A central prediction of economics is that competition spurs innovation. The New York Times Magazine has an amazing story about how the intense cauldron of college basketball has led to delightfully Machiavellian psychological tactics.

The nut graf:

The solution to how to neutralize Pruitt came not from a game plan of X’s and O’s but from military-style psychological operations. In the week leading up to the game, members of Cal’s Rally Committee, who earlier obtained Pruitt’s Instant Messenger screen name, created an I.M. account for a fictional U.C.L.A. coed named Victoria. “Victoria” began flirting with Pruitt, sending him photos of herself (pictures of a very attractive woman that the Cal students had taken off the Internet) and telling him that she and her friends wanted to party with him and his teammates back in L.A. after the game against Cal.

Oh man. Maybe we should have done this kind of thing to Osama.