As the main attractions of Spring Term approach I have found myself suddenly shifting my attention from schoolwork to other things, most poignantly displayed by the scene set in the CMC on Saturday morning: Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid, the last game of La Liga, one that would decide the title (alas the blaugrana failed to get the win they needed) is on and my friends and I decide that the computers in the CMC will be the best place to watch.  It ended with a raucous celebration of Aaron Ramsey’s overtime goal to propel Arsenal to the FA Cup trophy over Hull City.

A little something to introduce a discussion about the economics of choosing a FIFA team.  No one wants to play with their local MLS team, and no one wants to play with the team they support every time, and so the process of choosing one becomes an elaborate ordeal.  And what about the casual FIFA player that doesn’t really follow European football?  I talked to Avery Rux, a former member of Carleton’s tennis team, about his infatuation with the German club Borussia Dortmund.  “[On why he plays with Dortmund] Mario Gotze man, is the next best player in the world.”  In the soccer video game FIFA, Borussia Dortmund is quite good but they aren’t too good (likewise with Gotze).  This is a problem I have with being a Barcelona fan: that every time I win with them when I play FIFA, people assert that the only reason for my victory was because I was playing with the best team in the game (and something about Xavi being overrated).

So let’s consider us as producers  in the very competitive market where we fight for wins and where the team we pick  is a raw good that we’ll have to mold.  I’ll assert that our demand for Borussia Dortmund is high because they are the best team of their rank (four and a half stars).  Usually when coming up with a match up, teams will be chosen with the same rank, and so while people complain about me playing with Barcelona, the difference in ability between Barca and another five star team like say Chelsea, is equatable to the difference in ability of Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham.  Even though this is true, the phrase “Dortmund is too good it’s not fair,” is never said.  And so Mr. Rux, in choosing Dortmund, is being quite clever, in that he is capping his competitors ability to produce at the same time as he maximizes his ability to produce.  It’s something akin towards putting millions of dollars into R&D for clean energy innovations in your company and then lobbying Washington to force your competitors to do the same after you’ve already figured everything out.  An advantage.

I don’t think that has much to do with what we are learning but my mind is on the Champion’s League this weekend (anyone but Real is my new motto).