SI.com compiled a ranking of the 50 highest-earning American athletes and discovered that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are at the top of the list.
1. Tiger Woods
Pro Golf
Last Year’s Rank: 1
Salary/Winnings: $7,737,626
Endorsements: $92,000,000
Total: $99,737,626
Tiger sacrificed millions in appearance fees during his year off to recover from knee surgery, but replaced his lucrative Buick deal — voided by mutual consent — with a new one from AT&T.
2. Phil Mickelson
Pro Golf
Last Year’s Rank: 2
Salary/Winnings: $6,350,356
Endorsements: $46,600,000
Total: $52,950,356
Like Tiger, Phil no longer counts on a car-maker in his endorsement portfolio. (Ford chose not to re-sign him.) He still has lucrative deals with Rolex, Callaway, Exxon, Barclay’s and KPMG.
3. LeBron James
Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA)
Last Year’s Rank: 3
Salary/Winnings: $14,410,581
Endorsements: $28,000,000
Total: $42,410,581
LeBron has one more season left under his deal before he can opt out. If Cleveland doesn’t show it’s Finals-worthy by next spring, expect the Knicks to come in with a huge offer.
4. Alex Rodriguez
New York Yankees (MLB)
Last Year’s Rank: 6 (tie)
Salary/Winnings: $33,000,000
Endorsements: $6,000,000
Total: $39,000,000
We’re in the middle of A-Rod’s peak earning power in his middle-loaded, 10-year megadeal: He’ll make another $33 million in 2010 and then gradually decrease to a “normal” $20 million by ‘17.
The Big Bargaining Chip? Regardless of his trade to Cleveland, Shaq is in the final year of the five-year, $100 million deal he signed while with Miami. It’s the largest expiring deal in the NBA.
No. 10 Peyton Manning
Indianapolis Colts (NFL)
Last Year’s Rank: 9
Salary/Winnings: $14,500,000
Endorsements: $13,000,000
Total: $27,000,000
NFL’s top endorser has distributed $500,000 in grants in ‘09 through his PayBack Foundation to charities in Indianapolis, near his alma mater (Tennessee) and his hometown, New Orleans.
It’s amazing that the highest paid NFL player (Peyton Manning) barely cracked the top 10. Granted, the NFL only has a 17-game regular season, but you’d think that for what football players put their bodies through every season that they would make more than baseball players, golfers and basketball players.
Although he is pitching well this season despite his overall numbers, seeing Zito’s name on this list at No. 26 makes me shudder. He’s the third best pitcher (maybe fourth depending on how high you value Randy Johnson) on his own club, yet he’s the 26th highest-earning American athlete. Still, it should be noted that Zito donates $400 for every strikeout that he throws to the Strikeouts for Troops charity that he created to help hospitals treat soldiers that are wounded in military operations. In fact, as the article notes, a lot of the guys on this list give thousands of dollars to charities every year and that shouldn’t be overlooked.
It’s been nine years since LSU won a title, but that drought ended on Wednesday night when the Tigers crushed Texas 11-4 in the deciding game of the 2009 College World Series.
Tigers’ outfielder Jared Mitchell, who was also selected in the first round of this year’s MLB draft by the White Sox, hit a three-run dinger in the first inning and was named CWS Most Outstanding Player with his .348 batting average, two home runs and seven RBIs.
Mitchell’s blast gave LSU a 4-0 lead, but Texas chipped away and eventually tied the game in the fifth thanks to a Kevin Keyes 2-run homer. But the Tigers added five more runs in the sixth, one in the eighth and one in the ninth to cruise to their sixth CWS title.
LSU has now won the title in each of its six appearances in the CWS championship round.
- YARDBARKER (via SbB) unveils Oregon’s hideous new uniforms. They have new uniforms you ask? You bet…and they’re hideous…again.
- SPORTSbyBROOKS has the ludicrous story of a youth baseball coach who had an opposing player arrested for what “intentionally” hitting one of his players with a pitch and kicking a batting helmet. Ridiculous.
Taylor Jungmann took it upon himself to ensure that Texas wasn’t going to lose the 2009 College World Series to LSU in two games. Jungmann threw his first complete game of his collegiate career, allowing just one unearned run on five hits to improve to 3-0 in the CWS. He also struck out nine.
Offensively, Russell Moldenhauer led the Longhorns with a third inning solo blast to put Texas up 3-1. He entered the CWS without a dinger, but he’s now tied a record for homers in a single CWS with four.
In 15 CWS appearances, this was the first time LSU has lost in the championship round in school history. Texas became the fourth team to force a deciding game in the seven years of the best-of-three CWS finals, with the last two teams also winning Game 3 (Oregon State in 2006, Fresno State in 2008.)
The deciding game will be tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET.
In what turned out to be the longest game by innings and time in the seven-year history of the College World Series, LSU rallied to beat Texas 7-6 on Monday night in the first game of the CWS.
The Tigers scored two runs on a DJ LeMahieu double in the ninth inning to force extra innings and then Mikie Mahtook singled in the winning run for LSU in the 11th. It was the first game the Longhorns lost in 40 games this season when they led heading into the ninth.
• LSU has won nine times this season when it trailed in the seventh inning or later.
• The teams combined for a CWS-record seven solo home runs.
• Texas ace Chance Ruffin tied a season-high with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, while LSU starter Louis Coleman struggled and gave up five homers in six innings.
• LSU’s last six runs were scored with two outs.
• The Tigers improved to 44-6 when they score first.
A golf-resort developer named Ken Jowdy duped two dozen former and current NHL stars by taking roughly a $25 million investment from the players and blowing it on lavish parties packed with porn stars, hookers and ex-baseball players, which included all-round standup guy Roger Clemens.
The 19 former and current stick-handlers — including an all-star roster of Rangers and Islanders — are demanding that Las Vegas-based golf-course mogul Ken Jowdy return the $25 million they invested, plus fork over $15 million in damages for failing to build two luxury resorts in Mexico that are seven years behind schedule.
Instead, the players say, Jowdy got rowdy, squandering their cold cash on “lavish parties” that included “various female porn stars, escorts, strippers [and] party girls” to impress Clemens, Jackson, banned star Pete Rose and ESPN announcer Joe Morgan, one of the suits filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges.
The suits also allege that Jowdy:
Put a Clemens gal pal named Adrian Moore, described as a “regular party attendee who was close to Clemens,” on his payroll “as a personal favor” to the former Yankee Cy Young winner.
Bought three private planes to fly himself, childhood pals, the baseball players and their “female companions” to Mexico, Palm Springs, New York and Las Vegas.
Paid himself an $800,000-a-year salary — plus travel and entertainment expenses — while his brother-in-law, Connecticut lawyer Bill Najam, took in $650,000 annually without having a role in the project.
Hired Brian McNamee — the one-time Clemens trainer who told Congress he supplied the ballplayer with steroids — as a fitness trainer.
Paid the projects’ sole construction manager, Ken Ayers, a $550,000 salary, even though Ayers spent fewer than 20 days at the sites in seven years.
So if you’re Jowdy, one, you must be incredibly insecure if you’re spending millions of dollars of investors money on porn stars and parties for Roger Clemens and his steroid-producing trainer. Two, you also must be a gigantic idiot to believe the players you suckered wouldn’t eventually ask you, “Hey, remember that golf course that you were supposed to build for us? Yeah – where the hell is it?”
Jowdy must have figured that at some point he would get busted for all this but until then, he was going to party his ass off. Personally, I think there are better ways to blow through millions of dollars than to fly Clemens all over the country for free, but hey, that’s just me.
A new case of Twitter becoming more powerful than we can possibly imagine (especially for those of you who imagine The Wall Street Journal Board of Directors as possible Sith Lords). Deadspin has the scoop:
Last month, Lance Armstrong boycotted the media, speaking directly to his fans in 140-character chunks. He tried to break the ban by writing a letter to The WSJ, but they “butchered it,” and instead, he printed it on his blog.
The Wall Street Journal ran a story June 10 about an alleged feud between Armstrong and Greg LeMond. Armstrong called the piece “sensational,” and not in the good way. He wrote a letter to the editor. The editor made some edits. Armstrong didn’t like the edits. He said the editor “removed the pertinent and topical parts. Frustrating.” I bet!
It’s interesting that Armstrong was able to post his own rebuttal of a major international newspaper using a form of communication as easily (if not more so) available as a newspaper. Power to the people on this one. It’s important everybody gets checked, and possibly called out, when things get a bit fudged. Of course, if The WSJ merits Lance Armstrong getting involved. My previous post may get me a gang of 200 pound 7th graders out for blood. Yeesh.
Norman Chad, the Couch Slouch, over on Sports Illustrated’s website brings to light a rather interesting development in professional scouting:
Just the other day, while grazing the Internet over a glass of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio 2006, I discovered the following information on the home page of JuniorRank.com:
“At 6-4 and over 230 pounds, Kyle Bosch of St. Charles, Illinois is no ordinary 8th grade tight end. With good hands, good grades and a ‘nasty’ disposition on the field, this JuniorRank.com Preseason Regional ‘Top 20′ candidate is definitely ‘One to Watch.’”
There was even a photo of Kyle lifting weights.
I marked him in my notebook as a top-5 prospect for the 2017 NFL draft.
(Of course, Hoopscooponline.com has been scoping out stellar basketball-playing SIXTH GRADERS for years. It’s tireless work that must be done.)
Facetiousness aside, Mr. Chad asks the very real question of “How young is too young?” While I don’t feel quite so hard lined about athletes skipping college in order to go pro, I think there are some times where people need to butt out of kids playing games. Perhaps we need a moratorium on scouts going south of high school.
Thanks to Connor Rowe’s game-winning solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Arizona State 4-3 on Friday night, the Texas Longhorns are going to the Finals of the 2009 College World Series to face LSU. The Tigers hammered Arkansas 14-5 to eliminate the Razorbacks and head to the Finals.
The best of three Championship Series between LSU (54-16) and Texas (49-14-1) will start Monday, June 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Game 2 will be at 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday and Game 3 (if necessary) will be played at 7:00 p.m. ET Wednesday, June 24.
No team has as many CWS wins than Texas, who has 81. LSU is tied for 10th on the all-time wins list with 33. The last time the Long Horns were in the Finals was 2005, when they beat Florida 4-2 and 6-2. The Tigers won the CWS the last time they were in the Finals as well, beating Stanford in 2000.
One player to keep an eye on this series is LSU outfielder Jared Mitchell, who was selected with the 23rd overall pick in the first round of June’s MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox. Mitchell is hitting .400 (4 for 10) so far in this CWS, with two RBI, a run scored and three walks.
Mitchell was highly considered the best college athlete in the MLB draft as he was also a receiver for the LSU football team. He’s a solid hitter who could eventually find his power stroke and he’s got great speed. The downside is that he’s extremely raw, but he’ll be fun to watch next week in the CWS.
The Associated Press is reporting that former mountain biking world champion Melissa “Missy” Giove was arrested Thursday on federal drug charges after authorities seized more than 200 pounds of marijuana from a truck she was driving in upstate New York.
Apparently Missy had just 220 pounds of pot in the back of the truck, but close to 400 pounds altogether including at her home. Her and a man named Eric Canori were planning on distributing more than 100 kilos of the Mary Jane.
Giove was the downhill world champion in 1994 and won World Cup season titles in 1997 and 1998, then won national titles in 1999, 2000 and 2001. She was one of the sports’ first female stars and retired in 2003.
In a related story, a truckload carrying over 200 pounds of Cool Ranch Doritos and 600 kilos of Funyuns were also seized in connection with Missy’s arrest.
I don’t know how old the man is who threw this pass, but scouts need to get to Pittsburgh ASAP and recruit this guy:
Just judging by this video, I think we can determine that this guy has great size, arm strength and accuracy. As long as his receivers are all 70-feet high, he should succeed at any level…
How many of you know that the World Cup qualifiers are in full swing? I admit some kind of hazy knowledge of their existence, but it seems taken for granted that the U.S. team will make it into the Finals without any trouble. For those of you with at least a passing interest in next year’s World Cup in South Africa, I present a nice little article about our team written by Jonah Freedman over at Sports Illustrated:
Well, that was a relief. The U.S. national team emerged from its toughest week yet of 2010 World Cup qualifying, bruised but standing tall. After getting abused and flattened in Costa Rica 3-1 last Wednesday, the Americans responded by rallying on Honduras 2-1 Saturday at Soldier Field, its first comeback win in World Cup qualifying in 24 years. The end result is that the U.S. stands in second place in the Hexagonal final round of CONCACAF qualifying with a 3-1-1 record and 10 points.
OK, if you’re still with me let’s remember that the Major League Soccer season has started, so if you get tired of baseball after hockey and basketball finish up, find your local team and take a gander.
In an impressive upset, 11/1 long shot Summer Bird seemingly came out of nowhere to win the 2009 Belmont Stakes today at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
Favorite Mine That Bird started off in the back of the pack and even was in last for a short portion of the race. But he made a steady push to the front by finding an opening along the rail and then down the stretch it looked like he was going to win.
But jockey Calvin Borel, who was going for his own version of the Triple Crown after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, “opened up” Mine That Bird too soon. Mine That Bird couldn’t finish the final push and wound up in third behind Dunkirk.
Had Borel waited a touch longer to turn Mine That Bird loose, maybe he would have been victorious. But obviously it’s a judgment call for the jockey and it’s hard to criticize Borel after all the success he’s had this season, although some of the commentators were opening questioning his tactics after the race.
For much of the race, Summer Bird wasn’t in the top four as he waded in the middle of the pack. But down the final stretch, he found some open ground and blazed past Mine That Bird, Dunkirk and Charitable Man to claim victory.
It was a sweet win for jockey Kent Desormeaux, who rode Real Quiet to victory in both the 1998 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. But he lost his bid to win horse racing’s Triple Crown when Victory Gallop beat Real Quiet by a nose in the final stride of the Belmont. Desormeaux also rode Big Brown to victory at the Kentucky Derby and Preakness last year, but once again lost at the Belmont.
After being criticized for “opening up” Real Quiet too soon at the Belmont in 1998, the win today was sweet justice for Desormeaux. Now Borel will be the one questioned for being too anxious with Mine That Bird.
Congrats to Summer Bird; I’m sure he screwed over bettors over everywhere.
The 141st running of the Belmont Stakes takes place today (post time is at 6:30 ET) and although 2009 Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra won’t run, there are still plenty of intriguing storylines surrounding this year’s annual race from Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Here are five of them.
1. Calvin Borel’s quest for his own Triple Crown.
Not many people outside of the horse racing world had ever heard the name Calvin Borel before the 2009 Kentucky Derby, but the jockey started gaining a name for himself after riding 50/1 long shot Mine That Bird to victory at Churchill Downs. Then, when the opportunity presented itself a couple weeks after the Derby, Borel once again was the winning jockey, this time riding 3-year old filly Rachel Alexandra to victory at the Preakness Stakes. With Rachel Alexandra skipping the Belmont, Borel has again hitched a ride on Mine That Bird and if he wins today at the Belmont, he would become the first jockey since Steve Cauthen in 1978 to win the Triple Crown. A win would also make him only the second individual to win the Triple Crown by sweeping the three legs in one year while riding different horses. (The other being D. Wayne Lukas, a trainer, in 1995.)
2. Mine That Bird continues his amazing season.
Entering the 2009 Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird was a 50/1 long shot to win. But thanks to a sloppy track, this powerful horse was able to claim victory at Churchill Downs and turned the horse racing world on its head. (At least for this season, that is.) Even though he won the Derby, many people were convinced that the poor track conditions at Churchill Downs played a major factor in Mine That Bird’s victory. Therefore, Rachel Alexandra was made the odds favorite to win the 2009 Preakness and even though the 3-year old filly won, Mine That Bird gained respect by finishing second at Pimlico. Now that Rachel Alexandra is out for the Belmont, Mine That Bird is once again a favorite and with a victory, he should at least gain some notoriety as one of the best thoroughbred racehorses of 2009.
3. Watch out for the dark horse (no pun intended).
One horse to keep an eye on today to play spoiler at the Belmont is Charitable Man (5/1). He has the next best odds to win today behind Mine That Bird and for good reason – he’s undefeated so far at Belmont Park and also undefeated on dirt tracks. Charitable Man was bred to race on one and a half mile tracks like the one he’ll run on today at Belmont Park and he’s also fresh, which is one thing Mine That Bird cannot say after racing in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Nobody is going to consider him a long shot today at 3/1 odds, but if you’re looking for a horse to upset Mine That Bird at the Belmont, Charitable Man could be your thoroughbred.
4. Flying Private: The Ultimate Long Shot?
One long shot that is creating a buzz is Flying Private, who has already faced stiff competition at the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and could be a potential sleeper to give Mine That Bird a run for his money. At 18/1 odds, Flying Private certainly isn’t the type of long shot that Mine That Bird (50/1) was when he won the Kentucky Derby, but then again odds makers aren’t handing out those kinds of odds today anyway. (The horse with the longest odds to win today is Luv Gov at 25/1.) After a lackluster 19th place finish at the Kentucky Derby, Flying Private seemingly came out of nowhere to finish fourth at the Preakness Stakes and that could mean he’s prime to make another leap at the Belmont today. He certainly has the experience and while he might not be as fresh as some of the other horses, Flying Private has already squared off against Mine That Bird twice and therefore he could be your best shot at cashing in on a long shot.
5. This is the finale, so eat it up while you can.
The Belmont is the third and final leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, so soak up the action while you can. While this year’s Belmont certainly lacks the excitement of last year when Big Brown was going for the Triple Crown, there are still plenty of reasons to watch today. Enjoy the race and if you’ve decided to throw a few coins down today, good luck.
- SPORTSbyBROOKS fills us in on the story of Tony La Russa suing Twitter. Apparently the Cardinals manager doesn’t appreciate fake Twitter profiles that talk about his past DUI charge.
- DEADSPIN breaks down Texas reliever Austin Wood’s recent amazing (or not so amazing?) feat in which he threw 169 pitches in a seven-hour regional game last weekend.
- AWFUL ANNOUNCING says that Tony Kornheiser likes to think that people liked him on Monday Night Football.
- FANSIDED details the ways of how to be successful as a start-up sports blogger. (Maybe John and I should read it, although I am happy to report that TSR is mentioned in the peace.)
- WITH LEATHER shares the news that Danica Patrick would have taken performance-enhancing drugs to win the Indy 500 if she knew she wouldn’t be caught. Apparently to Danica, it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.
The 141st running of the Belmont Stakes takes place this Saturday and odds makers have made contender Mine That Bird a 5/6 favorite to win the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
Mine That Bird was a 50/1 long shot to win the 2009 Kentucky Derby, but thanks in part to sloppy conditions at Churchill Downs, he shocked the horse racing world by placing first. He also finished second behind favorite Rachel Alexandra at the Preakness, proving that his victory in the Kentucky Derby was no fluke.
According to theSpread.com, Dunkirk has the next best odds to win at Belmont Park this weekend, at 9/2. Following Mine That Bird and Dunkirk, Charitable Man (7/2), Chocolate Candy (13/1) and Flying Private (16/1) round out the rest of the odds for the Belmont.
One of the more intriguing storylines heading into the Belmont is jockey Calvin Borel’s quest to win his own version of the Triple Crown. Borel rode Mine That Bird to victory at the Kentucky Derby and then hopped horses to Rachel Alexandra for the Preakness, and won that race, too.
But with Rachel Alexandra’s owners holding the 3-year old filly out of the Belmont, Borel will once again hitch a ride with Mine That Bird in hopes to claim victory at each of three Triple Crown races of 2009.
Mine That Bird will run out of the seventh post position on Saturday.
Since moving to Los Angeles from Michigan, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to watch my Red Wings without buying a cable package I wouldn’t be using otherwise. As such, I’ve had to find all possible venues for watching hockey in downtown LA. BTW, to show some love, Far Bar in Little Tokyo totally hooked me up with Game 1 of the Cup Finals.
Even though it was only on NBC, it should be noted that my quest for comfortable settings for watching the Wings is not going to get any easier this week or even next season. Apparently, NBC bumped (to the Versus channel) the Stanley Cup Finals for every weeknight in order to maintain its week-long coverage of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (A television program I’m sure we will be talking about for years to come) and the start of the new Conan O’Brien show. Back home, folks aren’t particularly happy about the move. Here’s what Michael Zuidema of The Grand Rapids Press had to say as posted on MLive:
Granted, hockey hasn’t consistently pulled the strongest ratings numbers throughout the years, but it doesn’t deserve to be treated like a second-class citizen or an afterthought. Not when you have a matchup pitting Hockeytown against hockey’s poster boy, Sidney Crosby.
The buzz already is there, build on it. Or is Conan O’Brien that much more important? (Never mind, we already know the answer.)
For all NBC does right with hockey — and its coverage of the Winter Classic stands out as a huge plus — the sport still doesn’t feel like a priority, even during the Winter Olympics.
And Versus may be fighting for its niche in the sports world, but it still isn’t a destination point for casual fans. It’s not even available in every home. Nonetheless, it will carry the NHL through the 2010-11 season.
I like Conan O’Brien, and people watch him more than hockey. I’m not debating the numbers here. Nor am I about to tell everyone in Los Angeles to start liking a sport they can’t actually play without all sorts of technology. I suppose what I would like to say, and this kind of echoes Mr. Zuidema, is that despite its relative lack of mainstream appeal, hockey is still one of the great sports in America. Where it’s popular, it’s VERY popular.
I wish there was some easier way to get around all this, some way to bring hockey back to a more profitable level in order to justify it preempting something else instead of vice versa, but there isn’t. Either you like hockey or you don’t. But come on, hockey is sweet. In that vein here’s another article to check out: 10 Reasons Why You Should Be A Hockey Fan.
As a result, Calvin Borel, who rode Mine That Bird to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness, will once again be aboard Mine That Bird in the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown.
Though it was widely thought that Rachel Alexandra would not run in the Belmont, owner Jess Jackson fueled hopes that she would run by not announcing a decision last Monday after the filly had her first work back from the race. But on Friday, Jackson ended speculation by saying he believes the filly would benefit from more time between races.
“We know the media and many fans would have liked to see her run in the Belmont Stakes - we feel the same,” Jackson said in a press release. “But all of us sincerely interested in the horse must agree that we only want to see her run when it is best for her. While she is in great shape, having strong works, and recovering well from her amazing performances, we feel Rachel deserves a well-earned vacation. Since March 14, Rachel has won four graded races with just two weeks’ rest between her last two victories. We will always put her long-term well-being first. And, of course, we want to run her when she is fresh.”
They have to do what’s best for the horse, but man, what a blow to horse racing. Rachel Alexandra became only the fifth filly to win the Preakness and had finished first in each of the five races she ran in this year. She brought some excitement to racing this year (even though she didn’t compete in the Kentucky Derby and won’t compete in the Belmont) and it’s a shame she won’t run in the third leg of the Triple Crown.
That said, Borel’s story is intriguing on its own. He won riding Mine That Bird (a 50/1 long shot) at the Kentucky Derby and then again on Rachael Alexandra in the Preakness. Now he’ll hop back on Mine That Bird for the Belmont and try to win his own version of the Triple Crown. I haven’t seen any odds yet, but I’d be willing to bet that Mine That Bird will be the favorite to win the Belmont since he was victorious at the Kentucky Derby and finished second to Rachael Alexandra in the Preakness.
The Motor City Soldiers and the Wayne County Bengals, two semi-pro football teams from Metro Detroit, squared off at Royal Oak High School (yeah, that’s right) in the first ever football game played by innings. Each offensive possession was half an “inning”—the inning ended when a team scored, punted, or turned the ball over—and no game clock was used. It was all going swimmingly, until a ninth-inning tackle sent players flying into the Bengals bench and all hell broke loose. Players started throwing punches, fans came out of the crowd to join in the ruckus, and the rest of the game was eventually called off. Did I mention it was supposed to go 12 innings? Seriously, this is what the economy has done to the Great Lakes State.
I’m all for adding new twists to sports games, but you can’t mess with the basics. Baseball has innings, while football, basketball and hockey have clocks. Don’t mess with the formula for success.
However, I don’t think that two teams from Detroit had a bench-clearing brawl because the game was played with innings instead of a clock. I think two teams from Detroit brawled because it was Detroit, and that’s just how Detroit rolls.
