The Bench Jockeys

Before 2010, if someone in the room said the word: “Spanish,” the immediate reactive associations were:

• a) the Armada (1588);
• b) the Inquisition (1478- 1834);
• c) the Flu (1918); and
• d) an omelette.

About 3 folks on earth might be able to connect Spain with Miguel Indurain, who won the Tour de France for five straight years (1991-1996), but athletic dominance was not a Top Ten association with Spain.  That all changed in July 2010 when Spain defeated the Netherlands on Andrés Iniesta’s goal in the 116^th minute of the World Cup, and since that historic tally, Spain has been on a competitive tear.

• Yesterday, two soccer teams from Spain squared off in the prestigious UEFA Champions League Semifinal where Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-0.  Of the 16 European teams to reach the knockout phase of the UEFA, three of them were from Spain, and Spain will be represented in the Finals.
• In the last two weeks, World #1 Ranked tennis player Rafael Nadal has faced fellow countryman David Ferrer (World #6) in the Finals of the Monte Carlo and Barcelona Opens.  Spain currently boasts four of the top 15 slots in the ATP World Rankings and an astounding 13 of the top 75 – 17.3%!.  The US has 3 men in the top 75.
• There are also 4 Spanish women ranked in the WTA top 75; and American women… 3.
• Lance Armstrong last won a Tour de France in 2005.  Since that time, Spaniards Oscar Pereiro, Carlos Sastre and Alberto Contador have won five straight.

Spain is ranked 27^th in world population at 46.7M, just above the Ukraine and Sudan.  The US is estimated to be at 313.2M (3^rd).  Spain is the 52^nd largest country in the world with just under 506,000 sq. km and is 5% of the size of the US.

Soccer, Tennis, Cycling and an up and coming Golf contingent.  Pau Gasol on the LA Lakers and Marc Gasol on the Memphis Grizzlies – both in the NBA playoffs.  Pound for pound, looking at population size and geographic area, Spain has quietly become a player in the sporting world.

Fast Fact: – Rafa has played Ferrer 17 times in his career, leading the series 13-4.  Nadal’s last loss to Ferrer came in the Quarterfinals of the Aussie Open in January 2011 which destroyed Nadal’s chance at four consecutive Grand Slam victories (Wimbledon, French, US and Australian).

April 25 – Like Cosmo Kramer in “The Contest,” Mississippi Governor, Haley Barbour is out.  The Bench Jockeys considered Barbour a mid-level contender for the 2012 Republican nomination and as a result of today’s announcement, the current money lines must be assessed.  We detected that there was likely some blood in the water when the media began to scrutinize Barbour’s days as a lobbyist, but we did not expect him to fold this early.   

As for ripple impacts on the remaining 34 potential candidates, The Bench Jockeys are tweaking Gingrich, Huckabee and Daniels.  With Barbour out, Read more »

Two heavy favorites move on to the second round, the upstart Preds surprise the Ducks, 3 lower seeded teams must win at home to stay alive and 2 series (so far) await a deciding 7^th game.

Stanley Cup Playoff hockey is in full swing.   The Flyers have cycled through all three of their goalies (Bobrovsky, Boucher and Leighton) in the 6 games with the Sabres thus far.  In the other 3-3 series, Roberto Luongo, who helped lead the Canucks to the President’s Trophy and is finalist for the Vezina Trophy has twice been pulled in favor of Cory Schneider.  Loungo’s .750 save percentage over the last 40 Blackhawk shots is causing some panic in the mean streets of Vancouver.

If you look at the last 20 years of Stanley Cup history, winning the Cup is about Read more »

With the NFL draft looming, The Bench Jockeys did a little research on the top 10 picks over the last 12 years to determine from what draft board selection position was a draftee most likely to start and remain a factor in the NFL.  We looked at the player selections from 1999 to 2010 and ranked the draftees based upon their NFL longevity versus standard player career of four seasons and whether they were a starter or role player.  Players were graded A thru D with an A rating receiving  4 points and a D rating counting as only 1 point.  For all the talk about draft positions and the escalating salaries for certain selections, it is our firm conclusion that Read more »

Courtesy of a find by a faithful reader, The Bench Jockeys article on the 2012 Election was 10 days ahead of Charles Krauthammer’s – and we gave you more candidates. Here’s Kraut’s: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-racing-form-2012/2011/04/21/AFT4TxKE_story.html

Maybe he will link to ours….not bloody likely.

April 21 – Former Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, officially threw his hat into the ring today in New Hampshire but remains a Republican darkhorse.  Because The Bench Jockeys saw this one coming and determined that Johnson has barely a prayer of securing the nomination, Johnson’s opening odds – 500:1 – remain unchanged.  The skinny on Johnson is that as Governor, he rarely came across a piece of legislation he liked – setting national records for his utilization of the gubernatorial veto, he opposed the war in Iraq from the get-go, he favors putting the educational system entirely in the hands of parents & local authorities and he supports legalizing marijuana as a means to combat the drug-related violence.

Check to our contenders and pretenders Page at http://thebenchjockeys.com/the-bench-jockeys-set-odds-on-the-2012-presidential-hopefuls/

It’s Spring and it’s warming up (even in Boston) and that’s the logical time to grow a nice itchy beard,… more specifically, a “Playoff Beard.”  Denis Potvin and the members of the New York Isles – who owned the Stanley Cup from 1980 to 1983 – take credit for the development of the playoff beard.  But when Gretzky’s Oilers wrestled the Cup away from the Islanders stronghold, the beard took a hiatus until the Devils made it a mainstay in hockey post-season culture.  So from Vancouver to DC…. hockey fans,…. this is the week that shaving becomes optional (for up to 7weeks), employers consider revising their standards for staff appearance and men sleep alone as hockey fans grow their facial hair in support of their clubs.

There are many rules for the playoff beard but Rule #1 is: Read more »

14 hours after establishing odds for the 2012 Republican nomination, The Bench Jockeys have their first modification.  Haley Barbour has been downgraded to 15:1 from his opening 10:1 odds.  AP’s recent analysis of Haley Barbour’s work during his years as a lobbyist Read more »

April 11, 2011  – In a field as diverse as…. well,… as diverse as a Republican field can be, The Bench Jockeys have scoured the US news outlets, scrutinized birth certificates, examined any number of self-serving PR posts, and by God, done a little hard-nosed research all in the interest of being your one-source stop for the 2012 Presidential Election marathon which began last week with Barack Obama’s declaration of his billion dollar fundraising target.  Tonight, Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty tossed his hat into the ring.  

We have established the odds for every candidate who has either formed an “exploration committee” or may be jumping (or being pushed) into the Republican race against Barack Obama.  We have also included a few Independents and a Libertarian just to stay trendy, but we all know that the President will emerge from either the Republican or Democratic ranks.  As additional candidates step into the fray, we will keep you posted with updates and current odds.  When news happens that impacts a particular candidate’s odds of being selected by his/her party, we will tweet about it and post to this page.  Follow us on Twitter @benchjockeys.

And now,… ladies and gentlemen,… the nation’s first comprehensive oddsmaker lines for the Repulican Party’s nomination for the 2012 Presidential Election.

 **For the Independents and Libertarians, odds posted are the odds of winning the presidency. 

We welcome your comments and feedback and let the posturing begin.

April 10 – In the first Boston-Miami hoops game in the post-Fenway Sports Group/LeBron James period of the unholy alliance, the Heat destroyed the Celts 100-77.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you, Boston.

We are giving ourselves another “Pat” Riley.  The Bench Jockeys saw this coming a mile a way.  Or rather, the rest of the hockey-covering media just gave up a shortie to the upstart Bench Jockeys who posted….

http://thebenchjockeys.com/2011/03/30/blackhawks-down-and-almost-out/

Tonite the Dallas Stars almost stole the 8th and final playoff spot from the Chicago Blackhawks.  All the Stars had to do was get a win against the Minnesota Wild.  Toews and the boys better send a case of bubbly to Jose Theodore and each of the Minnesota goal scorers who played an inspired game and prevented the Stars from displacing the Blackhawks from the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs.   The schedule could not have been more friendly to the Stars and more ripe with stumbling blocks for the Hawks.  Earlier this afternoon, Chicago gave a lackluster effort in a 4-3 loss to Detroit which was all too happy to do their part in trying to knock out the 2010 Stanley Cup Champs.  Dallas could not keep up with the lowly Wild and lost 5 – 3 playing from behind all evening.  The Hawks escape the regular season, back into the playoffs and will play President’s Trophy winner, Vancouver, in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

Karma Factor:  Medium High.  Dallas’ opponent, Minnesota, was once represented by the North Stars franchise which was sold to Dallas in 1993 and became the Stars.

The Developer of The Bench Jockeys always talks about sports Karma.   Streaky-hitting, baseball players and Major League franchises rise and fall with the karmic tides.  After all, the Boston Red Sox endured 86 years of bad juju associated with a curse.  So what better time to talk about Karma than eight games into the 2011 season; a season where the folks at Fenway Park printed Red Sox World Series Champs – 2011 T-shirts on March 30th.  And why wouldn’t they?  Virtually every sportswriter deemed the Sox a lock to win the AL East and 75% of the ESPN pundits were certain they will be in the Series. The only problem is Read more »

If the members of the Tampa Bay Rays were not questioning their season already, they surely have to be deeply concerned now.  Manny Ramirez, the sunshine state’s savior, has elected to retire in lieu of facing a 100-game suspension for violating the league’s PED policy.  The Rays were counting on Manny to hit .300+ smash a few ding-dongs at the Trop and drive in some runs to offset the position player losses they sustained in the off-season. The MLB statement announcing his retirement concluded, “Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed.”

Call-up replacement, Casey Kotchman has some mighty big, floppy shoes to fill.

We are giving ourselves our 1st “Pat on the Back.”  AOL was a full 8 days behind The Bench Jockeys who reported way back on March 30th the Blackhawks potential playoff drama and the likelihood that the 8th seed will not be decided until the last game of the season. The Stars are now 2 points back and play two non-playoff teams this weekend while the Hawks face the Wings for a home-and-home. Dallas needs all 4 points to grab the final slot in West and some help from Detroit.

April 7 – The Masters begins today with an array of tasty pairings.  Unlike many of the tournaments on the Tour, which pair players based upon a random draw, the pairings at Augusta National are purposeful and deliberate.  The club committee tasked with developing the pairings for the 1^st two rounds of play has complete discretion to group players as it sees fit.  The only exception to their unfettered sovereignty is the one traditional pairing:  the current US Amateur Champ (Peter Uihlein) is paired with the defending Masters champion (Phil Mickelson).  And no one messes with tradition at the Masters.

The Masters offers only 19 ways to recieve an invitation to compete for the Green Jacket.  Unlike many PGA Tour events, the many of the qualifications involve world play performance which promotes a more well-rounded international field.  (See the Fast Facts below for qualifications.)   The committee typically ties the high profile players together into super pairings with the lesser-followed players and many internationals grouped into the time slots between these all-star threesomes.  In this manner, the Committee can control the gallery so that players are able to move though the course, limit noise so that the fan-base is spread throughout the 365-acre grounds, and most importantly for ESPN, assure that television coverage in the morning and afternoon features players who will draw viewership.

Some of the more interesting or comment-worthy pairings are detailed below:

• 8:18 AM – Ben Crenshaw, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Na – How did Gentle Ben get paired with these two schmos?
• 8:40 AM – Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Nick Watney – Maybe the handsomest pairing in the field.
• 8:51 AM – Vijay Singh, Tim Clark, Aaron Baddeley – I am hoping that Bads and the ill-tempered Vijay start fighting and Bads lays VJ out before they reach Amen Corner.  South African Tim Clark is a perfect referee for this fracas.
• 9:24 AM – Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day – great pairing of 21 to 23 year old players representing “the next wave.”
• 10:19 AM – Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Matt Kuchar – The Germanator and Westy, the world’s top two players, paired together.  Look for both of them to be in contention on Sunday even though Kaymer has had zero success at the Masters.  Oh, Kuch, we know you will be playing over the weekend but you’ll need to stand next to Lee to get some air-time in this pairing.
• 10:41 AM – Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Robert Allenby – Tiger and Graeme have dueled recently.  In December, Graeme won the Chevron World Challenge with a birdie during the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to beat Tiger who had blown a four-shot lead on the final day of the tourney.
• 11:25 AM – Craig Stadler, Kevin Streelman, a-Nathan Smith – I fully expect the Walrus to quit before the end of the day on Friday.  Not really an ideal pairing for mild-mannered uber-Am Smith.
• 12:53 PM – Fred Couples, Luke Donald, Steve Stricker – Freddie is simply the most enjoyable golfer to watch play in the last three decades.
• 1:04 PM – Anthony Kim, Henrik Stenson, Steve Marino – Fans, keep your eyes open for flying objects – the Patented Burgess Putter-Chuck is a given with this brutish group.
•  1:15 PM – Bubba Watson, Paul Casey, Eduardo Molinari – This may well be the most well-rounded of the three player pairings.  I would take these three guys in a best-ball any day.
• 1:48 PM – Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, a-Peter Uihlein – Coming off of a win in Houston, can Lefty repeat?

The complete pairing list can be found at  http://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/pairings/

Read more »

Sadly, March Madness has concluded with perhaps one of least entertaining games of the entire Men’s 2011 NCAA Tournament.  Although UConn played some solid D, I am not so sure it was so much the Huskies winning the game or Butler losing it.  The Bulldogs were abysmal from the floor, continued to pop the ball outside in lieu of drawing fouls underneath and looked out of sync for 90% of the game.  Given his recent history of success and the unique capabilities of this two-time NCAA finalist, I am sure wunderkind Brad Stevens prepared a game plan consistent with his team’s strengths.  Butler’s game plan was to go in to Houston, defend the aerial attack to limit UConn 3s, attack its foe with some long range bombing and mop up with Matt Howard underneath.  But the circumstances changed early in the 2^nd half.  Butler continued to toss trey bombs from the outside, but the boys manning the paint could not finish the job.  Oh, and while trying to defend at the arc, the gate was open inside for some easy pickins’.   You know where I am going, right?  Yep, Libya. Read more »

Although I typically root for the underdog, I can’t help but feel that VCU’s appearance in this year’s Final Four is rather ill-timed as it relates to the future of The Tournament.  Shaka Smart’s team is gritty and as one of the last four teams invited to the field of 68, they have shown what a streaky, mid-major team can do to a bracket during March Madness.  But VCU’s “Cinderella” status is not a result of expansion; rather, it is a consequence of the selection committees’ myopic vision that major conferences are deserving of an inordinate number of invitations to the dance.  Schools like Butler and VCU are pushed down the totem pole to 8 and 11 seeds and are deemed “upstarts” instead of recognized as legitimate programs capable of beating the squads from the major conferences like the Big East, Big Ten and SEC.   

So why did the Big East rack up 16% of the 2011 bids?   Read more »

James Chadwick Pennington cannot catch a break.  In what must seem like an April Fools’ nightmare, Pennington, who has rehabbed his shoulder, not once,… not twice,… not thrice,… but four times after game related injuries during his career, sustained an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his knee while playing pickup basketball on Thursday.  Pennington has played all 16 games of the football season only twice in his career.

Chad made his first real mark in the NFL when Read more »