depriving them of Onyewu’s services.

It’s an interesting demand, and, if successful, would completely destroy international competitions as we know them. Is there any country that would recruit a professional athlete if they received, along with his obvious talents, the risk of writing a multi-million dollar check if said player should tear an ACL?

Onyewu’s salary is estimated to be about $1.1 million per season (he just signed a 3-year deal with Milan this July), so his salary wouldn’t decapitate the US Soccer Federation, but imagine how devastating it would be, just as an example, if French Basketball was forced to cough up $11 million for an injury Tony Parker. I can’t imagine their budget could even begin to take on those sorts of costs, could they?


The whole idea of professional athletes performing in international competitions is tenuous at best and ridiculous at worst. While the World Cup will likely never change, simply because of the immense history and dollars involved, I would be surprised if we see NBA players and MLB players competing in international competitions for much longer; the vast amounts of money invested in these gentlemen are just too large.

If nothing else, then, Oguchi Onyewu’s injury may provide a hint that this era may finally be coming to an end.

McClendon Has Some More Wine To Sell

We all experienced Aubrey McClendon's version of Billionaire Garage Sale last spring, you'll remember, when he unloaded millions of dollars worth of wine via an auction house in New York.

It went pretty well, and combined with the dough he earned selling his collection of western art to his own company (that was a tough sell, no doubt), you'd think he wouldn't have to worry about selling off any more assets to cover the rent.

You'd be wrong.

Turns out Aubrey had so much fun parting with his wine in April, he's doing it again! In less than a month, Spectrum Wine Auctions will be offering The Aubrey McClendon Collection at the St. Monarch Regis Beach Resort in Dana Point, California.

"Fine wine buyers have a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy rare and normally unavailable vintages," Spectrum's Greg Roberts commented. Well, I suppose if your lifetime was the equivalent of a tse-tse fly's, you'd be right, Greg, but considering McClendon just got done selling $2.2 million worth of his wine less than six months ago, don't you think you ought to take it a little easy on the hyperbole?

Jack Sikma & The Trade of Eternity

Creation of a Champion

A Sonic Fan Where You'd Least Expect It

If this TNT/NBA ad is a taste of things to come, then you can bet your Tom LaGarde rookie cards I'll be watching the broadcasts this season, if only for the chance to hear a passing Paul Silas, Fred Brown, or Slick Watts reference.

(HT to Ball Don't Lie)

Seen on Craigslist

A good offer, but I'd be curious to know what type of pizza is required. Are we talking cheese, or multiple toppings? Could I get the Sonics' pennant for a bagel and a half-finished bag of shredded mozarella?

McClendon & The Dunes

You may have noticed TrueHoop's mention of Aubrey McClendon's latest (proposed) real-estate transaction involving the Saugatuck Dunes in Western Michigan.

At first blush, it's a relatively minor story - rich guy buys some land, gets into dispute with locals about his plans to build McMansions, sells off a chunk of the land, goes about his way. But, if one digs just a touch deeper, you can see that it's not as simple as it first appears.

You see, McClendon tried to sell this land previously ... and failed. Back in December, a tentative deal was in place to sell 171 acres of his more than 400 acres to the Saugatuck Township for $25 million, but the locals were unable to procure a grant from the State of Michigan that would have gone a long ways towards the purchase.

Now, 10 months later, McClendon is selling the property for $20 million, or $5 million less than he thought he'd get last year. And, it is important to note, that sale is still contingent on the Saugatuckians (?) getting a state grant and quite a big chunk of private funds, although they seem to think the money will be relatively pain-free (but, given the state of Michigan's economy, even the optimists are hedging their bets).

[Of further interest, McClendon purchased all 412 acres for the sum of $38 million in 2007, which works out to roughly $92,000 per acre. The lands he plans to sell now for $20 million total 171 acres, or roughly $116,000 per acre - a nice return on investment even at the steeply discounted price. That Aubrey - he didn't get rich by luck.]

And, of course, there are the ongoing legal complications involved. McClendon is refusing to pay property taxes on the land because he feels that the locals over-estimated the value of his land, and because he's irked that they re-zoned the land and changed the density from 1 home: 1.5 acre to 1 home:5 acres, essentially shrinking his number of possible homes from 300 to 80.

Essentially, Aubrey McClendon has, yet again, woven his own peculiar brand of antagonistic wizardry, creating a situation wherein the local residents detest him, while at the same time devaluing his own asset to the point where he has to take drastic steps to rectify a miserable situation.

Sound familiar?

The only difference is that the owner of the Sonix is not able to pack up the remaining land in the back of a moving truck and move it to Oklahoma City. If Aubrey McClendon wants to move forward with his plans to develop a passle of ridiculous mansions on those 241 acres, he's got to make nice with the local populace, something he has, to date, been either unwilling or unable to do.

NHL in Seattle? Oh, Come On

Whenever I read articles such as this one by Susan Slusser on Fanhouse, this single thought always comes to mind:

Do we Sonic diehards sound this ridiculous to non-basketball fans?

Slusser makes the argument that since the Sonics have packed up and left Seattle, it's a great time for the NHL to lay down a sheet of ice and get to work. Of course:

1. There is no arena
2. There is no youth hockey
3. There is no arena
4. There is no arena

Of course, there's nothing that a new arena couldn't solve. And, hey, we know how willing Seattle is to build new arenas for pro sports teams, right? Sure, they said no to a franchise that had been in the city longer than any other pro sports team in the city's history, but what makes you think they would say no to hockey? I mean, geez, Seattle has such a long and storied history with hockey, right?

Oh, and, hey, Seattle loves the Sounders, and since they love the Sounders they'll love anything we throw at them! Okay, sure, pro soccer has been in Seattle for three decades, and everybody in the city played soccer from the age of 6 to 11, and there's a large Latino population that helps to augment that soccer fandom.

But, you know what? I saw a guy in a Canadiens cap yesterday, and he said he'd go to the games, and his buddy, Gord, said he's down for whenever the Oilers are in town, so that's like two guys right there!

Please.

You know, I get the distinct impressions that as Slusser was writing the article, the prevailing thought floating through her head had to have been: "How the heck am I going to fill my column today?"

NBA Leaders, Points By Height

Mo Sene: Vive le difference

Mo Sene, part of a triumvirate of miserable picks by former Sonic GM Rick Sund, has inked a deal with Toulon of the French basketball league, the team announced by press release on Monday.Which leads me to posit something: In Sene’s mind, has he failed?

It’s an interesting question to roll around in your mind. Viewed from a North American perspective, he most certainly has failed. Drafted as a lottery pick, Sene has never provided anything remotely resembling a productive NBA career, despite his prodigious wingspan and agility.

Whether due to injury, lack of ability, or poor work ethic, Mo Sene has seen his entire NBA career produce, in three seasons, a total of 47 games played and 103 points.

Three season. 103 points, or three more than Wilt Chamberlain scored in one game 50 years ago.

To return to my point, then, I suppose the majority of basketball fans in this country would most assuredly agree that Mo Sene has had a crappy career.

But look at it from his perspective. Sene has earned in excess of $5 million in three seasons and is, quite likely, set for the rest of his life. He has undoubtedly funneled a great deal of money back to his family in Senegal, a country whose per capita income (roughly $1,000 US) is the equivalent of a week’s worth of per diem for the typical NBA player.

During those three years, Sene spent the majority of his time in two cities – Seattle and Oklahoma City – where he bumped into fellow Senegaleses about as often as he started basketball games. I remember reading a story about Sene after his rookie season, wherein it was told that he spent the majority of that year just wandering around Seattle, eating poorly and lacking any semblance of friends.

Now, after playing poorly for three seasons, he is “punished” by being sent to Toulon, where the African population is quite high, where he’ll have no trouble finding food that he is used to, where he can speak a language – French – which is already part of his lexicon, and where the weather is, let’s face it, pretty damned good.

Toulon, for the curious, is about halfway between Cassis and St. Tropez on the French Riviera.

As opposed to Oklahoma City, which is halfway between Edmond and Midwest City.

Somehow, I suppose Mo will find a way to endure.

NBA: The Invention of Lying

The Commish(es)