Given that the basketball season is now in full swing, don’t miss the late Dennis Hopper comments on the best movie about basketball ever made, Hoosiers (1986), including his co-star Gene Hackman’s trepidation during shooting of the movie’s prospects for success.
The title of this post refers to the thought process of the folks described in this New York Magazine article who are obsessed with following a severe calorie restriction diet.
And as if that isn’t bad enough, this NY Times article reports on the large number of 40-somethings who are consumed with training and competing in triathlons. The article points out that some of the participants got into triathlons because their bodies were already breaking down under the stress of long-distance running!
What is utterly lacking in the lives of all the people described in these two articles is any sense of balance. Rather than eating a sensible and balanced diet, calorie restriction advocates deprive themselves in the hope that it will increase their lives for a few years. Maybe so, but how fulfilling is that extended life if one does not consume enough food to maintain a livable level of lean body mass?
Meanwhile, the triathletes punish themselves training under the delusion that more exercise is always better for their health. They ignore the substantial research that indicates that adequate rest and recovery after exercise is just as important for good health as the exercise itself.
What is it about life in America in 2010 that provokes people to do such things to themselves?
The Chicago Marathon was over this past weekend, which resulted in the typical dozens of hospitalizations of participants.
That reminds me to pass along health and nutrition expert Art DeVany’s top 10 reasons not to run marathons (here is a previous post on the risks of long-distance running). Art’s summary of each reason is below, but you will have to subscribe to Art’s insightful site on fitness, health, aging nuturion and exercise to read Art’s elaboration on each reason:
10. Marathon running damages the liver and gall bladder and alters biochemical markers adversely. HDL is lowered, LDL is increased, Red blood cell counts and white blood cell counts fall. The liver is damaged and gall bladder function is decreased. Testosterone decreases.
9. Marathon running causes acute and severe muscle damage. Repetitive injury causes infiltration of collagen (connective tissue) into muscle fibers.
8. Marathon running induces kidney disfunction (renal abnormalities).
7. Marathon running causes acute microthrombosis in the vascular system.
6. Marathon running elevates markers of cancer. S100beta is one of these markers. Tumor necrosis factor, TNF-alpha, is another.
5. Marathon running damages your brain. The damage resembles acute brain trauma. Marathon runners have elevated S100beta, a marker of brain damage and blood brain barrier dysfunction. There is S100beta again, a marker of cancer and of brain damage.
4. Marathons damage your heart. From Whyte, et al Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2001 May, 33 (5) 850-1, “Echocardiographic studies report cardiac dysfunction following ultra-endurance exercise in trained individuals. Ironman and half-Ironman competition resulted in reversible abnormalities in resting left ventricular diastolic and systolic function. Results suggest that myocardial damage may be, in part, responsible for cardiac dysfunction, although the mechanisms responsible for this cardiac damage remain to be fully elucidated.”
3. Endurance athletes have more spine degeneration.
The number two reason not to run marathons:
2. At least four particiants of the Boston Marathon have died of brain cancer in the past 10 years. Purely anecdotal, but consistent with the elevated S100beta counts and TKN-alpha measures. Perhaps also connected to the microthrombi of the endothelium found in marathoners.
And now ladies and gentlemen the number one reason not to run marathons:
1. The first marathon runner, Phidippides, collapsed and died at the finish of his race. [Jaworski, Curr Sports Med Rep. 1005 June; 4 (3), 137-43.]
Now there is a recommendation for a healthy activity. The original participant died in the event. But, this is not quite so unusual; many of the running and nutritional gurus of the past decade or two died rather young. Pritikin, Sheehy, Fixx, and Atkins, among many other originators of “healthy” practices died at comparatively young ages. Jack LaLanne, the only well-known guru to advocate body building, will outlive us all.
The draft of Year XXIII of the Fantasy Football League of Houston (yes, that’s year 23 – our league was one of the first) was held last night and a good time was had by all. And thankfully, Norman Tugwater did not show up.
So, to the surprise of absolutely no one who follows such things, Moody’s Investors Service lowered the ratings of the already junk bond debt of about a billion dollars that the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority issued to finance construction of Reliant Stadium, MinuteMaid Park and Toyota Center:
Moody’s believes the liquidity reserves are sufficient to cover the November 2010 payment, but their depletion may result in a payment default from pledged revenues as early as March of 2011, the report said.
If hotel occupancy tax and motor vehicle rental tax revenue continues to decline through 2010, the ratings could face further pressure, Moody’s said. Revenue from those taxes to the Sports Authority dipped by 11.7 percent in 2009 and are continuing that trend in 2010.
Of course, the romantics among us think it would be peachy to borrow even more money and resurrect the Astrodome into another kind of white elephant. This despite the fact that the markets has been telling us for over a decade now that there is no profitable purpose for it.
Meanwhile, most professional sports franchises are not doing all that well these days even with local governments providing these huge public subsidies
So, highly-leveraged debt, a high-priced product, increasingly unprofitable operations, and intense competition from a myriad of different (and substantially cheaper) forms of entertainment.
Does anyone else think that this pro sports bubble is about to burst?
Earlier in the week, Steve Malanga wrote about the municipal debt racquet in this WSJ op-ed. Not surprisingly, a good part of the article examined dubious decisions that local governments have made in financing sports palaces:
State and local borrowing as a percentage of the countryís GDP has risen to an all-time high of 22% in 2010 from 15%, with projections that it will reach 24% by 2012.
Even more disconcerting is what the borrowing now often finances. One favorite scheme for muni debt is giant and risky development projects.
Californiaís redevelopment regime is an object lesson. Starting in the 1950s, the state gave localities the right to create public agencies, funded by increases in property taxes, which can issue debt to finance redevelopment. A whopping 380 such entities now exist. They collect 10% of all property taxesónearly $6 billion annuallyóand they have amassed $29 billion in debt never approved by voters for projects ranging from sports facilities to concert venues to retail malls, museums and convention centers.
Critics, including taxpayer groups, say most such agency projects add little economic value. Sometimes the outcome is much worse.
In 1999, Fresno conceived plans to revive its downtown area with various projects, including a baseball stadium for the minor-league Grizzlies, which it had lured from Phoenix. The cityís redevelopment agency floated some $46 million in bonds to build the stadium. But the Grizzlies fizzled in their new home, demanded a break on rent, threatening to skip town and stick taxpayers with the entire $3.4 million annual bond payment on the facility. The team is now receiving $700,000 in annual subsidies to stay in the city.
Adding to the cityís woes: Last June, another development project, the Fresno Metropolitan Museum, went bust, leaving the cityís taxpayers on the hook for three-quarters of a million dollars in annual debt payments.
Cities now also use taxpayer-financed debt to engage in fierce bidding wars that benefit private enterprises. Charlotte, N.C., for instance, won the bidding for the new Nascar all of Fame with a $154 million offer, funded by a new hotel tax dedicated to servicing bonds for constructing the hall. But the venue employs only about 115 peopleóand an economic development study estimated the increased annual tourism from the venture wonít even equal what a single Nascar race generates.
Why did politicians offer the deal? For the dubious and hard-to-quantify purpose of ìbrandingî the city with a major attraction, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Yeah, we in Houston know all about financing those minor league stadiums. Anyone taking into consideration what we are going to do with that thing if the Dynamo and/or the MLS doesnít make it?
If that werenít bad enough, the WSJís Chris Rhoads chimed in yesterday with this article on the wasting, publicly-financed ìassetsî that Greece built for the 2004 Olympic Games:
Georges Kalaras used to view with pride the sports hall built near his home here for the 2004 Olympic competition in rhythmic gymnastics and ping pong. Now, he gets mad every time he jogs by.
"Look, it’s locked!" shouted the 38-year-old Mr. Kalaras, who works for the Athens city water company. Two stray dogs tangling with each other behind a padlocked metal fence accounted for the only activity in the complex, which seats 5,200 people.
Mr. Kalaras figured the steel and glass hall, costing taxpayers $62 million, would provide recreational space in his neighborhood. Officials envisioned concerts or shops.
Instead, when the Olympic torch went out after the Athens Summer Games six years ago, the doors closed here, as well as at many of the 30-odd other sites built or renovated for the Olympics that summer.
The vacant venues, several of which dominate parts of the city’s renovated Aegean coastline, have become some of the most visible reminders of Greece’s age of excessive spending. Sites range from a softball stadium and kayaking facility to a beach volleyball stadium and a sailing marina. [. . .]
Even boosters of the Olympics are having second thoughts.
George Tziralis, a technology investor, in 2007 co-authored a glowing report declaring the venues as "greatly improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of these areas, providing valuable resources to the community and the economy."
On a recent afternoon, staring at a pile of bricks on the unfinished entrance behind a locked metal fence encircling the Olympic sailing marina, he was less upbeat.
"I hope you’re calling this article ‘The Nonsense of the Olympics,’" he said. Boats filled about a third of the 120 slips at the marina, which remains closed to people who aren’t boat owners.
Later, Mr. Tziralis, 28, gestured out the window of his Opel Corsa at a huge, locked complex of mostly vacant Olympic properties, located on the former site of the city’s old airport.
"There’s no way there shouldn’t be a park here six years after the Games!" he shouted.
That complex, which cost taxpayers $213 million, includes stadiums for field hockey, softball and baseballósports with little or no following in Greece. The facility for canoeing and kayaking slalom at the site was to become a water amusement park. It didn’t.
In light of the foregoing and last weekís lessons on governmental decision-making, what could possibly go wrong with this?
Iím not an avid hockey fan, but I always enjoy watching the Stanley Cup finals each year. The incredible effort and passion of hockey of playoff hockey is endearing even for the casual observer. I was a bit disappointed that the Flyers lost the Cup to the Blackhawks in Game Six the other night because I envisioned their coach giving a pre-Game Seven speech similar to the one below that Kurt Russell delivered as Herb Brooks in ìMiracle,î the fine 2004 movie about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team. Russell should have garnered an Academy Award nomination for his performance. Enjoy.
Why is it that the Chronicle ignores principles of truth-in-advertising (not to mention common sense) in each of its articles regarding the proposed downtown minor-league soccer stadium?
In this most recent Chron puff piece, Chronicle reporter Jose De Jesus Ortiz suggests that, based on the anecdotal observations of several stadium supporters, the new stadium will be an economic boon for the area near the stadium.
Of course, Ortiz doesnít even mention the bountiful economic research that shows scant evidence of large increases in income or employment associated with professional sports or the construction of new stadiums.
If the Chronicle admitted that the economic benefits of the minor-league soccer stadium are questionable, but that the intangible benefits to the community override the financial risk of the deal, then at least the Chronís support of the deal would be based upon an honest presentation of the issues.
Is that too much to expect?
Clear Thinkersí favorite basketball stathead Dave Berri knows. The answer may surprise you:
Drexlerís career averages top Kobeís marks with respect to shooting efficiency, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, and assists. And yet Kobe is considered by many to be the better player.
There appear to be three explanations for why Kobe is thought to be the better player. First . . . Kobe is the more prolific scorer. Of course, this is because Kobe leads Drexler in field goal attempts.
Another issue is that Kobe spent his career with the Lakers while Drexler played for Portland and Houston. In general, players for teams located in LA and New York tend to get more media exposure and therefore are thought of as better players.
And then there is the issue of championships won. People tend to think players on championship teams are better than those who toil for teams that tend to lose in the playoffs. Itís easy to point out the absurdity of such logic. Teams win championships and one can pick up a ring just because you happen to have the right teammates. After all, does anyone think Luc Longley (three titles) was a better center than Patrick Ewing (0 titles)? Or that Robert Horry (seven titles) was a better forward than Dominique Wilkins or Karl Malone (0 titles)? Despite such obvious arguments, people will note that Kobeís four titles must mean heís a better guard than Drexler (1 title).
Berri goes on to provide a fascinating analysis of the Olajuwon-Drexler-Barkley Rockets team of the mid-1990ís and explains how close that team came to being really good.
I attended the first game that Clyde the Glide played at the University of Houston as a freshman in the early 1980ís. I was amazed at his all-around talent from that first game and that was well before Drexler developed an outside shot, which he learned to do after he entered the NBA.
Drexler was an outstanding in all phases of the game. Itís pleasing that smart folks such as Berri are teaching us that such a well-rounded player is more valuable than the narrow scorers that NBA teams and their fans have traditionally coveted.
“How much of your hair is Red Bull?”
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