As noted last week here, it’s been a tough off-season for University of Oklahoma Sooner football program, what with more NCAA sanctions and all. But it was only a matter of time before the Sooner faithful would be in a position to fight back. A flurry of Texas Longhorn players getting arrested during the off-season has given Sooner fans their opportunity. The Mack Brown-Longhorn “All-Character” team below is the result:
The Enron Broadband trials were not the Enron Task Force’s finest hour (see also here and here).
Now that the Task Force has been disbanded, Justice Department attorneys are left to pick up the pieces of the Task Force’s shattered cases and, as the Chronicle’s Kristen Hays reports from the Fifth Circuit, it’s not an easy task.
Sort of what you would expect from cases in which the government asserted an unwarranted expansion of a criminal law intended to punish kickbacks and bribes against businessmen who did no such thing.
Criminal convictions based primarily on juror resentment of wealthy businessmen tend not to hold up well under the bright light of appellate scrutiny.
Does this mean that I should be listening to Le Nozze Di Figaro, K.492: “Che Soave Zeffiretto” while practicing my golf swing?:
[Yale University physics professor Robert] Grober has created an instrument that gives a player an immediate response to the golf swing. A smooth, rhythmic swing with Groberís sensor emits a pleasing tone. A herky-jerky motion lets out a wail.
To create the sound of a golf swing, Grober used Musical Instrument Digital Interface technology that combined instruments like the piccolo, the oboe and the French horn. The music ó an audio interpretation of the swing itself ó is transmitted wirelessly to the golfer through a headset.
ìThis dimension that they can access while theyíre hitting the golf club opens up a whole world of information that they hadnít otherwise had,î he said. ìGetting it in this format, in a real-time basis, helps people to change on time scales which are much shorter than traditionally. It used to be if you wanted to make a mechanical change in your golf swing, it could take months to do that. But if you can hear whatís going on, you can change the sound space almost instantly.î
Grober said by having players focus on tempo instead of swing mechanics, the mechanics often followed anyway. ìReally quickly they understand itís about tempo and they forget all these complicated thoughts about position,î he said. ìWhen the motion becomes dynamic and smooth, there are some good physics behind that.î
Grober, whose product is scheduled for release in January, said he has worked with 200 golfers and teachers on his invention. While the technology is new, the idea of using physics to teach a golf swing has been around for decades.
Ben Doyle, who wrote the foreword to Homer Kelleyís popular instruction book, ìThe Golfing Machine,î said he could see benefits in a golfer being able to listen to the sound of the golf swing.
ìYou hear the thrust of centrifugal force,î said Doyle, the golf instructor at the Golf Club at Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif. ìIf a student can hear that sound, itís very important feedback.î
Read the entire article. Also, check out this video segment demonstrating the technology narrated by the author of the article, NY Times golf columnist, Damon Hack.
Earlier posts here and here noted Alex Tabarrok’s clever characterization of folks who criticized development of new lending vehicles for folks with low incomes or bad credit. Thus, this Economist article about a recent study on making loans to the poor caught my eye. Check out the conclusion of the study:
Contrary to the fears of the credit snobs, the readier access to credit did not tempt the new customers into a debt trap. Over 15-27 months, those reconsidered for a loan were more likely to have a formal credit score. And this score suffered no harm as a result of their easier borrowing.
Overall, the study suggests that profit-seeking lenders do not deserve the fate Dante reserved for them. Far from tempting the poor into unpayable debt, they help them keep their jobs, put food on the table, and build up a credit history. The authors show that poor people can make good use of borrowed money, even if they sometimes struggle to demonstrate this creditworthiness to lenders. If not hell, that is a kind of purgatory.
Read the entire article.
Earlier posts here, here and here focused on the danger of local police forces use of highly-armed SWAT teams for routine, non-violent police work, a phenomenom that spawned A&E Network’s Dallas SWAT reality show. Well, according to this Dallas Morning News article (h/t Radley Balko), one of the “stars” of the Dallas SWAT show — Senior Cpl. Johnny Baker — was recently fired from the police force. What for, you ask? DPD internal investigators concluded that Baker had sex in a Garland motel room with a prostitute while working an off-duty job in February.
By the way, Baker was not busted by Dallas SWAT. ;^)
The 89th PGA Golf Tournament is being played this week at the Southern Hills Country Club Course in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although the least prestigious of the four major tournaments, the PGA generally fields the strongest field of any of the majors. This year, each of the top 100 players in the world rankings is playing.
The tournament website is here, but if you really want to get a flavor of the golf course, check out this detailed Jay Flemma blog post and this Geoff Shackelford/Golf World article (see also here) on the venerable Percy Maxwell-designed Southern Hills course. Take it from one who has played it several times, it is a beaut, although this anonymous PGA Tour player doesn’t agree.
My wife contends that she has endured precisely the same experience as the woman depicted in the cartoon on the left by the incomparable Stuart M. Rees of Stu’s Views.
By the way, from several years ago, here is a short bio on Stu, who is a talented — and very clever — fellow.
With the crunch worsening over the past several weeks in the credit markets, the bankruptcy reorganization forces are gearing up and eyeing potential debtors. Well, in this Heartland blog post, Thomas A. Rubin predicts one of the probable debtors that will need serious reorganization — the Las Vegas Monorail Company (prior posts here):
In short, the Las Vegas Monorail appears headed straight down the path to bankruptcy by approximately the year 2010 with nothing on the horizon that could prevent it ñ other than, perhaps, an ill-conceived government bailout or the absolute dumbest group of investors/suckers in recent financial history.
This result should come as a surprise to no one. Over the last several decades, I know of only one U.S. rail transit system, or quasi-transit system, that has come remotely close to covering its operating costs out of fares and other operating revenues (the Seattle Monorail), and none that have made any contribution what-so-ever to capital costs. However, the Las Vegas Monorail promoters assured everyone that operating revenues would not only cover operating costs, but would also cover all the debt service costs of the bonds sold to pay for the construction of the Monorail. [. . .]
One hopes that someone, somewhere, in a public sector decision-making capacity will tell the various casinos along the right of way that, if they want to see it continue to operate, well, it is all theirs.
Read the entire post, which lays out the public risks involved in even a privately-financed boondoggle of this nature. Meanwhile, this clever Political Calculations post comes up with an entertaining solution to achieving the same benefits of a light rail system at a far cheaper cost.
As noted earlier here and here, the crunch in the credit markets has Houston-based Landry’s Restaurants Inc scrambling to refinance about $400 million in bond debt this week.
Well, that scramble took an interesting turn on Wednesday of this week as Landry’s sued the bondholders. Based on that lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Sam Kent of Galveston approved a temporary restraining order against the representatives of the bondholders that ordered the Indenture Trustee of the bonds to withdraw the notice of acceleration of the maturity of the bonds and not to take any action based on that acceleration pending a preliminary injunction hearing on August 16. The following is the alleged basis for the TRO and proposed injunctive relief straight from Landry’s complaint:
This action arises from an attempt by opportunistic hedge funds to distort the plain language of Landry’s Indenture to manufacture grounds for a technical default that would allow them to reap an extraordinary and umnerited windfall from Landry’s good faith effort to provide its stockholders and noteholders with accurate financial information.
From the outset, [the bondholders] have embarked on a scheme designed solely to maximize their short-term financial gain at the expense of Landry’s, its stockholders, and the investing public. [The bondholders’] plan appears to be an effort to improperly accelerate the Senior Notes so that they and those working with them could ultimately sell their Senior Notes at a substantial profit in the open market, once they extort “renegotiated” interest payments and other concessions from the Company.
The Trustee’s defective notices of default and acceleration notwithstanding, Landry’s has made every required payment due under the Indenture. There has been no material breach of any of Landry’s obligations under the Indenture. Despite this fact, the Trustee, apparently at the urging of [the bondholders], served a notice claiming that Landry’s was in default because Landry’s allegedly failed to provide reports that are required for “information purposes only.”
The Indenture requires that Landry’s furnish to the Trustee-within the time periods specified by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “SEC” or the “Commission”) rules and regulations-all quarterly and annual financial information required to be contained on Forms 10-Q, 10-K, and 8-K. The Indenture does not impose on Landry’s any independent requirement that it file those reports or abstain from seeking additional time to file its financial reports.
Landry’s properly delayed the filing of its Form 10-K by submitting a Form 12b-25 with the SEC on March 16,2007. Form 12b-25 bestows an automatic 15-day extension on filers who would not otherwise be capable of filing without unreasonable effort or expense. Accordingly, while a delayed SEC filing may have consequences for Landry’s under SEC rules, it would not comprise a default under the Indenture.
Despite the fact that Landry’s had neither missed a single payment nor committed any material breach of the Indenture, and despite the further fact that the 15-day extension period allowed by the filing of the Form 12b-25 had not expired, the Trustee, by letter agreement dated March 20, 2007, issued a Notice of Default. The Trustee’s basis for asserting a default was that Landry’s had failed to timely file its Form 10-K annual report for the fiscal year 2006 (the “10-K”). This Notice of Default was defective, however, because it was sent during the time period allowed by the Rule 12b-25 extension. Nevertheless, relying on its defective Notice of Default, the Trustee purported to accelerate the entire debt by notice dated July 24, 2007.
On information and belief, the Trustee has taken this unreasonable position at the behest of [certain bondholders], eager to void the bargain struck with Landry’s in the 2004 Indenture so as to take advantage of tightening credit market conditions.
To get to this result, Defendants have intentionally and materially breached the terms of the Indenture or, in the alternative, tortiously interfered with Landry’s business relations, disparaged the Company, and attempted to saddle the Company with new obligations in violation of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.
As a result, Landry’s continues to suffer irreparable economic harm from Defendants’ continuing threats of future improper actions. Therefore, Landry’s respectfully seeks immediate and temporary injunctive relief to preserve the status quo while this litigation ensues. Among other things, the requested injunction would afford the Company a measure of relief from the uncertainty and controversy that presently exist with respect to the parties’ respective rights and obligations under the Indenture.
A copy of the TRO is here and a copy of the complaint (sans exhibits) is here.
Meanwhile, the filing of the case in the Galveston Division of the Southern District is raising more than a few eyebrows, particularly given that the lead lawyer for Landry’s in obtaining the TRO was plaintiffs’ lawyer Anthony Buzbee, who knows a thing or two about filing cases in favorable forums. Landry’s and most of its other lawyers involved in the case (the firms of Andrews & Kurth and Haynes & Boone) are Houston-based. Also, Landry’s general counsel, Steven Scheinthal, gave an interview to the Houston Chronicle earlier this week that resulted in this rather interesting article in which he was quoted as saying that “We do not believe the bondholders are nice people. We’re a Houston-based company, and the bondholders have no regard for anybody other than themselves. They strictly see this as an economic opportunity to take advantage of.” Nevertheless, the Chronicle’s business columnist, Loren Steffy, thinks that Landry’s lawsuit is a loser.
Round 2 is coming up shortly.
For pure entertainment value, there is nothing quite like an eruption between a PGA Tour player and his caddie during the heat of competition. This Jeff Rude/GolfWorld commentary reports on the latest such incident was between PGA Tour member Jay Williamson and his caddie, Mike Mollet, during the first round of last week’s Canadian Open:
Both agree that Mollet, on the tee of the par 3, said the wind was blowing right to left. Both agree that Williamson hit a 9-iron over the green long left. Both agree that Williamson hit a weak chip from a bad lie to about 30 feet from the hole. Both agree a frustrated Williamson told Mollet he thought the wind was blowing downwind, not across, and that Mollet disagreed. Both agree that Williamson fired Mollet after an ensuing heated argument on the green. Both agree that Mollet threw a few of Williamsonís golf balls into a pond after getting canned. Both agree that Williamson used a spectator as his caddie the last four holes. [. . .]
What they disagree on is what ignited the explosion. Williamson said Mollet lost his cool first and embarrassed him with too much emotional talk and Williamson reacted. Mollet said Williamson lost his cool first and embarrassed him with too much emotional talk and Mollet reacted.
Williamson said the caddie kept yelling at him loudly, calling him a ìwhinerî among other personal insults, and used the F-word. Mollet said he got riled because Williamson directed the F-word and A-word toward him after the bad chip and while disagreeing about the wind direction. Williamson said he canít recall swearing.
Read the entire article about the spat, which is about par for the course in such matters. But Chris Lewis reminds us of my favorite player-caddie tiff, which occurred about 10 years ago between the volatile PGA Tour member Fulton Allem and his caddie, “Bullet” Burns. During the second round of the Heritage tournament at Hilton Head, Allem was struggling badly with his swing on the front nine and, while waiting to tee off on the 8th hole, had this exchange with his caddie:
“I feel like breaking something,” observed Allem
Burns didn’t miss a beat: “How about breaking par?”
ìVery funny,” Fultie replied. “Youíre fired.î