Jonathan Tjarks

Bio

An award-winning freelance writer who has worked with the Dallas Morning News, the Austin American Statesman and Talking Points Memo, Jonathan Tjarks wanted to be an NBA player growing up. But he stopped growing at 6'5, so he became a writer instead. An NBA and college basketball writer for RealGM and SBNation, his other articles on sports and all that they imply can be found at jonathantjarks.blogspot.com.
Oscar Nominations 2013: Why 'Zero Dark Thirty' Shouldn't Win Best Picture
By Jonathan Tjarks
They say a police is only as good as informants, which means we ain’t about shit. -- The Wire Zero Dark Thirty, the controversial movie depicting the manhunt for Osama Bin Laden, is one of the frontrunners for Best Picture at the Oscars this year.…
The Revolutionary President: We'll All Be Studying Obama Politics For Generations to Come
By Jonathan Tjarks
The president was coolly eyeing American history in order to carve his own grand place in it, the guests said in interviews later. “It was almost as if he was writing his own history book about himself,” said David M. Kennedy, a professor at…
Obama vs Romney: Arabs and Mitt Romney Both Agree That American Foreign Policy Needs Changing
By Jonathan Tjarks
While most of the American media has focused on Mitt Romney’s bungled response to the embassy attacks in Libya, there’s been very little discussion about why the riots occurred in the first place. If there’s any common ground between Romney and…
Paul Ryan is Not a Libertarian or Tea Party Conservative
By Jonathan Tjarks
"Barzini will move against you first. He'll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust, guaranteeing your safety. And at that meeting, you'll be assassinated. -- The Godfather" Paul Ryan is only 42-years old. He has spent his entire…
Why You Could Be On Obama's Kill List and Nobody Would Ever Know
By Jonathan Tjarks
In Sylvester Stallone’s futuristic thriller Judge Dredd, Stallone plays a police officer who serves as judge, jury, and executioner. Set in a dystopian future where civilization does not exist outside of heavily fortified cities, the movie posits a…
Kentucky National Championship is a Great Thing For College Sports
By Jonathan Tjarks
Editor's Note: This piece previously appeared on basketball news and analysis site realgm.com The fact that a team with Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist won a national title isn’t all that remarkable. What’s remarkable is…
Knicks Point Guard Jeremy Lin Is Not That Special, He's Replaceable
By Jonathan Tjarks
Since being inserted into the starting line-up on Feb. 4, New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin has become the biggest story in sports, averaging 25 points and 9 assists per game and leading the Knicks to a 7-1 record. Photo Credit: Wikimedia…
Mike Huckabee is the Only GOP Candidate Who Can Defeat President Obama in 2012
By Jonathan Tjarks
From the very beginning of the 2012 election cycle, the biggest theme of the Republican primary has been widespread dissatisfaction with all of the candidates. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Mitt Romney and Barack Obama: Two Competing Visions of the Status Quo
By Jonathan Tjarks
After winning the New Hampshire Republican Primary last week, Mitt Romney began to pivot to the general election, calling President Barack Obama someone who wants to “turn America into a European-style entitlement society.” An election between…
Tim Tebow Philippines Charity Work and the Flawed Way Americans View the World
By Jonathan Tjarks
Because of the combination of his outspoken religious beliefs and his unconventional style of football, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow became a polarizing symbol of evangelical Christianity over the last few months. However, he is widely…
Best of 2011: Samuel Alito, Peyton Manning, and How Law School Resembles the NFL Draft
By Jonathan Tjarks
In the award-winning book “Freakonomics,” economist Sudhir Venkatesh got unprecedented access to the inner workings of a crack distribution ring. When he crunched the numbers, he found the average crack dealer made less than minimum wage. They were…
Green Bay Packers Prove That Public Ownership of Organizations is Economical
By Jonathan Tjarks
In the last two seasons, the Green Bay Packers have been the NFL’s most successful franchise. But what makes them unique goes far beyond the playing field. With a management structure unlike anything else in American professional sports, they have…
The End of American Baseball? How the MLB's New CBA Could Radically Change The Sport
By Jonathan Tjarks
With the NBA and NFL lockouts dominating sports news for most of 2011, the quick resolution of a new labor agreement in Major League Baseball flew under the radar. But baseball’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) may end up being the most…
Republican "Job Creator" Myth Misunderstands Our Economic Problems
By Jonathan Tjarks
In diagnosing the problems with the weak American economy, most Republican talking points center around the need to please the ever-so-important “job-creators” who make up the top 1% of the economy.   They are overburdened. The regulations on their…
Occupy the NBA: How the Lockout is Similar to OWS
By Jonathan Tjarks
On Monday, the National Basketball Player's Association rejected the NBA owners’ latest proposed collective bargaining agreement and announced that they would vote to decertify their union. For the first time in the now five-month lockout, the…
Occupy the NBA: How the Lockout is Like OWS
By Jonathan Tjarks
There’s more to the NBA lockout than billionaires and millionaires squabbling over percentage points of a multi-billion dollar pie. After five months of one-sided “negotiations”, the owners have received an unprecedented amount of concessions. The…
Herman Cain's Foreign Policy Problem
By Jonathan Tjarks
As he has improbably risen in the Republican polls, Herman Cain has been the subject of extensive media scrutiny. The main tenet of his economic policy, the “9-9-9 plan,” is fairly controversial, and now there are questions about a possible history…
The Drastically Different Economics of the NFL and European Soccer
By Jonathan Tjarks
In the world of sports, the biggest culture shock when you cross the Atlantic isn’t the relative popularity of “futbol” and “football,” but rather the economic structure of the sports themselves. English Premier League fans cannot understand why the…
The Excessive Glorification of Steve Jobs
By Jonathan Tjarks
The death of Apple founder Steve Jobs has triggered an overwhelming display of public grief. It is apparent that Jobs may have been one of the last universally beloved figures in American popular culture. President Barack Obama called him “a…
The Heavy Price of College Tuition
By Jonathan Tjarks
The Occupy Wall Street protesters have made national news arguing on behalf of “the other 99%.” Student debt in particular is one of their biggest concerns. Their issues with America’s education system make sense. As a 2010 economic survey revealed,…