Midway

Here is a lovely poem by Chaun Ballard, that sums up this week as far as this writer is concerned:

Midway

So now when the ghost askes me

my age, I say, I’m stomach over

the waistband; I’m button up

and neck-tied; I’m shoes no longer

the last squawking on hard wooden

floors; I’m totem pole carved with faces

of the past; I’m apple for lunch, walnuts,

and pleasant dinners; I’m red cross

bloodletting and good credit; I’m

my father in that faded Polaroid

taken somewhere in Northern Michigan;

I’m high school reunion almost

checked the box: maybe; I’m electric

slide and pre-79 music, hallelujahs

and morning glory; I’m open

book and lamp light; I’m Achilles

if he lived during the Renaissance;

I’m nearly in danger of not being

a danger; old enough to say,

you were good and died young.

SUMMER COLLEGE CHRONICLES - MORE BAD NEWS FOR COLLEGES: BUDGETS SUFFER AS INTERNATIONAL ENROLLMENT SLOWS: Over the past three years, international enrollment at Oregon plummeted by nearly 1,000 students — a more than $32 million hit to recurring tuition revenue. It's a nightmare scenario for universities struggling to hold on to a lucrative market as the flow of foreign students to American colleges slows — for the first time ever — in the era of President Donald Trump.

Oregon isn't alone. Miami University in Ohio is looking at budget cuts this year as "interest by international students wanes." A California State University Northridge official told the student newspaper there that a decline in international students during the past four years has equaled a loss of about $6.2 million in revenue. Schools including the University of Tulsa, Kansas State and Robert Morris University have cut academic programs, in part because of declining international enrollment.

The number of students enrolling for the first time at American colleges in fall 2017 dropped nearly 7 percent, according to the 2018 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, an annual survey taken by the Institute of International Education. That followed a 3 percent drop the year before.

Experts warn there is much on the line. American universities have long been a major source of soft power for the U.S. They've educated world leaders and attracted the world's best scholars. They say something needs to be done to stem the decline, or America's global standing could sustain damage — especially as other nations, such as Canada and Australia, aggressively seek the students that otherwise would have come to the U.S.

If That Was Not Enough - A new tax on universities and colleges will fall on a wide range of their earnings, not just their endowment income. The 1.4 percent excise tax, established under Republicans' broader 2017 tax overhaul, will not only hit colleges' and universities' earnings from their investment funds, but all sorts of other money makers as well.

For example, interest earned on loans a school provides directly to its students would qualify, as would money they make from renting facilities outside of room and board provided to students. Profits earned from running a hospital, booster clubs and alumni organizations could also count. In other words, it's far broader than the endowment tax label lawmakers commonly use in describing it. The statute doesn't even use the term endowment, instead focusing on a category called "net investment income," which includes money schools earn from things like capital gains, interest, rents, royalties and dividends. "This tax doesn't care if the asset is in an endowment or not," a senior Treasury official explained.

Some 40 schools are expected to face it, according to a department estimate. Lawmakers exempted public schools, targeting wealthy private schools with the tax if they have at least 500 full-time, tuition-paying students and assets of at least $500,000 per student. Treasury is taking feedback on the proposed regulations, meaning they could be revised.

Finally - Ken Burns tries to rally Hampshire College alumni. The filmmaker is chairing fundraising efforts for his alma mater after it had to slash staff and plans to enroll just 15 new students this fall. The liberal arts college is one of many small private colleges under financial pressure.

PAYROLL 101 - How much does a College Professor make in the United States? The average College Professor salary in the United States is $151,554 as of May 31, 2019. The range for our most popular College Professor positions (listed below) typically falls between $72,068 and $231,040.

https://www1.salary.com/College-Professor-Salary.html

TOP MOVIE BOX OFFICE – Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame” is now the highest world wide box office champ:

POTUS, INC. - President Donald Trump's net worth rose to $3 billion, a 5% gain over the past year, thanks to a jump in the value of an office-building deal he once sued to prevent.

The increase in Trump's wealth reverses two years of declines and brings his net worth back to 2016 levels, according to figures compiled by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index from lenders, property records, securities filings, market data and a May 16 financial disclosure. It comes despite setbacks at his family company, including the cancellation of two new hotel chains and reduced business at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and seven golf courses.

PLASTICS - Taking a stand against flimsy forks that can’t handle Montreal poutine, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday that his government will ban “harmful” single-use plastic products as early as 2021.

Canadians throw away about 3 million tons of plastic waste each year and less than 10% of that is recycled, per the BBC.

Trudeau introduced “targets” for companies that sell or make plastic products to address the waste they produce.

Why now? China said it would stop importing plastic waste at the end of 2017, leaving many countries scrambling for an alternative destination—or a plan to stop producing so much waste.

Now, plastic bans are in vogue. The European Union and New York State have announced similar measures in recent months. Hawaii and California get virtue points—they banned plastic bags years ago.

Canada may be fixing an image problem. Last month, the Philippines sent back about 100 shipping containers of Canadian trash a private company had tried to leave north of Manila a few years ago.

We have sipped, packaged and played our way into a global plastics crisis.

Activist consumer groups are pushing for less use and less production, while industry aims for increased recycling.

Plastics demand is projected to only increase — and the footprint of plastic pollution will grow with it.

Just 9% of plastics were recycled in the U.S. in 2015. (Globally it was estimated to be about 20%.)

SHOW ME THE MONEY - Forbes just released their world's highest-paid athletes list, which highlights the top 100 earners over the past year (June 2018 to June 2019).

NBA dominance: 62 of the top 100 earners play in a U.S.-based league, and the NBA, alone, accounts for 35 of them.

No NHL players in the top 100.

SALARY CAP - 1999–2000 highest-paid

NHL: Jaromir Jagr ($10.4M)

NBA: Shaquille O'Neal ($17.1M)

MLB: Albert Belle ($11.9M)

NFL: Troy Aikman ($10.75M)

2019–2020 highest-paid (by average annual value)

NHL: Connor McDavid ($12.5M)

NBA: James Harden ($42.8M)

MLB: Mike Trout ($35.5M)

NFL: Russell Wilson ($35M)

SIGN OF THE TIMES – The United States lost nearly six million manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2010. It has regained just under 1.5 million manufacturing jobs since then.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Bob Dole (96), Tim Gun (66), Corlan Ortmayer Harrison …famous ULV alumni, Arnold Schwarzenegger (72), Jordan Spieth (26), Sandro Suffredini ….a famous gamer.

MARKET WEEK - Equity funds monitored by EPFR posted their fourth net inflows in the past six weeks, a sign that retail investors have grown more bullish on stocks as the Fed prepares to ease monetary policy. Equity funds recorded just five weeks of inflows between December and June, EPFR said.

The Swiss franc is up nearly 4% against the euro since late April and now stands at its highest level in two years against the single currency. Uncertainty over Europe’s economic outlook and indications that the European Central Bank may cut rates further into negative territory have boosted demand for the franc, a popular haven.

On this day in 1946, the Bretton Woods Agreement was signed in Mount Washington, N.H., pegging major foreign currencies to the U.S. dollar, fixing the gold price at $35 per ounce, and laying the groundwork for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Finance students please note this, re: Case Study #3.

It’s China’s World - For the first time, China accounts for more companies on the Fortune Global 500, which measures the world's largest corporations by revenue, than the U.S.

On the list out this morning, China has 129 companies (including 10 in Taiwan), and the U.S. has 121.

As the Chinese Century nears its third decade, Fortune’s Global 500 shows how profoundly the world’s balance of power is shifting.

For the first time since the debut of the Global 500 in 1990, and arguably for the first time since World War II, a nation other than the U.S. is at the top of the ranks of global big business.

ON THIS DATE - On this day in 1884, Charles Dow, partner in Dow Jones & Co., published the first modern index of American stocks in his “Customer’s Afternoon Letter,” a two-page financial bulletin. The 11 stocks included nine railroads (Chicago & North Western, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Lake Shore, New York Central, St. Paul, Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific, and Louisville & Nashville), a steamship company (Pacific Mail) and telegraph giant Western Union.

On July 22, 1969, Apollo 11 while on the back side of the Moon, the transearth injection burn is successfully completed. During this day the spacecraft Columbia passes the point in space; 33,800 miles from the Moon and 174,000 miles from the Earth, where the Earth’s gravity takes over and begins drawing the Columbia homeward.

ON THIS DATE PART DEUX - 25 years ago today (July 22, 1994), O.J. Simpson pleaded "absolutely, 100% not guilty" to the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

What followed was one of the most infamous trials in U.S. history. It lasted from Nov. 9, 1994, to Oct. 3, 1995, when Simpson was found not guilty.

O.J. was, however, found liable for the murders in a civil suit two years later and ordered to pay the survivors $33.5 million. 25 years later, the families have collected less than 1% of the $33.5 million.

SCIENCE - "How NASA has kept Apollo moon rocks safe from contamination for 50 years," by Science News' Lisa Grossman: Lunar samples have solved plenty of mysteries, with more answers to come.  Science News

DRIVING THE WEEK – Monday: Earnings (TD Ameritrade, Whirlpool)

Tuesday: Earnings (Chipotle, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola, Snap, Visa, Hasbro); new U.K. prime minister announced; WTO General Council meetings begin; existing home sales

Wednesday: Earnings (Boeing, Deutsche Bank, Facebook, AT&T, Tesla, PayPal, Ford, UPS, Caterpillar); new home sales; Robert Mueller hearing on Capitol Hill; figure out a way to celebrate International Self-Care Day and National Tequila Day at the same time

Thursday: Earnings (Alphabet, Amazon, AB InBev, Intel, Comcast, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Astrazeneca); international trade; National Intern Day; European Central Bank Governing Council meeting

Friday: Earnings (Twitter, AbbVie, McDonald’s); Pan American Games begin; early GDP data; “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” released (Tarantino, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Leo...)

ANOTHER YEAR OF REJECTION BY AUGUSTA - 2019 Masters Tickets Random Selection:

“We have completed the random selection process for 2019 Practice Rounds and Daily Tournament tickets and regret your application was not selected for tickets. Be sure and visit masters.com for up to the date Masters Tournament information."

As a reminder, you will be notified next May when the ticket application process begins for the 2020 Masters.

Thank you for your continued interest in the Masters.“

Sincerely,

Credentials Committee

Masters Tournament

Twelve straight years (ugh).

TOP FIVE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAMS AT THE ALL-STAR BREAK:

1). New York Yankees (64-34)

2). Los Angeles Dodgers (67-35)

3). Houston Astros (64-37)

4). Atlanta Braves (59-41)

5). Minnesota Twins (60-38)

TOP FIVE WORST MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAMS AT THE ALL-STAR BREAK:

26). Seattle Mariners (40-62)

27). Kansas City Royals (37-64)

28). Miami Marlins (36-61)

29). Baltimore Orioles (31-67)

30). Detroit Tigers (30-65)

MORE PEOPLE HAVE …Walked on the Moon (12), survived a ULV faculty meeting (13), swam across Lake Erie (20), attempted to escape Alcatraz (36), signed the original U.S. Constitution (39), than men who have scored against Mariano Rivera in the postseason (11).

Congrats to the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee New York Yankee Mariano Rivera.

SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

MLB Game of the Week – Saturday 7/27 7:10 PM ET:  Chicago Cubs (54-45) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (53-48). Always fun to listen to Bob Uecker call the radio broadcast of Brewer games. He is one of the few remaining “old School” baseball broadcasters (SiriusXM Channel 855). Brewers win a key game in the National League Central race, 5 - 3. (Season to Date 3-1)

Next Blog:  Jackass of the Month, Words of the Month, Preseason College Football picks

Until next time, Adios

Claremont, California

July 22, 2019

#X-4-393

2,352 words, five minute read

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous), The New Yorker

RINK RATS POLL – Do you wear a helmet when you ride your bike?

____ Never

____ Yes

____ Sometimes

QUOTE OF THE MONTH – “The universe took its time on you, crafted you precisely. So you could offer the world something distinct from everyone else. So when you doubt how you were created, you doubt an energy greater than us both.”

—Rupi Kaur

Rink Rats is a blog of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.

Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010

Our Tenth Year.

www.rhasserinkrats.blogspot.com

Ten Years After

Rink Rats is now in our tenth year, hard to believe it has been ten years of this hobby I started to improve my writing. I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

The critics said it would never last, six months tops they all said. Critics like NPR, Time Magazine, National Geographic, Maclean’s, Fox and Friends, The Hockey News, Campus Times, David Allen, and The Ithaca Journal.

We have some new ideas for the future: by the end of the year a You Tube Rink Rats channel, to include original programming (watch out Netflix). A Rink Rats pod cast is in the works.

So again, thank you for reading and for your support.

Today is July 1, Happy Canada Day! Also, it is the beginning of my favorite holiday week: July 1 thru the Fourth of July weekend. This week has all the others beat: patriotism, hotdogs, hamburgers, beer, ice cream, pancake breakfasts, golf, the July 4 celebration on the Washington Mall, I could go on and on.

Easter Week: Palm Sunday thru Easter. Too religious and the guilt thing that comes along with it. A spiritual week but not much fun. Of course, there is the holiday trip to Florida, the Carolinas, or the California desert, but again you feel guilty while being at these destinations. Also, the confusion on what to eat? Ham, roast beef, turkey, salmon…I have a headache.

Thanksgiving Week: Too much food, drink, family, and then there is the Detroit Lions. To watch them year after year playing on Thanksgiving Day is enough to sour you on any holiday week celebration. Also, in Southern California, one word: traffic.

Christmas Week: Too expensive, gifts, parties, and when do I celebrate what? It can be very confusing these days. This week includes the most overrated holiday event of all time, New Years. Ugh! Then there is the Holiday (Christmas) decorations. When do they go up? Thanksgiving? December 1? December 15? When do they come down? January 2? January 8? Or as in the case of my neighbors, Memorial Day.

So, have a great week. You do not have to buy any presents, attend any dopey office parties, go to Church, watch the Detroit Lions – wow I can’t wait!

WHAT’S ON THE iPHONE? – five songs we are listening to this July holiday week:

1). “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, 1896 – John Philip Sousa

2). “California Love”, 1996 – 2pac and Dr. Dre

3). “Summer Wind”, 1965 – Frank Sinatra

4). “Blue Bayou”, 1977 – Linda Ronstadt

5). “All Summer Long”, 2008 – Kid Rock

SUMMER COLLEGE CHRONICLES – While researching what would become their 2009 book, “Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives,” sociologists Amy Binder and Kate Wood conducted extensive student interviews at two schools: Harvard and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Although the faculty members they encountered were overwhelmingly liberal, Ms. Binder and Ms. Wood found that students at Boulder “were far likelier [than Harvard students] to contend that their professors bring those personal politics into the classroom.” This stifling ideological conformity, they concluded, caused conservative students to adopt “the provocative style” as their favored tactic to fight back.

The authors’ visit to Boulder coincided with the arrival of Bruce Benson as president of the University of Colorado system. If they returned now, on the eve of Mr. Benson’s retirement this month after 11 years at the helm, they would find a decidedly different campus climate. The reason is Mr. Benson’s determination to bring vibrant and serious ideological diversity to the “Berkeley of the Rockies.”

Mr. Benson became president amid a sea of troubles after the 2007 financial collapse. The ensuing recession led the state to cut funding for the university system by about 35%. A successful businessman and one-time head of the Colorado GOP, Mr. Benson didn’t limit himself to the traditional fundraising role of university presidents. He also made achieving viewpoint diversity a priority.

It’s one thing to admit privately, as many college administrators do, that liberal faculties and the rigid conventions of academic hiring often combine to create a campus culture that is hostile to conservative viewpoints. It is another to devise a practical remedy. Mr. Benson pressed CU Boulder to come up with a solution.

The result was the establishment of a new faculty: the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy. A parade of well-known and highly regarded conservative academics have since rotated through Boulder: Bradley Birzer of Hillsdale College, Brian Dimitrovic of Sam Houston State College, Francis Beckwith of Baylor, Robert Kaufman of Pepperdine University, William B. Allen of Michigan State and Stephen Presser of Northwestern. What started as a three-year pilot will enter its seventh year this fall, welcoming its eighth visiting scholar, Villanova’s Colleen Sheehan.

Hiring by ideological criteria is an imperfect answer to universities’ leftist skew. Some conservatives worried this approach resembled “affirmative action” for conservatives, but it might be better to think of it as the intellectual equivalent of antitrust, breaking up the increasingly anticompetitive marketplace of ideas in universities. The University of California’s legendary president Clark Kerr observed decades ago that “few institutions are so conservative as the universities about their own affairs while their members are so liberal about the affairs of others.” Change doesn’t come easily.

Although most conservative academics don’t conduct themselves as deliberate ideological advocates in the classroom, there is a benefit for universities to have some “conspicuous conservatism” in Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield’s phrase. Conservative students know their views won’t be mocked in the classroom, and curious liberal students—I heard this from several—want the challenge of a different perspective. It enables the university to live up to what Mr. Benson cites as its mission: teaching students how to think, not what to think. It helps reclaim academia’s place as a true marketplace of ideas and sends the message on campus and beyond that differing intellectual viewpoints matter. Perhaps most important, the effort is changing the culture on campus.

To avoid the program becoming an isolated outpost of ideological sectarianism, Mr. Benson revived and expanded a dormant Center for the Study of Western Civilization to house visiting conservative scholars and develop an expanded program of speakers, public events, seminars, and student and faculty fellowships. Earlier this month the university renamed the center for Mr. Benson.

A century ago the Cambridge classicist F.M. Cornford wrote that the first rule of faculty governance is “nothing should ever be done for the first time,” and Mr. Benson’s model is spreading in variations at other universities. A few similar programs already existed, such as the James Madison Program at Princeton and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas at the University of Texas at Austin.

Bruce Benson can point to a stellar record—tripling fundraising, finding hundreds of millions in administrative efficiencies, research funding that surpassed $1 billion—that any college president would envy. But he is proudest of his success in bringing real viewpoint diversity to campus. His model deserves to be emulated.

BOARD GAMES - Here’s a governance dispute you don’t see every day: One half of Wayne State University’s Board of Governors sued the other half of the board. The lawsuit says an open-meetings law was violated as the board plays tug of war over the university’s direction.

POLITICS 101 –

• How many Democratic candidates got their undergraduate degrees at public colleges? Five. They are:

Tim Ryan (Bowling Green State University)

Elizabeth Warren (University of Houston)

Jay Inslee (University of Washington)

Joe Biden (University of Delaware)

Eric Swalwell (University of Maryland at College Park)

• What presidential candidate dropped out after two years at Pomona College? Marianne Williamson.
• Which of the 20 Democrats majored in English literature? Beto O’Rourke.
• Name the one candidate who attended an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Bonus points if you know the institution. Kamala Harris (Howard University).

Days until the 2020 election: 491

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Dan Aykroyd (67), Canada (152), Larry David (72), Lisa Looney …. famous educator, Ringo Starr (79), United States of America (243)

MARKET WEEK - The collapse in bond yields since this spring has been stark, swift and global, upending expectations that the world's economy would be strong enough to support a return to normal monetary policy after years of easy money.

The drop says investors expect a recession may be looming, and that central banks will have to step in with lower rates to try to forestall it. Ten-year bond yields last week fell to record lows in Germany and France and below 2 percent in the U.S. for the first time since 2016.

Apple is manufacturing its new Mac Pro computer in China, trade war be darned, per the WSJ. The computer was its only major device made in the U.S.A.

Deutsche Bank could lay off up to 20,000 people as soon as next week, per reports from the WSJ and NYT. That would be more than one in six full-time DB workers.

Anheuser-Busch has purchased the ’grammable wine brand started by social media personality The Fat Jewish. It’s the largest wine investment ever for the brewer.

Stocks cap best first half since 1997. The S&P 500 notched record highs in the second quarter, but wild swings continue to plague the market. It "is a fabulous example of the volatility that is wrought by headlines and emotions,” one wealth manager said. Concerns about geopolitical tensions, interest rates and global growth are expected to linger in the third quarter.

U.S. deals lead the way. A flurry of megamergers and big initial public offerings have been a bright spot for the U.S., a stark contrast to sluggish activity in Europe and Asia.

Tech's wild ride. Halfway into the year, technology stocks are still climbing faster than the broader market—but it has been a bumpy ride. Buffeted by trade frictions and regulatory concerns, investors are bracing for more turbulence ahead.

Second Quarter Scoreboard YTD:

Dow Jones Industrials - +14.03%                            WSJ Dollar Index – (0.09%)

Standard & Poor’s 500 - +17.35%                           Crude Oil - +28.76%

NASDAQ Composite - +20.66%                               Gold – +10.28%

10-yr Treasury – 2.000%                                         30-yr mortgage, fixed – 3.90%

G-AUTHORITARIANS - At the Group of 20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, President Trump reserved most of the sought-after sit-down time slots for authoritarians or like-minded nationalists with similar views on immigration.

In addition to Putin, Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was positioned prominently in the front row next to Trump in the official group photo.

Trump also met with Brazil’s far-right Jair Bolsonaro; Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won reelection by stoking sectarian tensions; and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who takes a hard line against immigration.

Trump tweeted a friendly invitation to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in the demilitarized zone while the president is in South Korea this weekend. Trump on Sunday took a step no other sitting American president had before, crossing into North Korea with its leader, Kim Jong Un — a theatrical gesture meant to kick start stalled nuclear negotiations between the two countries.

It was a made-for-TV moment for the reality show-groomed president that unfolded at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

RULES FOR THE BBQ – You have been designated the grill master for the upcoming holiday week. Don’t screw it up. People are hungry, tipsy and depending on you to prevent the holiday from turning into a fiasco. No pressure! Here are a few tips to get you through the experience.

1). Get the grill going early. Do not wait until everyone’s on their third cocktail. No food, it could get ugly. They’re going to start yelling at each other about politics, or worse, the ending of Game of Thrones, or even worse academic governance.

2). Project confidence, a grill master should display a certain amount of swagger. Drop the match into the charcoal like Arnold Schwarzenegger setting fire to a drug lord’s stash house.

3). If you are a rookie at grilling, keep that quiet. Nobody wants a rookie grill master, it’s like a rookie airline pilot. Scary.

4). If you are grilling with an audience, be prepared for plenty of unsolicited advice. Everybody has an opinion on that steak or chicken time.

5). Keep your speech about the marinade to a minimum. Your secret ingredient is bourbon.

6). It’s the Fourth of July everyone wants a hot dog, be prepared.

7). If you are grilling kebabs, realize there is at least one item on the skewer that is going to burn.

8). If you have burned everything and ruined the cookout, do not panic – Plan B. Do not tell anyone, start watering down the drinks, order pizza delivery and calmly walk out of there, never to return.

ON THIS DATE - On this day in 1971, an entrepreneur named Fred Smith founded a company to compete with the U.S. Postal Service. He called the new outfit Federal Express.

GOOD READ - "The Rise and Fall of the Professional Sports Bettor" by David Hill captures the current state of sports betting while also telling the story of Gadoon "Spanky" Kyrollos, one of America's highest-rolling sports bettors.

The beginning: In the 1990s, sports betting began moving to the internet. That's when Spanky, a recent college grad working at Deutsche Bank, realized he could take what he was doing for banks and apply it to sports betting.

Spanky and a coworker wrote a program that scanned every online sportsbook for arbitrage opportunities, or "middles." If one sportsbook had Steelers +4.5 and another had them +2.5, they would bet on the Steelers with one and bet against them with the other.

"Most of the time they would win one bet and lose the other, and only lose the 'vig,' [the small cut bookmakers take as commission]," writes Hill. "But whenever those games fell right in the middle of the two lines, in this case if the Steelers lost by three points, then they would win both of their bets."

The turning point: After a few big wins, Sparky and his colleague started thinking bigger. Deutsche Bank was doing the same thing on Wall Street and their bosses were loaded; why couldn't sports betting make them rich, too?

So they quit their jobs to start their own sports betting business — an operation that continues to evolve as the landscape shifts around them.

According to the industry research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, sports gamblers fall into seven different categories: casual dabblers, status seekers, super fans, action chasers, would-be pros, high rollers, and sharps. These personae exist on a spectrum, where some of them develop into others as they climb the ladder from casual dabblers to the vaunted sharps—the players who can beat the house edge on a regular basis.

DRIVING THE WEEK - Trade: That President Trump/President Xi Jinping meeting we’ve been telling you about finally happened. No deal yet, but more details on what did happen below.

U.S. markets: Here’s to hoping the next six months are as strong as the last six were—stocks had their best start in 20+ years and the U.S. tallied its best six months for IPOs since 2014. Heck, even bitcoin rallied.

Reality check: Now that it's July, we're officially in the longest U.S. economic expansion ever.

Monday: First day of Q3; OPEC meeting begins; ISM and PMI manufacturing reports; federal tax credit for Tesla buyers falls; Wimbledon starts; Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida speaks in Helsinki; Japan resumes commercial whaling.

Tuesday: The U.S. takes on England in the Women’s World Cup; earnings (Simply Good Foods, Acuity Brands); motor vehicle sales.

Wednesday: NYSE closes at 1pm; ADP employment stats; earnings (International Speedway Corp.).

Thursday: U.S. Independence Day; markets closed; Stranger Things season three binge begins.

Friday: June jobs report

COACH VALESENTE RETIRES - Ithaca College legendary Hall of Fame baseball coach and alumnus, George Valesente '66, has announced his retirement after 41 seasons, effective in August 2019. Valesente has been the head coach at his alma mater since 1979 and departs South Hill with a career record of 1,136-507-8 at the helm of the Bombers program. He maintained the tradition of excellence in what is Ithaca College baseball for four-plus decades and guided IC to 38 seasons with 20 or more victories. With a 31-9 campaign in 2019, Ithaca continued the nation's longest streak of consecutive winning seasons (in all divisions) to 81 years.

SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

MLB Game of the Week – Saturday 7/6 7:15 PM ET, Fox: Los Angeles Angels (42-43) vs. Houston Astros (53-32). The Angels last gasp to get back into the wild card race, no dice. Houston wins 7 – 3. (Season to Date 2-1)

Wimbledon 2019 – Men’s Singles: Djokovic, Women’s Singles - Osaka

WOMEN FIFA WORLD CUP – World Cup Final: Germany vs. United States, USA wins 2-0.

2019 Season to Date (16 - 13)

THE ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY HOCKEY – Some notable St. Lawrence Hockey alumni recently got together. From Left: Mike Keenan (’72), Ray Shero (’84), Mike McShane (Coach 1980-85), Joe Marsh (Coach 1985-2012), and Brent Brekke (recently named head coach 2019-20). Let’s hope some of that NHL Stanley Cup and coaching experience is passed on to new Coach Brekke.

In catching up with my RR email, a few weeks back we heard from teammate Jim Shatford (’76). To celebrate a milestone birthday, Jim and his wife went on a 12-day cycling trip to Southeast Asia: Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The group of twelve had a wonderful time, tasty food, splendid scenery, and no arrests. Shad is back in Nova Scotia after a winter in Florida, family health is good, golf game decent, great to hear from him.

Next Blog:  Summer movies and summer travel. – July 15, 2019.

Until next time, Adios

Claremont, California

July 1, 2019

#X-3-392

3,085 words, six minute read

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – Lisa Benson, Washington Post

RINK RATS POLL – Your favorite July 4 barbecue food is…

____ hot dogs

____ hamburgers

____ barbecue chicken

____ barbecue ribs

____ grilled seafood

____ grilled vegetables

QUOTE OF THE MONTH – “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”

—President George Washington