March Madness: Barack's tourney picks and Oregon's policy choices
Kari Chisholm
With apologies to his brother-in-law, Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson, the President slammed the Pac-10. Filling out his bracket for ESPN, he declared that five of six Pac-10 teams in the NCAA tournament would lose in the first round. (And Washington in the second round.) In fact, he only picked five first-round upsets, and three of them feature favorites from the Pac-10 (Cal, UCLA, and Arizona State.)
To his credit, he picked Gonzaga over his home state team Illinois - a game that will be played right here in Portland on Thursday afternoon. Check out the president's complete bracket at ESPN. Here's his explanation, straight from the Oval Office:
To circle back to politics, remember that in 2005 Oregon legislators killed off Oregon Sports Action - the pro football betting game from the Oregon Lottery - in order to bring this weekend's NCAA games to Oregon. It was controversial at the time (reduced lottery revenues statewide in exchange for tourism dollars for Portland) --- and it's still controversial. Just last month, the Oregonian cited a local economist who thinks the state made a bad decision:
Robert Whelan, an economist with ECONorthwest consulting firm, said much of that $10 million [in tourism spending] will go to the national headquarters of Marriott and Hilton and other hotel chains. And local fans who already bought out all available tickets and will eat out nearby during the event are spending entertainment dollars that would have gone elsewhere in the city if the tournament were not here."It was stupid," Whelan said of doing away with Sports Action.
"I don't think it's going to be a net positive."...
The main purpose of Sports Action was to help finance intercollegiate athletics, and it contributed anywhere from $900,000 to $2.8 million annually to be divided among Oregon University System schools.
In repealing the state's sports gambling, lawmakers replaced it with 1 percent of the total lottery transfer -- or about $13 million for the current biennium that ends in June.
So higher education actually gets more money, but the state still loses out on a few million general fund dollars. That money will be hard to recover not only because of the falling economy but also because Sports Action served a niche market -- the die-hard football fan who wants to pick games, watch them and otherwise not gamble.
What do you think? Is it worth it?
Use this space to discuss anything you want about the tournament, including the games in Portland, the President's picks, or the policy issue.
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Mar 19, '09
I love the "business as usual" shtick. Besides all the other things that we actually need to know that he hasn't got around to mentioning, this is unseemly. Education in America is broken. Universities and their financial scams are just a step behind Wall Street and the investment bankers. College Athletics and it's money and the way it uses it would bring down the government in any other first world country. It used to be you announce your choices if you had a stake. Presidents would support their school. That was about it. He's the teleprompter Pres. This is Hollywood. Update your language. This is a product placement for NCAA athletics. "Match Madness" is rearranging the educational calendar to allow for greater marketing of "Spring Break". Meantime, legislators tell us what "sin" they're taxing next. How about taxing the profits from NCAA activities at 50%, with the money going into education?
Besides, I lived overseas last year, and it has changed my perceptions. Frankly, most American sporting events look like a minstrel show. Every American city features a core of poor, hopeless persons of color. They can become a part of the criminal custodial maintenance system or they can enlist. But no, a few get lucky and make big bucks entertaining us.
I would have liked to watch the tourney, but now I feel it's my duty as an American to boycott it. I'm tired of watching this administration tap dance around the issues and I'm tired of watching poor black kids tap dance for yuks. Or is that the great strength of America? Anyone that is going to argue that probably thinks slavery was great, all that mixing of tribes, as the resulting hybrid vigor has given us great, tall athletes! Know what GMOs are? SMOs are a human version of the same thing. When you're the society doing the modification, it's really rich to have a brown man, billed as a progressive, that is down with it.
Mar 19, '09
Hah. That was an entertaining video so thanks for posting it. I don't know too much about the Sports Action debate, but it seems to me that if the state of Oregon has a monopoly on gambling then they should take advantage of it, especially in this economy.
1:55 a.m.
Mar 19, '09
How about taxing the profits from NCAA activities at 50%, with the money going into education?
Huh? 100% of the profits to college athletic programs do go into education. (Note that I didn't say revenue; profit = revenue that exceeds costs.)
Mar 19, '09
You mean monopoly on non-SEC regulated gambling, right? At least we know what these guys are on.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in fruit salad. Louisville or UNC? It seems this is the metaphorical question that he keeps facing, in all his major decisions. And he keeps going against Louisville, while talking them up.
I do buy that he's a true b-ball fan, a first for me, with him. Not showing undo regard for Kansas or Illinois teams, which I really think most pols in his position would have done for purely hack reasons, shows that he knows much of the game, grasshopper.
Mar 19, '09
His picks were pretty different than mine. So for good measure, I entered my 4 year old in the pool using Obama's bracket. Just hedging my bets...
9:10 a.m.
Mar 19, '09
I like the President’s picks and liked seeing him make them. He seemed to call them as he sees them. Tough luck for the Pac 10. I do love the tournament.
I do not like the state making money from any form of gambling. Let’s just tax people fairly, not prey on some of them.
We need to shake up the model and organization of higher education in Oregon and nationally. We need to use the digital revolution to make the costs of college courses and their credits cheaper and more accessible (see my related thoughts here). We need to send many more students to study abroad. I do not think we can continue to maintain the costs of the current residential colleges with big time sports teams. As the funding for education erodes and the funding for sports grows (think Ducks and Beavers), the model that hold them together gets more and more unstable.
9:27 a.m.
Mar 19, '09
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in fruit salad.
I think you'd find that many foodies would question your wisdom. Tomato & Peach salad is a particularly popular combo.
2:21 p.m.
Mar 19, '09
First, a correction on the actual sporting aspect of the post. Illinois and Gonzaga could meet in the second round, a game that would be played in at the Rose Garden on Saturday, not today. However, both need to win their first-round games against Western Kentucky and Akron respectively. Here's saying the matchup never happens, as Western Kentucky pulls yet another 12-seed upset special. We'll see tonight.
As for the policy aspect, I'm all for anything that weans us off the lottery even a tiny bit. It's not free money. It comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is by and large the poor and poorly educated. The lottery is, and always has been, a "tax on people who are bad at math." The day we stop balancing this state's budget on the backs of the poor and disadvantaged via the lottery, will
be a truly beautiful daynever happen (who am I kidding).Mar 20, '09
I think it was a mistake to get rid of Sports Action. I've worked with Bob Whelan on a couple of projects, and he's a good economist, so I trust his analysis. We got rid of a sure revenue stream and replaced it with a "maybe" stream that is almost certainly going to be smaller. I think the most compelling point Whelan makes is that Sports Action tapped into a demographic that doesn't play regular lottery games. It's a game that was predominantly about skill, not luck, and it was geared towards hard core football fans. After they stopped the game, most of those fans either spent their money on other entertainment options, or started up office pools of which the state doesn't get a cut. They probably didn't start buying scratch-its.
Note: I say this as a regular Sports Action player for many years, and also as a huge college BB fan who attended yesterday's games and will attend Saturday as well.
12:32 p.m.
Mar 20, '09
I agree with Miles I hated when they got rid of Sports Action, and the rationale enforced by the NCAA is so stupid...only the Super Bowl sees more national wagering--if only in office pools--than the b-ball tourney. They're winking at that gambling that goes on, but a lottery game not even related to basketball is unacceptable? Horsecrap.
Mar 20, '09
a "tax on people who are bad at math."
What's wrong with "the ignorance tax"? Judging by the affect effects of the few successes, it's not limited to computing odds.
Why doesn't the State just paint gold bricks and make money off seeing who'll buy one for $10 on the outside chance it's real?
Mar 20, '09
duh. after effects. though i'm sure there are affect effects as well.
Mar 20, '09
No question the NCAA tournament is a corporate sponsored event aimed at people with substantial disposable income to spare. But once you admit it is just another form of paid entertainment it is a heck of a lot of fun. Give me Gonzaga vs. Western Kentucky over "American Idol" or "The Bachelor" or "Dancing With The Network Stars".
On Thursday it looked like the fans were dropping quite a bit of money at the Arena and in surrounding businesses. It is not the fault of the NCAA or college basketball that Oregon has chosen to forgo a sales tax and therefore has forfeited the opportunity to capitalize on the millions of dollars that are sprinkled around the state as a result of various sporting events, conventions, etc. that attract the traveling public.
12:12 p.m.
Mar 21, '09
Kari,
you mean the Pac-10 plays basketball?
Obama is a smart guy. That's why he picked against the Pac-10. Anyone knows you can't be a homer when you fill out your bracket.
And the Zags are overrated, too. They won't make it out of the weekend.
Mar 21, '09
A national coalition of environmental groups launched an ad campaign appealing to Obama's love of Basketball. The clever ads ask him to uphold his pledge to uphold roadless protections.
Oregon Wild blog post and video
New campaign website
Mar 23, '09
Posted by: RobbyK | Mar 21, 2009 1:58:56 PM
A national coalition of environmental groups launched an ad campaign appealing to Obama's love of Basketball. The clever ads ask him to uphold his pledge to uphold roadless protections.
Oregon Wild blog post and video
New campaign website
OK. Salazar, you go low post. If you've got green covering you, clothesline 'em and drive hard to the goal.
You know, it takes a special class of hypocrite to like basketball. A total, non-contact sport, that petite individuals like Detlef Shremp find challenging to break into, because they're not physical enough. Basketball is the epitome of the American mind. You say one thing, you do something totally different, and you brag about how your side does it better.
Kari, great to hear that 100% of that ad. revenue goes to ed. Has the political funding cycle totally blinded most to the fact that 99% of our social ills start with what you have to feed the friggin' networks to compete? You pay them huge sums to air schmarmy papp and you wonder why Americans are uninformed. State schools should be barred from using any general fund monies to buy advertising. Selling marketing rights isn't any better just because it's revenue positive.
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