He created, funded and nurtured this website, and valued each of you as
players and friends. Jon would have been 28 on 3/27. A graduate of Tulane
University in 2007, he worked at a hedge fund in Greenwich CT, and has been
working on MVPExchange for 2 years.

The accident occured while sledding at Mt Snow VT. The MVP site will cease to operate,
but I would treasure anything you guys would like to post here. It would also mean
alot if some of you could look for him on Facebook under Jon Meyers, and post your
thoughts. Thank you for your kindness.

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/jon.meyers.10

What are Stock Splits?

When a Stock Split occurs, the share price and the number of shares outstanding change by the reciprocal factor of each other. In other words, if the share price is divided by 2, then the number of shares outstanding is multiplied by 2.

Here’s an example:

You own 100 shares of Apple stock. The price is $400 per share. You own a total of $40,000 of Apple stock. Apple announces that they will split the stock 2:1 (2 for 1). This means that for every 1 share you own, you will then own 2 after the split, BUT the share price or value of each share is also cut in half. So you end up with twice as many shares but they are worth half as much, so there is no change in the dollar value that you own.

Pre split: 100 shares @ $400 = $40,000

Post split (2 for 1): 200 shares @ $200 = $40,000

The most commonly used stock split is the 2:1, but you can use any ratio for a stock split. 3:1, 4:1, 1.5:1. You can even do a reverse stock split, like 1:2. In that scenario the share price is doubled but the number of shares you own is cut in half.

Stock Splits. What are they good for?

The main reason that large companies execute stock splits is too keep the share price of their stock in an affordable price range. Take Berkshire Hathaway (Symbol BRK.A) for example. Run for decades by investment guru Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway has been a wildly successful company but has never split its stock. At times the share price has climbed over $100,000 per share. A share price this high alienates small time investors who might only be able to afford 1 share, if they’re lucky.

Companies like Emerson Electric (EMR) take a different approach. Any time the stock approaches $80 per share the stock is split, in an effort to keep the share price between $40-$80. This makes an investment possible for anybody and also rewards the long time investors by multiplying their shares owned every few years.

If a company sees their stock price steadily dropping towards zero, they can perform a reverse stock split. This inflates the company’s stock price while lessening the number of shares that are owned by investors (see Citigroup).

Stock Splits on MVPExchange

The main reason for stock splits on MVPExchange is the same reason that large companies split their stocks. I want to keep all of the available stocks within a certain price range. If there were never stock splits and a player like LeBron James (JAME) had a price of over $1,000 per share, then a new trader on MVPExchange wouldn’t be able to afford even one share (you start with 10,000 MVP$, can only spend 10% on each athlete, therefore 1,000 MVP$ per athlete when you start).

Ok, but share prices for JAME and DURA are still under 100 MVP$, so why are splits necessary? When any trader makes a purchase or sale that athlete’s stock price moves. How much it moves depends on the total transaction value. So a smaller Sportfolio makes less of an impact than a larger Sportfolio. If the price of a stock was 1,000 MVP$ per share then a newbie could only buy 1 share which would mean a transaction value of 1,000 MVP$. If a big Sportfolio bought 10,000 shares (the maximum allowed) of that same stock then that would be a transaction value of 10 Million MVP$. This would render the trades of the smaller Sportfolios meaningless and give way too much market-moving power to the big Sportfolios. It would take 10,000 small Sportfolios to equal the buying power of one massive one.

So by splitting the stocks and keeping a 10,000 share maximum in place then the large Sportfolios can only spend about 400,000 MVP$ on any one stock (10,000 shares * 40 MVP$/share). This reigns in their buying power and puts a reasonable cap on their market-moving power.

So what’s in it for the Big Sportfolios?

The advantage for the big Sportfolios is that through a stock split is the only way that anyone is able to obtain greater than 10,000 shares of any athlete. If you own 10,000 shares and the athlete is split 2:1 then you will end up with 20,000 shares. If you sell any of these shares then you can’t buy them back. We’ve only done one round of stock splits (Feb 2013 will be the second round) so the long-term advantages are still unclear, but I feel that after several years and many rounds of stock splits, it will be an advantage to own let’s say 1 Million shares of JAME. A player who routinely earns 2-3% bonuses, which would mean nightly gains of 200,000-300,000 MVP$.

The jury is still out, but my advice would be to stock up on the young guys like DURA, JAME, HARJ. They will be around for a while and probably have a few stock splits left in ‘em.

Blogging is a side-gig for me. The rest of the time I run MVPExchange, the Athlete Stock Market. It’s FREE to play with $250/month in Cash Prizes. Sign up here: MVPExchange.com.

People deal with disappointment in a variety of ways. Some cry, some get angry, some harbor resentment for decades. Jets fans have perfected all of these methods. But when a video surfaced a couple of weeks ago of a Jets fan “attempting” to burn his Mark Sanchez jersey, I realized we had a long way to go before perfecting the jersey burn.

First here is the moron who inspired me to make an instructional video for how you burn a Mark Sanchez jersey:

As blogged about by KFC from barstoolsports.com, this guy has got it all wrong. He has a Mets shirt underneath his Jets jersey. This should have been used for kindling. He should have burned the jersey while he was still wearing it to save himself from having to watch the last two games.

What bothers me the most about this video is that it’s called “Mark Sanchez Jersey Destroy”. Umm… at the end of the video I would describe that jersey as “lightly worn”. You might find it on the Modell’s 20% off rack.

So if you’re gonna burn a Sanchez, do it right. Spray it with PAM. Give him a eulogy. Do it in the parking lot where so many Jets fans tears have been spilled. And most importantly, you better make sure that thing burns:

HAHAHA! You see that thing? It melted like the villain in Roger Rabbit. Or that Nazi from the Indiana Jones movie. The guy is so hated that a stranger came and threw his Sanchez jersey in the fire next to mine. That guy fully planned on wearing that jersey into the game, yet when he saw a fire he felt compelled to throw in his authentic jersey.

Best part of the video is at 2:04 when someone says “Let’s see what McElroy does now.” You could fill in any Jets QB’s name from the last 40 years and you’ll get the same answer. NOT A DAMN THING. “Let’s see what Browning Nagle does now. Let’s see what Ray Lucas has got. Does Glenn Foley have what it takes?”

Saddest part is that Sanchez wouldn’t make the Senior Bowl right now but mark my words, him and his ball-patting, butt-fumbling, turnover prone ass will be starting Week 1 in 2013 because Rex=Bruce Willis in the 6th Sense.

CAN’T WAIT!

“Helloooo. You play. To win. The game.”

Al Groh, 1 year.

Pete Carroll, 1 year.

Rich Kotite, 2 years.

Eric Mangini, 3 years.

Bill Parcells, 3 years.

Bruce Coslet, 4 years.

In fact,  the only Jets Head Coach in the last 3 decades to survive 4 years and be asked back, or re-elected to a 2nd term, is Herm Edwards. He lasted 5 years and is widely considered the George W. Bush of Jets coaches. 

So as Rex Ryan finishes up his 4th year as Jets Head Coach, it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be back for a second 4-year term. His tenure has resembled that of many previous one-term Head Coaches. Rocky, tumultuous, confusing, frustrating. But Rex has introduced a new element to the coaching recipe.

He’s delusional.

Week after week he insisted on having his butt-buddy play quarterback. Red zone interceptions. Overthrown balls. Butt fumbles. Through it all he kept saying “I’m gonna go with the guy who gives us the best chance to win.” And I would always hope he would finish by saying “That guy is Chad Pennington.” Or Joe Namath, or anyone not named Mark Sanchez.

Even as anyone with eyes could tell you that Sanchez should not be playing, Rex kept him in as the world crumbled around them.

I thought, where have I seen this before? The main character is unaware of a reality that is apparent to everyone around him. He has befriended a young man with emotional issues who is an outcast amongst his peers.

Rex has become Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense.

I guess then Sanchez is Haley Joel Osment? Kind of makes sense. Even Sanchez knows how terrible he is but he can’t tell Rex because he’s afraid it will crush his fragile world.

The reality is that Rex has already been fired. Sanchez knows it. The fans know it. Rex’s wife knows it (that’s why the basement is always locked, Rex). Everyone but Rex can see it. There’s no saving him now. Five years from now he’ll be the Defensive Line coach for Middle Tennessee State and still calling guys Revis and Sanchy.

It may be too late for Rex but unfortunately it’s not too late for the fans. So please make Rex a One-Term Coach and let us move on with our lives.

But when you chose to be the face of our franchise for 20+ years (yes it’s a choice to show up wearing a fire hat while on someone’s shoulders) you agreed to take on the role of the Jets fans savior. No matter how shitty the team, the matter how lopsided the game, you are supposed to sit your ass in the stands and lead the JETS chant. No exceptions. And now you can’t take the heat? Just walking out at halftime like a Patriots fan? Pathetic.

And don’t give me this crap about never taking a penny from the Jets. I’m sure the Jets have never directly paid you because they are famously cheap, but you have reaped so many monetary benefits from being “Fireman Ed”. There’s the J-E-T-S chant iPhone app, TV commercials, and other publicity like being inducted into the Fan Hall of Fame (Asterisk please..).

Whatever, time to move on I guess. I’m sure there are many worthy candidates but none more so than Unkey Mike. He’s not my uncle but I see him more than my real uncle so he qualifies. We met in a grass filled parking lot in Indianapolis on the day of the 2009 AFC Championship Game. It was early in the morning and the place had the feel of a middle school dance. It was all Jets fans but we were strangers, quietly sipping beers by our cars. We were told by a friend that his uncle was there and we should try and find him.

Well we found him. Within minutes of his arrival, Unkey Mike turned the middle school dance into a scene from Braveheart:

With his tattered, signature Mo Lewis jersey and a voice that can be heard for miles, Unkey Mike just draws people in. That tailgate in Indy progressed fast. What started as a friendly Jets chant quickly turned into a mosh pit with myself being knocked over and covered with beer, filming from the ground.

Yes we lost. It was crushing. But I walked away with one positive. My crew of Jets fans who travel to road games every year had a new leader. When the 2010 AFC Championship in Pittsburgh came around we met up with Unkey Mike. I thought to myself, “What if that was a one time thing in Indy? Maybe he’ll be intimidated by the redneck fans in Pittsburgh.” WRONG!

This was the scene in a jam packed Steelers bar before the game:

A true fan FINISHES what he starts. When’s the last time you saw Fireman Ed doing a Jets chant while the opposing team’s security ripped him off someone’s shoulders?

“Sorry for partying”

Never, that’s when. Fireman Ed has gone Hollywood, and that’s fine. We need a new Ed for the 21st century. Someone who brings energy. Someone who isn’t afraid to go into the belly of the beast, while Ed complains about being heckled by JETS fans.

So spread the word. Fireman Ed is out. Coming soon to East Rutherford parking lots and stadiums across the NFL, Unkey Mike.