More East Coast Media Bias

I've written before about how weather events affecting the major east coast cities get so much more media coverage than if they occur in other major cities.  Today I'm writing about a similar phenomenon that impacts sports.

Why does it seem that whenever a pro sports team from New York or Boston wins a title, it's treated by the media as bigger than when it happens anywhere else?  It's happening again now, after Boston won the World Series yesterday.

That's fine, congrats to them, but just like the two other times they won in the last decade, it's getting so much more media coverage than it deserves.  Let's just admit, it's a lot less than when San Francisco or St. Louis each won it twice recently.

Today, national sportswriters and broadcasters are saying Boston's win 'transcended' sports and "defined' the city, while also fawning over the fact that while they've won it before, it had been almost 90 years since they won it at home.  The thing is, no one outside the northeastern seaboard thinks nor cares about those things, especially for a baseball team that finished last in their division last year.

This media self-infatuation carries over to football, too.  In the past decade or so, when Boston (New England) or New York (Giants) won a combined 5 Super Bowls, the media coverage is both breathless and endless.  But when a place like Indianapolis or New Orleans or Green Bay wins it, the coverage is much more muted.

We can only hope no Boston or New York teams win any pro sports titles again in our lifetime.  Meanwhile, this once again proves my theory that for all of the so-called toughness of the major east coast cities, they really are drama queens when it comes to wanting more national attention for events that happen everywhere.

Cruzin'

It's been a while since I've inducted anyone into the Whacked Out In The Head (WOITH) club.

First a quick review of current members:

Politicians:
Steve King
Bob Vander Plaats
Glen Massie
Kim Pearson
Kent Sorenson
Michele Bachmann
Brad Zaun

Non-politicians:
Charlie Sheen

Anyone with a reality show on MTV
Jerry Sandusky

The entire Kardashian family

The guy down my street who put a $60,000 house on a $30,000 lot (Honorary Member)

I am now compelled to add another politician, someone who's been begging for membership since he joined the U.S. Senate less than a year ago.

In just that short of a time, he's single-handedly shut down the government with unsupportable grandstanding political tactics, and tried to make everyone believe he's a hero for doing it.  He's also alienated members of his own political party for not being compromising enough, while simultaneously making the other political party look better for not compromising.

But what really put him over the top was being in Iowa (again) this weekend for a speech, then going pheasant hunting with original WOITH member Steve King.  As we've seen before, whenever two or more WOITH members are together, the country ultimately laughs and does the opposite of what they want.

Welcome, Texan Ted Cruz, who's so far to the right on the political spectrum he's off the map.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (Even With An Escort)

Excluding part-time or temporary work, I've only worked at three organizations.  Two of them were 10+ years runs, with the most recent run ending at 5 years.

In each case, I was fortunate enough to meet good people, and gain professional experience.  I was also fortunate enough to leave on my own terms, and of my own choosing (although I probably stayed longer than I should have).

Unfortunately, leaving a job isn't usually done without issues.  So often, long-term employees are let go with no warning, and given an unceremonious escort out the door, as if they were a criminal.  Thanks for all those years of service!

In those involuntary work separations, plus many voluntary separations, it's also common for former colleagues to wrongly accuse the former employee of doing something inappropriate.  It's a great way for intellectually dishonest, poor performers to try and cover for their own ineptitude.

For some former employers and employees, I guess breaking up is hard to do.

How To Lose Money In The Market

Do most mutual fund managers add value in their attempts to identify 'mispriced' securities? 

Based on a recent analysis of the CRSP (Center for Research in Security Prices) Mutual Fund Database returns data through 2012, we have a pretty good idea of the answer.

This CRSP report documents survivorship and performance in the U.S. mutual fund industry, and illustrates the negative impact of high fees and turnover on returns.  In summary, for the periods examined:

*Outperforming funds were in the minority
*Strong track records failed to persist
*High costs and excessive turnover may have contributed to underperformance

The underperformance among mutual funds points to an important guiding investment principle:  Choosing a long-term winner involves more than seeking out funds with a successful track record, since past performance offers no guarantee future success.  Investors must consider other variables, including a mutual fund’s underlying market philosophy, investment objectives, and perhaps most importantly, cost. 

The competitive landscape makes the search for future winners a formidable challenge. Confronted with so many fund choices – and lacking an investment philosophy to guide their search – some investors resort to picking funds that have strong track records, reasoning that past outperformers will continue to outpace their benchmarks.

According to the CRSP analysis, only about a quarter of the equity funds with past outperformance during the initial three-year period (2007-2009) continued to beat their benchmarks in the subsequent three-year period (2010-2012).  The results for funds with good five- and seven-year track records were similar – only about a quarter beat their benchmarks in the subsequent period.

So, do most mutual fund managers add value in their attempts to identify 'mispriced' securities?  This CRSP analysis of U.S. mutual fund industry performance tells us the answer is a resounding, "No!"  It’s more proof that a broad, low cost investment approach is the best one.

Bad Calls

Even opposing teams agree: Iowa State athletics and its fans have been blatantly robbed three times in less than eight months in big, nationally televised games.

The latest cut came last week in football, when a Texas running back seemed to lose the football near the goal line, and replay officials claimed they didn't have indisputable visual evidence to overturn the call that everyone else could see.  Thus, a 90+ yard, ISU game winning fumble return TD was turned into a Texas win.

This piles on top of the two other blown officiating calls that cost ISU dearly in basketball this year. First, the no-call charge debacle against Kansas in February, and then the block-charge screw-up in the NCAA basketball tournament against Ohio State a month later.  Both occurred very near the end of the game, and both were clearly declared to be wrong later.  (How wrong?  Well, the Big 12 apologized and reprimanded the Kansas game officials.  And since the Ohio State game, the NCAA has clarified the rules relating to when a player can take a charge.)

National media personalities agree these were all crappy calls, but then most of them eventually say that it doesn't come down to one call.  That's true, but also stupid.  Bad calls late in a game are much worse than other times, because the offended team has no time to adapt.  Don't say there were other times that plays could have been made, when in fact the play of the game was made, but taken away by the officials.

The commiseration from national sports media folks on all of these bad officiating calls is nice I suppose, as is the commiseration from other teams' fans.  (I wore ISU gear to a Nebraska football game in Lincoln this past weekend, and no fewer than 4 fans spontaneously told me something to the effect of, "You got screwed!") But it doesn't change outcomes or better the attitude of Cyclone Nation.  They're just left to know that karma is a bitch - Kansas and Ohio State later lost heartbreakers in the NCAA tournament, and this year's Texas football team is already circling the drain.

It's probably best to simply accept that, home or away, when in doubt, officials' calls are going to favor the traditional national power.