Professor Evans agrees that Stanford was correct the first time picking Paye over Harbaugh

I am learning macroeconomics at Foothill College with Brian Evans. One of the oddities about this is that Brian Evans was my classmate at Fremont Hills, Terman and Gunn schools.  We also played together, as teammates or friendly competitors numerous games of, in descending order of relevance, basketball, ping pong, baseball, football, poker, tennis and fantasy football. Like the recently deceased Michigan State football and Lite Beer by Miller star Smith, Evans’ nickname for much of the seventies was “Bubba”. To continue just barely a football thread, I recently unearthed photos of my Bar Mitzvah — these were from 1977 — that included him and, among others Greg Zlotnick, a former Little All America placekicker for Wesleyan and Chris Strausser, an offensive position coach for BCS-bound power Boise State. Brad Elman an eventual Gunn football stalwart was there; i think of him as someone who ran past my hip five or more times for long runs on a draw plays (I was a guard on running downs and reported eligible to receiver on passing downs, as weird as that sounds, junior high flag football we are talking now); and Tommy Mell, the star of my 6th grade intramural football team who was a CCS champ or finalist in 1982 in 100 yards.

The highlights of my football career were one, catching a fly pattern from Billy Parker in a 5th-6th p.e. class, fall of 1975, when I was a new kid at Fremont Hills, which earned me the shortlived nickname, given to me by Frank Kull, “Mr. Bomb” and two, although this is a kind of a lowlight, being thrown to, on the last play of the game, at the back of the endzone, a pass from Nick Sturiale, in 1978, the potential game winner, Terman versus Wilbur, foreshadowing Flutie to Brennan although I was ruled out of bounds. I still think about it wondering if instead of being surprised that I caught the pass, sliding, if I had jumped up and started celebrating could I have tricked the official into not noticing as certainly I had not noticed the barely marked endline. I actually mentioned this, 31 years later at a candidates debate, at that same JLS campus a propos of my abhorence of arbitrary power: what kind of official would negate a great throw and a great catch by two 14-year-olds — a game-winning play — over something like an unmarked endline no one would have been any wiser. No one but the official could see the thing or even knew it was there; in college women’s lacrosse, at least in the 1980s when I covered it for the Daily D, the ball was still in play as long as the defense continued its pursuit. Likewise boy do I hate for asethetic, philosophical and practical reasons, those football plays that distinguish NFL from NCAA rules, one foot versus two, et cetera: who wants to negate a great catch, by an inch or two, on a field that is tens of thousands of yards in area; an inch out is practically speaking still in. On the other hand, I think they should go back to the rugby rule and original intent of the football framers and not call touchdowns on any level unless the ball and runner actually touch down in end zone, like I did, that day that the also ran Palo Alto City Council candidate referenced years 31 years later, in 1978. Harbaugh sucks.

I hope I can fold this angst into my Harbaugh mononlogue which today was enhanced by a Mr. Bob Holmgren’s story about running into Coach Harbaugh on his way to Oregon State and Jim saying that their two boys should meet up there. Okay, point for Our Boy Jim. I also, to be fair, explained the Harbaugh-Chryst connection. But still the preponderance of evidence points to Our Boy Jim looking best with pie in face.

Brian Evans on the other hand is almost too good to be true, except his models of economics may be too simplistic and he dismisses Keynes as naive or what’s that word for people eventually proving you wrong, debunked?

Back to sports briefly, I recall that when my Dartmouth classmate Peter Gallenz asked my opinion, in 1989 or so about whether he should train for the Olympic Biathlon team versus going to grad school he said “That’s great you think I should train, since you are not an athlete” whereas my thought was “Hey, I’ve played numerous games of football, baseball and basketball so of course I am an athlete and not some puny cross country, track or Olympic biathlon plugger” Luckily I did not actually say that and Pete was not packing his rifle either.

I guess I should just be fortunate that having played even the tiniest bit of football that I did not suffer a head injury. Or not that I can recall.

edit to add, October 30: Keynes gets a reprieve in the form of the New York Times article about recent Nobel prize winner in economics arguing with being labeled “non-Keynesian.” It also suggests that if my use of term “intervene” a propos of city council with 456 University, I might have saved some time and gotten traction if I had suggested a “Keynsian” tack; Keynes is at times associated with intervention.