Shaq is from Leominster, MA (west of Boston), and counting the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, China will be his second international trip. A lover of music and dancing, Shaq is a DJ at WNEK-FM. Shaq practices martial arts, and is particularly interested in seeing wushu (Chinese martial art) demonstrations while in Beijing.
Jake is from Plymouth, NH, and going to the Olympics is a dream-come-true. Having been to the Turks and Caicos Islands, Jake is interested in seeing and experiencing a different country and culture in China. Jake's motto is "if it's meat, I'll eat it," so we will put that to the test every day in Wangfujing Snack Street near our hotel!
Most people do not know that Bre, who is from Amherst, NH, is a twin sister (whaaaat?!). Her greatest fear on this trip is that she will get lost (memo to Jenn: do not buddy up with Bre!), but she is anxious to experience both a new culture and the Olympics. This will be Bre's second foreign trip, after Bermuda.
Ashley is from South Hadley, MA, and will be making her first trip abroad . . . to Beijing, China! As a political science major, Ashley is particularly interested in the role of the Chinese government in the organization of these Olympic Games. A closet cut up, Ashley is expected to keep the group entertained with her jokes based on famous Chinese fortune-cookie sayings!
Jess has been to the UK and Ireland, and can't wait to visit China to personally witness the Olympics, which she has been watching on TV since childhood. Jess is from Bethlehem, CT (west of Hartford), loves to cook and eat, and says she will try almost anything . . . so we will see if that includes starfish, seahorse, and cicada!
AJ has been in Beijing since June 6, doing an internship with Club Football Ltd, a grassroots soccer program for adults and juniors. In his spare time, AJ is studying Mandarin so that he can order our meals when we get to China! He is from Northboro, MA, and has visited Canada, which he reports is quite different from China!
Rob loves to play sports and is anxious to see the best athletes in the world at the Olympic Games. Rob is from Saugerties, NY (south of Albany), and is looking forward to adding China to his list of foreign destinations outside of Canada, as he begins his campaign to see the world and learn about different cultures.
Since visiting France, Whitney caught the travel bug and now wants to see the the rest of the world. Even though she believes going to the Olympics in China will be an amazing experience, Whitney is a bit nervous about the plane ride over to Beijing. Whitney is from East Falmouth, MA, or simply "the Cape," as they say in New England.
Mike is from Colonia, NJ, and has for many years wanted to go to the Olympic Games. Having previously traveled to Canada, Mike is eager to venture beyond North America, and is ready to experience China's culture and the excitement of the Olympics. Mike's next big event on his to-do list is to attend a Super Bowl.
Amanda is from Stamford, CT (also home to other notable people such as Benny Goodman, Bob Crane, Christopher Lloyd, and Bobby Valentine), and is anxious to experience the Olympic Games and China up close and personal. She has been to Mexico and Aruba, and hopes to get a job that will allow her to travel the world.
Jenn has traveled to Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia, and is excited to add a fourth country to her passport! Her greatest fear about going to the Olympics is that she might get lost among Beijing's 15+ million people, all the while not being able to speak Mandarin! Jenn is from Rensselaer, NY (near Albany).
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/04/23/china-olympics-sponsors-oped-cx_sre_0424olympics.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/08/business/ft-olympics8
http://www.businessweek.com/print/globalbiz/content/jun2008/gb20080620_447605.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121520521471229245.html?mod=sports
Today's Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese sportswear company Li Ning, which is not an Olympic sponsor but which has an exclusive contract to outfit sportscasters of China's CCTV (broadcaster of the Olympics in China), withdrew a provision in its agreement that would have seen the company's logo -- a stylized "L" -- prominently displayed on apparel worn by sportcasters during studio broadcasts. Olympic officials jealously guard the intellectual property rights of official sponsors and publicly scorn companies that seek to benefit by implying a relationship to the Olympics, a tactic known as ambush marketing. With worldwide Olympic sponsorships approaching $100 million for the next four-year period, however, it is no surprise that some companies that are unwilling or unable to fork over the price of admission still try to piggyback on the marketing juggernaut that is the Olympic Games. So the question is whether these so-called ambushers are ethically challenged or simply entrepreneurial in their outlook.
I should mention that we will be taking our mascot to China with us! Here's "Golden Bear" in its cozy backpack perch, from where it will take in all the sights, sounds, and aromas of Beijing's attractions, traffic, people, restaurants, and more!
This summer, my faculty colleague, Dr. Dan Covell, and I will be taking a group of 13 Western New England College students to Beijing August 8-17 during the Olympic Games, which undoubtedly will be an experience-of-a-lifetime. I am looking forward to seeing some of my friends from the international sporting community (I was the director of International Relations for the US Olympic Committee from 2000 to 2006), and I know our students are giddy with excitement about going to the Olympics, seeing some of China's ancient and iconic cultural attractions, and sampling exotic Chinese cuisine . . . perhaps even daring to try scorpion-on-a-stick!
Meg and Kenzie - Blisters
Uncle Bados and Kenzie
Meg, Kenzie, Tiffin and Smoothie
Twinkle and Meg
Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times has a terrific new piece on the increasingly-acrimonious lawsuit between the Sonics and the city of Seattle. The article is entitled "Sonics Trial: What's Under All the Drama?" He interviews my good friend Professor Al Brophy and me, along with others, for the story. Here's an excerpt of our comments:"I think the truth is the Sonics had the advantage going into this," said Michael McCann, a Boston College law professor and legal analyst for SportsIllustrated.com. "The tradition of courts has been to substitute monetary damages."
A crucial test for the city to reverse that presumption may be whether it can prove that the Sonics are a unique tenant — one that brings benefits to the city that cannot be calculated in dollars and cents.
The city has argued that point, bringing in witnesses to talk about the Sonics' charity work and the team's spillover economic benefits to the community.
Seattle also brought in author and National Book Award winner Alexie — who compared NBA players to Greek gods — to speak for passionate fans who would miss the team. (He brought up the missing cucumber sandwiches, which had been served at a past season-ticket holder event, to imply Bennett had deliberately sabotaged fan interest.)
The city has "a strong argument" when it comes to the unique benefits of having an NBA team as its arena tenant, said Alfred Brophy, a law professor at the University of Alabama and an expert in landlord-tenant law.
"Public interest is a trump card that judges throw down to resolve these kinds of huge cases, especially when you have something like a building that a lot of people use, or a highway, or in this case, a city's treasured team," Brophy said in an e-mail.
Brophy dismissed Bennett's claim that the team would lose $60 million over the final two seasons at KeyArena.
"The team's fear that they'll lose money isn't a factor in whether they've broken the contract. Just because you struck a bad deal and you're going to lose money isn't a basis for getting out of a contract," he said.
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To read the rest of the article, click here. We have plenty of coverage of this trial on Sports Law Blog, including Mark Conrad's excellent post from last week.
In this week's The New Republic, Jason Zengerle has a terrific, in-depth (nearly 6,000 words) article on basketball legend Sonny Vacarro and his arguments against the NCAA and the current age eligibility rule for the NBA draft. I was interviewed for the article, which is entitled The Pivot. Here are a few excerpts:
I recently enjoyed reading Marc Isenberg's Money Players: A Pro Athlete's Guide to Success in Sports, Business & Life. I enthusiastically recommend it to any sports fan, but particularly any player, team executive, agent, or prospective agent.
James J. LaRocca, No trust at the NFL: league’s network passes rule of reason analysis, 15 UCLA ENTERTAINMENT LAW REVIEW 87 (2008)
Mitchell Nathanson, What’s in a name or, better yet, what’s it worth? Cities, sport teams and the right of publicity, 58 CASE WESTERN RESERVE LAW REVIEW 167 (2007)
Justin F. Paget, Comment, Did Gebser cause the metastasization of the sexual harassment epidemic in educational institutions? A critical review of sexual harassment under Title IX ten years later, 42 UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND LAW REVIEW 1257 (2008)
David G. Roberts, Jr., Note, The right of publicity and fantasy sports: why the C.B.C. Distribution court got it wrong, 58 CASE WESTERN RESERVE LAW REVIEW 223 (2007)
Brian Shaffer, Comment, The NBA’s age requirement shoots and misses: how the non-statutory exemption produces inequitable results for high school basketball stars, 48 SANTA CLARA LAW REVIEW 681 (2008)
Michael J. Weir, Note, The ugly side of the beautiful game: “bungs” and the corruption of players’ agents in European football, 14 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF LAW & TRADE IN THE AMERICAS 145 (2007)
The resolution of seemingly straightforward disputes that arise in sports often require courts to invoke rules from several substantive areas of the law. The potential tort liability of coaches and their teams for injuries to professional athletes provides such an illustration. Determining the culpability of coaches requires resort not only to tort law doctrine, but also to doctrine and policy related to contract, labor, and workers compensation law. This article first provides an overview of the law regarding the tort liability of institutions for injuries to athletes and the standards of care that courts have adopted. The article suggests that the breach of any duty imposed on coaches and their teams to players would most likely be assessed according to a heightened standard of care, specifically recklessness. The article concludes, however, that even if a coach engages in conduct that falls short of the applicable standard of care, a professional athlete will have difficulty prevailing in a tort-based civil action against a coach, or by virtue of vicarious liability, the team. In this regard, the article briefly discusses the defenses that might impede a player's ability to pursue state tort claims. These defenses, which include the labor law preemption doctrine, mandatory arbitration, and workers compensation, demonstrate the convergence of different strands of law in resolving sports-related disputes.
