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Yoga

Everyone has regrets about high school. Maybe they should have studied harder. Maybe they should have spent more (or less) time with their friends. Maybe they passed up an opportunity they never got again. 

I wish I had done yoga.

I played football in high school. I lifted weights. I was in great shape, except I had lower back pain. It was most severe during football season, but hurt pretty much year round. 

I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t severe and I really loved playing football. I thought back pain was just part of being a linebacker. 

People told me to stretch. I stretched with the team before practice, so I thought I was following this advice.

Some people told me to do yoga. I laughed at them. Me, do yoga? Isn’t that for girls? Don’t you have to convert to Buddhism? 

When I graduated high school and hung up my shoulder pads for the last time, the back pain softened. But it never went away. Throughout most of college I was still active, mostly playing basketball. While not as bad as football season, my back pain would flare up the day after a game of basketball. 

Three years ago I found something that really helps. Yoga. 

My wife Kelly was going to yoga classes here and there. While I had ignored previous suggestions to do yoga, the continued back pain five years after my last football game pushed me to consider joining her. And so I did.

The first class was exactly what I expected. I was really bad, inflexible and with poor balance. We had a moment of meditation at the end (which I hated at the time, but like yoga, I now have a more positive attitude). The class was nearly all female.

And yet, after about four classes, my back felt better! 

Personal experience combined with Googling showed me what I would have already known had I paid attention in my high school anatomy class. My back pain wasn’t really the result of trauma to my back and it couldn’t be relieved with lower back stretches. It is largely caused by tight hamstrings. I have really tight hamstrings.

A yoga class does wonders for getting me to stretch my hamstrings and other tight spots, like my hips. I try to go once a week. Doing yoga regularly doesn’t necessarily make me feel better, it just makes my body not feel tight.  That’s a little frustrating. But it’s worth it. And I wish I could go back in time to convince my high school self of it. 

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The Future of Football

I think football has two major problems that will require change.

First, football is a dangerous sport. There is mounting evidence that football, particularly at the highest level, causes brain damage.

This could become a hit to popularity if fans lose interest in watching concussions. As parents grow concerned, fewer youth football players likely means fewer lifelong fans.

Second, college football is a financially lucrative business built upon players restricted from earning salaries. Division I football players receive scholarships covering tuition, housing, meals, etc. For most, this is a good deal. But some players are vastly underpaid. After being drafted first this year, Baker Mayfield will earn upwards of $8 million per year in the NFL. How does that compare to his scholarship just a few months ago at the University of Oklahoma?

At some point I believe this will be widely regarded as unacceptable. Players like Mayfield bring in significant revenue to their universities and to the NCAA. While student-athletes are not allowed to bring home any of the cash directly, one devastating injury could take away their future as professional athletes.

A related criticism of this arrangement is that college football (and basketball) have become so big they are major distractions to universities. In some cases, star student-athletes are treated differently in the classroom and in university discipline systems. Football coaches are some of the highest paid government employees in many states.

Where is this all headed? First, I think we will see professional football careers shorten. Long-lasting head trauma is a result of repeated blows, which can be minimized by playing football for fewer years. Second, I think we will see an uncoupling of major sports from universities. Most major football programs have enough brand loyalty to continue on divorced from their (now former) university. Third, I think these two trends will merge towards a unified system of professional football. Most players will play from the ages of 18 to 25 and we could see a future matchup between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Cleveland Browns.

There are obviously other common grievances with football. Many fans think the football rulebook has become too complex. Some fans think the NFL is anti-patriotic. Cord-cutting could be a financial risk for football. But I think only the high risk of concussions and the student-athlete arrangements are existential risks to the current football system.

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Why I’m Bullish on the NBA

Growing up, I played a number of sports but I was best at football. Football was easily my favorite sport a few years ago. In 2010 two things happened: I stopped playing football (because I graduated high school) and I became interested in the NBA.

Michael Jordan’s last season with the Bulls ended when I was 7. I remember that era, but just barely. While I played basketball for many of the years I was playing football I did not find the NBA very interesting.

When I started to gain interest in the NBA in 2010, not only were my hometown Bulls good again (lead by local kid Derrick Rose) but the league was fun to watch. Since then I have watched more and more of the NBA but less and less of the NFL. I’m not sure when the breaking point was, but basketball is unquestionably my favorite sport.

Here is why I’m bullish on the future of the NBA. Some are personal preference, some are just reasons to believe the league will succeed:

  • Personalities. NFL teams have around 50 players on their roster with 22 starters. The NBA have 15 man rosters with 5 starters. With fewer players on the playing field, each player becomes more important. It also becomes easier to follow the different players, their unique qualities, and their relationships with one another. 
  • Storylines. Check out this Slate article from the crazy stories of just last season. The #1 overall pick forgot how to shoot. Players confronting the opposing team (and former teammates) in their locker rooms after a game. A player tweeting out “I Dont wanna be here”. A player got suspended for throwing soup at an assistant coach. Someone on the internet figures out a general manager’s wife was using burner accounts to leak confidential information. Tell me, what other league has this many crazy stories?!
  • Player retention. The NBA has shaped their collective bargaining agreement to allow teams to retain players for the long haul. I’m not a huge fan of this personally, but it helps smaller market teams stay competitive. This improves league balance and national fan engagement.
  • International growth. NBA fandom in China skyrocketed when Yao Ming was a star for the Houston Rockets. There are a huge number of top NBA stars from abroad: Greek Giannis Anteokounmpo, Australian Kyrie Irving, Cameroonian Joel Embiid, Serbian Nikola Jokic, Latvian Kristaps Porzingas are all top 25 players. Interest in the NBA around the globe is only going to go up as more and more international players gain stature in the association.
  • Safety. I still love football, but at the end of the day basketball is clearly safer. This allows players to play longer, have healthier retirements, and encourages more kids to play. 
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Homecoming at MSU

On Saturday Kelly and I drove up to East Lansing for homecoming at Michigan State. We spent the day with my old housemates Kyle, Nick, and Jay, along with Jay’s girlfriend Kara and our friend Charlie. It was a long yet fun day.

Kelly and I woke at 7am in order to begin tailgating before the noon game. We arrived around 9:30 and met up with our group. We then called Ubers to take us to the house of the younger sister of Mollie, who used to live with Kyle’s girlfriend Kate and went to high school with Kyle. We spent about 45 minutes hanging out there before walking across campus to the tennis courts, a tailgating hotspot. Along the way my friend Dillon, who I worked with as a counselor at Boys State, came up to us. We caught up with him and his girlfriend Emily for about 10 minutes before reconnecting with out original group at a tailgate hosted by the family of Hailey, Nick’s new female companion.

We headed for the stadium and arrived just in time for kickoff. Despite a forecast of clear skies, it poured for a majority of the game. Our friends left at halftime and we left after 3 quarters. We all watched the last quarter from Harrison Roadhouse. MSU barely squeaked out a victory over Purdue after jumping out to an early 21-0 lead. We have lost 7 starters to injury and I’m starting to worry about this team.

In the evening, we got in to P.T. O’Malley’s just before they restricted entry. P.T.’s is where we celebrated my 21st birthday. We had a good time there, including Jay knocking over a drink while attempting to say hi to some girls and Kelly dancing to Footloose. We stopped for wraps at Conrad’s, classic East Lansing drunk food. While walking down the street we recognized a friend of Nick’s. Kyle pointed at him and went “hey its…” with no clue what his name was, which was awkward but hilarious. In our hotel room Kyle said, out of nowhere, “my old boss…” and didn’t finish his thought. Good work Kyle.

It was a great weekend. I’m lucky that this group has continued to get together in East Lansing every year and it was great to have Kelly join the fun. Hopefully next year we’ll do it again, without the rain!

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Michigan State vs Purdue

Tomorrow Kelly and I are heading up to East Lansing to see Michigan State play football against Purdue. Michigan State football is in the middle of a golden age. Since Mark Dantonio took over the program in 2007, the team has had 79 victories and 31 losses. Excluding his first three years, his record is 57 and 14. Over the past four seasons MSU has won the Outback Bowl, Buffalo Wild Wings bowl, Rose Bowl, and Cotton Bowl (which had a classic comeback victory).

My Dad went to Purdue so I grew up a fan of Purdue’s football and basketball teams. During those years, they were actually pretty good. Drew Brees, who went on to a superstar career in the NFL including a Super Bowl victory, led Purdue to a Big Ten Championship and a Rose Bowl. A few years later, Kyle Orton led Purdue to four straight bowl games before having a decent NFL career. These days, Purdue football is dreadful. Current head coach Darrell Hazell is 5-23, and his predecessor Danny Hope went a mediocre 22-28. So far this season they have only beaten Indiana State and lost to Marshall, Virginia Tech, and Bowling Green.

One weakness in MSU’s team this year is the secondary. Michigan State’s pass defense is ranked 114th out of 128 FBS teams. This is simply abysmal, especially considering one of our four games was against Navy which is ranked dead last in passing offense. Despite Purdue’s rough start to the season, their passing offense is a formidable foe. If they can reduce their interceptions (7 in 4 games), their 257 passing yards per game is more than enough to win a Big Ten game. Tomorrow all eyes will be on MSU’s cornerbacks and safeties to perform.

This year MSU has started the season with four straight wins and an amazing second place ranking nationally. Tomorrow’s match-up against Purdue will be one of many cupcake games against Big Ten teams including Rutgers and Indiana. In two weeks we will face off with a Michigan team defying preseason expectations after a 31-0 victory over BYU under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh. After defeating Oregon (ranked seventh at the time but now out of the top 25 after a brutal 62-20 loss to Utah) the match-ups against Michigan and Ohio State on November 21st are the two remaining tests to prove we are contenders for a national championship.

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3-3-5 Defense

My high school football team ran a 3-3-5 defense. This means that there were three down linemen, three linebackers directly behind the linemen, and five defensive backs (two cornerbacks, one free safety, and two “spurs” or strong safeties). Your typical football defense is a 4-3 or 3-4, which will have four linemen and three linebackers or vice versa. This leaves four defensive backs, two cornerbacks and two safeties.

What makes the 3-3-5 defense unique is there are only six players lined up in the box and only three on the line of scrimmage. However, there are five defensive backs to cover the pass or blitz, which is one more than a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme. This means the 3-3-5 is suited to defend against offenses that pass more than they run.

Running a 3-3-5 defense in high school was really unwise. Generally high school offenses will be either run-heavy or balanced with play action and short passes making up a majority of the passing game. High school offenses with a quarterback who can throw the deep ball accurately, and talented wide receivers who run good routes and catch the ball well, are rare. At least, a lot more rare than teams with what you need to run the ball: a competent offensive line and a running back who can power ahead for at least four yards a carry.

Stopping the run in a 3-3-5 was difficult. Five offensive linemen faced off against our three down linemen. By the time linebackers came up to stop the run, the offense usually had a solid hole and momentum. In hindsight, I think the 3-3-5 places a high priority on linebackers filling their gaps based on their read of the guard. I was taught to read my keys and react but I don’t think this was emphasized enough by our coaches.

Unsurprisingly, we had a decent pass defense but we were pretty poor at stopping the run. I would be interested to see our past statistics against run and pass players. I also wonder if my coaches ever did that. Each offseason we had the opportunity to switch to a new defensive system, such as the standard 4-3 and 3-4 or even a 4-4 scheme. We switched from the Wing T offense to a Spread offense during my time playing football at Saline High School. I have mixed feelings about that switch (I think it worked out the first year, but we should have switched back to the Wing T or something similar for my Senior year due to personal) which I may write about some other time.

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Start of State Policy Network Annual Meeting 2015

I am on my way to the State Policy Network’s (SPN) Annual Meeting today. SPN is the network of state-based free market think tanks in the United States. I have previously attended this event in Amelia Island, FL and Oklahoma City. This year the event is being hosted by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Grand Rapids, MI. I spent the summer of 2012 as an intern at the Mackinac Center working on their Michigan Capitol Confidential publication. My work from that time, a series of investigative journalism pieces of government investments in green energy projects, is available online here.

I attended my first SPN Annual Meeting through their Generation Liberty Fellowship for young people interested in free market think tank work. I hosted a session on student outreach for think tanks on behalf of SFL. I think it was a moderately successful session. The next year I attended entirely on behalf of SFL, again running the student outreach session.

This year I have four primary areas of focus. The first is professional development through sessions on management and fundraising. The second is fundraising through meeting with new, potential, and current SFL donors. Third is maintaining SFL’s presence at our exhibitor booth. My final focus is networking with existing and new contacts, updating them on SFL’s work and my current role as well as learning of new projects from other organizations.

I am very excited for this conference and hope to gain a lot from my participation. This is my first non-SFL libertarian event in months. Following the conference, Kelly and I will meet up and head to Michigan State to attend the football game against Purdue with my old roommates and their significant others: Nick, Jay, Kara, Kyle, and Kate. On Sunday, we will celebrate my 24th birthday with my family. This should be a great week!