The Least Thing

For now, at least, this blog is not being updated. Thanks for reading.  If you'd like to be in touch, please send an email. If I've got something to say it'll be at rogerpielkejr.com .

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/08/thanks-for-reading.html

Along with Ross Tucker and Erick Boye, today I have submitted our re-vised paper on erroneous data and unreliable results on Bermon and Garnier (2017), the IAAF study which underpins its new te...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/08/submission-to-bjsm-on-unreliable-data.html

A few weeks ago the New York Times wrote about a paper we had submitted to the British Journal of Sports Medicine calling for Bermon and Garnier (2017, BG17) to be retracted . You can get th...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/07/bjsm-lets-stand-deeply-flawed-paper-why.html

This post represents some notes, references and quotes that I'd like to have accessible. Perhaps they are useful to others. It is technical and terse, but if you are following along on Bermon a...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-deeper-dive-into-scientific-basis-for.html

The New York Times has a story just out on an analysis we've done on a recent IAAF study. Take a seat, this is a bombshell and these are my individual views on it. Earlier this year, the IAA...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-call-for-bermon-and-garnier-2017-to.html

My experiences are that sports organizations rarely like to engage in public. However, this norm seems to be evolving, perhaps a motivated both by necessity and a by a newer commitment to engag...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/06/iaaf-opens-up-on-testosterone-some.html

This series of comments below from Carlon Brown ((@carlonautentico ) on Twitter offers a fantastic perspective on what college basketball prepares an athlete for and what it does not. Brown pla...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/05/wisdom-on-college-hoops-from-carlon.html

Last week, Ross Ticker, Erik Boye and I wrote a letter to the British Journal for Sports Medicine calling for the authors of Bermon and Garnier (2017, BG17) and their sponsor IAAF to release th...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/05/reverse-engineering-bermon-garnier-2017.html

It appears that the IAAF is on the verge of announcing another set of regulations governing allowable natural testosterone levels in women athletes. This is a bad idea. In anticipation of the ...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/04/some-resources-on-testosterone.html

Over the weekend I gave a talk to the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA). Here it is: Twitter PDF Comments welcomed!

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-talk-on-college-spotshow-university.html

The figure above was motivated by a column by Sally Jenkins in the Washington Post a few weeks ago in which she reported that the USOC pays 129 staff members more than $100k per year. I was cu...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/04/six-figure-salaries-in-us-ngbs-reported.html

UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader caught a mistake in USA Archery and USA Bowling. Now fixed. Thanks for the close reading. The image and data above shows US Olympic National Governing bodies rank...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/04/us-olympic-ngb-revenues-in-2016.html

Has the US Soccer Federation failed to comply with relevant laws required to maintain its non-profit status? This post takes a look at this question and concludes, it looks like it. At a minimu...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/04/has-us-soccer-failed-to-comply-with.html

In 2014 the US Soccer Federation, a non-profit charity registered in New York, created a subsidiary non-profit related to the hosting of the Copa America Centenario soccer tournament. Specifica...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/04/seven-questions-for-us-soccer-on-ca2016.html

On Thursday this week, April 5th at 7pm the CU Athletics Sports Governance Center will be hosting a panel discussion on the subject: Are Big-Time College Athletics Compatible with Academics? ...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-panel-at-cu-boulder-are-big-time.html

Update: In today's (27 Mar) Washington Post Sally Jenkins has a hard-hitting piece on executive pay in the U.S. Olympic organizations. The graph above shows the total compensation of the CE...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/03/us-soccer-federation-ceo-salary-data-in.html

Note: I am posting this update here as we work through some technical issues with our NGB project site at the Sports Governance Center at CU Athletics . We will update that site with the new sc...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/03/updated-ngb-scorecard-values-for-us-ski.html

Yesterday, Hope Solo visited my big class at the University of Colorado, Introduction to Sports Governance, and discussed the equal pay issue that is currently the subject of an Equal Employmen...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-revenue-red-herring-in-us-soccer.html

There are a large number of sexual abuse allegations against officials in US Olympic sports bodies. While those against Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics are the most widely publicized, there are...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/03/sexual-abuse-allegations-at-us-olympic.html

A new paper was published today with a strong critique of the IAAF study on testosterone and female elite athletes.  > Franklin S, Ospina Betancurt J, Camporesi S What statistical...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/02/critiques-of-bermon-and-garnier-2017.html

This week -- meetings 9 & 10 -- we continue a short unit on sport and social movements. Here is some material from the syllabus plus bonus material for the week ahead. Our class is a part of ...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/02/isg-2018-bonus-class-materials-2.html

I have promised my students in Introduction to Sports Governance some bonus materials related to class discussions that we won't be able to get into in any depth. There is a lot going on in spo...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/02/isg-2018-bonus-class-materials.html

A blog about the study of sport in society

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/01/powerful-short-documentary-on-flawed.html

The events today in a Michigan court room were remarkable, as sexual predator Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to an additional 175 years in prison. In the aftermath of the sentencing the US Ol...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/01/unsolicited-advice-for-usoc-after-nassar.html

Last week the Court of Arbitration for Sport provided an update on its arbitration proceedings in Chand vs. CAS (here in PDF ). This is the case that involves the IAAF testosterone regulations ...

http://leastthing.blogspot.com/2018/01/regulatory-re-writing-via-arbitration.html