ckparrothead
Premium Member
No, really. You didn't. The illustration had nothing to do with the workings and accountability of a hedge fund to their investors. You took my statement and implied something incorrectly. The statement was simple: Spending money, time or anything that can be quantified does not guarantee success. It had nothing to do with the underperformance of said hedge fund (or current regime). It had to do with the fact that even these big hedge funds (hell, even the HFT systems) don't hit on every one. Just like the Dolphins don't, won't, and will never hit on every one. But looking back, sometimes you say, "Crap. Why didn't I invest in AAPL when it was sitting in the $80s instead of MCD when it was in the $50s?" Both would have made you some good money, but one would have made you a lot more. That's how I see the Ryan vs. Long pick.
Besides, they could have drafted Gholston (Lehman Brothers)...
This statement in particular has absolutely, positively nothing to do with what I said.
The $5 million paid on evaluating a draft is not supposed to be taken as guaranteeing success. Nobody ever made that argument and nobody ever would and I think it's naive to assume so. The $5 million paid on evaluating a draft illustrates ACCOUNTABILITY.
The accountability is not washed away simply by saying "Hindsight is 20/20..."
The $5 million and the accountability means you're supposed to have foresight in your decisions, and you're supposed to consistently display that foresight especially as it relates to the most important decisions. No fund manager will hit on every stock pick.
But we're not talking about something akin to holding a 3% position in Sprint for a few of the bad years and having to explain that one stock. We're talking about something more akin to having 40% of your portfolio invested in Technology stocks in the 1st quarter of 2000. That's what not having a franchise quarterback and then having the 2008 thru 2010 record Miami has had is akin to. This regime went 11-5 on the back of a soft schedule, went to the playoffs and were firmly escorted out the door by a team that told us "You don't belong" and then proved it. Then they've gone 7-9 both 2009 and 2010. You can say that Matt Ryan's success in Atlanta might not have been repeated in Miami. But, that's a pretty convenient dodge. It's a stretch. If you've actually watched Matt Ryan play you know the guy would play well regardless because he's a special player.
So you can use the "Hindsight is 20/20..." excuse to explain why we don't have a quarterback today. And I'm going to tell you, you don't spend $5 million of the owner's money evaluating every draft to cower behind a hindsight excuse. You spend $5 million of the owner's money evaluating every draft in order to develop consistent foresight, the lack of which you should be held accountable for.
And you don't notice Jeff Ireland saying "Hindsight is 20/20..." He knows damn well that wouldn't play out well with Stephen Ross. He straight up disputes that Matt Ryan would be a more valuable asset to the Dolphins than Jake Long, insisting that Jake Long is a Hall of Fame caliber left tackle, been to the Pro Bowl all three years in the league, etc. That's not bothering with a "Hindsight is 20/20..." excuse.
Last edited by a moderator: