Tiger Woods was in a textbook, but not anymore

Yahoo! Sports

Tue Mar 22 12:45pm EDT

Tiger Woods was in a textbook, but not anymore

So here's a little oddity brought to us by Waggle Room: Tiger Woods was in a college-level Economics textbook, but he's not anymore. Here's the story: N. Gregory Mankiw, a professor at Harvard, used Woods as an example in his textbook "Principles of Economics," like so:

In case you can't read that text, this is basically one of those "opportunity cost" questions, in which you must decide whether it's a good idea for Tiger to mow his own lawn or pay somebody $20 to do it while he goes out and makes Nike commercials. Surely you don't need to go to Harvard to figure that one out, though if Tiger can get away with paying $20 to have someone mow this mammoth monstrosity, more power to him.

Anyway, Mankiw decided, rightly enough, that Woods' personal travails might distract from the question itself, according to the Harvard Crimson. Mankiw substituted in New England Patriots QB Tom Brady, making this THE BEST TEXTBOOK QUESTION EVAAHHHH!!!! NO ONE DENIES THIS!!!

Still, we think the professor is acting a little too hastily here. Instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, just change the bathwater. Or the baby. Whatever, just make up a different question. You know, one like this:

Should Tiger Woods Chase Grenades? A Devil Ball Exam:

It is 2009. Tiger Woods is worth a billion dollars and is married with two children. However, he is also often tempted by women of less than sterling character. Explain, using the concepts of opportunity cost and comparative advantage, how in the world Woods could think it's a good idea to torpedo one of the greatest sports legacies in history by chasing women who wear nametags and/or nothing at all.

You have one hour. Please keep your eyes on your own paper. And ... begin.