Daily Archives: October 31, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

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Texans 20 Jaguars 6. In their most impressive overall performance to date, the Texans beat the Jags decisively at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The Texans actually should have had another TD except that Jabbar Gaffney somehow fumbled the ball out of the endzone in the second quarter without being hit a moment before reaching the goal line. The Texans’ often shaky defense was outstanding in this game, holding the Jags to a paltry 39 yards rushing and about 3.5 yards per pass, and tacking on a TD on DeMarcus Faggins‘ fourth quarter interception return to ice the game. Meanwhile, David Carr had probably his best game as a pro, hitting on 26-34 throws for 276 yards, a TD, and most importantly, no turnovers (well, actually he did have a fumble, but the refs blew the call). The Texans are now an improbable 4-3, but face tough road games at Denver and then Indianapolis over the next two weekends.
Cowboys 31 Lions 21. Meanwhile, the our north, the Cowboys avoided sending the Big Tuna toward another coronary infarction with a win over the visiting Lions at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys finally found a run defense in this one, something that has been strangely absent this season for their usually formidable run defense. The 3-4 Pokes have a winnable game next Sunday at Cincinnati before returning home the following week for a showdown with the NFL East-leading Eagles.
Texas Longhorns 31 Colorado 7. The Horns’ increasingly formidable defense keyed this win, as Colorado could muster only 3 yards rushing and 221 yards total offense. The Horns still can’t pass a lick, which will be a problem against teams that have the defensive strength to stuff their rushing attack. However, a big difference in Texas this season is that their defense is good enought to win low scoring games. My friends in college coaching told me before the season that Dick Tomey would make a difference in Texas’ defensive unit, and I am now a believer.
Baylor 35 Texas Aggies 34. The Aggies almost laid an egg at home last week against Colorado, but they went ahead and laid a whopper in Waco against the Bears. Frankly, I was not surprised that Baylor gave A&M a game, as I had been on the sidelines of the Baylor-Iowa State game the weekend before and concluded then that the Bears — although undermanned at several line positions — were very well motivated and well-coached. The Ags put the ball on the ground a few times and, before you now it, the Bears determined that they could win the game. The decision of Baylor coach Guy Morris to go for two points after pulling to within 34-33 in the first overtime is one of those decisions that anyone who enjoys college football just has to admire. The 6-2 Aggies must now try to regroup before Oklahoma comes to College Station next Saturday night. Given the performance of the Aggie defense over the past two games, here is a betting recommendation on that game — take “the over.”
Houston 24 Tulane 3. The Coogs, who really have played a brutal schedule this season, finally caught a break and pounded a poor Tulane team at Roberston Stadium in Houston. This one was over by halftime as the Coogs coasted in the second half against either a dominating defensive effort or an imcompetent Tulane offensive performance, depending upon your viewpoint. The 2-6 Coogs have another winnable game next Saturday at home against 2-5 East Carolina.
Tulsa 39 Rice 22. The Owls’ once promising season has now officially fallen apart as they lost decisively to a bad Tulsa team in Tulsa. The 3-5 Owls now face Fresno State and the Mike Price-revived UTEP in two of their final three games. Those games could be very ugly for the Owls.
And remember to review Kevin Whited’s excellent weekly review of Big 12 games.

More business crime? Or just more prosecutions?

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Readers of this blog know that I am critical of several recent “popular” prosecutions of business executives, and this NY Times article reports on the opinions of several experts who agree with my view:

“It is exaggerated to say that there is much more corporate malfeasance than in the past,” said Luigi Zingales, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. “Malfeasance is just more likely to be revealed in recessions.”

“Prosecutors are going after white-collar crime with an eagerness we hadn’t seen before,” said James D. Cox, a professor of law at Duke University. “The state attorneys general realized that the governor-in-waiting, otherwise known as the attorney general, can get a lot of headlines.”

“In a bubble, people want to be lied to,” said John C. Coffee Jr., a professor at Columbia Law School. “It was more than a conflict of interest – securities analysts boosted stocks because people wanted them to.”

The article concludes by noting that the investing public’s attitudes often changes with which way the investing winds are blowing, and that such changes have an effect on the resulting prosecutions of business executives:

[W]hen the market went south, . . . faith in self-regulation took a beating, and new regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley rules for corporate governance were passed. Suddenly less prosperous, Americans became much more willing to catch and punish abuses, and admiration for high fliers turned to suspicion.
“The social dynamics are sometimes more important than the law,” Mr. Coffee said.

And we should all be concerned about that. For when we allow the law to be twisted to appeal to the “social dynamics” of a particular situtation, then the law becomes just another convenient political tool and the rule of law erodes.
And for those who would respond — “So what? What’s the problem with eroding the rule of law a bit to nail some greedy business executives?” — I would remind them of Thomas More’s advice to his son-in-law-to-be Will Roper from A Man for All Seasons:

“Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it, Roper! — do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?”
“Yes, I’d give the Devil the benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!”