I spoke briefly last week about the Atlanta Braves. About the classless way they let their manager go. Well, things are not getting any better down in Atlanta. There is some talk nationally that the Braves may end up as the worst team of the modern era.
Currently, the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (.235) are the worst team of the modern era. Where do the 2016 Atlanta Braves fall into the annals of the worst teams to ever play the game in the Major Leagues? As of Sunday evening, the Braves sit at 9-27. That gives them a winning percentage of .250, tied for the third-worst winning percentage of all time. It also puts them on pace to finish with a total of approximately 121 losses, the most ever. Even worse than the 1962 New York Mets who lost 120 games.
Let me remind you. The 1962 Mets were an expansion team. The Atlanta Braves have been around a long time and used to be a model franchise.
As we look at the Braves’ stats to this point, it’s necessary to remember that they have only played 36 games in a 162-game season. We must take these numbers with a grain of salt due to the small sample size as compared to teams that have played a full season.
But there are some telling signs. This team does not have any power. There are 13 players in Major League Baseball that have hit more home runs than the entirety of the Atlanta Braves roster combined (nine). This is a roster of singles hitters. Atlanta has 269 hits on the year and 208 of those hits are singles. That’s just over 77% of their hits.
And their pitching stats are not much better. When you take all of these numbers and the current pace of the Braves into account, it seems certain that they will lose 100 games. It seems plausible that they will lose 110. And it seems absolutely possible that the Braves finish with more losses than any other team in the history of baseball.
Football and Humans
Another damning quote concerning the sport of football hit the media on Tuesday. That is not a surprise. Who made the statement is somewhat of a surprise.
Asked whether standout wide receiver Sammy Watkins is too “injury prone,” Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley suggested Tuesday morning that the problem doesn’t lie with the 22-year-old, but with the sport itself.
“It’s the game of football. Injuries are part of it,” Whaley said on WGR 550 radio. “It’s a violent game that I personally don’t think humans are supposed to play. “
Bills’ GM Doug Whaley
Whaley is just the latest notable name to express concern over the dangers of the game. A number of past and present players wrote or spoke of their distress surrounding the release of the 2015 blockbuster film “Concussion.” Promising young players are retiring early after getting one big contract, citing worries over chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease linked with repetitive head trauma such as that found on the football field.
And how about the latest research. A 2015 study that discovered CTE in the brains of 87 of 91 deceased NFL players.
There’s little question at this point that what we see in stadiums and on TV every Sunday is detrimental to these players’ lives.
Remember Delonte West?
A report came out of Houston last week about Delonte West. The same Delonte West who seemed to be kicked out of the NBA after reports surfaced linking him sexually to LeBron James mother, Gloria James.
It appears West has fallen on some hard times. West was looking pretty rough in a couple of Instagram photos recently published. The former NBA guard was spotted wandering around outside of a Jack in the Box in Houston at around 10 p.m. all by himself with no shoes on last week.
Delonte West
Apparently, the person who snapped the pics approached the former first-round draft pick and asked him, “Are you Delonte West?” West replied, “I used to be, but I’m not about that life anymore.” West played parts of eight seasons in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and Seattle SuperSonics.
The photos clearly painted a sad story, especially considering the 32-year-old made more than $16 million in salary throughout his career, according to Basketball-Reference.com. West has played in China and in the NBA Development League since last appearing in an NBA game during the 2011-12 season.
