CU Buffs Football: grade points vs. extra points

by Brian T. Schwartz | 9:43 pm, December 20, 2012

This originally appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera on December 1, 2012. Former Buffs football coach Jon Embree has claimed some credit for his players’ improved GPAs:  ”You had the highest GPA the last three semesters that this school has ever had in the football program,” he said.  If Embree is to blame for CU [...]

How Peyton Manning could increase your income

by Brian T. Schwartz | 10:20 pm, March 24, 2012

This article originally appeared in the print edition of the The Boulder Daily Camera on Saturday, March 24, 2012. The Broncos’ quest for world championships now “starts with Peyton,” says executive VP John Elway.  If you don’t follow the Broncos, should … Continue reading →

Tim Tebow: Fans should thank home school equal access laws

by Brian T. Schwartz | 5:10 pm, December 17, 2011

This article was printed in the Boulder Daily Camera on December 17, 2011. No one would be talking about Tim Tebow’s football excellence had the Florida legislature acted differently when Tebow was nine years old. In 1996 the legislature allowed … Continue reading →

Congratulations to the Mavs

by Rossputin | 6:05 am, June 13, 2011

Every once in a while a team comes along – the Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s and the Oakland Raiders of every year come to mind – whom you’re just happy to see beaten, almost no matter who does it.

Thus it was that most of the nation was cheering for the Dallas Mavericks last night as they won their first NBA Championship, beating the Miami Heat (in Miami no less) to take the series in six games.

Hating the Heat has become a national pastime after Lebron James’ unceremonious departure from Cleveland. They’re a team with great individual talent, and one would have to bet that they’ll win a championship any year now.

But with too much Heat swagger and the Maverick’s team of 30-somethings, most basketball fans (including me) wanted to see the Mavs win, despite the odious personality of their owner, Mark Cuban.  In particular, I’m happy to see Jason Kidd win a championship at the age of 38. He’s always struck me as a class act, as does the 32-year old Dirk Nowitski. (It’s unlike me to cheer for a German, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.)

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle becomes the 11th man ever to win an NBA championship as both a player and a coach. (He was part of the 1986 Boston Celtics team.)

One other thought: As a long-suffering Washington Redskins fan, I’m well aware that teams whose rosters read almost like all-star teams often have trouble putting it all together because the individuals’ personalities and egos get in the way. Miami didn’t have that problem to the degree that the Redskins have had for a decade; after all, the Heat did get to the championship. But still, getting so many big names to play together is not an easy thing to do; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra deserves commendation for getting his team as far as he did.

Again, congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks, in part for winning and in part for not losing to the Miami Heat.

Oy Veh

by Rossputin | 5:29 pm, March 24, 2011

Unfortunately, this speaks for itself…

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2011/03/24/2011-03-24_barry_bonds_trial_expert_details_shrinking_testicles_growing_extremities_as_ped_.html

Youth Concussion Legislation

by Rossputin | 11:14 am, February 14, 2011

One again State Senator Nancy Spence shows up on a head-scratching piece of legislation, at least from the point of view of those who thought that Republicans opposed the Nanny State.  This time it’s Colorado Senate Bill 40, the “Jake Snakenberg Youth Concussion Act”.

In a strangely self-congratulatory note from the State Senate Republican Press Office, they claim the legislation will “help to keep young athletes (from 11-19 years old, not including college/university sports) active and safe in three important ways.”

In short, those ways are :

• Requiring coaches to take annual “concussion recognition education”,
• Requiring coaches to remove a “youth athlete” from a game or other competition “if the coach suspects” the athlete has suffered a concussion, and
• Requiring written clearance by a health care provider before the athlete is allowed to return to competition or practice.

To be fair to the Colorado Nanny Statists, it’s not just them who have been sucked in to the “for the children” pleasantness of “keeping youth athletes safe.”  Arizona, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states have passed or are considering similar legislation after the NFL got involved, “helping craft legislation in states around the country to protect young athletes from the long-term effects of concussions.”  The legislators in the Denver Broncos organization are also supporting the bill.

My homework seems to show that Grandview High School, where the young man for whom the bill is named tragically died after a concussion during a football game, already had rules in place which should have kept a student athlete out  of the game – if the concussion had been diagnosed.

This comment from the Cherry Creek Schools in 2004 at the time of Jake’s death is also worth noting: “His mother is a nurse and his stepfather is a cardiologist, and both were there when he collapsed. His stepfather administered immediate aid.”

The real issue here is that kids don’t want to come out of games; they love to play and they don’t want to look soft. They don’t realize they’re taking their lives into their hands. After all, didn’t we all feel nearly immortal in our teenage years?

Jake’s father said Jake showed no symptoms and admitted no headache, nausea, or any other clue to a concussion.  And a Denver Post story from 2004 discusses three young athletes, including Jake, who died from apparent sports-related head injuries but either felt no symptoms or went out of their way to make sure that parents and coaches didn’t hear about them.  Perhaps the most effective way to prevent this sort of tragic death is to force kids to tell their parents and coaches when they feel bad, strange, “not quite right”, etc., after a collision.  But of course, that’s nearly impossible, and to the extent it can be done, it’s going to have to come from parents and coaches, not from the law.

When I first read the provisions of this latest Nanny State bill – even as someone who thinks that the government has a higher duty to protect children than to protect adults – it struck me as a recipe for two things: Keeping kids out of games in much greater numbers and frequencies than injuries would actually suggest, and creating work for ambulance-chasing trial lawyers.

Wondering if I was being just heartless – something liberals often accuse libertarians of – I asked Republican State Senator Greg Brophy what his view is of the proposed bill.  Here’s Brophy’s take:

Of course not.  It will actually make matters worse.  If coaches follow the law in good faith, no kid will get back into a game after being pulled for concern over possible concussion.  Because only a Doc (and a couple other professionals) can release them to play and many of these kids sporting events aren’t attended by Docs. So a typical boy will hide any symptoms because he knows if he gets pulled, he won’t be put back in.  Duh.

Also, the sport with the most concussions is girls soccer.  They would’t get concussed if they wore mouth guards and had their jaws clenched when the head butt the ball.  Or we could just ban commie kickball altogether.

I may end up being the only vote against this stupid bill.

UPDATE: I am told that Republican State Senators Shawn Mitchell and Kevin Lundberg voted against the bill in committee, so Greg Brophy won’t be the only no vote.

ObamaCare No Perfect Game

by TJ Wihera | 10:56 pm, July 23, 2009

Today, White Sox Pitcher Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game – only the 18th that has been thrown in the MLB’s history. It’s an incredible feat. After the game, Buehrle got a call from President Obama, and a White House spokesman said that Obama told Buehrle the game was “an incredible achievement” and “something that [...]

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