Do you have a great idea for a business but have pitched it to potential investors who couldn’t spot genius if they tried? Visionaries, take heart. Seed capital is available and it’s coming from Charles Barkley. Continue reading »
basketball
In what appears to now be a series of desk-side interviews on a Flip-Cam, MCC tells colleague Brian Steel that she likes basketball because the players are tall and the 40 pairs of shoes she bought in the two days after Lehman Brothers went under, including her favorites (a pair of Christian Louboutins for $100). Continue reading »
UPDATE II: Second bracket is full. Go here to get in the third one.
UPDATE: Apparently we hit the limit on the first bracket so we’ve opened up a second you can sign up for here. NakedShort will reconcile the results and aggregate them at the end of the tournament. Password is the same (animalliar).
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As you may have heard, March Madness kicks off tomorrow. Despite this being the most wonderful time of the year for many, there exists one financial services hack who wants to destroy it for everyone. He’s announced his plan to (anonymously) report any colleagues he catches filling out brackets and keeping tabs on their picks during business hours. Does he work at your company? Maybe! Should you take a stand regardless? Yes! How so? By entering as many pools as you possibly can, making it impossible for him to keep up with the amount of people and their various offenses he must rat out. To that end, we’d like to help do our part. Today we introduce the First Annual Dealbreaker NCAA Tournament Challenge. You don’t need a reason to sign up besides the right to say you won the DBNCAATC but as an aside, the winner will receive dinner for him/herself plus three colleagues and/or friends at Peter Luger’s, followed by an outing to UBS favorite Beamer’s, an embroidered Patagonia and an ‘I love Dealbreaker’ button.** Continue reading »
Something that’s never got much mention in the press is that in addition to their formidable investing savvy, many an employee of SAC Capital has been behind some of the greatest upsets in sports history. February 11, 1990. Tokyo, Japan. Buster Douglas versus Mike Tyson, Douglas is 35:1 underdog. Douglas prevails. Why? I can’t say his name but ask anyone who was there and they’ll tell you the story of a young pup from the Stamford back office whose fluffing skills between rounds Douglas to this day credits with his win. Summer Olympics 2000. Sydney, Australia. Rulon Gardner defeats Alexander Karelin. Rulon Gardner’s victory at the Sydney Olympics is the greatest upset in wrestling history. Gardener had no wins on the Olympic level, whereas Karelin had been undefeated for the last decade. Who gave Gardener some last minute tips on his Half Nelson? SAC’s head of HR at the time. March 1991. NCAA semifinal game, Duke versus UNLV. UNLV was heavily favored and hadn’t lost a game all year. Who snuck into the locker room at half time and promised the Blue Devils “hookers on the house– and these won’t talk” if they pulled out a W? A trader from SAC, always ahead of the curve. Super Bowl III, 1969. New York Jets defeat Baltimore Colts. Who convinced the entire stadium to do a topless wave the likes of which the NFL had never seen, which in turn got the team from New York pumped like no other? Who consulted on Johnny Weir’s 2010 Olympic ensembles, even throwing in a hand at the sewing machine at the last hour? Who said MORE NETTING when everyone else said less? You know the answer to all those things.
Which leads us to next year’s NBA championship. You probably thought the New Jersey Nets didn’t have a shot, right? Wrong! Not now that they’ve got this secret weapon.
Think of Milton Lee as a technical investor. Except instead of analyzing stocks or commodities, he is analyzing basketball players. A former Wall Street equities trader who has done stints at ING and S.A.C Capital, Lee has joined the refurbished New Jersey Nets as the team’s director of basketball operations. His job is to crunch the statistics of Nets players, looking not just at their scoring percentages but also at their defensive efforts and where on the court they are most successful at hitting the net.
Tim Geithner To Talk Financial Reform, Whatever Else People Feel Like Chatting About, This Afternoon
By Bess Levin
He doesn’t want to put the words in your mouth, but if *someone* wanted to ask him how good it felt school the Chinese in that pick-up game, that’d be okay by TG (and if anyone wants to go, he’s got sneaks in the car and this suit is a breakaway).
Later today at NYU Stern, Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary, will give his first public remarks since the enactment of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Secretary will address the core principles guiding the implementation of these historic reforms and how they will lay the foundation for a new, strong and stable American financial system. After his remarks, the Secretary will answer audience questions. Due to security and space limitations, the event is viewable via a live video link beginning at 4 p.m. Please note that Real Player is required.–NYU Stern Public Affairs
Request Number One: Challenge him to a game of your choice. Nok Hockey, tennis, jacks, Crossfire, fire ball, ping pong, rock paper scissors, mud-wrestling, Egyptian Ratscrew, kick ball, something weird and exotic with ever-changing rules you just made up on the spot. Doesn’t matter what it is, the important thing is that you underestimate him, smirk and think to yourself “this should be good.” Then watch as he flips you and your expectations on your back.
Geithner is a “sports nut and is up for playing or trying any sport someone suggests,” said Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams. “A lot of folks have underestimated Secretary Geithner in a lot of ways, and the basketball court’s one place where he’s been underestimated,” said U.S. Representative Rick Larsen, 44, a Washington state Democrat who played with Geithner and President Barack Obama at an Oct. 8 game at the basketball court on the White House’s South Lawn. He said he and Geithner covered one another during much of the game. “He definitely is a credible basketball player, one that you would choose to have on your team,” said Representative John Shimkus, an Illinois Republican who also played in the after-work contest. He has “good ball-handling skills” and he’s fast on the court, Shimkus, 52, said in an interview.
Request Number Two: caption this photo: Continue reading »
- Use the Bloomberg command
NH BLG_DEALBREAKER <GO>
to access Dealbreaker
