Author Archives: Tom

Sizing up the Texans’ needs

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texans_011808.gifAs At the beginning of the past two football seasons (here and here), I noted the trend of the blogosphere replacing the mainstream media as the more reliable and insightful source of information on the Houston Texans.
Now, as the Chronicle’s Texans beat reporter writes about odd people who call into radio talk shows, Stephanie Stradley and Outlaw (see also here) size up the Texans’ main personnel and coaching needs as the team enters the off-season.
As these posts reflect, the blogosphere is definitely rapping the knuckles of the Chronicle right now in the competition of providing meaningful information to the public about the Texans.

Signs of a dying regulatory scheme

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ncaa-logo%20011708.jpgRegular readers of this blog know that I believe the NCAA’s regulation of big-time college sports is hopelessly corrupt, albeit an entertaining form of corruption (see previous posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
That entertaining form of corruption is pretty valuable, too, as this Forbes List of the 20 Most Valuable College Basketball Programs reflects. And even at a top range of $25 million, the top basketball programs lag well behind the top football programs in value.
But one can only estimate how much these programs would be worth if they were unleashed from the obsolescent NCAA regulatory scheme. Particularly one that not only deprives its main income-generators from being paid their true value, but would open up an administrative investigation into an alleged regulatory violation involving a 97-year old icon:

Just before the start of this college basketball season, UCLA received a letter of inquiry from the NCAA, seeking information about possible illegal contact between a recruit and a person representing the interests of the university.
The recruit was Kevin Love, now the Bruins’ star freshman center.
The person representing the interests of the university was [legendary 97-year old former UCLA coach] John Wooden.
The NCAA has not disclosed who made the complaint.
Love and his family visited Wooden during his recruiting trip. They had a nice chat, Wooden teased the Loves’ young daughter, Emily, for being so quiet, and a nice time was had by all. [. . .]
. . . The NCAA, apparently shrugging off common sense and going with protocol, procedures and robot-ism, actually wrote a letter of inquiry to UCLA, requiring the school to investigate.

The fascinating “Flea”

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Lindeman-759645.jpgEric Turkewitz interviews Dr. Robert Lindeman, the Boston-based pediatrician who caused quite a stir last year when the Boston Globe broke the story that he was the anonymous blogger nicknamed “Flea” who was blogging a medical malpractice trial while participating as a defendant. One of Dr. Lindeman’s answers even has a Houston twist:

A hypothetical question: You’ve been called for jury duty and the case involves a question of medical malpractice. What will you tell the attorneys during the jury selection process about your ability to sit impartially?
Answer: “I will tell them that Roger Clemens will admit to using performance-enhancing drugs before I will able to sit impartially on a malpractice jury.”

Stoneridge redux

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Stoneridge%20011708.jpgThe blawgosphere’s analysis has been extensive and insightful in regard to the Supreme Court’s important decision Tuesday in Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta (previous posts here), which upheld the Central Bank rule against holding third parties secondarily liable for damages for providing financing to a company that is found to have defrauded its investors. The Point of Law.com blog, which has been a leader in providing a forum for discussion of the issues in the case, provides links to many excellent commentators, including Professors Bainbridge and Ribstein, the latter of whom has this follow-up post to his initial one that is well worth reading.
Although the issues and policy implications involved in Stoneridge are easy to understand for those of us involved in business, it’s interesting how many people who are not involved in business on a day-to-day basis have asked me about the case and why I think it’s so important that the Central Bank rule be upheld. Why shouldn’t the banks that facilitated a company defrauding its investors not have to contribute something into the compensation pot for the investors, they inquire?
I have found that directing the folks asking that question to the practical example presented in this earlier post usually does the trick in explaining why erosion of the Central Bank rule is a manifestly bad idea.

Texas’ best golfer of the moment

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Choi%20011708.jpgThere are only four PGA Tour players who have won a tournament in each of the past four seasons. Three of those four are easy picks — Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh. Who is the fourth?
None other than K.J. Choi of The Woodlands (previous post here), who just won his seventh PGA Tour event in the past eight seasons over the weekend. Choi now has over $17 million in career earnings.
Stu Mulligan over at Waggle Room makes the case that Choi has quietly become one of the elite PGA Tour players even though there is not any area of his game that stands out statistically in comparison to other Tour players. The tortoise still does beat the hare sometimes.

Becker on health care finance reform

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medical%20finance%20011608.jpgGary Becker proposes four common sense reforms for the American health care finance system, one of which is unassailable:

Eliminate the link between employment and the tax advantage of private health insurance. Since much of the spending on health are investments in human capital, there is good reason to exempt these expenditures, along with other investments, from income taxes. However, this employment link is inequitable because it does not provide the same tax advantages to families without employment-based insurance. It also encourages expensive employer health plans that have significant consumption components since the government picks up much of the cost of such coverage.

What’s missing in the tax debate

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income%20taxes.jpgWouldn’t it be nice if at least one of the Presidential candidates would embrace the basic reform that is really needed in the U.S. tax system? Simply simplification. Previous posts on tax simplification issues are here. Interestingly, one of my least favored Presidential candidates — Rudy Giuliani — has the best tax simplification proposal that I’ve seen so far during the campaign.

Re-evaluating boondoggles

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Houston%20Dynamo%20stadium%20011508.gifLet me get this straight. Mayor White started out with a proposal several months ago to allow the local MLS soccer team to build a stadium at their own expense on downtown land that the City of Houston owned but was not using except for extra parking (previous posts here).
So, how did we get to the point where the City is now willing to pony up at least $20 million and exercise its eminent domain power to acquire land for the private owners of the team to build their stadium? Heck, we haven’t even started to talk about who’s going to pick up the tab for the cost of the necessary infrastructure improvements or how much “Central Planning Chief” Peter Brown’s “mixed used development” ideas are going to cost (for the folly of such ventures, see here). By the way, Mr. Brown, what are the names of the other cities that are lining up to provide financing for a soccer stadium that makes you so sure that the Dynamo will leave if Houston doesn’t provide it?
And to top it off, the proposed location of the proposed new stadium figures to increase the cost of an even larger boondoggle.
Granted, we’re talking about throwing away “only” $20-30 million on this deal at this point. That’s peanuts in comparison to what the City wastes annually on the light rail system. But the way this deal has developed leads one to question whether there is any adult supervision whatsoever down at City Hall? If it’s acceptable to throw $20-30 million at a minor league soccer team, then what’s next? $20-30 million for the Aeros?

A real train wreck

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Metrorail%20car-Houston%20011508.jpgThis LA Times op-ed by transit experts Jim Moore and Tom Rubin examining the LA area’s MTA transit system over the past 20 years. They provide a daunting warning for those who rationalize the massive deficits of Houston’s light rail system by contending that the system will become cost-efficient in the long run:

. . . the MTA has spent more than $11 billion since 1986 to build its rail network, and the effect has been to reduce total transit ridership on the system by more than 3 billion boardings. That’s a bizarre result.

Shouldn’t investments in transit infrastructure encourage, not discourage, transit use? So, why is Houston continuing to barrel down a path that LA has already shown is a poor way to invest in mass transit?

Trashing Tracy

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mcgrady%20011508.jpgRockets star Tracy McGrady is not having a good season, which has prompted the inevitable local criticism that McGrady is an overrated player who is not “tough” enough to lead his team to success in the NBA playoffs.
On the other hand, Kobe Bryant is widely considered to be one of the best players in the NBA and far superior to McGrady. Ask your average Rockets fan whether they would trade McGrady for Bryant, most would approve the deal in the proverbial “New York minute.”
So, statistician Dave Berri compares the careers of McGrady and Bryant. The result of his analysis may surprise you.
Hint — peer effects make a big difference in basketball.