Category Archives: Sports

A Perfect Season?

My Brewers beat the Cubs today, 8-2. Their record is now a sterling 2-0.

If this trend holds, we will see baseball’s first ever perfect 162-0 season.

You heard it here first.

Self Promotion

The NCAA tournament is blamed for staggering productivity losses.

I show why I think that’s a myth over at the American Spectator Online.

Misleading Statistics

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson won an executive-of-the-year award today.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Greg Bedard asks if it is a kiss of death for the team.

Let’s leave aside the fact that the award has no cause-and-effect relationship on the outcome of football games.

Bedard writes that in the year after winning the award, “Only four times in those 13 years did the executives win the Lombardi Trophy.”

There are 32 teams in the NFL. Only one of them can win the Super Bowl. That’s a 1-in-32 shot.

Call me crazy, but 4-in-13 actually sounds pretty good.

Favre Retires

In my first – and probably last – foray into sports journalism, the American Spectator was kind enough to run my brief tribute to Brett Favre.

My thanks to Jeremy Lott.

Yankees Cite Unfair Trade Practices

Here is a clever bit of satire over at the Cato blog.

Brett Favre Retires

As many of you know, I am a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan. I was sad to see this morning’s news of Favre’s retirement. Sundays this fall won’t be the same, but he probably did the right thing by quitting at the top of his game.

I wish him well in his post-football life.

Meanwhile, the Aaron Rodgers era begins in Green Bay. He’s got a lot of talent, and I look forward to seeing what he can do.

Peter King, the Peggy Noonan of sports journalism, shares a story about Brett here.

It’s Official

Having solved all of America’s other problems, the FBI is opening an investigation on Roger Clemens.

I fail to see how the steroids issue concerns the federal government in any way. It is just sad how often this kind of over-reach happens.

Packers Lose NFC Championship

It was a good game, but in the end my beloved Packers came up short, 23-20.

So it goes.

Thanks for a great season, and let’s hope old man Favre comes back next year.

The Mitchell Report

There is nothing wrong with steroids per se. They have negative effects as well as positive, and adults should weigh the tradeoff for themselves.

But there is something wrong with breaking rules. If MLB says steroids are verboten in their sport, well, players shouldn’t be using them. Competition should be on an even level — and that includes the Yankees and Red Sox.

Surprisingly, Sen. Mitchell has some good recommendations on how to handle the situation. Giving past violators a free pass seems counterintuitive, but it’s the right thing to do. In addition to being a PR disaster for the league, ferreting out every last violator is an impossible task. The lawsuits would drag on for years.

Better to move on. Let history judge the Steroid Era as it will. Start everyone out on a fresh slate. Institute regular testing, and punish violations as they occur — as I’m sure they will.

As a Brewers fan, I’m just glad my team looks pretty good coming out of this mess. Nine current or former Brewers are mentioned, but all allegations come from when they were with other teams. Relievers Derrick Turnbow and Eric Gagne are the only two current Brewers named in the report. Neither seems to have been a user while with the team.

Barry Bonds Indicted

The indictment is online here.

I’m no fan of Barry Bonds, but I fail to see why there should be legal consequences for his (alleged, but highly probable) steroid use. Upon proving his guilt, Major League Baseball should punish him for breaking the rules of the game.

But what Bonds decides to put in his body should not be a criminal matter. The prosecutors should drop their case.