Quickthink

Frank (and everyone else apparently) writes today about Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate. But as usual, Frank makes a good point that many have overlooked. It is that Paul Ryan is a better politician than Mitt Romney.  Will it matter? Probably not. History tells us that after the selection buzz wears off, vice presidential candidates rarely if ever swing elections.

And in this case, the selection of Mr. Ryan will sooner or later change the topic of conversation from Mr. Ryan’s unusual hobbies to his unpopular views about medicare. Gail Collins brings this out rather well.

I had a fun chat yesterday about whether the 2008 crash has changed people’s understanding of money. My friend Michael made the argument that people are now more aware that we are already over-saturated with consumer goods, so we will buy less and value money less. This is certainly true of my friend. But I suspect that the rest of the world still wants a lot of consumer stuff and always will. Though we will alter our preferences according to budget and cultural trends.

Still, something has changed a bit for me since 2008. I am less in love than I was with the idea of over abundance. Growing up in the sixties, we over-indulged with gusto. It was supposed to be part of the good life. And I still do this, though not on a Roman scale. But as I sauteed mushrooms with cherry tomatoes last night with a hint of vermouth, I noticed that the real pleasure of this was in getting it just right. Getting the mushroom flavor out, rather than adding a lot of other stuff to it. So this quote from Beth Kracklauer’s article at Saveur about Diana Kennedy caught my eye

Honest food. “Comida casera,” she calls it, home cooking of the very best kind. The attention to detail and technique, to doing things properly, that she’s observed in Mexican home cooks has earned her highest admiration. “To me, the interesting part of cooking is cooking,” she says, “bringing flavors out of ingredients, not having to put flavors in.” Fronting, in other words, only the essential facts of life.

I like that phrase too “fronting only the essential facts of life”.

The US men’s basketball team beat Spain once more, this time for the gold medal in London. Congrats, guys! But … after the first US dream team did its thing years ago, we have come to expect the NBA to undress their opponents every four years.  A star studded line up invades, conquers and strides back home to get ready for the upcoming real event - next season in the NBA. Jason Gay has it right. This is a power trip.

That has a certain entertainment value. After all, you don’t get to see a group of basketball stars like that on one team very often. And I don’t mind the fact that they are pros. The reality is that to compete in the Olympics, athletes have to train as if they were pros anyway. The only difference is that the NBA stars get paid to achieve their high levels of skills.

But I do mind the disparity. The NBA is too good for the rest of the world right now. Answer? The NBA should move faster to help bring the rest of the world up to their level - promote pro basketball on a global basis. Recruit more foreign stars. Support basketball camps and youth leagues around the world. Cooperate with foreign leagues. Make the NBA a global brand instead of a US power play.

Is this my saintly side? Not at all. I think that the NBA will profit far more as a global brand. Why? Simple. The US market is no longer growing. Will this happen? Well, the NBA has reached out to the world. But jut a little. I think it is time to invest more.