|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | |
OCTOBER 22, 2007
HONCHOS OF SPORT An American Bias For a magazine that prides itself on covering international business, your list of the 100 power players in sports is sorely lacking. In looking at your list you would never know that soccer (football, in the rest of the world) is by far the globe's most popular sport. Football clubs such as Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea are far more valuable than most American sports franchises. Joe Turner IRMO, S.C. Why isn't Ronaldinho [Ronaldo de Assis Moreira of FC Barcelona] on this list? The top player in the world's biggest sport, soccer, he is LeBron James x 100. Screen name: Andrea Sharad Pawar, the head of Indian cricket, controls a sport followed by 1.36 billion advertising-watching, money-spending Indians. That's power. Perhaps the authors should check out how much Nike (NKE ) pays to sponsor Indian cricket. [American race-car driver] Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 23rd most powerful man in sport? How quaint! Screen name: A Thomson Political correctness strikes again! At the bottom of the list is the president of the WNBA [Commissioner Donna Orender]. Who cares? Jerry Maguire has more influence than she does. Screen name: ED There are only three powerful women in sports? Screen name: MissE How can people like [sports commentators] Jim Rome and Dan Patrick not be on there? They influence more people's opinions than anyone else on [the list]. Screen name: John Williams Before Barry Bonds became tainted by his association with the MLB steroids scandal, his name probably belonged on the list. Now his inclusion is dubious at best. Screen name: Anthony DeFrancisco There is a huge anti-wrestling and anti-MMA (mixed martial arts) bias: Vince McMahon and Dana White were left off this list. Vince revolutionized the way we watch pay-per-view, and Dana White is taking guerrilla sports marketing to the next level. Screen name: Chris F. I can't believe that Peyton Manning, David Beckham, LeBron James, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Alex Rodriguez are ranked ahead of Roger Federer! If you are going to make a list of "the most powerful people in the world of sports," you have to go beyond U.S. borders. Otherwise, call it what it is. Screen name: Pat I am just glad the great brown hope, Arte Moreno, is on the list. Let the "Reconquista" begin. Just kidding. Great list though. Screen name: snakeclocks Having a mix of advertisers, athletes, and league executives, and then putting Roger Goodell at No. 1? If you are going to add in products, Phil Knight (Nike) has be to No. 1. Screen name: tristan How could you even think about putting an athlete in the top 10? What influence has Tiger Woods had on the world? The only athlete who could possibly deserve a top 10 spot would be Lance Armstrong, who completely transcends his sport. Screen name: Josh S. WAGE WARS The Debate Over Pay Works Overtime Your "Wage Wars" (Cover Story, Oct. 1) was right on target. The only thing it missed was the current litigious environment's effect on small businesses. I own and operate a totally virtual business that didn't exist when our current wage and hour laws were written. The laws in this country have to catch up with technology and become relevant for the growing virtual workforce. Otherwise, large- as well as small-business owners, and their honest and hard-working employees, will continue to be penalized by the likes of plaintiffs' lawyers who work the system. Jay M. Jaffe EAGLE, COLO. During the time that I worked as an investigator for the Florida Department of Children and Families and later as a case manager at private agencies, lack of overtime pay was always a burning issue. It was not unheard of for case managers to consistently work 50 to 60 hours a week. Sometimes more. Demands for fairness or some kind of compensation were often downplayed or ignored by management. If you complained, you were not considered a team player. Case managers need [plaintiff's lawyers like Mark] Thierman in their corner. Linda M. Cone TAUNTON, MASS. Hooray for Mr. Thierman. I worked for one of the largest defense contractors. Their policy was that exempt employees had to submit time cards detailing each work hour. If an exempt employee worked less than 80 hours over a two-week period, the balance of time had to be made up with vacation hours. Any hours over 80 were nonpaid overtime. This type of treatment is rampant and unfair. Patrick Riley CHICAGO   " Educating Borrowers Just Won't Work I agree fully with Tomasz Piskorski and Alexei Tchistyi: In a perfect or "first-best" world, the pay-option ARM (adjustable-rate mortgage) can provide substantial benefits to both borrowers and lenders ("In praise of a 'toxic' loan," Up Front, Oct. 8). But I also agree fully with the quote that ends this article: "Experts shouldn't be promoting this type of product for the general population, even just in theory." I've long since stopped worrying about life in a first-best world--because we don't live in such a world, and never will. In theory, this loan type makes perfect sense. Yes, as the article states, "hefty spending on education would be worthwhile," but only for those few who would figure out the loan anyway. In practice, it has been, and will continue to be, a disaster for most borrowers. No education, no matter how substantial, will make a difference. Harlan M. Smith II HUNTINGTION, W. VA. ETHANOL The Bumpy Road to a Biofuel Future If Big Oil doesn't want to sell E85 and other biofuels at their retail filling stations, why don't new car dealers put biofuel stations on their lots? Dealers could hand out coupons for their rapid oil change, car washing, new tire specials, and garage work each time a customer rolls in to tank up. Donald McBride WORTHINGTON, PA. Your article, "Big Oil's big stall on ethanol" (News & Insights, Oct. 1), missed the mark by focusing attention on federal subsidies for oil companies that are forced to blend ethanol into their gasoline. The article should have discussed the windfall corporate farming receives through government ethanol-related subsidies. Corn growers benefit indirectly from the increased demand created by the ethanol subsidy (which the oil industry did not request), but from 1995 to 2005, direct corn subsidies totaled $51.3 billion, making corn the most heavily subsidized crop in the country. Ethanol is an important part of our fuel mix, but government interference through subsidies and mandates will do more harm than good. Charles T. Drevna National Petrochemical & Refiners Assn. WASHINGTON PARENTING Making Tough Decisions For Our Kids As a mother of two who considers it a gift and a serious responsibility to stay at home with my children, I was interested in your article "The kids are all right," Upfront, Oct. 8). Take the concept of working parents having either a bad effect or no effect at all on the quality of home life. Is that really the best we can shoot for with our kids? I wonder what would result if questions like "Do you feel as if your parents have time for you?" and "Do you feel safe and secure?" were posed to these children? And out of curiosity, would these children in the study be the same children who prefer ice cream over oatmeal, Wii over homework, and who might forget to brush their teeth without a reminder? Whether children recognize it or not, our job as parents is to make decisions now that will be beneficial to them later on in life. Evette Miranda LA GRANGE, IL. UNLOCKING IPHONES Don't Encourage the Hackers It was with great sadness that I saw that BusinessWeek has joined the ranks of the unprincipled and unethical industries in reporting and glorifying those people that choose to go and bypass contractual and legal obligations in hacking the iPhone ("The iPhone unfettered," Tech & You, Sept. 24). Reporting where to go to bypass a system is to support that bypass. To say it is not for everyone is to say that it is for many others. To report on hacking iPhones is to ultimately say it is O.K. John Kusiak CONROE, TEX. Corrections & Clarifications In "Firing up India's factories" (Global Business, Oct. 15) the name of a Capgemini vice-president was misspelled. The correct spelling is Roy Lenders. "Bittersweet memories at Hershey" (UpFront, Oct. 15) misidentified the affiliations of two law professors writing about the company's structure. Jonathan Klick is at Florida State University College of Law. Robert Sitkoff is at Harvard Law School.
| | |
 Copyright 2007, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version