Author: msophir

What’s with the Streak?

The hometown baseball team just concluded a rather remarkable streak- winning a team-record 17 games in a row. To put that into perspective, the St. Louis Cardinals have been playing professional baseball (before 1900 as the Brown Stockings, Browns, and Perfectos) for 140 years and have played over 21,000 games! And yet in their entire…
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September 30, 2021 0

The ridiculous cost of certain sh*t

Even folks with only a rudimentary understanding of economics understand that things cost more over time. It’s called inflation and it’s the reason that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future (and why those folks who revel in receiving a large tax refund each year are confused – failing to…
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September 18, 2021 0

A love letter to the Lou

St. Louis was born (fittingly) on Valentine’s Day in 1764! Today it’s exactly 257 and 1/2 years old. (Long-time readers may recall that I am quite fond of the half- birthday  https://www.fromthelou.com/my-wife-the-nurse-august-26-2017/) Although I’ve written more than 75 blogs over the past five years, I have never devoted one specifically to my hometown. So, I thought it was…
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August 14, 2021 0

The Dumbing Down of America

This is not about the growing distrust of science in America – such as by those who deny that climate change is real as our nation and globe is burning and boiling at a record pace. Or the refusal by nearly half the population to get vaccinated from Covid – fully willing to kill grandma…
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July 18, 2021 0

The best (and most interesting) ballplayer you’ve never heard of

I’ll bet my allowance that even the most ardent baseball enthusiasts among my esteemed readership doesn’t know know who this guy is. And you really should! The answer? John Montgomery Ward, otherwise known in his day (the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) as “Monte” Ward. He was not only one of the best baseball players…
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June 16, 2021 0

America’s highest Court doesn’t reflect America (and won’t for a LONG time)

The Supreme Court Court is a pretty darn important institution to our nation. It serves as the last check on ever-expanding Presidential power and is the final preserver of democracy and our Constitution. It aint called “Supreme” for nothing. So who are the current Justices that have been granted such enormous power? More importantly, do…
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May 21, 2021 0

No vax? You deserve the axe!

I am as American as anyone. I cherish our democratic process and individual liberties. I support independent thought and the right to express alternative views, even radical ones as long as they are not harmful to others. I don’t like the government wading into purely private matters. But there are clearly exceptions that have to…
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May 5, 2021 0

Some love for the Little Man in Sports

American society favors men who are tall – height improves your chances with the ladies, enhances your prospects of promotion to the top rung of the business ladder (the average height of male CEO’s is 6 feet – two and a half inches taller than the average 5′ 9.5 male) and is somehow an important…
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April 24, 2021 0

Major League Baseball’s surprise new enemy: Republicans

Baseball’s antitrust exemption has never made any sense and everyone knows it. Antitrust law was developed back in 1890 with the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act designed to promote the ultimate American business value: free and fair competition. It forbids things like price-fixing, monopolies, and other forms of collusion that restrain trade and prevent…
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April 15, 2021 0

Hoop Dreams (for Some)

Tomorrow the two top-rated Men’s collegiate basketball programs in the country all year – Gonzaga and Baylor – will fittingly square off in the Final. They will be seeking to capture the 81st NCAA Men’s Basketball championship that was first awarded in 1938 to the University of Oregon. (The women were not afforded an opportunity…
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April 4, 2021 0

A few of my favorite words

I have a fascination with words. I appreciate variety and nuance. I prefer words that are complex or sound interesting (the opposite of our former President whose entire vocabulary boiled down to about 50 simple words from great to sad, hoax to bad, and a couple “big” ones: amazing and beautiful, used to describe anything…
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March 13, 2021 0

Here’s to Johnny and Nancy!

Johnny Cash is one of the most revered musicians of all time. The man who wrote more than 1500 songs is one of only two musicians ever inducted into the Hall of Fames for Country Music, Rock and Roll and Gospel. The other? Elvis. Born in rural Arkansas on this very day in 1932, one…
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February 26, 2021 0

My first travel review: The vacation spot to avoid

I have been privileged to stay at some of the finest and most scenic hotels/lodges/resorts in the world. For the record my favorites have included the majestic mountain lodges of the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, Canada and Hotel Alpenhof in Zermatt, Switzerland; the distinguished Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville,…
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February 18, 2021 0

Expand your arsenal of random knowledge!

I enjoy collecting odd nuggets of information. Here are some that I find interesting and surprising. You never know when some of these might come in handy – at a party (that’s where a large group of folks gather to drink and socialize), while waiting in line for your vaccine or perhaps on Jeopardy! Disclaimer:…
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February 5, 2021 0

Who would have thought that the NFL would be leading the way?

As a sports law professor I have been a frequent critic of the National Football league and its owners – their insatiable greed, their lack of concern for the safety of their athletes and their lack of loyalty to fans, allowing franchises to abandon cities that have strongly supported them for decades like St. Louis,…
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January 23, 2021 0