SI.com Column on Sentencing of Michael Vick's Co-Defendants

I have a new column on Sports Illustrated.com entitled "As the Dominoes Fall: Assessing Michael Vick's Fate after Co-Defendants' Sentencing." It examines the potential impact of today's sentencing of Vick's co-defendants, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips, on his upcoming sentencing on December 10.Earlier this week, Alan Milstein wrote an excellent piece that takes a critical...

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Alabama Jury Gets Revenge Against NCAA

Yesterday, a jury in Alabama awarded $5 million to a former University of Alabama football booster, Ray Keller, who claimed the NCAA defamed him when it imposed penalties on the Crimson Tide in 2002. Keller maintained that the NCAA wrongly lumped him in with other boosters who were accused of making improper contacts and payments to recruits in the 1990s. A timber dealer and Crimson Tide fan, Keller argued that the NCAA slandered and libeled him during the announcement of penalties by referring to him and others as "rogue boosters," "parasites"...

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More on instant replay

At ESPN, Jim Caple argues, on the eve of The Big Game and the 25th Anniversary of The Play, that it is a good thing there was no instant replay in 1982.Three key comments from the story:First:Nowadays, officials would review replays of The Play for so long that before they reached a verdict, Silicon Valley engineers would have developed another digital recording system that Microsoft and Apple would make us purchase in order to further analyze the decision. And then the refs would undoubtedly overrule The Play -- with more than two dozen players...

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Loyola Law School Los Angeles Symposium on Discrimination in Sports

Professor Daniel Lazaroff of Loyola Law School Los Angeles and director of his school's Sports Law Institute, passes along the following info about what should be an engaging and provocative sports law symposium:* * *On Friday, January 18, 2008, the Loyola Sports Law Institute and Loyola Law School will be presenting our fourth annual symposium. This year's event is entitled...

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Where Have You Gone Barry Bonds?

Over on The Situationist, Will Li has an excellent piece on the myth-making of baseball records. He takes particular notice of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak and Barry Bonds career home run record, which currently and maybe permanently stands at 762 home runs.It's an enjoyable read for anyone interested in baseball history. The lack of attention DiMaggio received...

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The Bonds Market

Sorry for the awful pun. But back in journalism school, we practiced writing tacky headlines just for the fun of it.Dave Hoffman at Concurring Opinions writes that trade on the prediction markets shows a belief among traders in a 75 % estimate that Bonds will be convicted or plead guilty to the original charge. And given the trading rules, Dave suggests there is a near-certainty among traders that Bonds will be convicted or plead guilty to somethi...

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Throwing Tennis Matches

The New York Times reported Sunday on several investigations into possible throwing of matches at the behest of gamblers, including a withdrawal loss by world-No. 4 Nikolay Devydenko in Poland last summer. The trigger for the investigation was irregular betting activity on the match through Belfair, an English online sports exchange. Belfair voided the bets on the match. Its records showed that nine betting accounts in Russia (Davydenko's home country) stood to make $ 1.5 million if Davydenko lost. The story mentions several players who have acknowledged...

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Vick, Bonds and the Questionable Pursuit of Justice

Now that Michael Vick sits in a jail cell and appears to be slowly losing all the money he has rightly earned over the past few years, is it time to talk about some of the more troubling aspects of the story? By all accounts, if you can put aside the dog fighting violations for a minute, and maybe you can’t or shouldn’t, Vick was one of those superstar athletes who really...

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Players and Clubs: Quit Paying Agents Huge Commissions!

Sports economists may be able to justify the Yankees' decision to pay A-Rod $275M based upon economic formulas that take into account attendance, broadcast fees, concessions, merchandising and other forms of revenue (See, e.g., Jorge L. Ortiz, A-Rod Deal is Still a Revenue Winner for Yanks, USA Today, 11/21/07). But what about the decision of the Yanks and A-Rod to pay $14M to a third party agent who didn't even negotiate the deal? Jerry Crasnick, an ESPN.com reporter and the author of License to Deal, wrote an interesting article last weekend...

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Old foes

There is hardly a more forceful contest than that performed by an English and French team on a rugby pitch. The rivalry between the old foes is at its highest when played out on the field of play. But last week’s news that Phil Greening, England’s former international player, had been ordered by a French court to pay Aurelién Rougerie, a French international, EUR 40,500 (US$59,100)...

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DOJ Joins Disabled Veterans in Action Against U of Michigan's 'Big House'

One of the more notable aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act is the statute's requirement that public facilities be accessible to disabled patrons. The question is, however, is in the details and this law -- as laudable as it is -- did not provide very many. Instead, the framers of the statute left the regulatory nitty-gritty to the Department of Justice to iron...

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Kenzie Bouncing Video

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Corporate Stupidity

I get a lot of requests, but I must make one thing abundantly clear. I am not allowed to write about my current employer. I want to keep my job which is why I never write about anything concerning my job including the name of the company I work for. This is a violation of confidentiality, and I don't do things like that at least while I am getting paid or could get sued. But...

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SI.com Column on O.J. Simpson Trial

I've published a new column on Sports Illustrated.com on O.J. Simpson facing charges for kidnapping and robbery. The column is entitled "Breaking Down the O.J. Trial." Yesterday, a judge ruled that prosecutors had established probable cause for the charges, which may lead to a trial. I discuss the prospects for a trial, the quality of the evidence, and ways in which Simpson's...

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TF MacKenzie - 4 weeks old!

This 'wee' girl is growing fa...

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14 tonne of lime

14 tonne of lime arrived today and was shovelled and barrowed into and around the left hand yard which is where my new crush (not yet completed) is. Hard work but well worth it - It will be great and just needs to settle. Y...

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Barry Bonds, the Home Run Record, and the Hall of Fame

Thursday's indictment of Barry Bonds on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, arising from his allegedly false grand-jury testimony about his steroid use, squarely presents evidence that Bonds did indeed use performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds's statements denying steroid use only can be perjury if there is evidence that he did use steroids. The criminal process will play itself out moving forward.But there also is the question of Commissioner Bud Selig imposing punishment within the sub-society of Major League Baseball--if...

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Web Casts from Reversing Field

As detailed on these pages previously, Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor and Race in 21st Century Sports Law was held at the West Virginia University College of Law on October 4-5, 2007. Several Sports Law Blog contributers were panelists at the event, including Joe Rosen, Mike McCann and Andre Smith.All panels and keynote speakers were captured on webcast...

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Steroids, Baseball, and Truth and Reconciliation

Earlier this week, I was interviewed by Jerry Crasnick at ESPN for a piece on the ever-looming release of the Mitchell Commission Report, what it might prompt MLB and/or individual teams to do to any players named in the report, and the effect that might have on this winter's free-agent market. The story is not up yet, but I will link to it when it is.During the interview, Crasnick asked whether Commissioner Bud Selig might decide to do nothing in response to the Report--perhaps in a show of mercy and amnesty or perhaps in recognition of the difficulties...

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Why I Am Not an Objectivist

Ayn Rand wrote two great books--The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. She also spawned a movement known today as Objectivism. I find a lot of value in her writings and in the viewpoints of Objectivists. But I am not an Objectivist. Here's why.I agree with Ayn Rand when it comes to egoism and capitalism and the need for individual freedom. Unfortunately, Rand took her viewpoints...

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SI.com Column on Barry Bonds Indictment

Howard noted the Bonds indictment yesterday, and last night I published a column on Sports Illustrated.com on the topic.I examine the grand jury indictment, prospects for a plea bargain, and how, if there is a trial, Bonds might attempt to show that he did not commit perjury or obstruction of justice.I hope you have a chance to read the pie...

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Bonds Indicted . . .

on perjury and obstruction of justice. ESPN reports here; a Bay-area TV station reports here.Update: Thursday, 6:00 p.m. C.S.T.: The indictment is here.Update # 2: Friday, 7:30 a.m. C.S.T.:Mike Dorf on why any conviction, standing alone without reference to the subject of the conviction (that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs) should not be enough to keep him out of the Hall of Fame or to warrant stripping him of the career home run reco...

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Toledo Law Grad Chosen as Executive Director of NHLPA

I'm a few weeks late on this, but I wanted to extend my congratulations to Paul V. Kelly, a graduate of the University of Toledo College of Law, who last month was selected as the Executive Director of the National Hockey League Players Association. The NHLPA's press releases are here and here.Kelly attended Boston College before earning his law degree at Toledo. He practiced...

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What Constitutes Collusion?

The free agent "meat market" officially began at midnight on Monday. Sean Gregory has an interesting piece in today's edition of Time Magazine on the announcement made by the MLBPA late last week that it is investigating possible collusive activity during the general managers' meetings (A-Rod's Salary: Watching for Collusion). Gregory explains the impetus for the union's concern:For one, during baseball's general managers' meetings in Orlando last week, Theo Epstein of the Boston Red Sox and Larry Beinfast of Florida Marlins introduced a new element...

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SI.com Column on Legal Implications of the Mitchell Report

I have a new column on Sports Illustrated.com entitled "Implications of the Mitchell Report."It evaluates the private nature of the report and examines potential outcomes for those who are named in it, including potential punishment by Commissioner Bud Selig (a topic Rick blogged about here), having their contracts attempted to be voided by their teams, and, if any players...

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Sunday Links

Catching up on some links that I had hoped to blog about during the past month:* * *Jason Friedman of the Houston Press has an extensive and provocative look at Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, a 35-year-old with expertise on the intersection between basketball, statistics, and economics and who taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology while previously...

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Will and Creation

I find joy in cleaning things. I am not a neatfreak by any stretch of the imagination. But I love to bring order to a space. Cleaning is creation. It is imposing one's will on the chaos and bringing out order.All creation is an act and imposition of will. It is what Nietzsche called "the will to power." It is not a tyrannical impulse. It is simply the expression of what one values and desires projected into the the world. It is this will that turns stones into sculpture, paint into portraits, and steel into structures and machines.I understand...

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