HEY, WILLIE! Thanks for Kyle Busch economics lesson, and what about the Little League hug?

HEY, WILLIE!

I really got a lot out of your story about Kyle Busch’s “sugar daddy” (M&M's) leaving him after this year (Aug. 4 N-J).

I watch 95% of Cup races, 65% of Xfinity, and 40% of the Truck Series, and have watched for years. I can rattle off teams and drivers but I'd never looked at NASCAR funding.

I'm a software engineer so I love the nuts and bolts of “how it works.” Your details were great. Well done, sir! Thanks.

WADE IN ARIZONA

HEY, WADE!

While I appreciate the appreciation, there’s an obvious question to shoot back at you here.

You calculate the amount of NASCAR you watch?

Let’s say your August allotment is at 94.6% and 25 laps remain in the upcoming Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Do you quickly calculate the numbers and maybe say, “This will put me at 97% … I need to step out for a few minutes and return with 10 to go”?

Anyway, back to the original point. Yes, the current NASCAR funding model, in regards to the billions it receives from the networks, will surely be tweaked before the next deal begins in 2025.

For many, many years, TV money has been split in this manner: 65% to the tracks, 25% to the teams, 10% to NASCAR’s home office. Yes, 25% of several billion is big money, but it’s currently spread over a 10-year deal, and teams estimate that 75% of their budgets are filled by corporate sponsorships they must attain on their own.

As the old senator once said, “a billion here and a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

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HEY, WILLIE!

I remember when Tom Hanks had to tell us there’s no crying in baseball. 

What would he think about hugging? I only ask because everywhere I look I’m seeing pictures of that Little League kid hugging the pitcher who had just hit him in the head with a pitch. 

Would that ever happen in the majors?

DON

HEY, DON!

I think the closest we came was a few weeks back when Blake Snell broke Bryce Harper’s thumb with a pitch.

Those two have known each other since childhood. Snell clearly felt bad about the pitch. Harper clearly felt pain. As he left the field he looked out at Snell and said, “I know you weren’t trying to do it.”

But the look on Harper’s face suggested Snell might want to avoid pitching him inside from here on out.

As for the Hug Heard ’Round the World, mixed emotions. At least a tad mixed. It doesn’t take much to convince some of us that we’re softening a bit around the edges (not just the waistline!).

Do you want to see benches empty for a brawl in the Little League World Series? ESPN would love it, of course, but the rest of us might be disturbed (yes, while watching). But do we want to see ballplayers hug it out every time there’s an issue?

I don’t know. If only given the choice of a hug or fists, I guess you have to go with the hug. With a little of the ol’ stink-eye tossed in there, however.

HEY, WILLIE!

So, you often hear folks say that second-place or runner-up is the “first loser.” I have never shared that sentiment. 

The runner-up beat all but one competitor.

However, if you're at the very top, numero uno, of the airline’s first-class upgrade list, and you DON’T get upgraded . . . that, folks, is first loser. Yeah, I beat 22 others to be at the top of the list, but I'm not proud of it, necessarily.

However, I did drop into the Delta Sky Club to get a “free” beer, which, with my annual $450 membership, amortizes my beers down to 87 bucks each.

TERRY

HEY, TERRY!

One must normally attend a big-league ballgame for an $87 beer.

Just kidding, of course — you could probably get five or six for that price.

You’d rather not even be on the potential-upgrade list if you’re gonna be No. 1 and get shut out. At No. 1, say, an hour before your flight, you’re practically already ordering a Bloody Mary and blanket.

Oh, I just looked up “amortize.” Turns out, in order to make it more cost-effective, you should drink more.

You’re welcome.

HEY, WILLIE! 

A saint and a priest were on the first tee. The priest hits a little fade, about 200 yards, into the light rough right of the fairway.

The saint’s tee shot sails to the left, hits a mighty oak tree, ricochets toward the fairway and hits a sprinkler head. It takes a huge forward bounce and lands on the cart path and bounces wildly again.

The ball finally lands on a downslope in front of the green and rolls and rolls, clipping a bunker rake and veering onto the green, where it breaks left, then right, and into the hole.

The priest looks at the saint and says, “Come on, for once, damn the miracles and let’s just play golf.”

LEO

HEY, LEO!

Thanks, I think.

But I’m keeping an eye out for lightning.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR $$, baseball hugs, $87 Delta beer ... all right here | HEY WILLIE