CBD's Affect On An Athlete's Performance

The big question: Does CBD really have the potential to improve an athlete’s performance? Sites such as TheCBDGuru.org have been talking about this for a while now, and EZDzine has also gotten interested in this. This issue is still a bit controversial, even in 2020. We are going to take a look at our best empirical data in this article. And we are going to try to come to the most accurate conclusion possible given our current tools. In short, the answer is, as far as we can best see it, is that CBD doesn’t directly affect performance, […]

Just How Good is Cristiano Ronaldo at Poker?

Not everyone knows that Ronaldo is a highly skilled poker player who has competed against some of the best professional poker stars in the world.

Steroid Use and HOF Debate Heats Up

This afternoon, MLB.com posted the results of this year's Hall of Fame balloting.  This has been an ongoing interest of mine partly because of the hotly debated views on steroid use on TSE as well as the lingering question as to how much people (fans, media, ...) care about steroid use.  I don't know that HOF voters reflect fan interest all that closely, but the HOF voters care about the taint of steroids.  Two players who were at one time certain first balloters, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both received about 36 percent (I would like to know who voted […]

The Will to Make Tough, But Correct Decisions: Harbaugh and McCarthy

Related to the prior post on managerial decision making, Jim Harbaugh has finally won over almost all his critics for his decision to hand the starting QB job to Colin Kaepernick as Jim Trotter from SI.com discusses.  For me, the most interesting part of this is Harbaugh's willingness to flout conventional thinking and management his resources.  Replacing your winning QB with an young and untested QB is the kind of thinking that will get media and former players screaming if it doesn't work out, just like going (and failing) for 4th down on your own 30 yard line.  Just ask […]

Is an exit fee a barrier to entry?

The big news out of the ACC is that Noitre Dame has been unanimously voted in as a member of the conference... in every sport but football (of course) and hockey.  The not-so-big news in the grand scheme of things is that the ACC voted 10-2 to increase its exit fee from $20 million to more than 2.5 times that amount: $50 million. One of those two naysayers was Maryland's president Wallace Loh.  Loh voted against the increased exit fee because it could be seen as a barrier to entry by some who may otherwise want to join the ACC […]

Harsh Punishments, but No Death Penalty, for Penn State

The NCAA has hit Penn State with harsh penalties as punishment for the Jerry Sandusky case.  Penn State is put on probation for 5 years, is banned from bowl games for 4, loses numerous scholarships, is fined $60 million, and has the dreaded "vacating wins" penalty imposed on it (for the period 1998-2011).  It's players are allowed to transfer without penalty, which is also a penalty for Penn State football because it makes it easier for players to leave. No doubt about it, these are harsh penalties, and they seem appropriate to me.   There's no death penalty because of […]

Anthony Rizzo's Call Up: Was the Timing a Good Signal for Cubs Fans?

The man that many consider the Cubs top prospect, slugging first baseman Anthony Rizzo, made his Cubs debut Tuesday against the Mets.  Prior to that, he had spent the entire season tearing up Pacific Coast League pitching while playing for the Iowa Cubs. Rizzo looked like he had little to prove by spending more time in the minor leagues, but the Cubs' brass still kept him in Iowa to begin the season even as the parent Cubbies struggled to score runs.   Why? Part of the reason may have been a question of what to do with him.  Bryan LaHair […]

"Carnival-like monstrosity"

The Marlins beat the Cubs 5-2 last night, spoiling another good effort by Ryan Dempster.  Dempster, who hurt himself with a throwing error in the game, is now 0-1 on the year despite having just a 1.33 ERA.  The crushing blow was delivered by the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez who blasted a 3-run, tie-breaking homer in the 8th inning off of  Rafael Dolis.  So what does that have to do with economics?  This from the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan: Ramirez's blast to deep left set off a carnival-like monstrosity in center field that includes flying fish, flamingos and palm trees. It […]

"The Economic Impact of Cardinals Postseason on St. Louis is Unclear"

I'll admit right out of the box that I was excited, as only a sports economist can be, when I read the headline to this post which is the headline to this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article written by Matthew Hathaway (link via Chad Venable).  Matthew gets right to the chase:  spending on Cardinal games is not necessarily an inflow of money into an economy.  At least a portion of it would have been spent elsewhere in the city. A long Cardinals run of postseason baseball is good for business, right? The local chamber of commerce predicts it will pump millions of […]

ezdzine.com: Making a difference

Most likely in repsonse to recent articles on the thesporteconomist.com critical of the NCAA's policies towards payment of college players, the NCAA, after great debate, has agreed to increase the allowable compensation that schools can make to student athletes. The passage of the game-changing Proposal 2011-78 now allows student athletes unlimted access to fruit, nuts, bagels and bagel spreads including, but not limited to, butter, jelly, and cream cheese. Previously, the NCAA made no provision for access to adequate bagel condiments. While college athletes used to work for peanuts, their situation has now significantly improved - they now work for peanuts and […]

The Honeymoon is Already Over in Gwinnett

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. A consultant’s study used by county officials to justify spending $64 million on the stadium said Gwinnett’s demographics and economy made it “one of the strongest markets in the country to support a minor league baseball team.” Conventions, Sports & Leisure International estimated the team would average 6,000 to 6,500 fans a game after an initial “honeymoon” period in which attendance might be higher. In 2009 the team drew an average of 5,858 fans a game – up from 4,455 the previous year when the team played in Richmond, Va. But the average […]

The World is Not Enough

Ryan Jazayerli at Grantland offers a thorough and insightful survey of the demise of the Astros in "Rock Bottom in H-Town." Many turns to the story -- hiring of Larry Dierker, an early Sabermetric advocate, the build-up of the minor league system, 14 straight winning seasons, a trip to the World Series, and now a season headed toward near record number of losses for a non-franchise team and with little in the way of help on the roster or minor league system.  My current interest lies in the depletion of minor league players and cash to pursue veterans in the […]