Saving the Puerto Rican League

Puerto Rican athletes play an important part in MLB tradition. Since the 1950s, more than 200 Puerto Ricans have earned spots on MLB rosters. The list extends from old-timers such as Roberto Clemente to today's stars, which include Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and the brothers Bengie, Jose and Yadier Molina.As MLB has expanded its scouting into Puerto Rico, however, trouble...

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Duke Lacrosse and Prosecutorial Misconduct

Interesting discussion of the Duke Lacrosse case, the disbarrment of prosecutor Mike Nifong and what it tells us about the criminal justice system and the issues of prosecutorial misconduct. This plays into one of my recurring interests in what sport-related legal issues can tell us about legal issues generally. The link to the show is here. According to the web site, the audio is available one hour after the program ends. The original broadcast ended at noon EST, so it should be up by 1 E...

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The Aluminum Bat: Weapon of Physical Harm or Relatively Innocuous Piece of Sports Equipment?

That's the question presented in Eric Fisher's excellent piece, Debate over metal bats on the upswing, published in the August 13-19 edition of Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal (subscription only). As Fisher correctly notes, ever since the aluminum bat's widespread introduction in the early 1970's, arguments have centered on safety concerns, aesthetic concerns such as the pinging sound of ball hitting metal, and the sharp rise in scoring that many levels have play have experienced. Advocates of the metal bat over this 30 year period...

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Thoughts on Michael Vick's Guilty Plea, Supersonics' Possible Move, and new NFL-Related EEOC Claims

Some thoughts and links on various topics:Michael Vick Guilty PleaI have a new Sports Illustrated.com column on Michael Vick's trial, entitled "What's Next for Vick After Guilty Plea." I hope you get a chance to read it. I know I said my column, "Sports and the Law," would run once a month, but it may run more regularly.I was also interviewed for a story by Tim Tucker in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled "Vick's Wasted Fortune of Epic Proportions." It's an excellent article, particularly for those of you interested in how the Falcons...

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Taxing and Selling the Barry Bonds Home Run Ball

Rick commented several weeks ago on the tax consequences that might befall Matt Murphy for catching Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball. Last week came reports that Murphy was going to sell the ball specifically so he could afford the coming tax bill.Andre Smith, FIU colleague who teaches and writes on tax and frequent guest at Sports Law Blog, adds his two cents:I disagree with IRS attempts to collect taxes presently from Matt Murphy, the catcher of Bonds’ 756th home run. In my view, catching a baseball is not a taxable event pursuant to section...

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The Best and Worst of Organized Children's Sports

Each year, the final week of August reminds us about the best and the worst that organized children's sports has to offer.Yesterday afternoon, at the finals of the Little League World Series, grace and innocence was personified by 12-year old Dalton Carriker, who hit his opposite field, game-winning home run to help his team from Georgia to defeat a group of boys from Tokyo,...

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Interesting New Paper on Sports Agent Ethics

Melissa Neiman, a lawyer and a doctor, has posted an interesting new paper on ethical issues for attorneys serving as sports agents, Fair Game: Ethical Considerations in Negotiation by Sports Agents. You can download the paper free of charge from this site. The paper does a particularly good job of exploring the application of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct to ethical issues a sports agent-lawyer is likely to face. Here's an abstract of the paper:Over the past several decades the sports agent has emerged as an increasingly important...

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Media Matters

Lots of media entities calling on the phone this week, thanks largely to my work here.Last week, I appeared on Legal Talk Network's Lawyer 2 Lawyer, discussing the legal issues facing Major League Baseball, including steroids, the Barry Bonds home run ball, and Bonds' threatened defamation lawsuit. I was the guest along with Professor Paul Finkelman of Albany Law School, who was co-editor of Baseball and the American Legal Mind, the best book yet about baseball and the law. It was a fun discussion. You can listen to the show by clicking on the...

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SORAYAMA, unkn...

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Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWSI don't tell a lot of people this, but I have been a fan of the Harry Potter series for a few years now. It is kind of embarrassing, but I'm a guy who carries a purse at work. I think I can handle the ribbing on this one.I finally read the last book in the series, and all I can say is that Ms. Rowling has penned a classic that will endure for many many years to come. I can't recommend these books enough. You will enjoy them no matter how old you are.2. THE ZERO BULLSHIT POLICYWomen will put out as much bullshit...

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Is the "Ricky Williams Rule" about to be Sacked?

Since the NFL announced its suspension of Michael Vick, many of my esteemed colleagues have presumed that Vick will also get banned from the Canadian Football League ("CFL") based on the "Ricky Williams Rule," which prevents any player suspended by the NFL from entering the CFL. Michael McCann even touches upon this point in his wonderful first column in Sports Illustrated.I...

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My First SI.com Column: Michael Vick's Plea Deal and Its Legal and Career Ramifications

Last week I was hired by Sports Illustrated.com (SI.com) as a columnist. My column, which will appear once a month, is entitled "Sports and the Law." I will also be involved with other SI stories relating to sports law.As someone who has read Sports Illustrated every week since I was a kid, I'm genuinely honored and thrilled to have this opportunity. I will still be blogging...

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Economics of Steroid Use

Interesting commentary on the economics of banning steroids as opposed to permitting anything-goes doping and steroid use in sports. I previously pondered the question (although not from an economic perspective) of why steroids should be banned, and got some very thoughtful comments, here.Dave Hoffman at Concurring Opinions looks for an economic justification. He concludes, tentatively, that the social ills (particularly fan dissatisfaction) associated with steroids and doping are connected to monitoring for performance-enhancing drugs, not the...

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Fantasy Meets Reality (Part II)

Back in January, Professor McCann wrote a blog entry about Sports Judge -- my small business that uses legal principles to resolve fantasy sports disputes. Professor McCann's blog-entry was so widely read that several other publications picked up his story. In fact, in the August 27 edition of ESPN the Magazine, author Paul Kix wrote a six page piece called "Truth, Justice...

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Thoughts on Michael Vick, Ruben Patterson, and Lawrence Pedowitz

Some thoughts on new developments concerning Michael Vick, Ruben Patterson, and the NBA's hiring of Lawrence Pedowitz:Michael VickOn ABC News, Russell Goldman examines Michael Vick's future in his extensive piece, "In The Dog House: Will Michael Vick Ever Play Again?" In addition to UMass sports management Professor Stephen Jefferson and public relations guru Alan Caruba,...

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Michael Vick and The Influence of Adult Heroes

Professor James Sonne of Ave Maria School of Law has an excellent op-ed in today's Detroit News on what Michael Vick's litigation teaches us about role models and how role models influence the behavior of not only children, but of adults like ourselves. Here is an excerpt from Jim's piece:There is a hero crisis in America, and Monday's guilty plea announcement by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for his alleged dog-fighting shenanigans is but the latest example.Sure, culture experts and parents have been grappling with a seeming decline...

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American Acquiescence to Dog Fighting and Michael Vick

Let me begin by saying that I find dog fighting disgusting and reprehensible. Taking a fellow animal--and one with which we share a surprisingly similar genetic makeup--and training it to attack, maim, and kill other members of its species, all for the pleasure thrill of our fellow humans, seems immoral per se. That's particularly true when considering the catastrophic injuries...

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Mark Hyman's Book Project

Mark Hyman, an attorney and journalist who writes for Business Week and the Sports Business Journal, and who wrote an excellent piece about our blog in 2005, is writing a book on youth sports and the role of adults. The book will be published by Beacon Press and is expected to come out next year. Mark is interested in interviewing former athletes who stopped playing due to injury or burnout. Here are some details and please contact him if you might be able to help:I am working on a book about youth sports and the role of adults. The book will...

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Eddie Gaedel and the ADA

This past Sunday marked the 56-year anniversary of the debut of professional baseball's shortest player, 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel. As part of a publicity stunt, on the preceding Friday, St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck secretly signed Gaedel, a midget, to a big-league contact -- knowing full well that the commissioner's office would not review Gaedel's contract until the following...

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New sports law scholarship

New this week:Blake J. Furman, Note, Gender equality in high school sports: why there is a contact sports exemption to Title IX, eliminating it, and a proposal for the future, 17 FORDHAM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAW JOURNAL 1169 (2007)Robert T. Ferguson Jr., Comment, Extreme makeover: redefining athletes’ identities in a fantasy world, 14 VILLANOVA SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT LAW JOURNAL 287 (2007)Richard J. Hunter, Jr. & Paula Alexander Becker, Is it time to revisit the doctrine of “state action” in the context of intercollegiate...

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Thoughts on Michael Vick, Tim Donaghy, and Baseball Umpires' Implicit Attitudes

Here are some thoughts I have on new developments concerning Michael Vick, Tim Donaghy, and Baseball Umpires' implicit attitudes:Michael VickVarious articles today indicate that Vick and his legal team are debating whether he should accept a plea deal that would call for a 12 to 18 month sentence in a federal prison, or go to trial. There are myriad factors for Vick to consider,...

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How to Be a Player

At the outset, I want to set the record straight. I am not a player. I do not care to be a player. I find the whole thing to be repulsive. The following is the most morally repugnant shit I will ever write.A player is called a player because love is a game. It is a harsh game where people get hurt. I see it all the time. You may hate this game, but you cannot change the game. The game has always been and will always be. You may choose to play the game, or you may choose not to play the game. But the game remains. This is the part you have to accept.In...

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SORAYAMA,unkn...

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Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. MICHAEL VICKI have a certain amout of ambivalence over the Michael Vick case. Clearly, the guy is sadistic, but we are talking about dogs here. As it stands, you will get less time for wifebeating than you will for dogfighting. Vick is looking at a year in the big house. Doesn't seem right to me considering that OJ Simpson killed two people and walked.I don't believe in cruelty to animals, but I think we are losing perspective here. Considering that I will be consuming some animal flesh later today, I have to wonder if the day will come when...

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Baseball, Pine Tar, and the Law

Today (8/18) marks the 24th anniversary of the ending to what has become known amongst baseball fans as the Pine Tar Game -- a game legendary not only amongst baseball historians, but also amongst legal scholars.Playing at New York's Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983, with the Kansas City Royals trailing 4-3 and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Hall of Fame third baseman...

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More on Vaughn v. Imus: Law and Morality

Professor Scott Moss (Colorado) offers some excellent thoughts on the lack of merit of Kia Vaughn's lawsuit against Don Imus. Scott agrees with Mike's comments that the lawsuit likely will fail, in part focusing on a point I made in comment that, despite what the Complaint alleged, Imus's statements could not reasonably be understood as pronouncing anything factual about Vaughn's chastity or character. Interestingly, Moss (a former plaintiffs' lawyer) takes Vaughn's lawyer to task for not following his ethical and professional obligations to properly...

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MLB Can't Contain Draft Bonuses

The newly-imposed Aug. 15th signing deadline for drafted amateur baseball players and league-recommended slot bonuses that were 10 percent lower than last year couldn't contain the dollars dished out this week. Three weeks ago, I questioned what these league-recommended bonuses really mean legally and whether they have any teeth when the clubs are not penalized for paying more than slot money. At the time of my post, half of the first rounders had already signed and they all actually signed for slot money or less. Well, on the Wednesday signing...

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Kia Vaughn's Slander Lawsuit against Don Imus

Earlier today I was interviewed by Nina Mandell of Sports Illustrated on Rutgers women's basketball player Kia Vaughn's slander lawsuit against Don Imus. I hope you have a chance to read the transcript of my SI interview. In summary, I believe that Vaughn will have a difficult time succeeding in her claim, but that the claim itself is damaging to Imus, and that makes a settlement...

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"The Chicken Filed its Motion for Summary Judgment"

Ordinarily, a baseball fan struck by a batted ball during a game is barred from suing the team or stadium to recover for injuries suffered. For nearly a century, fans have been said to assume the risk of being struck by a batted ball, something that is considered a fundamental part of the game of baseball (see Greg's posts here, here and here). As an aside, I've never been...

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