Daily Archives: July 5, 2007

Rating the NFL owners

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bob%20mcnair%20070507.jpgSI.com’s Michael Silver rates the owners of the 32 National Football League teams, and Texans’ owner Bob McNair comes in a respectable seventh:

Like [Redskins owner Daniel] Snyder, McNair is an aggressive, personally invested owner who desperately wants to field a winning team. Unlike the Redskins’ boss, McNair hasn’t even come close to doing so.
Since the Texans joined the NFL in ’02, there have been a lot of dubious decisions on key matters, from the stubborn insistence that David Carr was a franchise quarterback to the selection of Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and hometown hero Vince Young in the ’06 draft. McNair, at the very least, deserves some blame for hiring the people who made those decisions.
That said, he has established a highly valued franchise in a market the NFL had abandoned. He also worked exceptionally hard on last year’s revenue-sharing plan. And, on a self-serving note, McNair’s may be the most media-friendly organization in the league.

If there was ever a sports franchise owner whose team deserved some good fortune on the playing field, then it’s McNair.
Oilers owner Bud Adams comes in 18th, which is somewhat surprising only because it’s hard to believe that there are 14 owners worse than him. Go figure.

EZ-Tag, EZ-Increase

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Toll_Plaza.jpgSo, according to this NY Times article about MIT economist Amy Finkelstein’s research, EZ-Tags for electronic payment of tolls along tollroads makes it easier for government to increase the tolls (Tyler Cowen provides further analysis).
Everywhere but Houston, that is.

More on the myth of healthy long distance runners

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alberto%20salazar.jpgThis earlier post noted development of research indicating that long distance running over a long term may be hazardous to your health.
Thus, this article from earlier in the week about arguably the greatest American marathoner caught my eye:

Alberto Salazar, the former champion marathoner who collapsed over the weekend, had his condition upgraded Monday from serious to fair.
A cardiologist at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center said tests now indicate that Salazar had a heart attack while coaching distance runners Saturday at the Nike campus outside Portland, said Lisa Helderop, a hospital spokeswoman.
Salazar, who is alert and talking with his family, told a doctor at the hospital that he has a family history of heart conditions, Helderop said. [. . .]
Salazar, a University of Oregon graduate, won the New York City Marathon three straight years (1980-82) and the 1982 Boston Marathon. He has set six U.S. records and one world record. He is a longtime Nike employee and consultant who trains elite distance runners and has a building named for him on campus.

This recent University of Maryland Medical Center study addresses another health risk of long-distance running. And none of the foregoing even touches on the heightened risk of joint and ligament damage that results from long distance running. Take note, runners.