Sports

Money (Basket) Ball

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Michael Lewis is a great journalist and author of several books that are highly recommended by Dan and I. “Moneyball” tells the story of the Oakland A’s, and how they used statistics and a novel view of baseball to win a lot of games on a small budget, as well as the story of Billy Beane, who went from a can’t miss, 4 tool prospect to an MLB bust, and then on to revolutionize baseball as manager of the A’s. “The Blind Side” explained the evolution of the left tackle in the NFL from an also-ran to one of the most important positions on the field, along with a lucid an excellent description of the evolution of passing offense, which sadly enough has apparently never been read by our beloved Chicago Bears. The book also featured Michael Oher, who was plucked from total obscurity to starting on Ole Miss, the only team that knocked off eventual NCAA champion Florida last season. For non-sports related items, Michael Lewis also wrote the famous book “Liars Poker” which explained the rise of bond trading at Salomon Brothers and is a Wall Street classic.

Recently Michael Lewis wrote an article on basketball that appeared in the NY Times magazine – to find the article go to the NY Times site and type in the title of the article in the search engine – “The No-Stats All-Star”.

In this article, Michael Lewis takes on basketball the same way he took on baseball and football, above. He is attempting to do what the best journalists do – tie in the “human element” with an original analysis of a complex topic. The key to Michael Lewis’ writing is that his human element actually matters and isn’t just fluff to glue the story together.

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Legalizing Sports Betting

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For a long time I have wondered here and elsewhere why there is no state sanctioned sports betting. It isn’t like gamblers aren’t betting on sports in areas where there is no legal way to do so.

From what I have heard, you can simply walk into pretty much any bar and get “parlay cards“, or bet on games online.

Since these activities are already going on, why have states been so anguished about setting up organized betting for them? We all pretty much have lotteries where we can bet on RANDOM numbers, so why not on sports games? Vegas has dialed in the sports betting ratios and how to run a sports book long ago; there aren’t any real secrets in that realm. Set the spread so you get half the bets on one side, half on the other and collect the “juice” or “vig“. Simple as that.

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ChicagoBoyz Physical Fitness Series Continued…

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Even a simple playground can provide the tools for  a great workout.   I did this workout myself today, and can report that it is moderately challenging.   Harsh language in video.


Fringe Benefit – Will Palin Make the Country Healthier?

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Much has been said already about Governor Palin.   I want to concentrate on her looks.   Which is easy to do for most heterosexual males.   She is well put together.   I like the glasses, I like the skirts, I like the fact that she is an in shape ass kicker of a female.  

The comment thread in this post got my attention.

Here is what Helen, our friend from across the pond said:

And talking of who looks good. You know what makes me mad: how does a woman who has had five children get away with wearing a pencil skirt? Sheesh.

Mitch replied:

Sorry, Helen, but she apparently does it the old-fashioned way: by keeping to a physical regime that would kill most men of her age, let alone of mine. Let us of normal pudginess admire her, and let those who dare, emulate her. Not me, thank-you-very-much. The First Dude doesn’t look much like a citified metrosexual ponce, either, so perhaps it’s just as well they found each other. If they had found one of us regular types, somebody could have gotten hurt.

I am fortunate to have a wife whose figure recovered quite nicely and quickly  after  bearing two wonderful children.   Many women I have known are not so lucky and struggle with their weight all of their lives after having kids.   It looks like Palin may have taken the issue into her own hands and decided that she would be in shape, doing it the old fashioned way – exercise.   A quick dose of Google reveals a few interesting things.

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