This video puts to bed any question of whether “Oh, Canada” is the most stirring national anthem regularly played at a sporting event.
With that kind of inspiration, it’s no surprise that the Edmonton Oilers are running away with the NHL Western Conference Finals series with the Mighty Ducks.
Hat tip to Eric McErlain for the link.
Theodore Dalrymple — the pen name of British psychiatrist and author, Anthony Daniels (previous posts here) — has written a new book, Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy (Encounter 2006) in which he challenges the conventional medical wisdom regarding opium addition. In this Wall Street Journal ($) op-ed, Dalrymple provides interesting insight into the nature of addiction:
I have witnessed thousands of addicts withdraw; and, notwithstanding the histrionic displays of suffering, provoked by the presence of someone in a position to prescribe substitute opiates, and which cease when that person is no longer present, I have never had any reason to fear for their safety from the effects of withdrawal. It is well known that addicts present themselves differently according to whether they are speaking to doctors or fellow addicts. In front of doctors, they will emphasize their suffering; but among themselves, they will talk about where to get the best and cheapest heroin.
Once upon a time seemingly long ago, the Houston Rockets were the most popular professional sports franchise in Houston. However, after nine straight seasons of not winning a playoff series, and while watching its Texas competitors — the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks — ascend to NBA elite teams, the Rockets have become an expensive joke on the local sports scene. That’s particularly unfortunate because, as Bill Simmons notes here, this season’s NBA Playoffs have been highly entertaining.
Meanwhile, this NY Times article profiles mercurial Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has steered the Mavs to the NBA Western Conference Finals this season and has the club primed to make multiple runs at an NBA Championship over the next several seasons. Inasmuch as only three Rockets players (Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and perhaps Luther Head) have sufficient ability even to play for the current Mavericks team, Cuban’s rebuilding of the Mavericks’ personnel — as well as the Phoenix Suns making the Western Conference Finals this season despite the absence of the club’s best player — are powerful reminders of the poor personnel decisions that the Rockets have made over the past decade. One can only wonder why it took Rockets owner Les Alexander so long to do something about it?
On the NBA in general, Malcolm Gladwell, he of Tipping Point fame, has authored this interesting New Yorker review of the new book, The Wages of Wins: Taking Measure of the Many Myths in Modern Sport by three economics professors, David Berri, Martin Schmidt, and Stacey Brook. In this related blog post, the authors summarize their research about decision-making in the NBA as follows:
First, it was the Shell Houston Open reeling from the consequences of some dubious decisions.
Then, a change of date and a mediocre golf course is generating concern over the future of Dallas’ EDS Byron Nelson Open.
Now, this Kevin Sherrington/Dallas Morning News column (free registration required) notes that the best Tour players are turning their backs on the venerable Colonial Invitational in Ft. Worth and the tournament is losing its title sponsor to boot.
And, just to remind, San Antonio’s Texas Open is played in October, smack dab in the middle of football season.
Does anyone with PGA Tour management notice or care that the Tour’s Texas tournaments are quickly becoming afterthoughts?
In the meantime, this Alistair Tait column about Darren Clarke’s costly example of sportsmanship at the recent Irish Open reminds us of one of the big reasons that golf is such a special game.