So I’m back in Seoul now. Flew out of Taipei on Saturday and am enjoying the clean(er) skies and busier, modern boulevards.
Last weekend, my friends took me to a local baseball game between the Uni-President Lions (from Tainan) versus the Brother Elephants (of Taipei). While it was a route by pretty much any definition, 9-3 in favor of the Lions, the atmosphere at the game was well worth the extremely cheap price of admission ($5 for seats right behind home plate).
For instance, fans of the teams wear the team colors and sing/yell coordinated songs at regular intervals — fan participation was encouraged through the sale of kazoos and plastic sticks. Each team also had a brass band and percussion team that will bellow tunes based upon the events occurring on the field. And young women, who were definitely not ugly, would act as cheerleaders, dancing like go-go girls on top of the dug out.
The oddest part, aside from the fact that the stadium was virtually split in half by the bouisterious crowd was that instead of having a 7th inning stretch they had a 10 minute half-time between the 5th and 6th inning. Other than that, the logistics and rules of the game appeared to be identical to their North American counterparts (e.g., wooden bats, 300+ feet to both foul poles, raised mound, etc.).
Another oddity was that the event managers played many of the same songs you typically find at ball parks around the US. Such as YMCA or the da-da charge! (originally part of a calvary ditty). No one sang along though, except for the pockets of westerners (some gringo girls danced to YMCA during half-time and ended up on “national” TV…).
The only disappointment of the night was the instant replay screen was turned off so you couldn’t see the various bloopers and batters getting beaned by the ball (which happened like 4 times). That and no one did the wave.
Trivia: because of the controversial political climate between Taiwan and China, what is the name for the Taiwanese national team in international competition? Hint, it has to do with Taipei.
I try to keep up with scores and highlights of various sport franchises. The guys and girls at my alma mater did pretty good this year in basketball. The guys lost in the 2nd round to perennial powerhouse UCLA which is in the Final Four, again. The girls ended up going their farthest ever, to the Elite Eight and lost to Tennessee (which has the best women’s program in all of NCAA history).
Anyways, I’ve also kept up with some of the professional leagues like the NBA (growing up in Dallas, I’d like to say I enjoy the Mavericks, but Mark Cuban annoys me most of the time).
Look at the current standings: the East versus West rivalry is totally lopsided and has been for about a decade (ever since Jordan retired). And to think, Miami had the best team 3 years ago. What are they drinking out there?
My advice is that we let the bottom tier teams on the East just play each other on the Xbox for the rest of the season. Let Detroit and Boston rest for the next 10 games. Allow the AND1 team to join a round robin-style tournament to determine the Eastern victor. Then the day before the final game, let Wade and Shaq duke it out for the 6th man position on the Eastern bench (because Phoenix will have lost by then). Let Kobe ref the scrimmage. Loser has to chauffeur Phil Jackson for the summer.
Two years ago I mentioned the possibility of launching humans into space with rail guns. In order to reach the necessary escape velocity, projectiles would undergo approximately 45,000 G’s.
At the time I noted that around 40 G’s most humans would cease to exist as the pressure would start turning pink squishy things into mush.
It turns out that I’m wrong.
In the February edition of Popular Mechanics one of the stories discusses the impact that professional football players endure throughout games and seasons.
Based on numerous sensitive instruments and calculations it turns out that a hard hit from a linebacker can produce up to 150 G’s. And that these doozies are handed out multiple times a game.
I for one will not be signing up for that ride anytime soon.
Over the past few years I have discussed the half-truths that proponents of publicly-financed stadiums promote in their press releases. [See: 123]
I currently live in a city of 1.5 million that is set to host the World Games next year. The various sporting events are sanctioned by the official Olympic committee as it is used as a proving ground for new Olympic events in the future.
While one of the stipulations of hosting the World Games involves not constructing new stadiums (the facilities already have to exist), somehow that message was mistranslated to the politicos here.
A couple blocks away from my school I can see the construction crews walk around on the scaffolding of a new taxpayer-financed stadium. While the ballyhooed Solar Stadium is relatively “green,” I can think of a million other useful things that could be done with that money, including: give it back to the taxpayer.
Yesterday, in an op-ed with The Philadelphia Inquirer professor Rick Eckstein makes the case for why building stadiums never generates the revenue promised by its proponents:
There’s only one problem with this scenario. It’s not true. Never has been. They do come, but cities are not saved. Over the past two decades, academic research has generated literally hundreds of articles and books empirically challenging the alleged economic wonders of new stadiums, even when they’re part of larger development schemes. I have been studying and writing about publicly financed stadiums for more than 10 years and cannot name a single stadium project that has delivered on its original grandiose economic promises, although they do bring benefits to team owners, sports leagues and sometimes players.
There are many reasons why this same song and dance plays out. Arguably the number one reason is that only privately financed endeavors have the incentive to design and develop an enterprise that is profitable.
On the other hand, government construction projects do not have to be effecient or even profitable because they are financed by faceless taxpayers who are typically disenfranchised and unable to reverse the political tide.
For the record, while I enjoy watching and participating in athletic events, I don’t think it is fair to use taxpayer funds for - anything in general - let alone entertainment purposes.
If the political class is going to dole out the dishonest revenues on public projects, how about filling in the potholes on Fumin, Yucheng, Mingcheng or Boai? Or investing in dust-blocking barriers that can be placed around construction zones? Or actually completing the metro? What point is there of hosting tens of thousands of tourists and athletes when the surrounding infrastructure falls apart under the current load?
For more on sport subsidies, see the following Cato publications: 123 (all in pdf).
ESPN put together a splendid group of curmudgeons regarding the latest BCS quagmire. I think that they do a near-perfect job explaining the problems and subsequent half-baked solutions:
I have criticized the BCS poll in the past and still think it has the same problems despite the cosmetic makeovers each year.
For instance, the initial vote for the bowl “chaos” system is stacked against everyone outside the top 25. Look no further than the mid-majors that always have an uphill fight moving up onto the list and then are completely dropped after a single loss (TCU in 2003 comes to mind).
With that said here is my top 20 list of teams that I think will stay in the final top 20 (probably not in this order):
USC
Michigan
West Virginia
Florida
Ohio State
Georgia
Auburn
California
Texas
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Boise State
LSU
Tennessee
Louisville
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Georgia Tech
Penn State
I’d like to put my alma mater, but I am not convinced that they will have a season much better than last year.
I’d pay to see that because I think it’d be much better than the de la Hoya - Mayweather slap fest.
Like usual, Bill Simmons over at ESPN has some odd stories and anecdotes that place his mail bag at the top of the pack (the demise of two has-been primadonnas is just one of many gold nuggets).
If nothing else, he has a gratifying list of the most manliness acts at an athletic event, including the Jonathan-Bouchard hockey fight:
Several decades ago, famed scifi author Orson Scott Card penned perhaps his best known series of books starting with the award-winning Ender’s Game.
Without giving away too much of the plot, in the not-so-distant future, the human-based military discovers a young, but very gifted video gamer who is extremely effective at micromanaging small-scale tactics in conjunction with the larger, macro battle theater.
He along with several others are kind of commandeered by the military high-command in an effort to combat an alien menace.
These students, and Ender in particular, continually train within a virtual video game, rehearsing battles over and over again, with the end goal of utilizing their abilities on the battlefield.
I’ll stop there, but the story is definitely worth reading if you enjoy computer games and/or science fiction.
What you may not know about South Korea, and what I have alluded to before, is that there is an almost fanatical following to several computer games, most notably Starcraft (which officially sold over 3.5 million copies in that country alone).
In fact, there is an entire profession surrounding e-games here in Seoul, whose popularity rivals and even surpasses many of the traditional sports that make you sweat, like Baseball and Basketball.
During some of the downtime I have throughout the day, I find myself watching these games for a couple reasons: it exposes me to Korean pop-culture and no matter what is being said, I can tell who is getting their ass whooped.
And I’m pretty certain at this point in time, while the guys behind the keyboard might not be the suavest with the ladies or the most muscular, they put the “I” back into intensity, dedication, and discipline.
For instance, Starcraft is a real-time strategy game based in a science-fiction universe not too dissimilar to that of Ender’s Game. And a term called “Actions Per Minute” is used to describe the overall ability of a individual player; the more actions you can execute, the better you are able to maneuver troops on the battlefield.
Typical gamers may click the keyboard and mouse 40-50 times each minute, whereas professional players will sustain ten times that level. In fact, Koreans have such a reputation for intense calculation at this game, many internationally-based online servers ban players from this region.
And it is insane to watch this synchronized swiftness occur on live TV.
With that said it is nigh impossible to figure out which player wins after a game is over. No fist pumps, jumping or yelling. No emotions whatsoever.
And neither did Ender at first.
And to top that off, now that State-funded militaries of the world are beginning to invest and develop in automated, self-contained vehicles and robots (e.g., UCAVs), the future of warfare may one day be in the hands of keyboard commanders and their mongoose-like reflexes.
If nothing else, it makes for a better movie plot than Wargames.
And by the way, these game professionals are in fact quite the Don Juan’s. Not only do they have ginormous fan groups filled with enthralled young women, but the live audience is usually comprised of the same type of girls you would find fawning over band members at a rock concert.
Triumph of the nerds indeed.
[Note: the players are part of corporate sponsored team's and practice 8+ hours everyday, they even wear NASCAR-like jackets covered with patches and company logos when in public. And truth be told, one of my favorite parts of the show is listening to the pitch of the commentators voices. Much like Spanish announcers are stereotypically known for their exasperated yelling during dramatic shots on the goal (Exhibit A), so too are their Korean counterparts throughout key portions of a match.]
I went to Chilifest this past weekend — it is like Woodstock for rednecks.
While I did not watch a single band play, I did take part in what I considered the most smash-mouth tackle football game ever.
It was raining. The field was littered with cans and bottles. And there was absolutely no mercy.
About a dozen of us played, two were sent to the hospital with broken noses.
Cops showed up and worked crowd control, they estimated that about 250 people stood around rooting for yet more carnage.
I mention this because it was video taped by some random guy who said he would put it on MySpace. Unfortunately for all of us, the name he said he would use “Fonzo” is not at all helpful. In fact, it is near impossible to really limit and categorize the search results for recently uploaded videos.
I would like you to prove me wrong though, there is a finders fee involved if you find this bone-crunching video.
Oh, it took place at 4am and Fonzo (from what I recall) was a Hispanic probably in his early 30s with some holiday weight.
Note: perhaps the perfect illustration of how football reigns supreme in Texas, the cops wantonly approved of the brow-beating mud-filled gladiator fight, yet when a slip-n-slide was erected, they asked to have it removed.
For better and for worse, I watched a ton of college football this season. To top that off, both my roommates and many of my friends are football fanatics, so I hear more than my share of pig skin commentary. Here are my predictions of the various bowl games:
Emerald:
I think UCLA will handily beat a struggling Florida State team. Despite the long break, I do not think Bobby Bowden has his act together — plus UCLA still has their recent upset of USC fresh in mind. Margin by 14.
PetroSun Independence:
I think Alabama will give Oklahoma State a run for their money, but the recent firing of Mike Shula will effect the battered team. Cowboys by 7.
Pacific Life Holiday:
Call me biased, but I think this will be one of the better match-ups of the season. Cal plays in a West-coast style conference and never had to face the halfback option. In contrast, Texas A&M has faced several West-coast style teams during the year (e.g. Texas Tech), and uses the option as their bread and butter. I give Aggies the slight edge (see their close loses); winning by 10, but only if the J-train is given the ball at the goal line.
Texas Bowl:
Not even a competition, Rutgers is going to run all over Kansas State, winning by 21+.
Gaylord Hotels Music City:
I think Clemson is a better program athletically, and Kentucky does not have their 285+ pound quarterback to fall back on. Clemson by 10.
Brut Sun:
Missouri started off great this year, until they met the Aggies. I still think they are a great team but Oregon State has more confidence in executing the passing game. Beavers by less than 10.
AutoZone Liberty:
It would be fun to see a mid-major upset of a Spurrier team, but I do not think this is going to happen. In fact, I think the Game Cocks (perhaps the porniest mascot name in D-IA play) will slaughter the Cougars by more than 20.
Insight:
I think the strength of schedule serves as the best indicator of victory in this game. Minnesota sneaked in at 6-6, with wins over heavy weights such as North Dakota State and Temple. Texas Tech wins by 30+ and will bench their starters at the half. Note: I hate Tech.
Champs Sports:
Both teams did terrible against T-25 opponents, but I think Purdue played a better season against a harder schedule. Plus, William & Mary and Middle Tennessee State should not be on any back-to-back schedule — false confidence. Purdue by 10.
Meineke Car Care:
Aside from the dumb bowl name, this game will be lopsided in Boston College’s favor. Not only was their schedule more difficult than Navy’s, but they actually won games that mattered. The only wrench is the head coaching transition for the Eagles, yet they will still win by at least 14.
Alamo:
Even if Colt McCoy, Mack Brown, and the entire University of Texas student body keep whining about the crappy bowl they were invited to, their grade A athletes will still run all over Iowa — not even a close one. Longhorns by a million.
Chick-fil-A:
This game should not have been scheduled. Virginia Tech will remind Georgia of why the latter was originally a prison colony while the former yielded the creme-de-la-creme of society. Hokies by a constitution or two.
MPC Computers:
Don’t forget the sponsor name because they bet the farm that you would buy something from them… oops. The third string water boy at Miami has more talent than the entire varsity squad of Nevada. Yet Miami players have attitude malfunctions like Texas Tech girls have STDs. Good thing there is something to do in Boise the night before, because Miami bench warmers might be too tired to start brawling on the field. Result: hung over and sleepless Hurricanes will somehow stay on-side long enough to run the ball the right direction every other drive. Heck, they might even win in the 4th overtime.
Outback:
This should be a good game. However, even though both teams played a tough schedule, I think Tennessee is ready and able to win the big game. Note: Joe Paterno is my hero, he walked it off like a man.
AT&T Cotton:
I would like to think that Nebraska will win it, but they managed to lose all the big games this year. Whereas Auburn at least can savor their wins against Florida and LSU. Auburn by at least 17.
Toyota Gator:
Another game that should not have been scheduled. The entire West Virginia team could fall into a well and still beat an overrated George Tech team by throwing their cleats whenever the Jackets passed; effectively downing it into the end zone every drive. The Mountaineers will win by 12 safeties.
Capital One:
I think that Arkansas is the better team talent and schedule wise, but that Wisconsin will come out of nowhere and beat them by 10.
Rose Bowl:
I really wanted USC to beat Texas last year, believing that Reggie Bush - our Lord and Savior - would lead the Trojans to the Promised Land. Unfortunately he did not and I do not think that Pete Carroll will be able to beat Michigan either. Michigan by 14.
Fiesta Bowl:
Uhh, this is why mid-majors are not in a BCS conference, because of match-ups like this. Stoops managed to take a scandal, drama, and injury-plagued team and managed to win almost all the big games this year. Adrian Peterson will win this by himself, by 34 (he kicks two field goals). Note: I think Rhett Bomar got the shaft.
Orange:
Wake Forrest will start off strong but Louisville will not choke like they did against Rutgers. Cardinals win by 14.
Sugar:
It is games like this that make you want to rewrite that automatic bid Notre Dame gets in the BCS contract. As big a fan I am of the Irish, I think LSU will destroy them in a crawfish-boiler fashion: by cooking them alive and dipping their carcasses in cocktail sauce. Tigers by 21.
Championship game:
I think Jim Tressel will sit down with Urban Meyer and will agree to face-off in a show down of rock, paper, scissors. Florida fans will be disappointed though, because rules are different in the Midwest: dynamite is allowed. Thus, the Buckeyes will win in a blowout.
Joe-blow bowl
For all the other bowls I did not mention: your bowl name was either not sexy enough or the opponents seemed about as exciting as watching the winners of the grueling Pilgrims Pride Junior College bowl face off against the winners of the Special Olympics badminton team.
I finally found something I agreed with being proposed by the Freakanomics guys. Quite frankly I am surprised the NFL and others have not done something like this.
And for the record, I thought France played better as a team than Italy yesterday.
Whenever I have time to watch the World Cup I try to make sure it is tuned to Univision, the Spanish channel.
It is not because I want to practice my español, but rather, the announcers make the game sound that much more interesting.
Their excitement, enthusiasm and effervescent commentary flow within their overall vocal tone like a roller-coaster. You may have no clue what they are actually saying, but you definitely know when someone did something.
The Simpsons parodied this in “The Cartridge Family“:
TV Announcer: The Continental Soccer Association is coming to Springfield! It’s all here–fast-kicking, low scoring, and ties? You bet! Bart: Hey, Dad, how come you’ve never taken us to see a soccer game? Homer: I…don’t know. TV Announcer: You’ll see all your favorite soccer stars. Like Ariaga! Ariaga II! Bariaga! Aruglia! And Pizzoza! Homer: Oh, I never heard of those people. TV Announcer: And they’ll all be signing autographs! Homer: Woo-hoo! TV Announcer: This match will determine once and for all which nation is the greatest on earth: Mexico or Portugal!
Homer: [shouting] Boring! Krusty: Come on, you schnorers, do something! Brockman: [calling plays from booth listlessly] Halfback passes to the center. Back to the wing. Back to the center. Center holds it. Holds it. [rolls eyes] Holds it… Mexican Announcer: [excitedly] Halfback passes to center, back to wing, back to center, center holds it! Holds it! Holds it!
A couple weeks ago I also noted that organizations like the World Anti-Doping Agency can try to argue and make anything into an unfair performance enhancer, including shaving heads and legs (what kinds of razor blades can you use to get the cleanest cut?).
And now, guru and professional economist Peter Boettke weighs in; it seems we both have the same conclusions regarding the Juice.
The Scotsman, for example, says that academic Ling Hongling said golf was p-layed as early as the 10th century of the Christian era, and arrived in Scotland by Mongolian travellers during the late middle ages.
We have some evidence that said boffin is correct. A few weeks back our Taiwanese sales supremo, JPS, from IT Mediagate sent us a couple of pictures he’d taken in a museum in Old Shanghai.
Here’s a picture of a bunch of ladies playing with clubs which look suspiciously like golf clubs and batting a little ball around in the direction of what looks like a hole.
These figures were created by Du Jin, active during the 15th century in the Ming dynasty.
I don’t normally rip entire stories, but I thought that it was short and important enough to warrant doing. I guess that puts St. Andrews as the second home or something. So my $64,000 question is, where did the original grand slam take place at?
A couple of notes surrounding this much-ado-about-nothing “crisis.”
First, “performance-enhancing substances” (more on the ambiguity of those later) do not improve the technique, form, ability or talent level of an athlete such as Barry Bonds (the man pictured is Ronnie Coleman). You may be juiced, but that does not mean you are any better at making contact or swinging properly. Nor will ‘roids make you a smarter base-runner or better web-gemmer. All of these require continuous practice (’use it or lose it’), meticulous studying and raw athleticism. In these terms, steroids can not make you a better ball player.
I am not denying the fact that these ‘illicit’ drugs can dramatically improve your strength, but if you can not make contact with the ball in the first place, it does not matter how big or strong you are (e.g. one of the reasons bodybuilders do not regularly sign contracts with professional sport teams is their lack of athleticism, uncoordination (sic) and meat-head intelligence level).
Previously, I have made the case that any kind of food is in truth, a ‘performance enhancing substance‘ as it enables the body to energize and operate at non-dying levels (e.g. catabolic versus anabolic and all that jazz). So an “athlete” that consumes a Subway sandwich on a regular basis may perform better than someone solely eating Ramen and pickled pigs feet.
The second issue I have with this “crisis” is the involvement of blowhards like Senator John McCain. Why on earth does someone or anyone at the “national level” need to hold witch-trial hearings over an issue that should only be dealt with between, players and management? Should Microsoft be investigated for its lack of transparent steroid policy (I can totally see pale-skinned geeks juicing up like Jose Canseco)? What about IBM, Oracle or Apple? Perhaps the reason for Google’s relatively spectacular success has to do with our friendly vein-seeking hypodermic needle.
Over the past few years I have discussed the half-truths that proponents of publicly-financed stadiums promote in their press releases. [See: 
USC
Several decades ago, famed scifi author Orson Scott Card penned perhaps his best known series of books starting with the award-winning 
During some of the downtime I have throughout the day, I find myself watching these games for a couple reasons: it exposes me to Korean pop-culture and no matter what is being said, I can tell who is getting their ass whooped.
And by the way, these game professionals are in fact quite the Don Juan’s. Not only do they have 
I went to 
For better and for worse, I watched a ton of college football this season. To top that off, both my roommates and many of my friends are football fanatics, so I hear more than my share of pig skin commentary. Here are my predictions of the 
A couple of notes surrounding this much-ado-about-nothing “crisis.”