Griffey Jr. Released by the White Sox

I saw this news item today, and it makes me sad. For one, Griffey Jr. will no longer be a quick car ride up to Chicago away for me to see him play again. I've been fortunate to see him play numerous times, in many different circumstances, including playing for the Mariners at the KC Royals, at the old Kingdome in Seattle, and for my beloved Reds at Enron Field [when it was still Enron Field!] in Houston. Junior was always a class act, and I saw him flip his $100 Oakley sunglasses to a kid sitting in the first row at Houston after the sun no longer made them necessary.

I do worry that Junior will struggle to catch on with another team next year, although that might be unfounded. I do like what the White Sox GM, Ken Williams, had to say about Junior in that article above. I have to believe that another American League team will pick up Junior as a free agent and make him the DH, if nothing else.

But he is coming off another season shortened by injuries, which have plagued him ever since leaving Seattle. He's just not as durable as he once was, and even Sports Illustrated commented on how Junior, not Barry Bonds, could be the all-time HR king these days if it weren't for all the games he's missed due to injuries. Here's hoping that Junior can continue his magnificent career with some team, and that he can continue hitting home runs the right way, sans performance-enhancing drugs.

Candidates for Rookie of the Year - Mid-Season Report

We are now just about half-way through the NFL season, and rookies already made a significant impact on this season. This is especially true in Atlanta and Baltimore, where two rookie QBs are leading their teams to 4-3 records. That's not too shabby, considering Hall of Famer Troy Aikman was 0-11 as a rookie in games he started for Dallas in 1989.

Here's Aikman's stat line from his rookie season, just for comparison:

Season	Team	Pos	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD	Int	Sck	Rate
1989	DAL	QB	155	293	52.9	1,749	6.0	159.0	9	18	19	55.7

Contrast those stats to those of Matt Ryan, QB ATL, and Joe Flacco, QB BAL:

Rk	Player	Team	Pos	Comp	Att	Pct	Att/G	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD	Int	1st	1st%	Lng	20+	40+	Sck	Rate
1	Matt Ryan	ATL	QB	116	205	56.6	29.3	1,441	7.0	205.9	7	5	65	31.7	70T	20	5	9	79.7
2	Joe Flacco	BAL	QB	119	191	62.3	27.3	1,216	6.4	173.7	3	7	62	32.5	70T	10	3	12	70.5

To me, if the Rookie of the Year (RotY) is the player who comes in to the NFL and has the biggest impact on his team, Ryan would have to be the runaway leader at this point of the season. Last year, the Falcons were 4-12, so they already matched their win total from all of last season. Baltimore was 5-11, so they were at least one win better than Atlanta. Plus, Flacco is still experiencing growing pains, as evidenced by his 3 TD - 7 INT ratio.

I did wonder if perhaps some other rookie might challenge Ryan for RotY honors. The next most obvious place to look is at RB, and here are the top rookie stats at that position:

Rk	Player	Team	Pos	Att	Att/G	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD	Lng	1st	1st%	20+	40+	FUM
1	Chris Johnson	TEN	RB	122	17.4	626	5.1	89.4	4	66T	26	21.3	3	2	0
2	Matt Forte	CHI	RB	147	21.0	515	3.5	73.6	4	50T	25	17.0	2	1	0
3	Steve Slaton	HOU	RB	104	14.9	476	4.6	68.0	5	50	25	24.0	6	2	0
4	Darren McFadden	OAK	RB	67	11.2	341	5.1	56.8	1	50	13	19.4	4	1	2
5	Jonathan Stewart	CAR	RB	96	12.0	362	3.8	45.2	5	24	20	20.8	2	0	1
6	Felix Jones	DAL	RB	30	5.0	266	8.9	44.3	3	60T	12	40.0	3	1	0

All of these rookies have had a huge impact on the NFL this year, so a strong argument could be made for RotY for any of them. I haven't yet seen any pundit compare this batch of rookie RBs to the fabled 1983 QB draft class, but a solid comparison could be made there, too. I realize that none of the top six backs listed above are averaging over 100 Yds/game, but given that only one, Matt Forte in Chicago, is the featured back in his offense, that should be expected. McFadden in Oakland is still in a RB by Committee (RBBC) situation with Justin Fargas and Michael Bush, which hurts his overall numbers. Almost all the RBs listed here are near or above the 4.0 Yds/carry benchmark for RB success in the NFL, and Felix Jones of Dallas has that ridiculous 8.9 Yds/carry average.

Just to be thorough, I also looked at the top receiving rookies, but the relative impact a WR can have is very limited. Here are the top two rookies who had any stats to really speak of here:

Rk	Player	Team	Pos	Rec	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	Lng	TD	20+	40+	1st	1st%	FUM
1	Eddie Royal	DEN	WR	39	392	10.1	65.3	29	2	4	0	19	48.7	1
2	DeSean Jackson	PHI	WR	32	505	15.8	72.1	60	1	11	2	20	62.5	1

It could be that Donnie Avery, WR in St. Louis, could join this list by the end of the season. He has come on strong in just the last two games for the Rams, but he still ranks sixth on the list, after these two WRs and three rookie RBs.

There's the quick list of NFL rookies that should be considered for RotY honors. As I said previously, if voting were to end today, my money would be on Ryan in Atlanta. I'm sure he is giving owner Arthur Blank a great deal of relief these days.

World Class Entertainment on the Prairie

When I first told my beautiful bride that I found a new job in Champaign, IL, the first word out of her mouth was, "Where?!" Neither one of us is from Illinois originally, and I'd applied to the open position in Champaign only because the decision makers for the position I really wanted at Scott AFB (also in IL, but much closer to St. Louis) were taking so long to make a hire decision. When we were driving down from Chicago on our house-hunting trip a few weeks later, passing nothing but miles and miles of corn fields, her reaction was, "Where are you taking me?!"

I am very happy to report that we absolutely LOVE living in Champaign-Urbana!! It's home to the University of Illinois' main campus, properly titled the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, or UIUC (the main administration buildings are actually located in Urbana, which is why the smaller of the two cities comes first in the name). We've been here for a little over three years now, and we have so many incredibly neat neighbors and friends, most of whom have some tie to the university. It's a great place to raise children, too.

The other reason why we love living here is that we do get exposure to truly world-class entertainment, thanks to UIUC. Last year, I helped my Rotary club put on a concert by Sherban Lupu on violin and Ian Hobson on piano; both men are professors at UIUC, and both are renowned musicians who travel the globe giving concerts.

Last night, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see Nathan Gunn perform live. Gunn, I'm learning, is one of the absolute top Baritones in the world. He has his own Wikipedia page, and there's a one-on-one interview with him at this link. The performance last night was at a smaller venue, and he performed selections from various Broadway shows, Camelot, and The Magic Flute (in German!) with his wife and another world-class opera singer. There's another nice piece on him and his wife from the U of I alumni magazine here.

Left: Here's a beefcake photo for the ladies of Nathan Gunn.

We're just incredibly blessed to have these types of opportunities to experience and enjoy the high arts, living where we do. I remarked last night that we are actually very lucky to catch live performances from these artists here in Champaign simply because they do travel the world so much; many people living here had to watch The Met's opera simulcasts at local movie theaters to see Gunn perform live. My wife and I tend to skew the age demographic younger any time we attend events like this, but that's OK with us.

The only thing that makes us scratch our heads is why other couples from our generation don't also attend these performances. I know that Gunn is not Britney Spears, The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, or any other music act that might be popular with our friends these days. Still, if you have the opportunity to see a world-class musician perform live without traveling to Chicago, NYC, or Washington, DC, wouldn't you take it?! I should add that I am no opera buff by any means. I don't like the Andrew Lloyd Webber style of music or musicals all the rage on Broadway. But I do appreciate talent in many different forms, and Gunn sings spectacularly well!