NBA: No Men in Tights

I'm not sure a comment is even needed:League and team sources have told ESPN.com that the NBA, starting next season, intends to ban the tights sported at various points this season by several players, including three MVP candidates: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Although NBA officials are not publicly commenting on the issue, sources say that the league simply...

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Nigerian Soccer Referees Can Take Bribes But Must Remain Neutral

From ESPN:Football referees in Nigeria can take bribes from clubs but should not allow them to influence their decisions on the pitch, a football official said on Friday. Fanny Amun, acting Secretary-General of the Nigerian Football Association, said bribery was common in the Nigerian game."We know match officials are offered money or anything to influence matches and they can accept it," Amun told Reuters on Friday. Amun first made the statement earlier in the week to a football seminar in the capital Abuja, prompting protests from other officials."Referees...

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Major League Soccer Turns Ten

The Kansas City Star points out a coming birthday: Major League Soccer is about to turn 10. The league has certainly evolved: from the massive attendance at Foxboro for New England Revolution games in the early years, coupled with simultaneous fears of an early demise, to a more stable but possibly less ambitious league. Unlike earlier American soccer incarnations like...

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Ex-Con Denies Giving Bonds Steroids

Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, speaking on the steps of his home a few hours after being released from prison, denies he supplied Barry Bonds with steroids. Obviously, with witnesses like that behind Bonds, we might as well call off the George Mitchell-led steroids probe right n...

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New Study on College Sports Finances and NCAA Tax Exemption

The Indianapolis Star's Mark Alesia--arguably the nation's premiere reporter on NCAA issues--has outdone himself in his latest feature: a massive study on how university general funds and students contribute to athletic departments and the interplay of those contributions with the NCAA's tax exempt status as a non-profit entity (Alesia, "Colleges Play, Public Pays," Indianapolis Star, 3/30/2006; Alesia also built an NCAA Financial Reports Database from the story). The NCAA qualifies for the non-profit exemption because it claims to be "organized...

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Daryl Morey, Houston Rockets GM-to-be: Statistics and the NBA

A congratulations is in order to my good friend Daryl Morey, who has been hired by the Houston Rockets as Assistant General Manager with the understanding that he will become the team's General Manager following the 2006-07 NBA Season. Since 2002, Daryl, who's 32 years old, has been the Celtics' senior vice president of operations and information, and essentially the team's statistical and business guru. A graduate of Northwestern University with an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Business, he has been an adjunct...

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How Do I get a Job in Sports Law? (Continued)

Mike had a good post on this question here, but while I have (access to) the floor I might as well add my two cents. This is one of my topics the first day of sports law class, because I like to get it over with. I like to dispel the notion that taking sports law equals a job in sports law; and to let students know up front that Sports Law, as I teach it at least, is not a “show and tell” career development course, but a substantively challenging and thorough academic experience. The first thing I tell my students is that if I really had the...

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Law Schools with Sports Law Profs

Each year, the AALS (Association of American Law Schools) releases the “AALS Directory of Law Schools.” Law profs self-identify by subject interest, and at the back of the book, there are lists divided by subject. Some readers (future law students?) might be interested in which law schools have self-identified “sports law profs” as tenured or tenure-track faculty members (at many schools, Sports Law is taught by an Adjunct Professor – meaning, someone who has a full-time job other than teaching law). In approximate alphabetical order, here are...

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A Few Good Topics

MORE BONDS: Professor Howard Wasserman of Florida International University College of Law has two excellent columns on FindLaw concerning Barry Bonds and the steroid controversy (3/24/2006; 3/27/2006). A third colum, discussing Bonds' lawsuit and its First Amendment problems, will be on FindLaw on Monday. As you may remember, Howard guest blogged on Sports Law Blog last month and wrote a fascinating piece on the constitutional protection of "sport speech" or "cheering speech" (2/2/2006).INTERNATIONAL AGENCY BIAS FOR HOMETOWN ATHLETES: University...

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Piper Rudnick Lawyer George Mitchell to Lead MLB Steroids Probe

Bud Selig has asked 73-year-old attorney George Mitchell to investigate allegations that Barry Bonds and other players used steroids (these allegations surfaced in the recent book Game of Shadows). Mitchell is a former U.S. Senator from Maine, majority leader of the Senate, and, at one time at least, had his name floated for the MLB Commissioner’s job. Another lawyer, yet...

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Vince Young & the Legal Treatment of the Wonderlic Test

Last October, Professor Rick Karcher here and Mike here discussed the Wonderlic test as a screening tool for NFL players and its possible racial implications, respectively. I hope they picked their brackets this year with as much foresight: The relevance of these posts to Texas quarterback Vince Young’s draft status following his poor Wonderlic performance is undeniable.Out...

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The Duke Lacrosse Attack: Tragic Story But Not Sports Law

It has not been a good PR week for my alma mater. For the past few days, the story coming out of Durham about a party gone bad keeps getting worse and worse. Deadspin has a good collection of links, as does this blog that is exclusively tracking the story. For those that haven't heard, a group of 40 male students at Duke, most of whom (if not all) are on the lacrosse team, had a party at an off-campus house. They hired some entertainment in the form of two exotic dancers. According to the women, who are black, the all-white crowd chanted racial...

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Upcoming Society for American Baseball Research Conference in Seattle

Some readers may be interested in the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), an organization that promotes academic research about the sport. Each year, SABR members gather at a multi-day convention, featuring some very interesting (and intellectually challenging) presentations. This year's convention is in Seattle June 28 to July 1. Sports law fans may find most...

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The Silliness of NCAA Eligibility Rules

Last night's news that Notre Dame football player Tom Zbikowski will make his professional boxing debut this summer exposes the silliness of NCAA eligibility rules, which were used to stop skiier / CU football player Jeremy Bloom from both playing football and earning endorsement monies to subsidize his expensive skiing competitions. Why Coach Weis would "sign off" on letting...

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A "Mike Davis" Clause in Coaching Contracts?

Details of new Missouri basketball coach Mike Anderson's contract are here. The former UAB coach has agreed to "'be a loyal employee'" and not (according to CNNSI's summary) "bad mouth" the university. The "loyalty" clause is somewhat superfluous, since all employees are agents of their employers owing fiduciary duties of loyalty. The "bad mouth" clause, however, raises interesting enforceability questions (specifically, what would constitute a violation of the clause). Non-disparagement clauses are regularly part of settlements or severance...

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Big Unit, Small Heart? Randy Johnson Sues Mother of Secret Love Child

Michael Wheatley and Dave Goldiner of the New York Daily News report on a lawsuit filed by New York Yankees pitcher Randy Johnson against his ex-girlfriend Laurel Roszell, who gave birth to Johnson's first child, Heather, back in 1989 (Wheatley & Goldiner, "Randy Beams Ma of Love Child," New York Daily News, 3/28/2006; see also Smoking Gun). Johnson and Roszell broke up...

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Astros' Bagwell-Related Insurance Claim Denied

Unsurprisingly, the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company denied the Houston Astros’ insurance claim for $15.6 million based on the supposed disability of Jeff Bagwell. A good overview of the dispute from the Houston Chronicle can be found here. With this much money at stake, the insurer is unlikely to make payment until such time as the insured has a cognizable claim...

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Pistons-Pacers Brawl Beer Thrower Convicted

Pistons fan John Green, caught on tape throwing a beer at Ron Artest and sparking the infamous "Basketbrawl" in the fall of 2004, was convicted of misdemeanor assault and faces jail time and a fine. Interestingly, he was acquitted of actually tossing the cup, but convicted for punches he threw at Artest after the former Pacer entered the stands. Green plans to appeal on the...

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Strange "Superfan" Lawsuit

The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog relates the curious case of an Alabama Crimson Tide fan who has sued a New York Times reporter after a photo of the fan's Crimson Tide-themed RV was featured on the cover of the book Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, the subject of which is apparently the rabid fandom of Alabama fans. The case claims breach of contract, outrage, and invasion of privacy; the claimed damages appear to be groundless. Out of fear of having my hosts sued, I won't post this strange picture of the RV in questi...

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The Idiocy of Spring Training Brawls

Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe reports that the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Devil Rays were involved in a bench-clearing incident in their spring training game today. The Red Sox also had a bench-clearing incident in yesterday's game. In today's game, Sox reliever Julian Tavarez threw and landed a punch at Devil Rays outfielder Joey Gathright after Gathright slid into home...

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Race Car Driver Paul Dana’s Death and “Assumption of Risk” in Sports Law

Sadly, IRL driver Paul Dana was killed during a warm up lap for the season-opening race. As reported here: “While streaking around the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval during a warmup session, Dana failed to notice that another car had spun to a stop, slamming into it at close to 200 mph.” Dana died two hours later.There are obvious tort law / wrongful death issues present in...

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George Mason, College Sports and U.S. News Law School Rankings

This week, U.S. News and World Report releases its oft-maligned yet unquestionably powerful ranking of American law schools. Schools like mine—which flit between the bottom of the “second tier” and the top of the “third tier”—anxiously await the results. Life in the “second tier” means more submissions to our law review, better applicants from outside of our “region”, and...

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Still here

I haven't abandoned my blog here. I've just been very busy with various projects, but it is my intention to return to this project as soon as possib...

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Barry Bonds to Sue Game of Shadows Authors, But NOT for Libel

Attorney Michael Raines, who represents Barry Bonds, plans to file a lawsuit against the authors of "Game of Shadows" (Mark Fainaru-Wada (top) and Lance Williams (bottom)) alleging that they violated California's Unfair Competition Law by using "illegally obtained" grand jury transcripts in writing the book. The lawsuit will ask for damages at least equaling all profits generated...

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Yankee Hater Logo, Trademark Law, and Corporate Paranoia

ESPN's Darren Rovell has a great piece on Mike Moorby, a 38-year old financial advisor from New Jersey who created a side business devoted to all things hating the New York Yankees. (Rovell, "The Yankee Hater Biz," ESPN.com, 3/22/2006). I know what you're thinking: Why hasn't anyone come up with this concept before? After-all, who could possibly like the New York Yankees?...

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Callaway Files Lawsuit Over Patents

The legal community has been abuzz for weeks about the state of the nation's patent law (yes, some people do get excited about patent law), in the wake of the Blackberry/RIM lawsuit and settlement. The Supreme Court will also address a key patent issue next week. Some believe that the current patent system does not reward innovation, but rather allows a patent-holder to "sit" on a patent and develop it into a product, instead waiting until a company uses the technology and suing for millions. This is called patent trolling. Others believe the system...

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Soriano Surrenders: He will Play Left Field for Washington Nationals

Yesterday Joe Rosen posted about Alfonso Soriano's refusal to play the outfield for the Washington Nationals, and how the Nationals had threatened to place him on the Disqualified List, which would have required him to forfeit his salary and would have embarrassed and stigmatized him in the baseball community. A few hours ago, in a sign of Détente between the two parties,...

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The Law of Thirst: Gatorade Sues Powerade

ESPN's Darren Rovell on his Gatorade Blog writes about a lawsuit filed by PepsiCo, the makers of Gatorade and Propel, against Coca-Cola, the makers of Powerade, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuit claims that Coca-Cola is airing a misleading advertisement by claiming that "Powerade Option" has 80 percent fewer calories than "Gatorade."...

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