Saturday, June 30, 2007

Phillies Quote of the Day

The quote of the day comes from an excellent article in the Philly Inquirer about the extraordinary feat of the Phillies' upcoming 10,000th loss. Summarizing the Phils' futility, here's the sad status of the team over the past 124 years:
In fact, the franchise's win-loss mark (8,805-9,995) has slipped so far below the break-even point that in order to get back to .500, the Phils would need to win 1,190 games in a row, a winning streak of seven-plus seasons.
If that doesn't sum up this team, I don't know what does. I highly encourage you to read the entire article for an enlightening history of our beloved, beleaguered Phightins'.

On a side note, Steve Jeltz and Sil Campusano were chosen as the team's Runner Up Worst Shortsop and Centerfielder, respectively. Ouch.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Steve Jeltz Gets a Shout-out

Just a heads up for the Steve Jeltz fans out there (is there a name for Jeltz groupies? Jeltzies, perhaps?)... according to the Philadlephia Daily News' Bill Conlin, the Phils' Steve Jeltz is in a 9-way dead heat for the competition to be considered the 3rd best shortstop in Philadelphia history. Number 1-- Jimmy Rollins, Number 2-- Larry Bowa, Number 3-- pretty much anybody else!

Go Phils...

Thursday, June 21, 2007

How Much Does a Run Cost?

A recent study out of England showed how expensive Premiership football (soccer) games are becoming to watch in person in Ole Limey. The study compared what it costs to see a goal, based on the average price of season tickets for each team. The range was rather broad, from about $25 per goal at Blackburn home games to a whopping $95 per goal at both Arsenal and my tortuously beloved Manchester City.

This got me to thinking what it would cost to see a run in baseball, a touchdown in football, and so forth. While I don't have the time or resources to investigate this, I'd be intrigued to see what Americans are willing to pay to see points on the board in person.

My personal range would probably fall into these groups: $3-8 for a Phillies run at home, $10-20 for an Eagles touchdown at home, $10-20 for a Flyers goal, and 15-30 cents for a point by the Sixers at home.

What would you pay?

Monday, June 18, 2007

Steve Jeltz: International Man of Mystery

My recent post (sorry for the delay since I last wrote, my loyal fan[s]), discussed the unassuming Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Steve Jeltz. Never did I realize he had a pretty strong little following out there in cyber-world (and out in the real world, by extension). In fact, since writing, I received two very kind and interesting comments, both by people who have previously met Steve and were impressed by his friendliness and, in one case, his looks! ("Hot, hot, hot" were the words of one adoring fan.) They even put out the smoke signals for Steve to contact them if he's so inclined. Well, no guarantees on that one, but I'd be happy to be the conduit if it works out as such! Steve-- if you're out there, drop us all a line, we'd love to hear from ya!

I suppose that's one of the great things about the internet... People from all walks of life and from all countries (including Canada, where one fan checked in with a comment) can unite on a common topic and discuss it at their leisure and with passion. Turns out that my fondness for all things Philly Sports coincides with the fondness that others have of one of the lesser-known Philly athletes from two decades ago. Pretty cool!

So to all of you Steve Jeltz fans, I'm excited to hear from you and perhaps we can keep the discussion going. And perhaps we can celebrate some Phillies' victories along the way. No guarantees on that one either.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Steve Jeltz Shoutout in Today's Phillies' Game!


For those of you watching today's wacky Phils/Giants game on the boob tube in the Philly market, you probably caught the Aflac trivia question of the day. It went something like this:

Name the only two French-born players to record a stolen base in either the AL or NL.

Answer:

Bruce Bochy (current San Francisco Giants coach)
Steve Jeltz (ex-Phillie extraordinaire)

Upon further inspection on Baseball-reference.com (search Jeltz, click on France), it turns out that Mr. Jeltz is actually the all-time stolen bases leader for players born in France. As a matter of fact he leads all French players in several other categories, including doubles, triples, and RBIs, to name a few. Who knew?

Jeltzy sure could swing a mean baguette!