Quotulatiousness

May 21, 2010

More developments in the NFL “StarCaps” case

Filed under: Football, Law — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 14:02

Of interest to Minnesota Vikings fans, the NFL having won the last round, Kevin and Pat Williams managed to get the court to rule in favour of continuing the injunction:

Pat Williams and Kevin Williams are likely going to be available for most or all of the 2010 season after being granted an extension to the temporary injunction granted in an 11-page opinion from Hennepin County District Court Judge Gary Larson this morning.

In his decision, Larson said that the Williamses had “satisfied the standard” for proving that their suspensions should be blocked during the appeals process. In short, what the decision appears to show is that the Williamses can appeal the case to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and, even if they lose at that level, would have the chance to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Given the time that having cases filed and heard at both levels typically take several months, it appears at face value that there is little chance both appeals would be heard during the 2010 season

Of even greater interest is the commentary from the presiding judge, which is quite in line with my own feelings on the matter:

“(The NFL) knew StarCaps contained Bumetanide, that players were ingesting Bumetanide, that Bumetanide was dangerous and withheld information about StarCaps, knowing that players would suffer as a result. (The NFL) created a trap that it knew would result in violations of the program.”

[. . .]

“(The NFL) could have easily avoided this very situation by informing players or teams what it already knew — that StarCaps contained a hidden, dangerous substance. (The NFL) knew that many players were already inadvertently ingesting Bumetanide and continued to the place the health, safety and welfare of its players in jeopardy, so that (NFL General Counsel) Adolpho Birch could play a game of ‘gotcha.’ The league clearly allowed a half dozen other players to use Bumetanide without punishment.”

If the ingredient had been listed on the label, or if the NFL had informed players that the ingredient was in the product, the NFL would be quite correct in trying to suspend these players. Because it was not, and they did not, the NFL should go pound sand.

April 30, 2010

Favre’s ankle still not recovered from NFC Championship game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:15

For a second year in a row, Brett Favre will have to consider surgery in order to play in the coming season. Ed Werder has the details:

Favre, who would turn 41 during the 2010 season, told ESPN the ankle injury that he suffered three months ago in the NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints continues to be swollen and painful.

That prompted tests to determine why healing had not occurred and Favre sent the results of those scans to orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, who told the quarterback his opinion that surgery is unavoidable.

“We have spoken,” Favre said in an e-mail. “To play again, I would need the surgery, as I suspected. This decision would be easy if not for my teammates and the fans and the entire Vikings staff. One year truly felt like 10 — much like Green Bay for many years. That’s what I was missing in my heart I suppose, a sense of belonging.”

Favre said he must determine whether his affection for the Vikings and his belief they are capable of winning the Super Bowl overrides his disdain for surgery.

Of course, the Vikings may have their quarterback of the future in Ryan Perrilloux . . .

April 27, 2010

QotD: The NFL draft is like a lottery

Filed under: Football, Media, Quotations — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:45

Forty-yard dash numbers analyzed to the hundredths of seconds . . . elaborate, heated debates about what round a player “should” be chosen in . . . hours spent viewing film of men in underwear racing around cones. Mysterious lingo: Corey Chavous of NFL Network praised one player during draft weekend for “hip explosion,” Todd McShay of ESPN said another prospect was “tight in the upper chest.” Tim Tebow drafted before Jimmy Clausen — that can’t be right, contact the National Academy of Sciences!

Fascination with the NFL draft is plenty nutty, but the zaniest aspect of this event is the pretense — shared by NFL scouts, draftniks and spectators alike — that drafting is a science. Stare at enough film, click enough stopwatches and you’ll be able to determine who “should” be drafted in what round.

NFL scouts and media draftniks have a self-interest stake in maintaining this illusion, because it makes them seem the possessors of incredible insider information. But in truth, NFL draft choices are like lottery tickets. They may succeed. They may bust. The buyer has no clue what’s going to happen, just like the buyer of a lottery ticket.

Gregg Easterbrook, “Is the NFL draft science or lottery?”, Tuesday Morning Quarterback, 2010-04-27

April 24, 2010

Draft aftermath

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 22:55

I’m neither happy nor unhappy with the results of the 2010 NFL draft, because (as I’ve said before) I don’t follow college football. I trust that the Vikings’ drafting team had their homework done, had their depth charts properly prepared, and got the best value one could reasonably hope for in a crapshoot like the NFL draft. The last few years have been very good, from a draft perspective, so I’m willing to believe that the same folks who managed to do so well in recent drafts did a similar job this time.

For those, like me, who didn’t tune in to watch the draft live, here are the Vikings’ draft choices for this year:

  • 2nd Round (34th pick overall, from trade with Detroit): Chris Cook, Cornerback, Virginia. With starting cornerbacks Antoine Winfield and Cedric Griffin both suffering serious injuries last season, more depth at cornerback was an obvious need. Cook may not have been the player the Vikings originally hoped to draft, but he’ll be a welcome addition to one of the top defences in the NFC (more info from Judd Zulgad here).
  • 2nd Round (51st pick, from trade with Houston): Toby Gerhart, Running Back, Stanford. The loss of backup running back Chester Taylor to division rival Chicago clearly motivated this pick. Gerhart will have the opportunity to replace Taylor as Adrian Peterson’s reliever and change-of-pace back (more info from Mark Craig here).
  • 4th Round (100th pick): Everson Griffen, DE, USC. “Gives Vikings depth on left side, especially if Ray Edwards leaves as free agent following the 2010 season. Griffen has the ability but most prove he has the maturity to play at the NFL level. ” (Judd Zulgad)
  • 5th Round (161st pick): Chris DeGeare, OL, Wake Forest. Viking Update says he “started all 12 games at left tackle in 2009. He led the offensive line in knockdown blocks three times and graded out at better than 90 percent in games against Miami and Florida State. DeGeare was a Freshman All-America during his rookie season in 2005 and was also a member of the ACC All-Freshman team by the Sporting News“.
  • 5th Round (167th pick): Nate Triplett, LB, Minnesota. “One of the few former walk-ons to receive an invitation to this year’s combine, Nate Triplett’s career as a Gopher slowly built until he was given the chance to start every game as a senior. He took full advantage, making 105 tackles, five for loss, two interceptions and five pass breakups” (Scout.com).
  • 6th Round (199th pick): Joe Webb, QB, UAB. Will probably be converted to WR. Sports Illustrated said: “Webb has been productive on the college level at a variety of positions for Alabama Birmingham. During the Senior Bowl he made a seamless transition back to receiver and looks like a natural at the position. Still rough around the edges, Webb must improve his route running and increase his speed, but he has all the skills to be a fourth wide out for an NFL team.”
  • 7th Round (214th pick): Mickey Shuler, TE, Penn State. “Gives Vikings depth at this position and could be eventual replacement for veteran Jim Kleinsasser. First, however, he has to make the roster. Might spend year on practice squad. ” (Judd Zulgad)
  • 7th Round (237th pick): Ryan D’Imperio, LB, Rutgers. Will probably be converted to FB. Sports Illustrated said: “D’Imperio is a two-down run defending linebacker best playing downhill. He possesses marginal upside for the next level but has a special teams mentality and can back up on the inside in a 3-4 alignment.”

After the end of the formal draft, the Vikings signed several free agents:

  • QB R.J. Archer, William & Mary
  • OG Thomas Austin, Clemson
  • OT Matt Hanson, Midwestern State
  • C Tommy Hernandez, UC-Davis
  • WR Aaron Rhea, Stephen F. Austin
  • SS Terrell Skinner, Maryland
  • WR Ray Small, Ohio State
  • WR Kelton Tindal, Newberry
  • CB Angelo Williams, Ferris State
  • OT Marlon Winn, Texas Tech

These guys may not end up sticking with the team, but there’s usually one or two of the free agent signings who make a strong showing through training camp and into the pre-season. I have no idea if any of them will make the regular season roster, but here’s hoping, guys.

April 23, 2010

Vikings trade draft picks with Detroit Lions

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:17

As I noted in an update to yesterday’s post, the Vikings traded away their first-round pick to the Detroit Lions, who chose a running back with that selection. The source I was using for the update information didn’t completely clarify what the details of the trade were, so I mistakenly assumed that Detroit had given up more than they really did:

The Vikings’ quarterback of the future was sitting right there for the taking as the clock wound down to the 30th pick in the first round of Thursday night’s NFL draft.

Jimmy Clausen nearly had fallen out of the first round and now the Vikings had the opportunity to fulfill what had been predicted in so many mock drafts.

Only in real life, the Vikings didn’t pull the trigger.

Instead, they dealt their first-round pick to NFC North rival Detroit, along with a fourth-round selection (128th overall), for the Lions’ second- (34th overall), fourth- (100th overall) and seventh-round picks (214th overall).

With the Vikings’ first-rounder, the Lions took California running back Jahvid Best.

What little I’d heard about Clausen made me apprehensive that the Vikings might be bringing in a player who would not be a good fit, so I thought the trade made good sense. I thought that they might have drafted Tim Tebow, but he was already off the board by the time the Vikings selection came up.

Of course, with the 2nd pick in the 2nd round, the Vikings can be relatively certain that the Rams won’t pick another quarterback, having taken Sam Bradford with the 1st pick . . . but they could trade that pick to someone who does want to draft Clausen. We’ll find out tonight, I guess.

Update: Jim Souhan also thinks Clausen would be a bad fit for the team:

The Vikings were right to trade their first-round draft pick.

They were right to avoid Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, a bratty kid who would have been a lousy fit in the Vikings’ veteran, professional lockerroom.

They were lucky they weren’t forced to consider Tim Tebow, who will be one of the great draft busts in NFL history.

They were right to abide by an NFL truism, that picks at the end of the first round aren’t much different than picks in the second round.

April 22, 2010

Tonight’s 1st round of the NFL draft

Filed under: Economics, Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:11

As in previous years, I have nothing useful to say about the draft because I don’t follow US college football — I don’t know the Heisman Trophy winner from the redshirt freshman at your local junior college. I’m so uninvolved that I won’t even catch the TV coverage.

My favourite team, the Minnesota Vikings, have eight picks in the draft (before the traditional horsetrading gets underway), and were expected to pick a cornerback in the first round (where they have the 30th pick). Yesterday, they signed former Eagle and Jet cornerback Lito Sheppard to a one-year contract, so they’re now expected to pick a defensive lineman . . . or maybe a quarterback (Tim Tebow, anyone?).

Under the circumstances, I did find this Wall Street Journal article quite interesting:

For a league that does many things well, the first round of the NFL draft is a mess.

The league gives its worst teams first crack at incoming college talent in the name of parity, but instead of giving bad teams a leg up, it often forces them to draft players they don’t really need at prices they can’t afford. Many top picks hold out of training camp before they sign, only to end up with enormous contracts that have little to do with their true value to a football team.

What’s more, as this page reported Wednesday, NFL teams have a 50% chance of blowing a first-round pick entirely — the sort of costly gaffe that can set a franchise back for years.

Granted that there is no perfect mechanism available to replace the current draft process, it’s pretty clear that improvements could be made. Gregg Easterbrook has been championing a rookie salary cap for several years, which would move the monster contract negotiations out from initial signing to a later date, allowing teams to pay more directly for demonstrated ability (but even that sort of system could be gamed, of course). As I wrote last year:

The story repeats, draft after draft, as highly touted college stars are taken early in the first round, sign megabucks contracts and then go into the witness protection program. A rookie salary cap would be in the interests of almost everyone: teams, veteran players, and rookies-not-taken-in-the-first-round. The only ones who’d see their situation change for the worse would be the first 32 players taken in the draft (who would now have to prove that they can make the transition to the pro league before being rewarded with big contracts).

Update, 10:45pm: Speaking of horse-trading . . . I just happened to check the New York Times liveblog, and Minnesota has traded their first round pick, #30, to the Detroit Lions. No Viking pick in the first round, but they get Detroit’s pick in the second round, #34 overall, plus a 4th (#100) and a 7th (#214) in exchange. QB Jimmy Clausen had slipped from a speculated top-10 pick all the way to 30, where the NY Times folks were speculating he’d be the Vikings’ pick. Don’t know if he’ll still be there at the 34th pick, or if the Vikings are even interested (the chatter had them interested in Tim Tebow, who went to the Denver Broncos with the 25th selection).

February 16, 2010

QotD: Football

Filed under: Football, Humour, Quotations — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 13:11

The Super Bowl is one of those great annual events that is uniquely American — except for the Roman numerals. I think those still belong to the Vatican.

If you missed it, the final score was Saints, XXXI and Colts, XVII.

The Super Bowl represents what we Americans are all about: creative commercials occasionally interrupted by violence. During the six-hour broadcast, there were only 11 minutes of actual, live football action. Some of the commercial breaks were so long that, when we finally came back to the game, I had forgotten which teams were playing.

And what better Norman Rockwell-esque ritual could I have with my kids than to watch 20 erectile dysfunction commercials to every snap of the football? “Daddy, why are those people in bathtubs watching the sun set?” I just tell them the people lost their homes to foreclosure.

Football is a lot like sex: countless hours of advertising how good it will be with only 11 minutes of actual action. Then, for me, there is always that awkward moment at the end when my credit card is declined.

Ron Hart, “Super Bowl: Uniquely American – except the Roman numerals”, Orange County Register, 2010-02-10

February 3, 2010

Perhaps the Vikings should draft to replace McKinnie

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:45

Judd Zulgad rounds up the rather pathetic story of Vikings offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie’s Pro Bowl antics:

McKinnie was booted off the NFC roster after missing three of four practices, all but one meeting and even the team photo last week. After using his twitter account to document his partying ways, McKinnie also used twitter to say that he was in the process of pulling out of the game because of injury. However, that did little to help his NFC teammates. The fact is McKinnie was kicked off the roster and it was too late to replace him.

Craig was told that McKinnie became a “running joke” among players on the NFC roster — something that isn’t funny at all in reality. So how is McKinnie taking all of this? Well, it appeared that last night and early this morning he was back to using twitter to express himself.

Among McKinnie’s tweets:

— “What I realize is ppl like negative that’s what sells [at] the end of the day.”

That was followed by:

— “HATERS MAKE ME STRONGER SO THANX 4 THE FAVOR! I DON’T BREAK SUCKAS!”

— “That’s My Motto! So Feed me the hate! All yall doing is make me stronger! Don’t know what yall Talking bout! THanx 4 getting me followes!”

— “I’m thankful 4 every1 who voted 4 me from the bottom of my heart!”

— “I give the LORD PRAISE 4 giving me the strength 2 deal anything that come my way and 4 being by my side! ONLY GOD can JUDGE ME!”

Unlike defensive linemen, where hearing their names mentioned during a game usually means they did something good, hearing the name of your offensive tackle mentioned in a broadcast usually means they’re scraping your quarterback up off the turf. McKinnie’s name got mentioned a lot this year.

If his Pro Bowl behaviour is typical of his regular season behaviour, the Vikings would be well advised to look to replace him during the draft in April. Stars who have behaviour issues can be tolerated, but his star value isn’t anywhere near as high as he seems to think it is.

February 2, 2010

QotD: Who’s on for halftime? And what does it actually mean?

Filed under: Football, Media, Quotations — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:59

This year’s Super Bowl halftime act is The Who, a band that would be eligible for Medicare if its members were American — Roger Daltrey is 65, Pete Townshend is about to turn 65. Now, I like senior citizens who scream into microphones as much as the next guy, but isn’t the Super Bowl halftime format getting a bit geriatric? Last year we got Bruce Springsteen, age 60. The year before — Tom Petty, age 59. Yes, recent halftime shows have been more up-tempo than the 1970 Super Bowl halftime act: Carol Channing. But there have got to be some younger groups out there that merit the Super Bowl stage, and could broaden the appeal to those younger than the Baby Boomer demographic.

Surely The Who will sing “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” When rock anthems are heard on television or in advertising, often they are electronically edited to emphasize well-known lines and downplay or delete anything that might make audiences uncomfortable. When this song is heard, the refrain “We won’t get fooled again!” is amped up — it sounds bold and defiant. Done away with are other lines such as “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” or “We’ll be fighting in the streets/with our children at our feet/and the morals that they worship will be gone.” And the following lyrics — what, exactly, do they mean? “I’ll move myself and my family aside/if we happen to be left half alive/I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky/for I know that the hypnotized never lie.” What does any of the song mean?

Originally, the song was received as anti-war or an extremely vague call to revolution. Some thinkers maintain the song is conservative — a disillusioned revolutionary declaring that street-protest tactics are useless. Townshend, who wrote the song, maintains the lyrics are apolitical, and mean, “Don’t expect to see what you expect to see. Expect nothing and you might gain everything.” Huh? My guess is that, like a lot of what was received as “deep” in this field — Bob Dylan’s music, some of Springsteen’s — the lyrics don’t have any coherent meaning, they’re just a bunch of interesting individual lines cobbled together. I wince to think that a billion people watching the halftime show will nod happily as the line “We won’t get fooled again!” echoes around the world, when the majority of those watching will, most assuredly, get fooled again.

Gregg Easterbrook, “TMQ: Colts vs. Saints a contrast in styles”, ESPN Page 2, 2010-02-02

January 25, 2010

Vikings dominant in all categories, except the most important one

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:04

Minnesota looked great in the stat sheet: total yards — 475 yards to 257, passing — 310 yards to 189 and rushing 165 to the Saints’ 68. But there was one big number they couldn’t overcome: turnovers. It was as if someone had greased the football, with Adrian Peterson fumbling twice (once on the Saints’ goal line) and recovering a third. Even Percy Harvin let one get away from him, while Brett Favre was picked off twice (once to kill the Vikings’ best chance to win in regulation time). The Saints, by comparison, played almost turnover free, except for a bad decision on fielding a punt by Reggie Bush.

Brett Favre took a beating, as Saints defenders took every opportunity to hit him (only drawing a penalty once for a flagrant hit). Near the end of the third quarter, Favre was so slow getting up again that it appeared he’d be leaving the game. After having his ankle examined and re-taped, Favre re-entered the game on the next series. He must have been quite emphatic about it with the coaches, as backup Tarvaris Jackson didn’t even start warming up.

Chip Scoggins talked with Adrian Peterson after the game:

Adrian Peterson came out of the locker room — still dressed in full uniform — to watch the New Orleans Saints celebrate their first trip to the Super Bowl. As fans cheered, confetti fell and the Saints gathered on a stage at midfield, Peterson stood silent and watched the scene from the tunnel.

“It was painful,” he said. “Especially the way the game ended. Our guys fought hard and I honestly feel like we just gave the game away. Too many turnovers. It came back at the end to bite us.”
Peterson had a hand in that. Though he finally rushed for 100 yards and scored three touchdowns, Peterson also fumbled two times and took responsibility for the botched handoff at the end of the first half.

Peterson finished with 122 yards rushing on 25 carries, ending a streak of eight games without reaching the 100-yard mark. But his performance was marred by his fumbles and he admitted afterward that he started thinking too much about his mistakes.

“After the first one close to the goal line, I let it play in my head too much,” he said. “I came out the second half and was thinking about it too much. I had to get my mind back focused and not thinking about it when I was out there.”

Peterson’s fumbling problem became a major issue in his third season. He fumbled seven times, losing six of them in the regular season. He said he will spend the offseason trying to solve it.

January 21, 2010

Vikings scheme to handle Reggie Bush

Filed under: Football, Humour — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:06

Just in case you thought they’d forgotten how Reggie Bush made them look plain awful on special teams last year — giving up a pair of punt return touchdowns in the same game — here’s some strong evidence that they’ve got plans in place to deal with Bush in Sunday’s NFC championship game:

Punter Chris Kluwe drew a lot of media attention Wednesday regarding his game plan for Saints punt returner Reggie Bush, who returned two punts for touchdowns against the Vikings last season.

“Actually, we were planning on first pooping our pants and running screaming toward the sidelines, and then Reggie would be able to just pick up the ball and run toward the end zone,” Kluwe said. “In retrospect, though, that might not be the best plan, so I’m sure we’ll come up with something else.”

Coach Brad Childress and Kluwe had a heated conversation on the sideline last season after Bush’s second touchdown return. Asked about it, Kluwe said: “It happens. Emotions run high during games and you go from there. Me and Coach are much more heavily medicated now, so hopefully we’ll be OK on the sidelines.”

January 19, 2010

TMQ’s view of the Minnesota-Dallas playoff game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 13:05

I don’t always agree with Gregg Easterbrook, but I always find him an interesting writer. Here’s some of his observations on the Vikings-Cowboys game:

Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees — the run-up to Title Weekend is sure to focus on them. For my money, the Colts, Jets, Saints and Vikings made the championship round because they have the league’s four best offensive lines.

Ninety percent of the action in football occurs away from the ball. When Jersey/B runners burst into the clear, or Favre casually dissects a defense, what’s going on is terrific blocking. Manning was sacked less than any other NFL quarterback this season because the Colts’ offensive line is tremendous. The Jets are in the championship round because of the holes their blockers open. The Vikings’ and Saints’ offensive lines both pass-block and run-block equally well, which is a rare combination. The TV commentators will be watching the glory boys holding the football. I’ll be watching the offensive lines. All four are tremendous.

[. . .] between a first-ever chance to host an NFC title game, and the travails of the city of New Orleans, there will be more energy in the Superdome on Sunday than in Iron Man’s pulse reactor. The sheer atmosphere-power within the facility may exceed the crowd feeling of any other game in NFL history. The Vikings are 9-0 at home this season, and 4-4 on the road — the only quality team they beat on the road was the Packers. NFL players are not intimidated by crowd noise. But it won’t just be crowd noise, it will be energy. The Vikings face an uphill climb.

Adrian Peterson — remember him? He hasn’t had a 100-yard rushing game since Nov. 15. The New Orleans run defense is weak, while its pass defense is strong. A conservative, rush-oriented game plan might be just what the doctor ordered considering New Orleans’ personnel and the need to keep the Saints’ league-leading offense off the field. But with Brett Favre and Brad Childress both preoccupied with pumping up Favre’s stats (see below) will Minnesota be able to bring itself to do the smart thing and use a conservative game plan?

When the Saints have the ball, you just never know what is going to happen. They probably don’t either, which is the joy of watching this team. When attention turns to the Vikings, all eyes are on Favre. But what makes Minnesota special is the best pair of lines in the league. The offensive line is stout, the defensive line is fantastic. The Vikings just clobbered the Cowboys via superior line play — if they are to win in New Orleans, their lines will be the key.

I’m looking forward to watching the Saints-Vikings game, but Easterbrook’s praise of Minnesota is a tad overdone. The offensive and defensive lines are good, but they have had some bad outings in the last month, and the offensive line is much better at pass blocking than run blocking (Adrian Peterson is one of the best running backs in the NFL, but even he can’t run if there are no running lanes opened up for him). It’s also not yet known how bad the leg injury to Ray Edwards was (no official word until tomorrow). If he can’t play, it’ll depend on Jared Allen fighting through double-team blocking without the same threat from the other side of the line.

The Brett-Favre-to-Sidney-Rice connection has been wonderful, but after Sunday’s game, New Orleans will be double-teaming Rice all afternoon. Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe will have to get open much more this week than they did this time. New Orleans is supposed to be weak against the run (they’ve jumped ahead in most games, so teams have had to throw against them to try to catch up). I hope that’s true, and that Adrian gets some good run blocking to let him do what he’s proven he can do best: hit those lanes and take it to the house.

January 18, 2010

How much are the Vikings worth?

Filed under: Economics, Football, Politics — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 17:52

An interesting Wall Street Journal article tries to put a dollar value on the “intangible” value of a professional sports team to the fans . . . in this case, the Minnesota Vikings:

Christopher Slinde, a lifetime Minnesota Vikings fan who has endured decades of heartbreak and lots of overpriced beer in supporting his team, believes Vikings fandom is priceless. According to economists, it’s worth $530.65.

“This is deep,” said Mr. Slinde, a 33-year-old X-ray technician, outside the Park Tavern near Minneapolis on Sunday. He had been handed a recent economics paper that is tattooed with equations and attempts to value, in dollars, the joy and pain Minnesotans get from the Vikings.

“Don’t economists spend their time on more serious stuff?” he asked, after thumbing through the paper in the cold.

As fans pack stadiums and couches to watch the National Football League’s divisional playoffs this weekend, they care about victory. Economists are tackling a more abstract challenge: putting a price on the emotional benefits of having a pro sports team in town.

Interestingly, the one question that doesn’t come up is why non-fans (the rest of the taxpayers being asked to pay for a new Vikings stadium) should use their tax dollars to subsidize their sports-mad fellow citizens. The answer is, of course, that if Minnesota won’t then some other state or city will do. It seems reasonable to me to ask the billionaire owners of these sports franchises to pay for their own buildings . . . but there’s a long, inglorious history of these very well-off, well-connected folks being able to get politicians to pry the coffers open and paying public money to benefit private interests.

January 17, 2010

The nailbiter-that-wasn’t

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 17:29

With most media reports emphasizing how Dallas on their five-game winning streak had the advantage over Minnesota, the results didn’t bear out the prognostications. DeMarcus Ware was going to make Phil Loadholt and Bryant McKinnie look like rag dolls. The Dallas nose tackle was going to use Vikings centre Sullivan as a welcome mat. Jason Whitten was going to have a career game against Minnesota’s notoriously bad secondary.

34-3 was the final score, clearly showing the experts knew what they were talking about.

Well, in another universe anyway. Dallas had a great start to the game, putting up lots of yards against the Vikings, while the Vikings had negative yardage. But Dallas couldn’t get into the end zone, while the Vikings started getting there on a regular basis. Brett Favre set yet another record (his 4 TD passes were a personal playoff mark), and receiver Sidney Rice was on the receiving end of three of them, the fourth going to Visanthe Shiancoe. Jared Allen made lots of noise in the Dallas backfield, drawing attention away from the other side of the line, where Ray Edwards tallied three sacks (half of the Vikings’ total in the game).

Although the Vikings’ offensive line kept Favre relatively untroubled, they still didn’t do enough to open running lanes for Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. Facing New Orleans for the NFC title game next week, the line had better do more to create those lanes, as the Saints are not good at defending against the run.

January 10, 2010

Shootout in Arizona, shoot-down in Foxboro

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 21:29

Just watched the Baltimore Ravens do horrible things to the guys wearing the New England Patriot uniforms. Following that, the Arizona Cardinals had a scoring fest against the Green Bay Packers . . . who also had a scoring fest.

I don’t know what happened to the Patriots, as they looked as though they’d never seen a football before. The game was already looking out of reach by the end of the first quarter. Final score, 33-14. Baltimore tried a couple of trick plays — having the quarterback throw the ball in a “forward pass” rather than handing off to the running back. It’s a legal play, and some teams do a lot of it, but Baltimore didn’t need too much of that exotic stuff to grind New England down.

Arizona appeared to have an insurmountable lead over the Packers, but somehow (perhaps by not playing any significant defence) they let Green Bay tie the game at the end of regulation, forcing an overtime period. This was one of the highest scoring games in playoff history (at one point, the game announcers said it had already tied for second highest combined score, and the game wasn’t over yet). The game was decided on a defensive TD early in the overtime period, finishing 51-45.

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