Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Cubs return fitting for Maddux
Maddux joins Cubs: 'It's nice to come back'
Mesa, Ariz. -- Trying on his new Chicago Cubs jersey Wednesday evening, Greg Maddux liked what he saw. "I look skinnier in pinstripes," he said, smiling. But in Florida, the news of Maddux's new contract still felt uncomfortable to assistant Braves clubhouse manager Chris Van Zant.
He had only given up his last hope that Maddux might come back to the Braves when he read about the pitcher's decision on the Internet Wednesday morning on the clubhouse computer at the Braves training camp in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Van Zant, 30, who has worked in the Braves clubhouse since 1990, had kept Maddux's locker at Turner Field intact until last week, when the clubhouse staff had to finish packing the Braves' truck for spring training in Florida.
"We had a one in a bazillion chance," said Van Zant, who also says he kept the locker up out of respect. "Maybe he would sign a one-year contract and come back."
But the Braves were never in the picture for Maddux; they declined to offer him arbitration in December. Maddux agreed to a two-year $15 million contract with the Cubs, with a third-year worth $9 million contingent on 400 innings pitched over the next two years.
"Once [the process] got started and I saw the choices in front of me, it was pretty much a no-brainer," Maddux said Wednesday night.
His agent Scott Boras said ultimately Maddux chose the Cubs over the Giants for the chance to return to the franchise where his career started. "Money was not an issue with the Giants," Boras said.
Sacrificing the chance to play closer to his family, Maddux returns to the club where he won his first Cy Young award in 1992.
"It's nice to come back," said Maddux, who drove five hours from his Las Vegas home Wednesday. "I know when I left Chicago, I wasn't ready to leave ... Hopefully I'll only have to wear two hats my whole career."
Some have characterized Maddux's departure from Atlanta after 11 seasons as surgical, detached, given the near certainty of it and Maddux's close-to-the-vest manner with fans and media. Not so for Van Zant and fellow assistant clubhouse manager Ben Acree, who swapped Maddux stories as the prepared for the Braves camp to open.
"Some players don't treat us like people," Van Zant said. "I know I don't make a million dollars, but I breathe the same air as you, pal... Greg treats you like a brother, like a friend."
Maddux made his biggest impression upon Van Zant in the mid-1990s. The team was about to go on the road and during his time off Van Zant wanted to drive to St. Louis to see family. He was telling a friend that he wasn't sure if his Honda with 100,000-plus miles would make it.
Maddux, having overheard the conversation, tossed him a set of keys to his silver BMW, and said: "Don't wreck it."
"I was just some kid," Van Zant said. "And he trusted me."
Van Zant and Acree assigned Maddux's old spring training locker to Horacio Ramirez, whom Maddux helped tutor to a 12-win rookie season ("We thought he earned it," Van Zant said). Maddux's locker in Turner Field is TBA.
Two boxes of Maddux's old gear -- T-shirts, shoes, hats -- sat in the Braves' Florida clubhouse, waiting for the proper address. It came Wednesday evening when Maddux called Van Zant from his car.
"He seemed excited," Van Zant said. "He got a chance to go to a good ballclub. I guess that's what matters most, a chance to win."
One thing not in those boxes is the nameplate from Maddux's second-to-the-end locker at Turner Field. That'll go on the wall in the clubhouse manager's office with a framed photo of Maddux pitching as a Brave.
Maddux joins Cubs: 'It's nice to come back'
Mesa, Ariz. -- Trying on his new Chicago Cubs jersey Wednesday evening, Greg Maddux liked what he saw. "I look skinnier in pinstripes," he said, smiling. But in Florida, the news of Maddux's new contract still felt uncomfortable to assistant Braves clubhouse manager Chris Van Zant.
He had only given up his last hope that Maddux might come back to the Braves when he read about the pitcher's decision on the Internet Wednesday morning on the clubhouse computer at the Braves training camp in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Van Zant, 30, who has worked in the Braves clubhouse since 1990, had kept Maddux's locker at Turner Field intact until last week, when the clubhouse staff had to finish packing the Braves' truck for spring training in Florida.
"We had a one in a bazillion chance," said Van Zant, who also says he kept the locker up out of respect. "Maybe he would sign a one-year contract and come back."
But the Braves were never in the picture for Maddux; they declined to offer him arbitration in December. Maddux agreed to a two-year $15 million contract with the Cubs, with a third-year worth $9 million contingent on 400 innings pitched over the next two years.
"Once [the process] got started and I saw the choices in front of me, it was pretty much a no-brainer," Maddux said Wednesday night.
His agent Scott Boras said ultimately Maddux chose the Cubs over the Giants for the chance to return to the franchise where his career started. "Money was not an issue with the Giants," Boras said.
Sacrificing the chance to play closer to his family, Maddux returns to the club where he won his first Cy Young award in 1992.
"It's nice to come back," said Maddux, who drove five hours from his Las Vegas home Wednesday. "I know when I left Chicago, I wasn't ready to leave ... Hopefully I'll only have to wear two hats my whole career."
Some have characterized Maddux's departure from Atlanta after 11 seasons as surgical, detached, given the near certainty of it and Maddux's close-to-the-vest manner with fans and media. Not so for Van Zant and fellow assistant clubhouse manager Ben Acree, who swapped Maddux stories as the prepared for the Braves camp to open.
"Some players don't treat us like people," Van Zant said. "I know I don't make a million dollars, but I breathe the same air as you, pal... Greg treats you like a brother, like a friend."
Maddux made his biggest impression upon Van Zant in the mid-1990s. The team was about to go on the road and during his time off Van Zant wanted to drive to St. Louis to see family. He was telling a friend that he wasn't sure if his Honda with 100,000-plus miles would make it.
Maddux, having overheard the conversation, tossed him a set of keys to his silver BMW, and said: "Don't wreck it."
"I was just some kid," Van Zant said. "And he trusted me."
Van Zant and Acree assigned Maddux's old spring training locker to Horacio Ramirez, whom Maddux helped tutor to a 12-win rookie season ("We thought he earned it," Van Zant said). Maddux's locker in Turner Field is TBA.
Two boxes of Maddux's old gear -- T-shirts, shoes, hats -- sat in the Braves' Florida clubhouse, waiting for the proper address. It came Wednesday evening when Maddux called Van Zant from his car.
"He seemed excited," Van Zant said. "He got a chance to go to a good ballclub. I guess that's what matters most, a chance to win."
One thing not in those boxes is the nameplate from Maddux's second-to-the-end locker at Turner Field. That'll go on the wall in the clubhouse manager's office with a framed photo of Maddux pitching as a Brave.
Federal tax on sports and race books could be axed
A federal excise tax on wagers taken by sports and race books and keno games would be abolished under a provision attached by Sen. Harry Reid to the six-year, $318 billion transportation bill that passed the U.S. Senate late last week.
In a statement, Reid, D-Nev., claims the “repeal” of the 0.25 percent tax will save Nevada casinos roughly $100 million.
Representatives from Reid’s offices in Washington, D.C. and in Nevada were not available for comment, and the statement did not make it clear over what period of time the $100 million would be saved.
“If in fact it passes, I would think it would be a very significant figure for the casinos,” said Ellen Whittemore, a gaming attorney and partner with the law firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins in Las Vegas.
The transportation bill still must pass in the U.S. House of Representatives and be signed by President Bush.
“Gaming is the backbone of Nevada’s economy and job market, and repealing this tax will keep that backbone strong,” Reid said in the statement.
The news seemed to catch prominent gaming attorneys and casino executives by surprise.
“It’s fantastic that he did that,” said Jeff Siri, president and chief executive of the Club Cal Neva Hotel Casino in downtown Reno. “I can tell you that it will save us a good bit of money; it’s something we’ve paid for a long time. And we could use it to be a little bit more competitive against the Indians.”
Siri said the tax was reduced from 2 percent in the early 1980s.
Bob Faiss, a senior partner at Lionel Sawyer & Collins and one of the more prominent gaming attorneys in the nation, said he was unaware of Reid’s provision.
The excise tax, he said, has its origins in Senate hearings from 1950, when organized crime in Nevada gaming was first being investigated. At first it was a 10 percent tax on the gross receipts of all gambling transactions, but through the efforts of Sen. Patrick McCarran, it was revised to cover only race and sports books.
After that, “it was modified from time to time to its present level,” Faiss said.
Siri refers to the excise tax as a “gross wagers tax,” as it is levied on all bets, not just the money sports books win from customers. For keno games, it applies only to “multi-race” betting of more than 20 “ball draws,” he said.
Quoting a recent statewide gaming report, Siri said sports wagers in Nevada for calendar year 2003 totaled $1.86 billion, generating gross wagering taxes of $4.66 million. For horseracing, $515.8 million was bet in 2003, for another $1.29 million in federal excise taxes. The Super Bowl alone on Feb. 1 had $81.2 million of bets, resulting in more than $200,000 of the tax.
The Club Cal Neva runs 19 sports books in casinos around Northern Nevada, including the Eldorado Hotel Casino and other large resorts. The sports book franchise pays only rent to the casinos — it does not share profits, but nor does it share the risk or the excise tax burden.
“From the federal government, it’s very significant, and in a time where the state of Nevada is increasing taxes, it helps,” Siri said.
A federal excise tax on wagers taken by sports and race books and keno games would be abolished under a provision attached by Sen. Harry Reid to the six-year, $318 billion transportation bill that passed the U.S. Senate late last week.
In a statement, Reid, D-Nev., claims the “repeal” of the 0.25 percent tax will save Nevada casinos roughly $100 million.
Representatives from Reid’s offices in Washington, D.C. and in Nevada were not available for comment, and the statement did not make it clear over what period of time the $100 million would be saved.
“If in fact it passes, I would think it would be a very significant figure for the casinos,” said Ellen Whittemore, a gaming attorney and partner with the law firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins in Las Vegas.
The transportation bill still must pass in the U.S. House of Representatives and be signed by President Bush.
“Gaming is the backbone of Nevada’s economy and job market, and repealing this tax will keep that backbone strong,” Reid said in the statement.
The news seemed to catch prominent gaming attorneys and casino executives by surprise.
“It’s fantastic that he did that,” said Jeff Siri, president and chief executive of the Club Cal Neva Hotel Casino in downtown Reno. “I can tell you that it will save us a good bit of money; it’s something we’ve paid for a long time. And we could use it to be a little bit more competitive against the Indians.”
Siri said the tax was reduced from 2 percent in the early 1980s.
Bob Faiss, a senior partner at Lionel Sawyer & Collins and one of the more prominent gaming attorneys in the nation, said he was unaware of Reid’s provision.
The excise tax, he said, has its origins in Senate hearings from 1950, when organized crime in Nevada gaming was first being investigated. At first it was a 10 percent tax on the gross receipts of all gambling transactions, but through the efforts of Sen. Patrick McCarran, it was revised to cover only race and sports books.
After that, “it was modified from time to time to its present level,” Faiss said.
Siri refers to the excise tax as a “gross wagers tax,” as it is levied on all bets, not just the money sports books win from customers. For keno games, it applies only to “multi-race” betting of more than 20 “ball draws,” he said.
Quoting a recent statewide gaming report, Siri said sports wagers in Nevada for calendar year 2003 totaled $1.86 billion, generating gross wagering taxes of $4.66 million. For horseracing, $515.8 million was bet in 2003, for another $1.29 million in federal excise taxes. The Super Bowl alone on Feb. 1 had $81.2 million of bets, resulting in more than $200,000 of the tax.
The Club Cal Neva runs 19 sports books in casinos around Northern Nevada, including the Eldorado Hotel Casino and other large resorts. The sports book franchise pays only rent to the casinos — it does not share profits, but nor does it share the risk or the excise tax burden.
“From the federal government, it’s very significant, and in a time where the state of Nevada is increasing taxes, it helps,” Siri said.
