The 2017 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Houston was awesome. Sports played a major role in making the meeting a success. Let me explain. The big event was held at Minute Maid Field. This is the home of the Houston Astros. The Astros did very well and were in the World Series (championship series for American baseball). Over the past few years, Major League Baseball had a rule that the winning league of the All-Star Game played in July would have home-field advantage. In 2017 the American League (Astros are in the American League) won the All-Star Game. Major League Baseball changed the rule for 2017 and returned to the old rule that awarded home field advantage to ...