Sports

Has there ever been a more obvious "let's pretend to take them seriously so they'll shut up and go away" exercise than the Indiana High School Atheletic Association's public hearings on whether to go back to single-class basketball? After conducting 11 meetings across the state, the IHSAA announces, to hardly anyone's surprise, that there is a "lack of evidence" to support going away from the current system. And that's just fine and dandy with a lot of people:

If the allegations turn out to be true, I'm not sure what my reaction will be, but I probably won't be as outraged as I'm apparently supposed to be:

Apologizing (I think) for the Cubs:

CHICAGO | Theo Epstein expected some rough stretches. He just didn't envision anything like this.

A few hours after addressing his team's skid, the Chicago Cubs broke one of the longest losing streaks in franchise history, beating the San Diego Padres 11-7 on Monday.

You may have heard of economist Gordon Tullock's theory -- much discussed in conservative circles a few years ago -- that mechanical innovations meant to improve automobile safety might actually have the opposite effect. The safer car travel is made with things such as seat belts, airbags and anti-lock brakes, the more secure people feel so the riskier their behavior, actually increasing their chances of injury.

Do sports make people stupid? Sometimes it sure seems so:

The final numbers are in, and show that city and county agencies combined took a $1.3 million loss when Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl.

Most stories about single-class basketball focus on how much school officials oppose its return -- more classes means more winners, which creates happier students and parents. So the results of this poll might be surprising:

Bobby Knight is railing against one-and-done, the phenomenon of graduating high school players who join an NCAA team for just one season before going on to the NBA. Nobody much likes it, but other coaches realize they have to deal with it:

Guess this should be counted as a victory -- Indianapolis "lost less that expected" on the Super Bowl:

Final expenses released Monday by the city's sports and convention board show it's on the hook for $350,000 after reimbursements by the National Football League and its associates. The amount is less, though, than the $810,000 loss the board expected to incur.

For the  "can't leave well enough alone" file, we have two stories about basketball. First:

The Indiana High School Athletic Administration and state Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, on Wednesday detailed a series of town hall meetings in which residents can express their opinions about single-class and multiple-class basketball.

Indiana sports fans, you suck:

When you compare how loyal Chicago fans are to the Cubs, Green Bay fans are to the Packers, Detroit fans are to the Red Wings, and New York fans are to the Yankees, Indiana fans make the infamously vapid Los Angeles fanbase look good in comparison.

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