Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
All those PGA Tour players who have folded like limp dish rags while paired with Tiger Woods over the years will be a bit skeptical of the conclusions of this recent study (H/T to Tim Harford):
This paper uses the random assignment of playing partners in professional golf tournaments to test for peer effects in the workplace. We find no evidence that the ability of playing partners affects the performance of professional golfers, contrary to recent evidence on peer effects in the workplace from laboratory experiments, grocery scanners, and soft-fruit pickers. . . . We offer several explanations for our contrasting findings: that workers seek to avoid responding to social incentives when financial incentives are strong; that there is heterogeneity in how susceptible individuals are to social effects and that those who are able to avoid them are more likely to advance to elite professional labor markets; and that workers learn with professional experience not to be affected by social forces.
In other words, PGA Tour pros do not generally suffer from peer effects. Except while playing with Tiger Woods, that is. ;^)
First, Larry Ribstein became NY Times business columnist Gretchen Morgenson’s worst nightmare by exposing the vacuous nature of her columns.
Now, Felix Salmon has become part-time NY Times business columnist Ben Stein’s worst nightmare (see also here) in much the same way:
Stein’s main point is that reality is fine; it’s just the media which is making things look bad. “Newspapers (which often sell on fear, not on fact) talk frequently about a mortgage freeze,” he says. Although if you do a Google News search on “mortgage freeze”, you find exactly one newspaper article: this one, by Stein. Meanwhile, he says, and I swear I am not making this up, “there is still a long waiting list for Bentleys in Beverly Hills”. Well in that case there couldn’t possibly be a housing crisis!
“This country does not look like a country in economic trouble,” concludes Stein. Well, maybe if you live in Beverly Hills and you have lots of money invested in the stock market, then that might seem to be the case. But Stein doesn’t seem to consider that most Americans might not fall into that category.
Read the entire post. Do the Times editors even review Stein’s blather before publishing it?
That northern breeze you felt in Houston yesterday was actually a huge sigh of relief heaved by Major League Baseball and network television executives on Sunday night as the Boston Red Sox beat the Indians in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to advance to the 2007 World Series against the National League champion Colorado Rockies. Nothing against Cleveland, but the TV ratings of a Cleveland-Colorado World Series would have been about the same as a non-major PGA Tour event.
A few tidbits about this year’s series:
The opening day payroll for 25-man roster of Colorado Rockies was $54,424,000, while the opening day payroll for the Red Sox was $143,026,214. The highest paid Red Sox player is LF Manny Ramirez at $18 million per year, while the Rockies’ highest paid player is 1B Todd Helton at $16.6 million annually.
The Rockies have played only two series at Fenway, one in 2002 and one this past June during interleague play. Colorado outscored Boston 20-5 in winning two of three during during that latter series.
The Rockies have won 10 straight games and have won 21 of 22, but the eight days they have had off in-between postseason games is the longest such break in the history of Major League Baseball. The Rockiesí 10-game winning streak entering the World Series is also impressive, but not the longest streak coming into a World Series. The 1960 Yankees had a 15-game streak and the 1970 Baltimore Orioles had a 14-game streak. The Rockies are the ninth different team to represent the National League in the World Series over the past 10 seasons, and the seventh wild-card pennant winner over all in the past six years.
Red Sox hitters scored 61 more runs than an average American League club would have using the same number of outs (RCAA, explained here) and Red Sox pitchers saved 163 more runs than an average American League pitching staff would have saved in the same number of innings (RSAA, explained here). In comparison, Rockies hitters generated a solid 41 RCAA and the club’s pitchers produced a respectable 78 RSAA. Thus, based on regular season statistics, the Red Sox are the clearly superior club, but Colorado has the advantage of being hot when it counts, although one has to wonder how much of the Rockies’ winning edge wore off during that eight day layoff. A pdf of the player statistics for the two clubs is here.
The local mainstream media view of the Texans (3-4) — most recently reflected by Richard Justice’s Sunday column of yesterday (see also this earlier column) — is that the team has improved dramatically under second year coach Gary Kubiak and that it’s just a matter of time before the team becomes a playoff contender. As noted in my annual preview, I’m not so sure.
When Texans owner Bob McNair decided to fire original Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly and head coach Dom Capers after the team bottomed out with a 2-14 record during Year Four (2005), he changed the management model of the team from its original “strong GM” model to the “strong head coach” model that the Broncos have used during the Shanahan era. Inasmuch as Kubiak had no head coaching experience when McNair hired him to lead the Texans’ strong coach model, I thought the decision at the time was certainly open to question.
Through seven games of Kubiak’s second season, the decision remains open to question. Kubiak had a pass during his first season (6-10) last year and probably has another one this season as he incorporates a new QB into his system. The team’s personnel has certainly improved, but that would have happened under virtually any competent coach that McNair would have hired. The Texans’ offense — Kubiak’s supposed speciality — remains generally awful as Kubiak overpaid for an aging and marginally productive running back this past off-season rather than upgrading the chronically deficient offensive line, which has become hazardous to the health of Texans QB’s.
So, the clock will be ticking quite loudly next season unless the Texans begin to show dramatic improvement (even Justice is starting to question Kubiak). After losing four of their last five and with a West Coast swing against the Chargers (3-3) and the Raiders (2-4) coming up over the next two weeks before the Texans’ bye week, the under bet on my pre-season over/under number for Texans’ victories (7) is starting to look pretty good.
The Ags (6-2/3-1) trampled the outmanned Cornhuskers (4-4/1-3) into submission in the Buyout Bowl. Unfortunately for the Aggies, each of the Aggies’ remaining opponents have the ability to slow down A&M’s rushing attack. And we know what happens when the Ags have to utilize such modern innovations as the forward pass. The Ags host Big 12 surprise team Kansas (7-0/3-0) at Kyle Field next Saturday.
The Horns (6-2/2-2) allowed Baylor (3-4/0-3) to hang around for most of the game and almost paid for it. The Horns have struggling Nebraska (4-4/1-3) at home next Saturday before closing at Okie State (5-3/3-1), home against Tech (6-2/2-2) and at A&M (6-2/3-1). Incredibly, a BCS Bowl game is not out of the question if the Longhorns win out.
This one was over before halftime as the explosive Coogs (4-3/3-1) finally put together a complete game against the overmatched Blazers (2-5/1-2) at a nearly deserted Legion Field (holds around 75,000 or so) in Birmingham. The Cougars have generated over 1,200 yards in total offense and 15 touchdowns in the past two games. The Cougars will likely have a considerably tougher game next Saturday in El Paso against UTEP (4-3/2-1), though.
The Owls (1-6/1-2) generated over 500 yards to total offense and lost because their injury-plagued defense cannot stop a hard-chargin’ marching band, much less a reasonably competent offense. The game was played before less than 10,000 fans at Rice Stadium, which holds over 70,000. Isn’t Conference USA football great? The Owls have a winnable game next Saturday against winless Marshall (0-6/0-2).
The big transit news in these parts last week was the announcement that the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s board Metro’s board approved the final route for the east-west University line and decided to deploy the much more expensive light rail rather than bus rapid transit in four other transit corridors. Kevin Whited, Lou Minatti and Tory Gattis were among the local bloggers commenting on this development.
What is perhaps most galling about all of this is the sheer lack of any perspective from the local mainstream media regarding the dubious nature of Metro’s urban economics. The Chronicle article on Metro’s announcement is typical of the vacuity of media coverage of Metro — the fact that light rail systems are notoriously uneconomic and underused relative to cost is not even mentioned. Meanwhile, Metro continues to insist upon investing billions of tax proceeds in an inflexible light rail system that will cost millions in additional annual tax proceeds to subsidize. To make matters worse, the money that Metro is throwing away on what will be a underutilized and expensive light rail system would go a long ways toward dramatically ameliorating the Houston area’s flood control problems and traffic hotspots, two public works projects that would provide far more benefit for far more Houston area residents than the light rail project. In short, wasting huge amounts of public funds on a boondoggle simply does not occur in a vacuum. Such waste will negatively impact more pressing public works projects in Houston for decades.
Transit expert Randall O’Toole recently published this Cato Insitute policy analysis, Debunking Portland (related blog posts here and here), on the failures of Portlandís light rail system, which was built in a far more densely-populated area than Houston and is often touted by light rail advocates as an example of one of the rare successful systems. As O’Toole points out, the Portland system has not been a success. 9.8% of Portland-area commuters took transit to work before the region built its light rail system, while today, just just 7.6% of the area commuters use the system. The fact that Portlandís light rail system led to billions of dollars in economic development is largely a ruse — such development received billions of dollars in subsidies and, before the city started offering those subsidies, not a single transit-oriented development was built along the Portland light rail line. Finally, light rail cost overruns forced Portland to raise bus fares and reduce bus service.
As O’Toole observes, thatís considered a success?
When state game wardens hit the woods and fields in the wake of Texas’ Nov. 3 opening of the general deer season, those 500 or so officers can pretty much predict the violations they’re most likely to encounter.
“Tagging is the No. 1 (deer hunting-related) violation we see,” said Maj. David Sinclair of TPWD’s law enforcement division. [. . .]
In most cases, a hunter taking a deer in Texas must, immediately upon taking possession of the animal, attach to it the appropriate tag from the hunter’s license. [. . .]
Deciding which tag to use isn’t all that daunting. Five detachable tags valid for tagging whitetails are attached to the perimeter of a Texas hunting license. . . . Three of those whitetail tags are valid for tagging a buck or an antlerless deer, and two are valid only for tagging an antlerless deer.
It’s a simple thing to detach the correct tag ó a buck tag for a buck whitetail and antlerless tag for a doe.
But then some people drop the ball.
To legally tag a deer, the hunter must fill out, in ink, the requested information on the back of the tag ó the name of the ranch or lease on which the deer was taken and the county in which that hunting area is located.
Also, the month and date the deer was taken has to be cut out of the tag. Cut out. Not marked with a pen. Cut out. [. . .]
But the most common deer-related violation was failure to complete the white-tailed deer log on the back of the hunting license.
The deer log was created this decade when the state seemed to be moving away from requiring tags be attached to deer. The log, printed on the back of the license, was seen as a way to keep track of how many deer, buck and doe, a hunter had taken, where they were taken and when.
The move to do away with deer tags has lost momentum. But the deer log remains. And it’s surprising how many deer hunters don’t know about the log requirement, forget to complete it or ignore it.
This past year, TPWD game wardens issued more than 500 citations for failing to complete the deer log.
As with the other tagging-related violations, hunters charged with not completing the deer log face a Class C misdemeanor. Conviction brings a fine of as much as $500.
Sheesh! Let’s hope the regulators don’t start piling on similar rules for hunting these.
As you settle in for an afternoon of watching NFL football games, check out this entertaining post providing videos of the 15 greatest football catches of all-time. Some of the comments are pretty clever, too, such as the one relating to the catch of Oklahoma State wide receiver Adarius Bowman that made the list:
“[The catch] was even more impressive because that catch was made under the enormous pressure that comes with playing in the Independence Bowl.”
As noted in the review of the Texas-Iowa State game earlier this week, big-time college football coaching is a wacky way to make a living.
Take, for example, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy. When he went famously batshit during a post-game press conference earlier this season, I figured that it was just a matter of time before Boone Pickens and the university athletic director carted Coach Gundy off to a padded cell and replaced him with another coach. I mean, it’s not as if Okie State (4-3, 2-1) is having all that great a season this year.
But now, according to this New York Times article, Coach Gundy’s decision to go nuclear may have saved his job:
The incident was one of YouTubeís most-watched videos last month and has been spoofed by a Norman, Okla., car dealership in a television commercial.
It led to a Web site called mikegundyismadatyou.com, which features e-cards from his tirade, prompted an Australian magazine to call it ìAmerican football brain explosionî and inspired wildly popular ìIím a man! Iím 40!î T-shirts. [. . .]
Gundy has seemingly benefited on and off the field. Since the incident, Oklahoma State (4-3, 2-1 Big 12) is 2-1, including the Cowboysí first victory at Nebraska since 1960.
Gundy . . . is now more recognizable nationally, according to marketing experts, and recruits say his defense of Reid makes them more interested in playing for him. Gundy said he was surprised at the attention that the incident sparked, but he insisted he had no regrets.
ìOver a period of time, it should make an impact on our program in a positive way,î he said in an e-mail message sent through a university spokesman.
Jordan Bazant, a partner of The Agency Sports Management, said Gundyís response was already paying off for him from a marketing perspective.
ìItís ultimately going to come down to performance on the field, but people that saw that saw an honest person,î Bazant said in a telephone interview.
He added: ìIt was really an honest outburst. Thatís what people are attracted to. They want to be associated with someone that they view has the same values.î
Bazant said he could not estimate the value in advertising dollars that Gundy received.
ìItís millions upon millions of dollars,î he said. ìIt would be impossible to get that. You couldnít even buy that much. You really couldnít even from a practical standpoint.î
Cyrus Gray, a senior at DeSoto High School and the top uncommitted tailback in Texas, said Gundyís response to Carlson made Oklahoma State more appealing. [. . .]
ìI like that in a coach,î he said in a telephone interview. ìHe stood up for his players. He cares for them and not just himself.î [. . .]
Kevin Klintworth, the Oklahoma State director of athletic media relations, said that less than 5 percent of the 3,000 e-mail messages the athletic department received about Gundy were negative.
ìIt was just so overwhelming,î Klintworth said in a telephone interview. ìI think some of the people werenít so much supportive of Mike as they were in support of someone standing up to the media a little bit.î
Of course, after Gundy’s outburst, it was just a matter of time before the following spoof Bud Light beer commercial turned up, but it’s still pretty clever:
And the recent Saturday Night Live spoof NBC commercial for Notre Dame football isn’t bad, either:
Oh, how far the mighty have fallen!
In Lincoln, Nebraska tomorrow, the Texas A&M Aggies take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in what has been dubbed “the Buyout Bowl,” because of the tenuous hold that Aggie coach Dennis Franchione and NU coach Bill Callahan currently have on their jobs. In trying to handicap the game, Wann Smith can’t figure out who to favor:
Texas A&M at Nebraska (-2). This game is a real poser. Since someone has to win, we’ll pick Nebraska at home. But waitÖNebraska’s home field advantage has been a joke this season hasn’t it? So, I guess we’ll take the Aggies and the points. Just a minuteÖhold the busÖFranchione has somehow managed to blow both of his road games this season, and by a ton of points each time. Hang on a secÖ I’d better consult the Magic 8 Ball. The 8 Ball, when asked if Nebraska would win repliedÖ ‘Hazy Now, Ask Again Later.’ When asked whether Texas A&M would win, it replied ‘Ask VIP Connection.’ We tried that but our link was directed instead to firedennisfranchione.com.
Aggies by 3
Meanwhile, over in Florida, nostalgic thoughts about when the annual game between Florida State and Miami actually meant something on the national stage prompted Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel to observe the following about this year’s FSU-Miami game, the first in which both foes are unranked since 1977:
This is like showing up at your 25-year reunion and finding out that the couple voted ìBest Lookingî in the high school yearbook has somehow turned into Paul Shaffer and Yoko Ono.
Larry Ribstein notes the sweet irony of the New York Times management not being quite, as the Times business columnists might say, adequately responsive to its own shareholders.
I’m sure that Gretchen and Ben will be right on top of this development.
All those PGA Tour players who have folded like limp dish rags while paired with Tiger Woods over the years will be a bit skeptical of the conclusions of this recent study (H/T to Tim Harford):
