UCLA economist Lee Ohanian specializes in the economics of sports as well as economic crises. Before participating in a panel on professional football’s future in L.A., he sat down in the green room to have his brain picked on ticket scalping (he’s no expert), sports gambling (don’t do it), and pancakes (he tops his with caramelized bananas).
Q. Have you ever bought scalped tickets to a sporting event?
A. No, I’ve never bought scalped tickets, or tickets off StubHub.
Q. What do you like on top of your pancakes?
A. Caramelized bananas. I like to cook, so I make pancakes usually at least every other week for my family.
Q. How do you relax?
A. Playing sports-basketball, tennis, and golf. Cooking. And hanging with my family.
Q. What’s the biggest myth about American sports?
A. That we’re the top of the heap in everything. The world is catching up very quickly, and you see that in basketball. We’re far behind in tennis, and the world is catching up in golf, and soon it’ll be in baseball as well.
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. I was on the freeway for a long time, so I had a chance to listen to a lot of music. An odd combination: Sinatra and Cowboy Junkies.
Q. What’s the best sport to bet on?
A. None of them are good to bet on if you want to make money. So the answer is whichever one you think is the most fun. You should have fun because you’re not going to make money doing it!
Q. Where would you like to travel to next?
A. Paris is where I’m going next, and that’s at the top of the list.
Q. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?
A. The annual Father’s Day cards or birthday cards made by my kids.
Q. What are you reading right now?
A. The Secret of the Golf Swing, and I’m re-reading Catcher in the Rye, which one of my sons is reading.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.