Tim Tebow was moved up by the New York Mets from low Class-A to high Class-A and for some reason there’s been nothing but complaining about this move. I’ve never really understood the dislike for Tebow dating back to when he was a Heisman trophy winning quarterback at the University of Florida.
Tebow played in 64 games for the Columbia Fireflies. He hit .220 with 3 home runs and 23 RBI’s. Those aren’t exactly the kind of numbers you would think deserves a promotion, but you have to remember that Tebow turns 30 years old in August and the Mets have to figure out what they have with him if anything. Now Mets General Manager didn’t help the clause when he started throwing out sabermetric stats to try to explain the promotion and in fact he probably made things worse.
Now I’m sure there will be an attendance bump with the arrival of Tebow, but I don’t understand how people wanting to buy tickets to see him play is his fault. Even Tebow himself has said that he has a “long way to go”, but I guess that’s not good enough for some people and they’re just going to continue to pile up him no matter what he does. Tebow was scheduled to make his Florida State League for the St. Lucie Mets on Tuesday, but the game was rained out.
You have to wonder what took so long for this to happen, but it was announced this morning that the New York Knicks and team president Phil Jackson will be parting ways.
It appears this started with conversations about what was best for the team’s future between Jackson and Knicks owner James Dolan this week when the franchise decided it would not buy out embattled forward Carmelo Anthony. Jackson has mad it well known that he’d like the Knicks and Anthony to part ways, but Anthony has refused to waive his no-trade clause and the Knicks didn’t seem interested in buying Anthony out of his contract. Anthony has two years and a little over $54 million dollars left on his contract.
With no end in sight to the Jackson/Anthony stalemate and free agency beginning on Saturday the Knicks needed a solution. Jackson’s discussions with Dolan accelerated late Tuesday night and the decision was made to part ways. There are reports that said people close to Dolan have been advising him to fire Jackson during the 2016-17 season. With free agency getting ready to start the Knicks made it clear that General Manager Steve Mills will stay on in his current role and lead the team during free agency.
Dolan did release a statement saying “After careful thought and consideration, we mutually agreed that the Knicks will be going in a different direction”. “Phil Jackson is one of the most celebrated and successful individuals in the history of the NBA. His legacy in the game of basketball is unmatched. We wish him the best and thank him for his service to the Knicks as both a player and an executive.”
The Knicks completed a disappointing 31-51 season in April and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year. They were 80-166 in Jackson’s three full seasons as team president, losing at least 50 games in each of them.
Jackson has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks, stemming from his clash with Anthony and the revelation that Jackson was fielding trade offers for Kristaps Porzingis as the Knicks looked to move up in this year’s draft. No deal was made and New York selected French guard Frank Ntilina with the 8th pick in the draft.
Porzingis skipped his exit meeting with Jackson and Mills after the season because of frustration over the dysfunction and drama surrounding the Knicks. There where quite a few reports that that Jackson had been upset with Porzingis’ actions and was trying to teach him a lesson in professionalism this summer.
With Jackson gone the Knicks are still a mess as a franchise. As an owner James Dolan hasn’t been anything special. It will be interesting to see where the Knicks go and if they will improve in 2017-18.
On the heels of signing 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson to a three year extension through the 2020 NASCAR season Hendrick Motorsports went out and inked 21 year old Chase Elliott through the 2022 season as part of a four year contract extension. Elliott was signed with Hendrick Motorsports through the 2018 season and there was much doubt that he would stay after the way he’s performed.
Elliott replaced four time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon in the #24 car for Hendrick Motorsports in 2016 has 15 Top 5’s in 57 career NASCAR starts. Elliott is still looking for his first NASCAR win he did win the Xfinity Series championship in 2014.
Even with Elliott and Johnson signed to new deals there are still some questions that Hendrick Motorsports needs to answer. With Dale Earnhardt retiring at the end of the season Hendrick will need a new driver for the #88 car next season. Hendrick must also find replacements for two of the sponsors on their other driver Kasey Kahne’s #5 car. Both Farmer’s Insurance and Great Clips have announced that they won’t be returning for the 2018 NASCAR season. Now Kahne is signed through 2018 with Hendrick Motorsports, but Kahne is on a 99 race winless streak and is currently 21st in the point standings. There is a chance that Hendrick may just release Kahne from the last year of his contract and start next season with two fresh drivers along with Elliott and Johnson.
It’s a Saturday night race for the NASCAR Monster Energy series this week at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400.
On Thursday the drivers from the Xfinity and the Monster Energy series will take the track for practice. On Friday the Xfinity series will qualify first. Then the Monster Energy series drivers will qualify for Saturday nights race. Then the Xfinity drivers will return to the track Friday night for the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250. It’s a 100 laps which will equal the 250 mile distance. Then Saturday nights race will be 160 laps to get to the 400 mile distance.
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