Facilitation 7/30/2007 Salary Cap

In professional sports, a salary cap is a limit on the amount of money a team can spend on player salaries, either as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster (or both). Several sports leagues have made salary caps mandatory, both as a method of keeping overall costs down, and in order to balance the league so a wealthy team cannot become dominant simply by buying all the top players. Salary caps are often the major issue in negotiations between management and players' unions.


The NFL's cap is a so-called "hard cap" (which no team can exceed for any reason under penalty from the league), and a hard salary floor (a minimum team payroll that no team can drop beneath for any reason, 75% of the cap).

The NBA's salary cap is a so-called "soft cap", meaning that teams are allowed to exceed the cap number in order to retain the rights to a player who has already been on the team.


There are ciriticisms of salary cap.
1. Unfair Negotiation Tactic
Salary cap is simply a way for management to get an unfair advantage in labor negotiations with players.

2. Veteran Neglect
Often a team will have to let go of many of its players – frequently, veterans who have been with the club for a long time – in order to comply with the salary cap.

3. Distorting Fan Attitudes
Fans tend to lose interest in a team once it is out of playoff contention.

4. Restricting Free Markets
"There should be no artificial limit on what anyone is able to earn if they have the talent."


MLB has instead implemented the so-called luxury tax, an arrangement by which teams whose aggregate payroll exceeds a certain annually revised figure is taxed on the excess amount (or fined). Unlike the other major North American sports, MLB has no team salary floor. The only minimum limits for team payrolls are based on the minimum salaries for players of various levels of experience.

Then, do you think MLB should introduce salary cap?

Los Angels Galaxy introduced David Beckham

I want to add on to earlier post about David Beckham.

David Beckham's much-hyped debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team drew an average of 1.5 million viewers to ESPN, the largest audience for an ESPN telecast involving a Major League Soccer team.

Beckham, struggling with an ankle injury, played for only 16 minutes during Saturday's game against English club Chelsea, but ESPN's telecast was the night's most-watched program among men 18-49 and men 25-54.

ESPN's previous record was for an April 4, 1996, match between DC United and San Jose Clash -- the league's first game -- that averaged 1.1 million viewers. It also was ahead of U.S. Soccer National Team matches, other than the FIFA World Cup tournament.

ESPN is planning several other Los Angeles Galaxy games featuring Beckham, including two each in August and September and one on October 18. All will be on ESPN2.

As we figured, David Beckham attracts of a lot of attention. He started a small revolution in the US soccer scene.

The question is whether Beckham's 10th or 20th or 50th MLS game will be a big event. I really hope that he make soccer more popular constantly in the U.S.A.

Japan Night

The official "Japan Night" at Safeco Firld is not for another month, but it might as well have been Wed, June 27, when the visiting Boston Red Sox faced off against the Seattle Mariners. More than 43,000 fans came out for the main attraction: the Red Sox's new pitching ace Daisuke "Dice-K" Matsuzaka vs. the Mariner's superstar, Ichiro Suzuki.

The game marked the first time the two had met in Seattle, and the third time since Matsuzaka joined the major leagues this year. In a now-famous quote give to the Seattle Times earlier this season, Ichiro said, "I hope he arouses the fire that's dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul. I plan to face him with the zeal of a challenger." However, Matsuzaka clearly had gotten the better of Ichiro in the previous meeting, holding him to 0-for-5 with two walks and strikeout.

Ichiro showed why he is considered a great defensive player, using his exceptional speed to catch eleven balls in center field. He generated a third of the total outs recorded against Boston over the course of the game, including all three in the seventh inning.

Ichiro and the Mariners ended up the winners on this day over Matsuzaka and the Red Sox, with a hard-fought 2-1 victory three-game series. Yet the real winners were surely the fans on hand, who witnessed an unforgettable game from two great Japanese players.

Both of them are excellent players, but of course I favor Ichiro much more than Matsuzaka. Now, Ichiro is at in a center of attraction. Ichiro's sharp fielding, speedy base running and skillful batting have helped baseball fan appreciate that there is more to baseball than just home runs.
I think about the key to Ichiro's success. One is his stance of humility. He never became bigheaded. Another one is his sensible diet. My friend who is in Seattle said she sometimes see Ichiro's wife in Uwajimaya( a big famous Asian grocery store.) She always buy many fresh Japanese stuff. Maybe Ichiro's wife support him physically by serving nourishing meals.

Moreover, I am happy about Ichiro Suzuki signing a five-year contract extension!

Women World Cup 2007 in China

World Cup is only for men? NO! http://www.fifa.com/womenworldcup/index.html

Sixteen nations including perennial powerhouses the United States, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Brazil will head to five Chinese cities for the Sept. 10-30 tournament. The 16 teams in this year's tournament include five from Europe (Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, England); host China and four other Asian/Pacific teams (Australia, Korea DPR, Japan, New Zealand); and two teams each from North America (United States, Canada), Africa (Nigeria, Ghana), and South America (Argentina, Brazil).

This year is the fifth time the Women's World Cup has been held since the tournament began in 1991. The United States won in 1991 and 1999, while Norway won in 1995 and Germany in 2003.

Even though I am a fun of World Cup, I didn't even know the fact that there is a "Women's World Cup." I've never seen women's soccer. I think I'll like Women's World Cup. I'm not sure if many people are interested in Women's soccer, but it is true that the number of the women soccer players are increasing little by little. FIFA said that they hope to see some really close matches in China, then they can think about expanding the 2011 tournament from 16 teams to 24.