Cedric Maxwell's Sexist Comments about NBA Referee Violet Palmer

Cedric Maxwell--the MVP of the 1981 NBA finals and whose number #31 the Boston Celtics recently retired--has been the color analyst for radio broadcasts of Celtics games since 1995. His thoughtfulness and humor have made him popular among Celtics fans, particularly in recent years as his performance has excelled.But as reported by Dave Adams of Universal Hub, Maxwell has found...

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American University Soccer Player's $10 Million Tort Case Against Former DC United Star

Yesterday, the Washington Post covered an interesting lawsuit filed by a former soccer player from American University against the MLS franchise D.C. United, its owners, and a former player, Bulgarian superstar Hristo Stoitchkov.In 2003, the AU college team played the United in a scrimmage. According to the Post story:The incident occured about 10 minutes into a scrimmage...

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Is Potato Sack Racing a "Contact Sport"?

As long-time readers of this blog know, one of my enduring sports law interests in the tort liability of participants in athletic events to one another (see posts on the subject here, here, and here). In many states, a "contact sports exception" applies to personal injury cases between co-participants in sports deemed to "inherently" involve contact. Co-participants can...

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Politics, Expression, and Basketball Arenas

True Hoop (which, having asked Mike to guest-post, must be regarded as the official non-law basketball blog of the sports-law world) reports on a story from The Stranger (which I gather is Seattle's weekly independent newspaper):The campaign finance records I’ve reviewed show that Sonics/Storm co-owner Tom Ward has contributed $475,000 to Gary L. Bauer’s Americans United to Preserve MarriageAnd another Sonics/Storm co-owner, Aubrey McClendon, contributed $625,000. During the last two election cycles, Americans United distributed $ 1.3 million,...

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Should Dale, Jr. leave DEI?

The answer to that question is absolutely yes for chrissakes. DEI is holding Dale back, and they need Jr. more than Jr. needs them. Without some kind of ownership stake, Dale should walk. Richard Childress should snatch up Mr. Earnhardt and pull the "3" out of retirement.Sunday's race shows there are some big problems at DEI. Two blown engines is not good. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I've always believed that Dale, Jr. was a good racer without a quality car. He should have had a championship by now, but it has eluded him.I don't know...

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New Sports Law Scholarship

New this week:Michael J. Jurek, Note, Janitor or savior: the role of Congress in professional boxing reform, 67 OHIO STATE LAW JOURNAL 1187 (2006) Shane Mecham, The house that consensus built: consensus building in stadium construction, 38 URBAN LAWYER 1087 (20...

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JACKSON POLLOCK, Blue Po...

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The Libertarian Party

I have given a lot of thought to poliical involvement, and my position has "evolved" which is a political euphemism for flip-flopping. Basically, what is a libertarian to do?The Libertarian Party is the nation's largest third party. Yet, it has no real chance of ever winning an election beyond dog catcher. It claims to be the party of principle, but the result is that LPers spend a lot of time arguing amongst themselves concerning their platform. Recently, the LP simplified its platform which resulted in a lot of claims of selling out. Seriously,...

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Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. Kevin Harvick edged out Mark Martin to win the Daytona 500. Despite the loss, I think Martin would be an idiot to leave racing. I think the old man has a lot left in him.2. The IDIOT OF THE WEEK award has to go to Britney Spears. I don't think she was stupid to shave her head or get those tats, but she surely has shit for brains to destroy her life with drugs and alcohol with the likes of the Skank Pack--Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, and Lindsay Lohan. Britney needs to sober up, clean up, hire a personal trainer, and get back to working. In...

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PABLO PICASSO, The Old Guitar Pla...

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Chad Cordero: Wins Arbitration But Losses Autonomy?

Attorney Bryan Stroh (a former law school classmate whose practice includes sports law and who was also a pretty darn good baseball player at Princeton), passes along this link from MLB.com on Washington Nationals' closer Chad Cordero being pressured by his agent and the MLBPA into turning down a two-year guaranteed deal (said to be worth between $7 million and $8 million)...

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Could a Gay NBA Player Sue for Hostile Work Environment?

A couple of days ago, Henry Abbot of True Hoop asked me to assume, for the sake of argument, that a handful of NBA players were gay and that many NBA players were anti-gay, and then examine whether the NBA, its teams, and/or executives could be vulnerable to a hostile work environment lawsuit. I opined that such a claim would be hard to prove based on what we know, and I explain why on True Hoop.Also be sure to check out Howard's related posts on Sports Law Blog from earlier this week (2/21; 2/17).Update on The Relevance of Title VII and Personal...

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Equal Pay at Wimbledon: But Should Women Make More Than Men?

Paul Secunda over at Workplace Prof Blog discusses the world's most prestigious tennis tournament, Wimbledon, bowing to public pressure and agreeing to pay women players as much as the men. Wimbledon had been the last of the four Grand Slam Tournaments to pay men and women players unequally. Last year, the men's winner pocketed $1,170,000 while the women's winner received...

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DVD-Superman Returns

This movie blows. Kevin Spacey is great as Lex Luthor, but he was underutilized. I got this one for the kids, and the kids could care less about this one.The most interesting superhero flicks to come out in the last few years would have to be the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises. But if I had to put my money on the best superhero flick ever, it would be Christian Bale in Batman Begins.In Superman Returns, Superman comes back from sabbatical at the dead world of Krypton. That journey would have made a great superhero flick. But it was only mnetioned....

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One Step Forward - Two Steps Back

In a blog post three weeks ago, I asked the question whether progress on the minority NFL head coach hiring front had been realized. Now three weeks later, the answer to that question appears to be “probably not.” With the hiring of Norv Turner a few days ago by the San Diego Chargers, and the recent hiring of Wade Phillips by the Dallas Cowboys, we have two white coach retreads, who are both two time losers. Both Phillips and Turner have been hired as head coaches again after literally failing in previous stints as head coaches. Turner has...

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Sport and the Meaning of Homosexuality

A commenter with the handle ChapelHeel makes an interesting point to the post about the reactions to John Amechi coming out. ChapelHeel tries to distinguish Tim Hardaway's anti-homosexual comments from Shavlik Randolph's statement that he was OK as long as Amechi (or anyone else) does not "bring your gayness of me."ChapelHeel says, in part, as follows:There are lots of people in America who are fine with gay people living a gay lifestyle, but do not want to be personally involved. Call it a middle ground of acceptance.Let's assume Randolph is Jewish...

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She's Megalicious!

What more can I say - Drop dead gorgeous g...

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Tuesday Sports Law Panel at Western Michigan University

On Tuesday, February 27 (next Tuesday), Rick, Bob McCormick (MSU Law) and I will be doing a panel on Sports Law for the undergraduate pre-law society at Western Michigan University. The event will be from 6:30-7:30 in Bernhard Center, Room 209 (PLEASE NOTE: UPDATED LOCATION), and we are planning to address the general topic of amateruism, pay, and unionization in college sports. Anyone in the Kalamazoo neighborhood, please feel free to attend since the event is open to the publ...

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Dice-K, Beer, and the Feds

A follow-up to Michael's post about Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka taking a sip of beer in a Japanese-language television ad running only in Japan. Michael focused more on the ethics of the ad and of the close ties between professional sports and alcohol. He suggests (as I believe to be the case) the the prohibition on depicting someone drinking alcohol on television is a voluntary network regulation, not a requirement from the FCC or the FTC or other federal regulatory agency.Well, maybe not . . .Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy discusses...

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Sports and the Rule of Law

At DorfOnLaw, there is an interesting post-and-comment exchange, started by Neil Buchanan, on how rules are applied in various sports. Neil's focus is the way the NBA openly and even proudly applies rules differently for superstar players. No other sport does this, at least not as openly. For example, I feel pretty certain that the strike zone is different for certain batters or certain pitchers, but MLB strongly denies this.Interesting stuff. And it suggests that Chief Justice Roberts's argument that a judge should be nothing more than an umpire,...

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Sports Law Prof to be New Baltimore Law Dean

Following on the news that Tulane's Gary Roberts will be assuming the deanship at IUPUI this summer, I pass on the bittersweet news that my colleague, and former UT Law dean Phil Closius, has been appointed the next dean at the University of Baltimore Law School. Phil was a great dean (after all, he hired me), and a great colleague, and Baltimore is lucky to get him. Baltimore...

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I Want to Be Like Mike, Except in Bankruptcy Court

Last week, the U.S. Bankruptcy court overseeing the bankruptcy of Worldcom, Inc., dealt a blow to Michael Jordan in his effort to collect on unpaid endorsement fees, concluding that Jordan had failed to take mitigation efforts after Worldcom went under. See In re Worldcom, Inc., 2007 WL 446735 (Bkrtcy. S.D.N.Y., Feb 13, 2007).Jordan had signed on as spokesman for MCI, then...

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Impinging on Liberties

We have a long tradition in this country of impinging on the liberties of business owners in order to protect their workers from unreasonable safety risks.--The State newspaper in an editorial from Feb. 18's paper.You can read the rest here.This was almost certainly written by Brad Warthen, a notorious statist shithe...

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Growing foals - Photos taken 19th February

TF Finn TF Finn TF Liath TF MeganTF LiathTF Finn TF Me...

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Tom Brady to Father Child Out-Of-Wedlock: What Does It Mean?

Before I discuss today's news about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, I thought it would be helpful to first examine legal and sociological trends relating to the subject du jour: out-of-wedlock children.Since the 1970s, out-of-wedlock births in the United States have soared, as about 37% of all American children are now born without married parents, in contrast...

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The War on Drugs

Once upon a time, there was this guy named. . .oh, George will do. George was a pothead. He loved nothing more than to smoke a bowlful of reefer of each day. The consequences of those choices were that he hurt the society at large by laughing a lot and consuming large quantities of Lay's potato chips. He did not even have to steal to support his drug habit since he was growing his own down in the basement with some special lights, a can of carbon dioxide, and some Miracle-Gro. However, he was known to steal some Dorito's from a friend's house,...

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Minority Rights

As a Southerner and a white hetero man, this is an issue I have to deal with. So, let me explain my issue as succinctly as I can. When it comes to the government, I believe in equal treatment of all individuals. I decry discrimination against blacks, women, latinos, homosexuals, etc. When it comes to individuals, I believe people have the right to be as racist and bigoted as much as they want including denying employment, goods, and services to people they hate. However, they do not have the right to deny other people their human rights which are...

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Beyond Left and Right

There is rarely a day that goes by where I am not labelled as a liberal or a conservative because of whatever opinion I am expressing at the moment. The reality is that I am neither, but people can't seem to think beyond their left/right categories.I am a libertarian. The essentials of being a libertarian is that you believe in human rights which are only three--life, liberty, and property. This means we believe in social freedom as well as economic freedom. The Left does not believe in economic freedom while the Right does not believe in social...

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PRINT-Rats by Robert Sullivan

Sullivan's Rats is a book with everything in it. It is naturalism, history, biology, and social commentary all rolled up into one. It is everything you wanted to know (and didn't) about the furry creatures that seemed permanently attached to human society. If there is one lesson to take from Rats, it is this. CLEAN UP YOUR GARBAGE!! You can trap rats, poison rats, and even shoot them marksman style as some exterminators are forced to do. But the key to controlling rats is to control their food supply which is human garbage esp. in big cities like...

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DVD-Crank

Jason Statham plays a hitman named Chev Chelios who has been poisoned with a substance known simply as the "Beijing shit" which works slowly on his body by inhibiting adrenaline receptors. In order to stave off death, save his dipshit girlfriend, and enact revenge on the ones who killed him, Chelios must keep the adrenaline pumping in this rollercoaster ride of a movie with a plot resembling a videogame such as Grand Theft Auto. Just like a videogame, Chelios must power up constantly with such things as cocaine, Red Bull, nasal spray, a shot of...

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FREE THE DOG

For those out of the loop, here is what you need to know. Andrew Luster is the heir to the Max Factor fortune and a serial rapist. He is a rich sick fuck who skipped out on bail back in 2003 and went down to Mexico. Luster is now sitting in prison serving a 124 year prison sentence thanks to the efforts of Duane Chapman better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter.Dog and his family...

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The 4 Ways to Spend Money by Milton Friedman

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Being John Amechi, but not being Tim Hardaway

I have waited a couple of days to blog about John Amechi's new book in which he announces that he is gay (the first active or retired NBA player to come out). Or about the nuclear explosion in the wake of former All-Star Tim Hardaway's statements on a Miami radio program this week:"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."It only has gotten worse for Hardaway as his recent attempts...

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Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. A lot of cheaters got busted down at Daytona this week. The cheating is neither a surprise nor a scandal. NASCAR is a sport started by bootleggers, so cheating in stock car racing has a long tradition. I doubt there is a single driver in the field that hasn't benefitted from an illegal edge at one time or another.NASCAR has taken the step to crack down on this shit. But the whole point of racing is to gain an advantage. Why is a bit of wedge in the rear legal while an extra inch of spoiler isn't? The rules are a bit arbitrary. But they are what...

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Masterton A&P Show - Reilly is my star pony!

Well today was crunch day. The day we have been preparing Reilly for for weeks. The day of the Masterton A&P Show. I'm just so happy with him I could cry! As the weather was officially vile yesterday I left plaiting and primping him until this morning and was out in the paddock at 9am in the drizzle getting him ready. I think he ended up with nearly 40 plaits - hahaha!...

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