Daily Archives: October 7, 2005

Interesting Stros’ stat of the day

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Stros celebration2.jpgO.K., so things didn’t go well last night, but the Stros can take some solace in that this interesting Allen St. John Wall Street Journal ($) article notes that the Stros are one of the top teams of the eight clubs in the playoffs in at least one important area — that is, getting the most bang for their buck. Mr. St. John calculates the each playoff team’s cost per win by simply taking a club’s total payroll and dividing that number by the club’s win total during the MLB season.
For example, compared to the Yankees, the Stros are remarkably efficient. The Yanks’ $208 million payroll was by far the highest in baseball, comparable to the combined payrolls of the second-place Red Sox and the Dodgers. Accordingly, the Yankees’ cost per win ($2.2 million) is almost 70% higher than that of the Red Sox ($1.3 million) and a whopping $1.437 million greater than the cost of each Stros’ win.

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The Cost of Victory

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Cost per Win

TEAM
PAYROLL
WINS
COST PER WIN
White Sox $75.2 million 99 $759,373
Padres $63.3 million 92 $771,839
Stros $76.8 million 89 $862,685
Cardinals $92.1 million 100 $921,068
Braves $86.5 million 90 $960,636
Angels $97.7 million 95 $1.029 million
Red Sox $123.5 million 95 $1.30 million
Yankees $208.3 million 95 $2.19 million

The latest suicide bomber?

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Hinrichsbrd.jpgMaybe it’s due to the distraction of Texas-OU week or perhaps it’s just a sign of the times, but the fact that a suicide bomber nearly entered the University of Oklahoma’s football stadium last Saturday night while 84,000 people were watching OU thrash Kansas State sure seems to be flying a bit under the main radar screens, at least outside of Oklahoma. The bomber — Joel Hinrichs III — detonated an explosive device while sitting on a bench about 100 yards from the stadium after he apparently rushed off upon being required to have his backpack searched at the gate. This Counterterrorism blog post does a good job of summarizing the background and implications of the event, as does the TigerHawk in this post.

Louie Freeh goes J. Edgar on Bill Clinton

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freeh.jpgDoes it ever seem as if, whenever 60 Minutes needs a rating boost, they do a Bill Clinton-scandal story?
At any rate, get ready for another such segment. Former Clinton Administration FBI Director Louis J. Freeh is promoting his new book My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror (St. Martin’s Press 2005), and this Washington Post article indicates that his 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace will be a general hammering session on former President Clinton:

Former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has denounced Bill Clinton over the scandals that marred his presidency and for his record on terrorism, saying the level of distrust was so great that he stayed in his post so Clinton could not appoint his successor.
In a forthcoming book and “60 Minutes” interview, Freeh, whose strained relations with Clinton were no secret, says he was so determined to distance himself from Clinton that he sent back a White House pass so that all his visits would be deemed official. This, he said, antagonized Clinton.

The WaPo report triggered the crack Clinton Scandal Response Team into action:

Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said last night: “This is clearly a total work of fiction by a man who’s desperate to clear his name and sell books, and it’s unfortunate he’d stoop to this level in his attempt to rewrite history.” He noted Freeh contributed nearly $20,000 to Republicans, including President Bush, in the last campaign.

Gosh, seems like old times, eh? In fairness to the Clintonites, Mr. Freeh’s tenure at the FBI is not without its bipartisan critics.

United Airlines finalizes chapter 11 exit financing

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UAL-logo8.gifFollowing on this earlier post, UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, announced that it has finalized $3 billion in debt financing commitments from Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. that will allow the company to exit its long-pending chapter 11 case early next year. Here are the previous posts about the United Airlines bankruptcy saga and related airline industry financial issues.
The airline industry is in a world of hurt right now, suffering under the toxic combination of record jet-fuel prices, stiff competition from lower-cost discount airlines, and dubious management decisions of legacy airline companies. UAL filed for Chapter 11 in December 2002, so even if it stays on course with its reorganization plan, it will emerge from chapter 11 after operating for over three years under bankruptcy court protection. US Airways Group Inc. has gone through a chapter 22 case (two Chapter 11 filings) over the past three years, and just recently emerged from bankruptcy under a plan based on a merger with America West Holdings Corp. Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines both filed chapter 11 cases on Sept. 14.

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