Disposable Pleasures, or How to Get Over a Stupid Bitch

As many of you know, I got dumped last week. My girlfriend waited until I was out of town to drop the fucking bomb on me. Now, it is Saturday night. I've been in the bars drinking and chatting up the chicks. I had an opportunity with a 33-year-old who was separated from her husband for the last year. The fucker had been cheating on her. She found the receipts for the hotel rooms. Depressing shit. We spent the evening sharing stories over drinks.My story does not compare to hers. I'm drinking right now, so I'm being very confessional. Way more confessional...

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Liberty and Economics

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Cheering speech through not cheering

Since silence and non-participation are a means of expression, there will be an interesting free-speech event in Pittsburgh tonight.A group called Fans for Change has organized a fan walkout for tonight's game between the Pirates and Washington Nationals at Pittsburgh's PNC Park. The protest consists of a pregame rally and petition drive on Federal Street, outside the park, from 5-7, then a mass walkout at the end of the third inning (fans either will leave or stand in the concourse through the end of the fourth inning). Fans also are being encouraged...

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Cheating Wife

This guy finds out his wife is cheating on him with the best man from his wedding.This is why you should never get marri...

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Love is Bullshit Revisited

Love is bullshit. Folks, you have no idea how much I wish that wasn't true. But it is true.A few months ago, I met someone who started to change my mind on this. I don't know why she liked me so much. But love is fickle. She stopped loving me about as abruptly as she started. I blamed her. Then, I blamed myself. But at the end of the day, love is bullshit.I knew it would end this way. It happened exactly as I predicted it would. She met me one day and loved me. Then, she woke up one day and didn't. It was like turning on a faucet and then turning...

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CLYDE CALDWELL, unkn...

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Thoughts on Last Night's NBA Draft

Like most NBA drafts, last night's made for great television (at least until things seemed to slow down dramatically with picks beginning in the 20s). There are excellent draft recaps today by Chad Ford, Bill Simmons, Marty Burns, and Charley Rosen. Jeff Clark and Henry Abbott also ran an excellent draft chat on ESPN, and its transcript is worth checking out.To me, the most...

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Good Intentions

This was written on Saturday, but I relented on publishing it. My girlfriend dumped me today while I was out of town like the coward she is. So, here it is.Thursday and Friday were good days all things considered. Today is Saturday, and it has been a bad day for me.I do not know where to begin with this. So, here's a little quotation to set the mood:I think I'm falling in love with you, Mr. Broadway! As scary as it may seem, I will never hurt you. You just have to trust me as much as I trust you.The first time I read those words I knew they would...

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David Ortiz's War on Umpires

Over on The Situationist--which was recently named Best Social Psychology Blog--Jon Hanson and I have a piece entitled "What's Eating David Ortiz?" that you may find interesting.Our piece offers a psychological explanation for why Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz--described by some as the greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history--has become so acrimonious in his relationship...

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Congress to Investigate Pension and Disability Treatment of Retired NFL Players

Tomorrow at 1 p.m., the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will conduct a hearing on the disability benefit application system offered to retired NFL players by the NFLPA. A number of ex-players have asserted that the NFLPA has ignored the needs of former players--the very players whose labor, arguably, built the league from which current players...

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Stop Snitchin’

“I’m major leagues, who’s catching because I’m pitchin,’ Jose Canseco just snitchin’ because he’s finished.” - Rick Ross “Everyday I’m Hustlin’”Jason Giambi and George Mitchell’s agreement that Giambi will testify so long as he does not have to rat out his compatriots begs the question, when is it okay to report or not to report illegal or anti-social activities to interested authorities? Social norms within and beyond sports are in conflict here. Individual freedom, privacy, and loyalty suggest that one has no duty to tell, and perhaps has low...

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Trailer Loading the Weanlings

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The Dark Emotions

It has come to my attention recently that I am a really neurotic motherfucker. I'm in Woody Allen territory. It is usually a passing phase when bad shit happens to me, but I have noticed that I am predisposed to a certain level of negative thinking. Now, I'm not going to go Tony Robbins on you because that guy is full of shit. But I do want to deal with some common negative emotions and their antidotes.FEARJohn Maynard Keynes once famously quipped that in the long run, we're all dead. I disagree with Keynes on a lot of stuff, but he got that one...

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West Virginia University College of Law Symposium on Race and Labor in 21st Century Sports Law

On October 4th and 5th, the West Virginia University College of Law will host a symposium entitled "Reversing Field: Examining Issues of Commercialization, Race and Labor in 21st Century Sports Law.” I am honored to be speaking at this event, which is spearheaded by Sports Law Blog contributor and WVU law professor andre` douglas pond cummings and also includes blog contributors...

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Judges as Umpires, Redux

On Slate, Walter Dellinger (former Acting Solicitor General, con law professor, and appellate lawyer) offers his "Five-Minute Crash Course in Constitutional Law" for non-lawyers.He gives the best rebuttal I yet have seen to the "judges should be umpires" tripe:Senators especially like it when a nominee says a judge's role is just to be an "umpire." But broad constitutional phrases are different from sports rules, so a judge would be like an umpire only if the game—instead of having a strike zone and a set number of balls, strikes, and outs—provided...

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DVD-Smokin' Aces

About the only good thing I can say about this flick is that Alicia Keys is smoking hot in it. Other than that, this movie fails.Smokin' Aces crams everything into it. It has an all-star cast. It has witty dialogue. It has a lot of action, violence, sex, and gore. The plot is ambitious. The characters are out of this world. Yet, it is because of this that the movie fails.I...

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Associated Press Says Public Has Right to Blacked Out Names in Search Warrant

This post essentially continues the debate within the comments to Michael's excellent post yesterday regarding the disclosure of the Diamondbacks scouting report. I had to beat Howard to it. This week, the Associated Press asked a federal judge to make public the names of baseball players a government agent said were implicated in drug use by former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley. When the affidavit signed by the government agent to obtain a search warrant on Grimsley's home was made public in June 2006, the names of the players the agent...

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Kevin Garnett Says No to Boston Celtics: Selfish or Understandable?

Yesterday afternoon, I was annoyed to hear that Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett does not want to be traded to the Boston Celtics. In fact, he told his agent, Andy Miller, that if traded to Boston, he would exercise an opt-out in his contract next summer to become an unrestricted free agent."What is this guy's problem? Why doesn't he like Boston? Why wouldn't he...

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Supreme Court decision in TSSAA v. Brentwood Academy (Updated)

The Supreme Court of the United States today decided Tennessee Secondary Sch. Athletic Association v. Brentwood Academy, involving a First Amendment and Due Process challenges to the enforcement of a high school athletic association's anti-recruiting rule against a private school. We previously have discussed this case here, here, and here. A copy of the opinion can be downloaded here (via SCOTUSblog).As I predicted on these pages, the Court unanimously rejected Brentwood's constitutional arguments. Justice Stevens wrote the opinion for the Court,...

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Theft or Finders Keepers? AP Reporter Publishes Scouting Report Found on Dugout Floor

Last Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks played the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium for the final game of a three-game series. The Yankees won the game by a score of 7-1, sweeping the series; the teams will not play again this season.After the game, an Associated Press reporter was walking through the Diamondbacks' visiting dugout. He found a scouting report on the floor....

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Daydreams, Reflection, and Action

It is fun to daydream. You can fantasize about all sorts of things. You can come up with all kinds of new ideas or wishes. The problem with all of these wishes comes when we have to fulfill them. It is then that we face the hard work of turning dreams into reality.As Peter Drucker put it, "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work." Our lives are filled with good intentions. In our fantasy lives, everything is perfect. There is no adversity. Everything is a success easily gained. But we know this is bullshit.Then,...

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Multitasking

One time, I had a job interview where the guy asked questions from a stock list asked of all applicants. One of the questions asked what would I do if I had three or four things to do and needed to be completed at the same time. I answered that I would prioritize and do the most pressing thing first and work my way to the next important, etc. This was the wrong answer.The right answer was that I would do them all at the same time. Looking back, I realize that the right answer was also the stupid answer. But that is Corporate America for you.I have...

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Two Views of Prosecutorial Misconduct

Two interesting and contrasting views on the disbarment of Durham County DA Mike Difong. Both pieces are by former New York public defenders: David Feige (now an author) and Brooks Holland (now assistant professor at Gonzaga University School of Law).They take quite different views as to how common it is for prosecutors to withhold exculpatory evidence (deliberately or otherwise) and how uncommon it is for such prosecutors to be held accountable for abusive over-zealousness. Both are worth a lo...

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Robbie gets some new grass ...

Shifted Debi and Robbie to a new paddock today. As you can see, Robbie was quite pleased about th...

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Will the NFL's New Whistleblower Program End the League's Concussion Headaches?

The NFL announced this week that it will implement a whistleblower program designed to deal with its ongoing concussion scandal. Under the proposed policy, the details of which still need to be worked out with the union, medical personnel pressured to clear players before those players are healthy enough to return to the gridiron, or players pressured to play, can file anonymous...

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Did Vince McMahon's Fake Death Violate Security Laws?

That is a question asked by Darren Rovell on Sports Biz today, and also one that he asked me in a TV interview that will air on CNBC later today at the following times: 7:50 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 1:55 p.m., all Eastern Standard Time Zone. I hope you get a chance to watch. The interview will first air on CNBC's morning business show Squawk Box.McMahon, as you know, is the...

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Legal Issues of Unauthorized Kobe Bryant Video

Last week, a website named "The Official Kobe Video Website" appeared. It is offering the sale of an unflattering video of Kobe Bryant, purportedly taken in late May outside a shopping center in Newport Coast, California, in which Bryant has an impromptu conversation with a small group of fans. During his conversation, Bryant disparages his employer, as well as a number...

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Alan Childress on Nifong's Disbarment

Alan Childress at the Legal Profession Blog offers his thoughts on the disbarment of Mike Nifong for his misconduct in the Duke lacrosse prosecutions.Childress makes one very good point that I had not seen elsewhere and that I think I agree with: Even assuming Nifong deserved to be punished this harshly, disbarment after one hour of deliberation is, at least historically, a highly unusual and harsh punishment for even extreme cases of prosecutorial misconduct. And a possible explanation for that difference is the high-profile and politicized nature...

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My Apology to Mike Nifong

I am not long on sympathy. I have little to no sympathy for OJ Simpson, Kobe Bryant or Pacman Jones, each of whom has suffered public and professional ($monetary$) reprobation despite not being convicted of the crimes for which they were accused. I do not quibble with those who, because of the media reports, believe wholeheartedly in their guilt.I have a similar absence of sympathy for the Duke Lacrosse team and can’t quite come to grips with ESPN having a half hour special two days ago about them. The same media outlets wiping their tears now...

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