A co-worker of mine, Minalicious, approached me to see if I was interested in going in on some tickets with her, 50/50 style. So now I have two tickets with ten number combinations on them, Minalicious has two of her own, and I am caught up in jackpot-mania. Everywhere I go, all I hear is people talking about how winning $370 million is a life-changing amount of money. I disagree. Winning $370 million is not winning life-changing money, it is winning stupid money. A life changing amount of money would be an amount that allows you to pay off your debts, replace the old clunker known as "your car," and put a down payment on a nice house, if not allowing you to buy it out right. That is a life changing amount of money; it generally makes your life better and easier at the same time. All this can be done with anything from $500,000 to $1 million. Winning $370 million is stupid money because, assuming you save some of it, your great-great-grandchildren still will not have to worry about money during their lifetime.
Now, the $370 million posted jackpot is a little deceptive. For starters, the states finance the jackpots by selling bonds. So, if you take the lump sum payout (which you should ALWAYS do...it's a time/value of money thing, present vs. future value...not very complicated but not worth talking about here), you will only receive the initial proceeds of the bond sale, which will net you 45% -55% of the total jackpot, or $166.5 million to $203.5 million in this instance. Now, most states do not tax lottery winnings (California included), so you only have to worry about the 25% federal tax. So, if you win the $370 million jackpot, you will receive a lump sum payment between $124.9 million and $152.6 millions. Even if you were forced to split the pot with one other person (as I would), you would receive between $62 million and $76 million, also known as stupid money. [Update: Two people did win, a schmuck in southern New Jersey and a hick from the backwoods of Georgia. Minalicious and I? We won $2, which me promised will go towards tickets the next time the jackpot hits $250 million.]
So, having caught myself a case of jackpot-fever (which, unfortunately, can't be cured with more cowbell), I can not help but think of what I would do with about $69 million (just split the difference). First, I would set aside about $40 million into a trust. If that trust was to earn, conservatively, a 6% return every year, that would be $2.4 million of income every year for the rest of my life, and I would still have $29 million left to blow as fast as I can. I would pay off my loans, pay off My Better Half's loans, buy her a new car while I am at it, buy a house, give my parents a kickback for their years of endless support (not that they need it), buy my sister and brother-in-law a house, buy my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law a house, buy My Better Half's family new houses, and pay off some of my friends loans (we had a side deal). I could do all this and still have $20 million to blow, and not have even touched the $40 million trust. That, my friends, is why this jackpot is not life-changing money, it is stupid money. It allows someone to plan for the indefinite future.
Well, I am very thankful that not everyone on this planet is waiting to win the lottery before they plan for the future. In fact, the general managers of my two favorite teams are doing just that. First, Matt Millan finally appears to be reaching his stride as the general manager of the Detroit Lions. Having befuddled many Lions fans with his drafting skills, Millan is now showing that he might actually have a brain after all. With the trade for George Foster, an offensive tackle and 2003 first round draft pick of the Broncos (who tend to know what they're doing when it comes to offensive linemen) and the likely drafting of left tackle Joe Thomas with the second-overall pick in this years draft, Millan is shoring up the offensive line (which yielded 63 sacks last year, most in the league) for years to come. The Lions have also started to fill holes on the defensive side of the ball. With a core group of young and talented players, the 2007-2008 Lions just might be the surprise team of the season (but, of course, as a reader of GameTime, TBD©, you won't be surprised at all).
Then there is Dean Lombardi, general manager of the Los Angeles Kings. When DL was hired last summer, he announced that he had a plan to rebuild the Kings. The plan, he said, was to build around young superstars and he predicted it would take three to fours years to be Stanley Cup contenders. Well, DL is implementing that plan and, to be honest, you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him.
Between my Where Do We Go From Here? post on February 20th and the NHL trading deadline on February 27th (that's right, in only one week's time), DL made four deals. The Kings lost veteran defenseman and captain Mattias Norstrom, Brent Sopel, a prospect who never panned out, a little-used forward, and three late round draft picks. The Kings, in turn, received Jamie Heward, an experienced former first round pick, a defensemen with an expiring contract, the rights to a prospect, and six draft picks. (I've always wanted to know which feels worse to a players self-esteem: being traded for (1) an unproven prospect, (b) late round draft picks, or (iii) a player-to-be-named later? Seriously, your team was so willing to get rid of you that they didn't even need to figure out who they wanted back at the present time. That can't feel good...but I digress) In all, DL has acquired two former first-round draft picks, three prospects, and eight draft picks. As it stands right now, the Kings have twenty draft picks between the 2007 and 2008 NHL drafts.
When you combine the moves DL has made over the past month with the nucleus of talented youngsters the Kings have on their roster right now, as well as those players on their AHL roster who will make the team next year, the Kings are extremely young and extremely talented. If these players are able to progress faster than expected, the Kings may be contenders next year or shortly thereafter. As an added bonus, because they will be so young, the Kings will be contenders year-in and year-out for the indefinite future.
Now, if only I could win myself some of that stupid money; I might have front row seats to enjoy the ride.
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