After sending letters to every team in baseball, he took a job with the only team that offered one -- the last-place Indians -- and over the last 18 years, he ascended the ranks, helping to build Cleveland into a playoff team and frequent contender.
He bypassed high-priced celebrity players for less well-known players who nevertheless embodied winning statistics transforming the A's into a frequent title contender despite a meagerbudgett.
Beane's approach transformed the A's into a frequent title contender, though he had one of the smallest budgets in the game.
It was possible only because Mr. Clooney, according to people briefed on the film's finances but speaking anonymously to avoid conflict with the star or Paramount, took an initial fee that was roughly a tenth of the $20 million that Leonardo DiCaprio, a frequent Oscar contender, has received in the past.
With a combined nine national championships in men's basketball, both teams have been frequent contenders for the national championship for the past thirty years.
The lineup this year is stacked with past winners (Michael Haneke, Ken Loach, Abbas Kiarostami) and frequent contenders (Alain Resnais, David Cronenberg, Hong Sang-soo).
Puerto Rico has competed in the Olympic Games since 1948, and its boxers are frequent contenders for medals.
The Pan American Games (involving South, Central, and North America) added volleyball in 1955, and Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Cuba, and the United States are frequent contenders for top honours.
The Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy and Cal State Fullerton have been frequent contenders over the years in the Kennedy Center Festival's production categories.
Today's teenagers might be surprised that Notre Dame was once a frequent national championship contender, or that Syracuse once played in a B.C.S. game.
