Marginal Utility

by Ken Houghton

Having been in Charlotte shortly after an owner blew up his team and treated the city with contempt—followed by city officials bending over further and saying "Yes, please, wherever and however you want"—this is not a surprise:

NBA commissioner David Stern says he is convinced Bennett made a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle.

Bennett and ownership partners Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward exchanged e-mails in April 2007 in which they discussed whether there was any way to avoid further "lame duck" seasons in Seattle before the team could be relocated.

Bennett, who had promised to negotiate with Seattle for a full year before deciding whether to move the Sonics, responded: "I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys."

When Seattle gets their new expansion team, the appropriate track will come from the final Nirvana studio album. As this remains a family blog, here's a YouTube link. The former mayor of Charlotte can teach you the song; she sang it very well. And the results are impressive; good thing for them the Knicks are still in the league.

Labels: Giffen Good, pop music, sports

by Ken Houghton

It's not that I want to ignore Hillary's advice.

But let's look at this from a Sports point of view. My undergraduate alma mater broke the Division I record for a football team's losing streak (though, in fairness, the streak began the year after I graduated).

And while the MBA school has pretensions of being a football powerhouse (they are in the SEC, after all), they're rather more accomplished on the national level in swimming.

And no one will confuse the current campus—the most diverse college in the country—with the main branch, which goes to bowl games and manages to lose money.

So, since I have a chance to do graduate work at the school that just won its country's National Women's Hockey Team Championship, the opportunity for the sports culture shock alone is not to be passed up.

But it probably will make casting a ballot difficult. Advice/suggestions welcome.

Labels: campus life, hockey, just life, McGill, Rutgers, sports

by Ken Houghton

IOC's Rogge employing 'silent diplomacy' with China-Tibet protests

King Kaufman at Salon, of all people, gives the lie to that claim, while Richard Sandomir of the NYT proves that there are still signs of life there.

But why is it the sports beats that deal with the international issues, with others discussing the situation only when French Prime Minister Sarkozy threatens to boycott the Opening Ceremonies?

Labels: Economic Development, FDI, Journamalism, sports

by Ken Houghton

Wouldn't it be interesting if:

1. Evan Longoria was Eva's brother?
   
2. Ashley Dupre (nee Youmans) was the daughter of Floyd Youmans, who was Montreal's Opening Day starter in 1987.*

All right, maybe not.

*Yes, I'm still working on the Rose betting posts.

Labels: baseball, sports, Yankees

by Ken Houghton

From the ESPN RSS Feed, discussing a women's basketball game: Late strip seals Louisville's upset of No. 5 Rutgers.

Am I the only one who had visions of a Slap Shot-style finish?

Labels: college basketball, Rutgers, sports

by Ken Houghton

Following up to the previous post, some more details.*

1. On an absolute basis, any presumption that Rose's working within the National League should give him special insight is not borne out by the data. Indeed, he performs notably better when betting on the American League:
   

   
   
   

2. His winning and losing splits almost perfectly. If he bets $2,000 or less on a game, he is likely to win. Bets of over $2,000 appear more likely to lose.**
   

   
   
   

3. The combination is disastrous.
   

   
   

Overall, the high-level data appears consist with a gambler whose instincts and information are near-perfect contraindicators.***

More later.

*All data from Coate (2008), available in PDF form here. Dollar amounts do not foot for the National League; presumably this is an error of mine.

**It would be prudent to assume that bets of $2,200 consist of a $2,000 and the 10% "vig" charged to the loser. However, the data indicates five (5) bets of $2,200, two (2) of which are winning amounts.

***Another example of this may be his consistent betting in favor of the Phillies, one of his former teams, which had a major P&L impact, as shown before:

but there is not a similar effect for his other former team, the Montreal Expos.

Labels: baseball, efficient markets, sports

by Ken Houghton

"With 6:49 left in the third quarter of a 7-3 game, the New England Patriot chose not to attempt a 49-yard Field Goal on fourth down and 13.

"There were attempts at explanations: Stephen Gostkowski's long kick for the season was 45 yards. Even a marginal gain would pin the Giants further back. The Patriots had converted two passes for more than thirteen yards on that drive alone, including one on 3rd and 13 that had kept the current drive alive.

"But TMQ, furious and knowing better, wrote 'Game Over' in his notebook. Surely the Football G-ds would retaliate for such hubris."

Labels: sports

by Ken Houghton

WARNING: VIDEO EMBEDS NOT SAFE FOR KIDS. OR MOST HUMANS.

No, not that one. It's time to end the Philadelphia Flyers franchise.

I say this with a heavy heart, knowing I have at least one relative who may never speak to me again. Knowing that the Devils have the best record in the conference (take that, Burnside), knowing that the Rangers have not won in 2008 yet. But when Bobby Clarke gets loose with this, it's clear there's GOOD reason that league games are more difficult to find than the English Premier League football:

"When he went after [Jason] Blake, I loved it," Clarke told The Sports Network of Canada.

What's Clarke's definition of "Went after"?? Here's Downie on Blake:



That's right:

Downie punched Blake in the left eye as Blake was being held back by an official during a scuffle. [emphasis mine]

Here's Downie's hit on Dean McAmmond in the preseason, which may not quite reach McSorley or Todd Bertuzzi levels, but for which there is no excuse:



Well, unless you're Clarke:

Clarke said Blake deserved Downie's punch for saying Downie should have been suspended for more than 20 games.

"Blake was a guy who had no problem going out and saying [Downie] should be suspended for life or suspended for the year," Clarke said. "When you say something that stupid, why shouldn't this kid go after him for it?

"The kid did what every hockey player should do. If a player like Blake who's been around as long as he has wants to criticize a player, then he has to go on the ice with him and suffer the consequences."

"The consequences" = sucker punched while the referee holds him.

Here's that 25-game Boulerice hit (with the Flyer announcers trying to be nice):



Colin Campbell should resign in shame, having admitted that he "sells hate."

There is some justice, but even that's not the type anyone wants to see. Ken Campbell (presumably no relation to Colin, as he appears moderately sane) notes:

But perhaps the Flyers will learn something from the fact they’ll be without Joffrey Lupul for at least two weeks after he suffered a concussion and a bruised spinal cord. Because the only reason it happened was that he was decked by his own teammate’s illegal hit.

The only reason why it’s Lupul and not Maple Leafs winger Alexander Steen who is injured, is that Flyer defenseman Derian Hatcher’s classic headshot didn’t hit the intended target. On the play, Hatcher spotted Steen skating through the neutral zone, then came in with his elbows up and left his feet in an attempt to separate him from his senses.

Although Steen did get hit, he managed to avoid the brunt of it, but Lupul, who was skating right behind him, took his teammate’s elbows right to the head. Had that hit connected on Steen, there’s a good chance the league would have been reviewing two incidents involving the Flyers. [emphasis mine; think Downie's hit on McAmmond, and realise how well that "double secret probation" is working]

Enough is enough. It's intersession, and I was going to try to enjoy hockey. Instead, this coming Saturday features matches with Arsenal, Manchester United, and Juventus. None of whom employ Bobby Clarke or Colin Campbell.

Labels: hockey, mass media, real football, sports

by Ken Houghton

I haven't fallen in two runs, and am less than 100 yards from the end of a third. The snow has stopped, the cover is good, and the rest of the day can be spent experimenting. It will be a good season for the first time in years.

I hear POPping before I realize I'm face-down in the snow. I get up about ten minutes later, but any sense of mobility formerly associated with the right arm is long gone.

The good news is that The Eldest finished her lesson and is eager to go back.

The bad news: I tell Shira that we have made tentative plans to go again New Year's Day. Her response, "After the X-ray?"

The better news: Range of motion is back to almost 60 degrees. A few more days improvement and I may not have to find out how good University Health Services is during the intercession. But blog posting will be intermittent, which is good since I've been looking at house prices in Barstow via redfin, and most of our readers can evaluate those as well as I.

Labels: Family, just life, sports

by Ken Houghton

Amidst some great competition, this one stands out as being (1) accurate and (2) topical in so many ways (and not just because the Pats won):

Mario @ 4:

Rudy wouldn't be elected dog catcher today in NYC if he was running vs Michael Vick.

Labels: NYC, Politics, Republicans, RudyG, sports

by Ken Houghton

1. Barron's, via Felix Salmon:
   

   As a retail-industry laggard with tired locations and mediocre merchandising, Sears figures to suffer mightily if consumers retrench and the economy slows, they insist.

   
   English translation: people know where their stores are, so they won't go there.
   
   This, one presumes, is why the accompanying graphic declares that Sears is "A Screaming Bargain: The implied value of Sears' retail real estate is absurdly low relative to competitors' property."
   
   
2. Because Everyone Cares about the Green, not the Yellow, Jersey:
   

   And for the first time since 1967, the race will start with a full road stage, 121 miles from Brest to Plumelec in Brittany, instead of an opening individual time-trial race against the clock that had become traditional. The goal is to give more riders, and not just time-trial experts, the chance to compete for the race lead and its coveted yellow jersey from the very start.

   
   Right; because a pack sprint and a Tom Boonen victory will definitely be something New and Unusual for the first week of the tour.
   
   Continuing with Press Release "Reporting":
   

   After the drug problems of the past two Tours, [there will be] 19 major mountain passes that riders will face, two fewer than in this year's race.

   
   Because mountains are never interesting television, and climbing video (not to mention those 70mph descents) are boring.
   

   "The idea was really to break the classic scenarios," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. "I am convinced that cycling will rediscover its romanticism that made it a legend."

   
   I'm convinced that the Tour de France just moved to a lower Utility Curve.
   
   
3. Via Felix again, a Milken Institute report indicating that Congestion Pricing Works [PDF] —but so far has required an autarch to be implemented successfully.
   

   In the case of London, Mayor Ken Livingston was determined to introduce congestion charging and made it part of his platform in 2000. The act restoring the mayoral form of government to London after more than two centuries also gave him powers to introduce congestion charging without consent from the national government....
   
   Later on, the public indirectly endorsed the plan, re-electing Livingston a year after congestion pricing was introduced. There were no U-turns at the local
   government level at any point.
   
   Singapore has been run by the People’s Action Party since it first won an election in
   1959. As the ruling party, it has dominated most of the political and economic development of Singapore....Thus, it is not surprising that once the decision was made to charge for road use, there was little dissent. [emphasis mine]

   
   The most encouraging part of that, from NYC's point of view, is bolded above. Londoners voted for a man who promised to deal with congestion by setting a charge for externalities, and he did. And they re-elected him.

Especially in the context of that last, there has been a lot of straw-man idiocy recently alleging the superior "efficiency" of the private sector. But, as has been noted frequently, if you assume a functional democratic republic, there is a clear process in place for improving efficiency, one dependent only on the will of slightly over 50% of the people being realised.* That mechanism in the private sector (Shareholder meetings) is, at best, even less responsive.**



*I will freely stipulate that this is more true of an actual democracy than a democratic republic such as the United States. Overall, though, for a population of 300MM+, both (1) the benefits outweigh the risk and (2) that is the process.

**Oh, right, in Masonomics, you blame the victims.

Labels: bicycle racing, congestion pricing, conspicuous consumption, rational expectations, sports

by Ken Houghton

Not only does he provide an excellent summary of flying coach (which will get worse when cell phones become legal, instead of just commonly used because the ban isn't enforced), but there is this, at which several of us laughed:

Not being a devout follower of college football these day, I will nevertheless be making additional burnt offerings this weekend on behalf of the Kentucky Wildcats, who will -- if justice is not the cruelest of illusions -- tear LSU limb from limb.

Close enough.

Labels: LGandM, sports

by Ken Houghton

My Loyal Reader sends this link to Manchester United v Chelsea. Sample comments:

[Chelsea manager] Avram immediately comes bounding down to the touchline from the dugout; maybe [Chelsea owner] Roman's thrown a stick onto the pitch.

"This has the potential to be the dullest Big Four clash in history, and that's saying something," shouts Archi Campbell over a torrent of running hot water, between mouthfuls of Tesco Value Gin. "It might even end up with a negative amount of goals." Archi, you're talking my language.

Chelsea just haven't a clue, although here I'm specifically talking about the team.

I'm trying to see both sides here, and have ended up saying nothing.

Labels: real football, sports