How Rooting for QB's Shows Our Biases

With the Superbowl approaching (I predict a Giants win, although I will root for the Pats)and Tebow fever cooled off a bit, I've been thinking about how my own biases shade the conclusions I draw about QB's, and how this spills into how people see the world.

Back in the late 20th century, the Buffalo Bills had an unconventional QB named Doug Flutie, who had been a legend in college, but was judged by the football establishment to not be suitable for the NFL. So, he had gone to the CFL and kicked ass for a few years, then was signed as a backup by the Bills. The Bills starter was Rob Johnson, big, strongarmed, the prototype of what an NFL QB should be. Only, the Bills started out horribly, in large part because Johnson was not smart enough to play QB in the NFL. When his slow brain caused him to get sacked enough times that he became injured, in came Flutie, and the Bills started winning. For the next 2 years there was a controversy between Flutie, who was too short and didn't have the arm, and Johnson, who looked like a QB but sucked.

Being a short person myself, I was always on the side of Flutie, and certainly the wins and losses of the 2 QB's made it clear he was the better player. So, I overlooked many of his deficiencies. I still have a box of Flutie Flakes. And, while I still believe he was the better of the 2 QB's, that is not saying much, as Johnson never lived up to expectations. Clearly though, my reaction to Flutie was in part due to my identifying with him as a little guy.

This season in Denver, and unconventional QB took over a strugging team and they started winning, just like the Bills did under Flutie. But Tebow is a demonstrative Christian who prays when he scores, and I am an athiest sickened when athletes praise God when they win. (Kudos, though, to Stevie Johnson for blaming God when he dropped a pass last year. Based on his play this year, God must still be pissed at him).

So, what did I see when I watched Tebow. A guy who threw funny, who couldn't find an open guy, who missed open recievers by so much that his passes couldn't even be intercepted. The Broncos won because their D had suddenly become airtight, keeping the team in the game while Tebow sucked until he could pull off a 4th quarter miracle. Meanwhile, a lot of other people saw a winner, a great leader, a super hero inspired by God.

While I don't think Tebow will have much of a career in the NFL, I will certainly admit that my opinion is somewhat shaded by my dislike of on field praying. Am I more likely to see the weaknesses in Tebow than I was in Flutie? You betcha. I could tell you to just look at Tebow's stats and you'll see that he sucks. And it's true, except that W-L stat, that says he's a winner.

The problem with the world is that this is how we look at all sorts of things that are way more important than football (yes, there are some things!). If you are a conservative, you look at our struggling economy and say that it hasn't recovered because the stimulus made it worse. If you Paul Krugman, you say the stimulus kept us out of another Great Depression, and should have been bigger. And both sides have educated people who can make rational arguments for their opinion. How they see it is shaded by their bias.

I try to be fair and look for truth, but I have biases. In the interest of fairness, I encourage you to watch the Keynes-Hayek rap, and tell me both Economists don't make sense.

MY ANNUAL XMAS POEM.....This time, it's personal!

A SECULAR XMAS

Twas the night before Xmas and I was kvetching
It’s the time of year when my values are stretching
I’d bought all these presents that I was to wrap
When I knew that this holiday was a bunch of crap
The halls had all been decked out with holly
To honor a story that was nothing but folly
There’d be joy and drinking and lots of mirth
Because of some nonsense about a virgin birth.

Just as I was stuffing a secular stocking
I heard on my door a rather loud knocking
I opened the portal only to see
A fellow you would not think would visit me
He had a white beard that looked really fine
And a gut that was even bigger than mine
And black boots on whose shine he did not skimp
And a red velvet suit like you’d see on a pimp
He stood in the doorway grinning a grin
And said “It’s cold out here, can I come in?”

I invited him in, and was amazed
When to my fridge a path he did blaze
And from it what did Santa pull out
But 2 bottles of a locally brewed stout
He popped off the caps and handed me one
Sat on the couch and said “What’s up son”
“Well Santa” I said “I’m feeling some grief
About this season based on a silly belief
The story of Xmas is surely not true
It makes far more sense to believe in you
For at least every Xmas you’re down at the mall
And unlike God, you’ve been seen by all
One would have to be mentally lazy
To believe a story that is so outright crazy
About mangers and wise men and stars in the sky
To dream that all up someone had to be high
And how could you buy it unless you’re a loon
It’s a fact that Jesus was born in June”


Santa took a big gulp and let out a sigh
“Well I notice that many nice gifts you did buy
And although you are someone who does not believe
You’ll be drinking at Friday’s on Xmas eve
And fly across country in a plane packed with others
To spend another 6 days at your mother’s”

I just laughed and said “Man, you old fox
You know I am stuck in this paradox
For while I am surely an atheist
It would be awful if Xmas was missed
Cause I like this holiday, you can say that
The lights and the music and your red hat
And how people behave in a friendly way
And movies with Bing and Danny Kaye
Or a kid who wants a bb gun
And opening presents surely is fun
And bowls full of eggnog in which you could drown
And xmas cd’s by Ray Charles and James Brown
Yes, I can say it would please me to pieces
If we could have xmas without mentioning Jesus”

Santa finished his beer and said “You’re not nuts
To deny xmas is fun you would be such a putz
Go ahead and relax and enjoy this fun season
And leave the religion to those who don’t reason
Let me leave you with this fore I hop in my sled
It’s a thought you should always keep in your head
You’ll hear it from me or the Easter Bunny
Religious holidays are all about money!”
He then gave me a chocolate wrapped up in gold
And just like that headed out in the cold.

And so ,Every Xmas, wherever you roam
You’ll encounter nice folks who don’t by the tome
About Jesus and God and dudes who brought Myrrh
And that Mary gave birth but Joe didn’t schtupp her
They give gifts and watch videos of the Yule Log
Sing carols and laugh and drink Egg Nog
That this holiday is for everyone surely’s not news
The Christians, the Athiests, and even the Jews
Though my idea of Xmas you might find crass
At least I don’t have to attend midnight mass!

MERRY WHATEVER AND HAPPY SOMETHING OR OTHER!

How to Study

You won't find much that makes sense on the WSJ Opinion pages, but here is something that may be helpful to stressed out students. It's about how to study.

Are You Ready for Some Football Singing Competition?

This idea came to me this morning while reading Sports Illustrated in......well, you know where.

ESPN has dumped Hank Williams Jr's football song, and needs a new one. And the NBA seems to be ready to dump their season, leaving a big hole in the ESPN schedule for the winter. The solution to both these problems is obvious: an "American Idol" type of show, where people around the country write their own MNF song and audition it, and the fans can vote for the winner. In fact, this seems so obvious that there must be someone in the Disney Co. who has pitched this to management. If not, then I await your check, ESPN!

And I'm thinking they should bring back Keith Olberman to be the mean judge, and of course Chris Berman. And the third judge would have to be some bimbo female pop star who knows nothing of football.

I'm not saying I'd watch this show. In fact, unless they hire me to produce it or be a judge, I wouldn't. In fact, I wouldn't watch if I were a judge either, because I hate seeing myself on video, as it turns out I am neither as tall or as thin as I think I am, and I don't sound the same as I do in my head either. But the mere fact that I would be watching hockey while this is on means it would be a ratings hit.

New format

Doesn't this look dark and mysterious? Comments?

Netflix and the Post Office: Creative destruction at work

If you are a Netflix subscriber you got CEO Reed Hasting's insulting apology yesterday, telling you that they were going to split into 2 services. I saw this letter as saying "We are sorry for buggering you. Now, how about another good buggering", as now we find out that not only has the price gone up 60%, but we will now have to deal with 2 web sites if we have both streaming and DVD's. The WSJ reports that Netflix had received 16k angry emails by noon.

It is clear that the future of this service is in streaming video, a far superior way to deliver video than waiting a few days for the post office to bring a dvd to you. The WSJ story also noted that Netflix expects dvd by mail to be gone in 15 years. I'm thinking it won't last that long.

So the question now is "Once Netflix (or Qwickster) is no longer shipping dvd's by mail, why do we need the post office?". Think about it. What does the USPS bring you that you want or need? Most days whatever I pull from the mailbox gets tossed in the recycling box right away. I still get Sports Illustrated and The Economist by mail, but I could read those on line. In fact, in recent months the post office had taken to delivering my magazines 2 days later than before, making it more likely that I will begin reading on line. They must have hired consultants from the newspaper industry: when demand for your product declines, decrease it's quality and hasten your demise.

Both Netflix and the USPS are examples of what economists call "Creative Destruction". New, better ideas replace the old. The post office has been sheltered from this somewhat, in that it has a government granted monopoly to deliver the mail. This is a situation that makes no sense whatsoever, particularly today.

If the Post Office were really a private company, as it is sort of supposed to be, it would have been finding other technologies and products as it saw that the growth of the internet meant a decrease in it's traditional business. It would also have already closed the thousands of post offices that they now say they need to close. Unfortunately, they are still controlled by politicians, who control their pricing and operation. You can be pretty sure that Congress will not let them close those PO's. Would you want to hand a potential election opponent the attack slogan "He closed your post office"? I am betting that even those government-hating Teabaggers will not allow their own local PO to close.

Here's what we ought to do: get out of the postal business. Sell the post office in an IPO and let it be run as a real business. Let competitors compete with it, thus improving service and lowering costs. I am guessing that in a competitive business, the postal workers wouldn't take their lunch break at noon, just when the few customers they still have come in to use the post office.

Protecting the post office makes no more sense than protecting the typewriter business would have 25 years ago. Or, protecting the DVD business does today.

Isn't it interesting that the government dictates that everyone gets postal service, which we could certainly live without, but not medical care, for which our need is far more important!

Some people never learn!

The Boulder History Museum has asked me to be the MC for their fundraiser again this year. Since it is only 2 weeks away I can only assume they spent the last 50 weeks trying to find someone better, but were unsuccessful. If you live in or around Boulder, please think about going. They have a history scavenger hunt, and it is great fun. You can get details HERE.

And while I'm pluggin my gigs, I'll be doing murder mysteries at the Boulderado again this fall. Murder is set in 1959, and I get to play a director of bad movies.....one of them was called "The Ticklish Economist". You get amused, fed, and even get valet parking for $68. Might even have someone die in your lap. Details are HERE