Bobby Bonilla makes more than a million dollars a year to be Bobby Bonilla.
The retired 16-year veteran receives a cool $1,193,248.20 every July 1st from the New York Mets, who spread the five-time All-Star"s then-$5.9 million deal over 25 years starting in 2011. Except the cost blossomed.
When the Mets management made that deal, it thought it was benefitting from a smart investment with Bernard Madoff. Yes, that Bernie Madoff. So once Madoff"s Ponzi scheme came to light, the Mets were put on the hook for a whole lot more than planned.
In fact, for a while in 2013, Bonilla was earning more than any Mets outfielders then on the roster -- as a 50-year-old.
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Talk about a terrific pay day for Bonilla. Times 25.
Blink-182 without Tom DeLonge: Its a tempting proposition. When considering DeLonges role in Blink, your mind instantly goes to 2004 smash I Miss You, when a perfectly nice mid-tempo love song about nightmare angels and Halloween on Christmas is positively wrecking-balled by his eardrum-piercing introduction on the second verse: WHERE ARE YEWWWWWWWW?!?!? With DeLonges all-consuming megalomania reaching new heights through press stories of his recording-studio demands and efforts to take the band ingasp-worthy new directions and yeah, the whole UFOs thing its easy to conflate his presence in the trio with all of their most obnoxious instincts, and envision a much more digestible outfit built solely around the gonzo energy of drummer Travis Barker and McGrathian affability of co-frontman Mark Hoppus.
If anything is to be learned from California, the groups seventh album and first with Alkaline Trio yowler Matt Skiba in place of DeLonge, its that we might have taken Blinks co-founder for granted. Perhaps this shouldve been more obvious from the underwhelming returns of 2006s When Your Heart Stops Beating, an album recorded by Hoppus and Barkersans third-wheel as part of the +44 supergroup, which now stands as the most obvious precedent for this new album: fine, fun, and overall kinda meh. Turns out, as in just about every great songwriting partnership in music history Lennon and McCartney, 3000 and Boi, Buckner and Garcia (probably) the oft-insufferable ambition of one is just as important as the shrugging humanity of the other, and the push/pull tension between the two is the most essential ingredient in the groups success. Without that, its much easier for Blink-182 to be likable, but almost impossible for them to be great.
To their credit, some of the advance tracks came pretty close. Bored to Death is the albums first single and most successful song, with a compressed drum intro and dolorous three-note repeating riff that hits you like a tornado of Classic Blink Memories, and a chorus (Life is too short to last long) that reads empty but feels profound. Rabbit Hole is one of Californias few songs so light on its feet you can actually imagine a trio of n***d late-90s dudesrunning down the street to it, and its anxieties (Dear head / Shut up) are quippy and low-stakes enough that they dont feel weighed down by 20 years of band history, like much of the album. And speaking of n***d dudes, the 16 seconds of sunny harmonies and homoerotic absurdism that is Built This Pool might be the LPs finest moment, not to mention the most efficient rock song since Napalm Deaths You Suffer (But Why?)from nearly 20 years ago.
But the main problem with California isnt that the songs are bad its just that there are too many (16 for some reason), and not enough ideas to fill them. One chorus on the albums first side prominently mentions Bauhaus, one on the second references the Cure. A song called Kings of the Weekend is followed by a song with the lyric, Then you hit me like a Friday night. Separate tracks are titled Los Angeles, San Diego, and (natch) California, without the thematic specificity or musical diversity that would justify such a trilogys existence. Not helping matters is that DeLonge seems to have taken all of the bands riffs with him; even the Bored to Death lickis essentially ripped off from the bands 2000 hit,Adams Song, and then further recycled on San Diego 11 tracks later. The unexciting presence of Skiba fails to break up the monotony, as his voice fails to contrast enough to Hoppus to serve any purpose but adding further layering. Barkers famously frenetic stick-work attempts to cut through, but he largely comes off as a child of divorce trying desperately to capture his parents attention.
It feels unfair to be too harsh to California, because its not clear what the better path to success wouldve been for Blink-182. They couldve followed their followers lead and hooked up with a Jake Sinclair-type to reinvent themselves as 21st-century turbo-poppers, but the band sounds too old for that s**t, and based on the Centuries-like groaning bombast of the Los Angeles chorus, it might notve been advisable anyway. They couldve made like their longtime heroes the Descendents (with their excellent upcoming LP,Hypercaffium Spazzinate) and made an album as speedy and snotty as their early work, only with middle-agedlyrics about fearing for their kids and being unable to eat fast food. But even the Descendents need a decade-long nap between albums to get up that kind of energy. Ultimately, fortysomething Blink may be cursed by their early success and their genre of choice: For pop-punk bands, life is just too short to last long.
The real star of the Tour is always the route, and while its not as initially intimidating in 2016 as it was last year, its going to be tricky to plot a course to victory through it. Comparatively subtle the route may be but the effect of this is to raise the tension and intensity. Theres an uphill finish on stage 2, a mountain summit finish on stage 5, and the Pyrenees begin on stage 7.
2015 was a series of four clearly-defined phases: Classics opening week, Pyrenees, Massif Central, Alps. 2016 is far more complex, less regular, more a piece of free-form jazz than a traditionally-constructed symphony in four movements. Theres a flat stage, a hilly stage, and two more flat stages in the first four days, and then the uphill finish at Le Lioran in the Massif Central, followed by one more flat stage. At this point, the sprinters will have had four of their seven chances for a stage win. Meanwhile, the GC contenders will have had to manage the Cherbourg hill finish, and the very hard route to Le Lioran.
Mont St-Michel, stage 1
None of the Massif Central climbs of stage 5 are particularly hard there are two third-cat climbs and two second-cats, before the final third-cat ascent and a short downhill to the finish. Its ambush territory, and the final 50km look intense, without being outrageously hard the kind of territory, in other words, on which the best bike racing happens. The Tour peloton is still getting used to the idea that hilly stages can be as good a place to win the yellow jersey as the high mountains but the 2016 route, and stages like this, are an ideal place to continue working on this project.
Read more:A quick guide to the Tour de France"s jargon
There are three nicely varied Pyrenean stages to follow: an easy one, and two more difficult ones. Stage 7 only includes the Col dAspin, near the finish.Meanwhile, stage 8 is an interesting mix of the traditional and the modern the classic Pau-to-Luchon stage is a Tour staple. But instead of running over the normal Aubisque-Tourmalet-Aspin-Peyresourde route on the D918 the Pyrenean Circle of Death the parcours has been tweaked to run along a parallel road to the south. Tourmalet-Hourquette dAncizan-Val Louron Azet-Peyresourde is not quite as hard, because the Aubisque has been sacrificed, but the Hourquette dAncizan, a minor-road alternative to the Aspin, is hard. Either way, its still one of the toughest stages of the entire race, followed the next day by the high point of the Tour, the summit finish at Andorra Arcalis, at 2,240m. This, finally, is a more traditional challenge the first true summit finish of the 2016 Tour.
If there is a theme for the middle week, its that there is no theme. Theres a stage for the baroudeurs the finish in Revel loops over the Cte de St-Ferrol, which in the past has been enough to kill the chances of the sprinters teams, although admittedly this was before Peter Sagan came along. Then a flat stage to Montpellier. After that comes the Bastille Day ascent of Ventoux, possibly the crux of the entire Tour.
Gorges de l"Ardche, stage 13
The stage 13 time trial is another key stage. The parcours tracks the scenic route along the sunbaked Gorges de lArdche. The Tour went through the Tarn Gorges last year, and the helicopter shots were spectacular. However, the D290 road which runs along the Gorge is not just a scenic Tour treat. The road through the Tarn Gorges is cut along the bottom, beside the river, but the D290 follows the cliffs at the top. It climbs a lot, and is extremely twisty. As the road leaves the gorges to pass the Pont dArc, a huge limestone archway cut by the river, there is a steep 2km descent, including tunnels, with a hairpin bend towards the bottom. Any riders distracted by the beautiful scenery are going to come a cropper here.
Then two more flattish stages sandwich another television highlight of the 2016 Tour, the climb of the Grand Colombier, one of Frances most scenic climbs, on the stage to Culoz. While some stages look more intimidating on paper, this one, the 15th, looks very hard to control. There are six categorised climbs, including one HC ascent, but the profile shows countless more significant uncategorised climbs along the way. The stage only breaches 1,000m once but it makes up in intensity what it lacks in altitude.
Mgeve, stage 20
The final week is more traditional Tour fare three mountain stages and a tough uphill time trial to Megve. The new HC summit finish at Finhaut-Emosson in Switzerland on stage 17 will see the beginning of the final battle and the St Gervais summit finish two days later will probably reinforce what weve already learned. But ASO have one final trick up their sleeve on stage 20, with the final mountain of the race, the Col de Joux-Plane. Its not just a very tough climb, but theres a 2km false flat at the top and a very steep, twisting descent to Morzine.
The Tour organisers appear to be saying that the biggest mountains might make for the hardest challenge, but that the smaller mountains of the 2016 race might make for a more interesting one.
This is an extract from an article originally published in Procycling magazine, which brings you the colour, action and drama of cycling every month. Subscribe and get five issues for 5.
Blink-182 recently performed at the Good Morning America concert series in New York City"s Central Park.
The band performed some of their new songs, such as "Bored to Death" and some of their old favorites, like 1999"s "All The Small Things" and "What"s My Age Again?," 2001"s "The Rock Show" and 2003"s "Feeling This."
Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba is currently replacing the band"s longtime member Tom DeLonge.
The band just released their seventh studio album, California, on July 1, which was the follow-up to 2011"s Neighborhoods. So far the only single produced from the album is "Bored To Death," which topped the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and landed at number three on Billboard"s Rock Airplay chart.
Cérémonie de présentation des coureurs - Tour de France 2016
7.30am The alarm clock rings. In the first 10 seconds you try to figure out where you are. Being in a new hotel every day can be confusing.
8am Eggs and bacon
9am Visit each rider in his hotel room to clear tactics for the day before the team meeting, which will be held in the bus at the stage start. Tactics are agreed the night before; discussing them individually now means everyone is on the same page at the meeting. Sometimes the riders have better ideas than the SDs (sporting directors) Tony Martins Mulhouse stage win in 2014 came from an idea of Michal Kwiatkowski, and the SDs werent in favour at first.
10.30am The whole team takes off for the start; usually the mechanics drive the sports directors cars. Some SDs jump in the bus but I like to drive with my mechanic. A good mechanic could also make a good SD, because he will understand the race, tactics, radio Tour and the riders. The way we work is sort of like a marriage: we spend many hours together.
11am At normal races we calculate to be at the start area one hour before the off, and always keep 15 minutes in reserve for traffic. But at Le Tour we try to be there up to 1hr 45min before the start.
First we always have the team meeting usually this is about lead-out, the roads, the weather, maybe a pep talk. Sometimes the riders need to laugh rather than be pushed to the limit. If its going to be a bunch sprint, Tom Steels [an SD] will show a PowerPoint of the finish. The best thing is when a leader tells his team-mates how he wants them to ride: Cav [former team member Mark Cavendish] is brilliant at creating a winning mood. One rider, who I wont name, used to be on Facebook during meetings.
Then we speak to the press. Better results means more press; scandals also mean more press.
12.30pm The race starts, and in the neutralised zone some riders come back to the team car to adjust seatpost, handlebar, cleats etc. In the past every rider would drop by the mechanics every day to adjust their bikes but now they are more likely to spend their time on social media.
12.30-5pm The most important tactic is to say yes or no. I only use the race radio when I am 100% certain of something. The riders are stressed, tired and focused, so the last thing they need is an SD who cant make up his mind. Steels leaves 20 minutes before the race and feeds back info about the road conditions, the wind, and how fast the corners are in the last 10km; I pass it to the riders.
5pm At the finish we answer questions from the press. Sometimes I wonder how a journalist can wait at the finish for more than an hour and the smartest question he can figure out to Cavendish is: Are you out of shape? That gives Cav a Billy Idol lip or whisky mouth.
6pm After the stage there is usually a transfer to the next hotel. The mechanic drives and I write a race report for the management group of 12 people. The key thing is to write stuff our colleagues cant read on Cyclingnews.com or Het Nieuwsblad: why did something go wrong or what went well in the race? Did we screw up the tactic or was there a mechanical problem? Was someone ill or just tired?
Another golden rule: you fuel up the car before you get to the hotel.
7pm At the hotel: on most days this is about when we get to our rooms. Every two days I run 10km. Its good for the head and weight.
The SDs get together and start planning for the next day: tactics, logistics, guests. If things have really gone wrong we see the riders one by one or have an extra team meeting to solve any problems. The rule is to give the riders s**t collectively, and critical feedback individually.
Some SDs visit riders individually after each stage, but when I was a rider I hated having the SD in my room, because there is very little privacy in a Grand Tour. So Inever visit a riders room after a race. But all SDs are different and so are the riders. After a few years with a rider we know if he needs a visit or not.
8.30pm Dinner. In a good team riders arrive at the dinner table together and leave together. The good old days are over, and not many teams drink alcohol at the table any more unless we win or someone has a birthday.
Staff always eat half an hour after riders because they have to finish bikes and massage. Of all staff, the soigneurs are the hardest working: first out of bed and last into bed. They are alchemists, who turn the riders concrete legs into diamonds.
11.30pm Bedtime. I enjoy the silence because explosions are always waiting around the next corner (trust me). Every day brings something new: a great win, a horrible loss, a crash, a smashed car, a fight between staff. The job will never be boring, which is why we love it.
Last rule: always sleep eight hours, then we can solve all problems. Good night! Tomorrow we will smash everybody, Ijust know it.
No jackpot winner has been drawn in the Mega Millions lottery drawing estimated at $415 million.
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Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty tells The Associated Press that no ticket matching all six winning numbers was drawn Friday night. Hagerty says Tuesday night"s jackpot will be worth an estimated $449 million.
The winning numbers drawn Friday night were 20-41-42- 45-49, with a Mega Ball of 14.
Tuesday"s jackpot will be the largest jackpot since a $430 million Powerball prize won by a New Jersey family May 7.
The record prize was a $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot won in January by players in three states.
The odds of picking the correct numbers on five white b***s and one yellow ball in the Mega Millions are one in 259 million.
Bakersfield - Whats more American than baseball, fireworks and huge lottery jackpots this Fourth of July holiday weekend?! Not only does the Mega Millions jackpot stand at an estimated $415 million for tonights draw, the Powerball jackpot is drafting right behind at an estimated $243 million for tomorrow nights drawing!
Heres what you need to know about Mega Millions: The estimated $415 million jackpot is the third-largest Mega Millions jackpot of all time (see chart below) and the 10th-largest jackpot in U.S. history. The jackpot amount has rolled a whopping 31 times since the jackpot reset to $15 million on March 12, 2016.
The last time the Mega Millions jackpot was hit was on March 8 when Michael Burkett won $157 million after matching all six numbers on a ticket he purchased in Seattle. The last time a Californian won the Mega Millions jackpot was back on August 22, 2014. Rick Knudsen claimed the $180 million prize after matching all six numbers on a ticket he purchased in Calimesa (Riverside County).
If someone wins the Mega Millions jackpot tonight, theyll have the option of taking the $415 million spread out over 30 years or taking a lump sum amount (before federal taxes) of $286.4 million. If nobody wins, the jackpot will roll to an estimated $449 million for Tuesday nights draw ($313.3 million lump sum amount)!
Powerball is getting up there as well! The estimated $243 million jackpot-amount for tomorrow night may seem rather paltry compared to the record $1.586 billion jackpot from January; but keep in mind, the January 13 jackpot was once at $227 million before it snowballed to more than $300 million, then to half a billion then to nearly a billion and the rest is history!
And, dont forget about Californias own in-state jackpot game! We know there are a lot of SuperLotto Plus fans, and that jackpot stands at not too shabby $13 million for tomorrow nights draw.
If a California Lottery retailer should sell the winning ticket for either Mega Millions, Powerball or SuperLotto Plus, that business would win big as well. It would receive a bonus of one half a percent of the jackpot prize up to a maximum of $1 million. (Since the retailer bonus is from a separate fund, retailers do not have to wait for the winner to come forward to get paid. It also means the winner doesnt have to share their prize.) And you of course cannot put a price tag on the publicity the winning retailer would receive as the lucky spot to buy lottery products going forward!
Remember, as all of the jackpots continue to grow, the California Lottery would like to remind players that gambling should be fun. Borrowing money to play, spending above a persons budget or using money intended for other purposes can ultimately lead to significant problems for players and their families. If a player recognizes that they have a gambling problem or if someone knows of someone who may have a problem, the Lottery recommends calling the Problem Gambling Help Line at 1-800-GAMBLER.
The Lottery has produced a couple of Win Wisely videos as part of our corporate social responsibility efforts. Reporters and players can view them at the following links on our California Lottery YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxFL2N_TNlg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbpOijtTIzs
Keep in mind this is entirely part of the Lotterys continued effort to give out more prizes, create more winners and most importantly, earn more money for California public schools!
Mega Millions is played in California (and 43 other states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Draw times are Tuesdays and Fridaysat 8:00 p.m. PST. Tickets are $1 and can be purchased from any of the 22,000 California Lottery retailers or one of the more than 4,000 Lottery Lucky Retailers . Please visit the California Lotterys Mega Millions site for more information on how to play.
Powerball is a multistate game played in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Draw times are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7:59 p.m. PST. Ticket sales are suspended from 7:00 p.m. to 7:05 p.m. the day of the draw. Tickets are $2 and can be purchased from any of the 22,000 California Lottery retailers or one of the more than 4,000 Lottery Lucky Retailers . Please visit the California Lotterys Powerball site for more information on how to play.
SuperLotto Plus is Californias own in-state jackpot game. Players pick five numbers from 1 to 47 plus a Mega number from 1 to 27. The draw takes place at Lottery Headquarters in Sacramento Wednesdays and Saturdays, right after draw entry closes at 7:45 p.m. PDT. Tickets are $1 and can be purchased from any of the 22,000 California Lottery retailers or one of the more than 4,000 Lottery Lucky Retailers . Please visit the California Lotterys SuperLotto Plus site for more information.
The California Lottery is a $5.5 billion enterprise based
