Cheaters (sometimes) never prosper

At least in the Super Bowl.

I didn’t watch the Stupid Bowl today. And I don’t plan to ever watch one unless the Baltimore Colts are playing. Aside from a mild preference that no team go undefeated, I really had no preference as to the winner.

But now that the Giants have won, I discover that the game actually had some moral significance, and that it came out correctly.

Anyway, my relatives in Connecticut and New Jersey will be very, very happy. It hasn’t been easy, being a Jints fan.

Footnote In terms of omens, let’s recall that the Red Sox victory in the fall of 2004 didn’t carry over to their hometown politician. In any case, I expect to hear any day from Malkin or Limbaugh or someone on NRO that Hillary Clinton opposes patriots.

Update A reader points out that the Colts have moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis, and that the Baltimore team is now the Ravens. Precisely. No Baltimorean will ever forget or forgive that act of treachery.

That’s why I now ignore professional football, though I can name from memory a dozen of the 22 starters on the 1958 World Champion Colts: Berry, Parker, Nutter, Unitas, DuPre, Moore, Ameche, Marchetti, Donovan, Lipscomb, Braase, Hawkins

The Baltimore Colts will play in the Super Bowl on the Greek Kalends, otherwise known as the Twelfth of Never or the Sixth Sunday in January. Or, as a true Ravens fan would presumably say, “Nevermore.”

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com