HEROES- Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood is an actor, a director, and a musician. He has an impressive body of work and continues to work long into old age. He is a Renaissance man, a workaholic, and a libertarian. He has directed more movies than Steven Spielberg and won an Oscar. He may even get the Best Actor Oscar for Gran Torino.What's not to like? Eastwood is a man I admire for his work, his...

Read More

Happy 94th Birthday

On Sunday my grandfather celebrated his 94th birthday so on Saturday morning I flew up to meet my parents and Amy in Rotorua and spend a day at the lake before driving to Hamilton on Sunday for my grandfather's birthday and then back home on Monday - Whistlestop! I grew up spending my summer holidays at our family bach on the shores of Lake Tarawera. It's a stunning spot and...

Read More

The significance of defining sport

I have written on several occasions about how to define sport and what qualifies as sport, a common game among “sports-and-____” academics. A frequent response to these posts has been “so what, what difference does it make?” And, in truth, it is largely an academic exercise and a fun way to make fun of gymnastics, figure skating, and golf. But, courtesy of Matthew Mitten at the Marquette Faculty Blog, it may have practical import after all.The Wisconsin courts msust figure out whether cheerleading is a sport, and a contact sport at that. A high-school...

Read More

Study of NBA Player Charities

Paul Caron at Tax Prof Blog reports on a study by the Salt Lake Tribune on the financial documentation filed by 89 NBA player charities. The study found that the average player foundation actually put just 51 cents of every dollar earned towards charitable programs, the rest eaten by administrative costs and inefficiencies. The post and the study are worth a re...

Read More

PRINT-Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck Palahniuk's book Stranger Than Fiction does not live up to its title. This isn't to say that it is not a quality read because it is. But I can imagine things far stranger than are in this book.We like nonfiction because we find it mindblowing when these things turn out to be true. Truth carries some greater weight than bullshit as it should. But when you are someone...

Read More

Minty

Hamish got lucky for Christmas as Minty (Naazarene) came into season. So, they were introduced and, it was love at first sight and now Minty is following Hamish around the paddock, completely besotted. I had to take 'Girl' out as she was refusing to let Hamish anywhere near Minty - what is it with these pain in the a$$ maiden mares this year?! But, once she was out of the...

Read More

Goodbye for two weeks

Well, I'm off to lay on the beach and hopefully the sun will make an appearance, to the two or three people who visit this blog daily, I will be back blogging around mid January. Here's hoping 2009 will be a great ye...

Read More

Xmas s...

Read More

How Would "Safe" Steroids Impact Sports?

University of Pennsylvania bioethics professor Arthur Caplan has a provocative piece in the British Journal of Sports Medicine entitled "Does the the biomedical revolution spell the end of sport?". Here's an excerpt:* * *But, what if biomedical science could put the safety issue [of steroids] aside? Someday, probably soon, there will be drugs that do what steroids do without...

Read More

whither chizik and kiffin?

For years, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Division I athletic directors and university administrators have come under intense scrutiny and fire for their repeated failure to hire African American and other minority head coaches for their collegiate football programs. The Sports Law Blog has addressed the issue of minority head coach hiring on many occasions,...

Read More

Sports Law Blog selected as one of the ABA Journal's Blawg 100

This year we have been selected by the editors of the ABA Journal as one of the top 100 best websites by lawyers, for lawyers. Now lawyers are being asked to vote on their favorites in each of the Blawg 100’s 10 categories. Sports Law Blog is in the "Niche" category. You can vote for our blog here by simply clicking on the "Vote!" box next to our listing. Voting ends January...

Read More

The New Zealand Versus Windies Series

The second and final test has ended in a draw, there is a reason why the Windies are seventh and we are eighth, both teams gave up and just wanted a draw, with New Zealand needing 92 runs from the last nine overs and the Windies needed five wickets, both teams just looked at each other and decided to end the match early.Unbelievable!Can you imagine this happening in the Australia...

Read More

We're getting Chrismassy

We dashed into the $2 shop yesterday to avail ourselves of a couple of new sets of reindeer antlers and what better way to test them out than try them on a couple of the 'kids'. Robbie and Rory are today's antler models (oh, and Amy too, of course!). Step aside Rudolph! It's Rory the red-antlered reindeer! What are ya doin' mum?! Ho ho ho little girlMmmm smells good Can I...

Read More

School Colors Reaffirmed as a Valid Trademark

Although many think of logos and designs are central to trademarks, the use of color schemes also are protectable under trademark law -- even if the color schemes are not registered with the Patent and Trademark Office. This was the ruling of the 7th Circuit in LSU v. Smack Apparel, 07-30580, which affirmed a summary judgment ruling of the trial court with respect to infringement....

Read More

OK, call me chicken!

Look what Santa brought me early for Christmas! Seven dear wee speckled chicks. We have at least two more hens sitting on clutches - one clutch is a bit of a communal one with at least three hens sharing 'sitting duties' - too cute! These little guys are now safely ensconced in the A-frame chicken house, having hatched in long grass NEXT to the house (of course). Our chickens...

Read More

My Ten Xmas Wishes

1: Billy Joel to Return to New Zealand next year.2: Garth Brooks to come out of retirement.3: Seinfeld to do a reunion show.4: Andy Kaufman to announce he is alive.5: New Zealand entertainment web pages to go one year without doing any stories on Z grade singers such as Britney, JLo, Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, Kate Perry or any other manufactured artists.6: All boy racers...

Read More

Concert Clip Billy Joel New Zealand 2008

Once again, I didn't film this clip, I found it on youtube. Awesome conce...

Read More

Gone to the dogs (and cats) and Rory

I must admit that this year I have struggled to find my Christmas spirit. It's been quite a hard year emotionally having lost a dear little cat and three beloved horses, including two very special homebreds, in very difficult and trying circumstances but Christmas is a time for celebrating everything that we have to be grateful for and, as we have much to give thanks for,...

Read More

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We helped our friends Karen and John put up their Christmas Tree today and during the proceedings Amy offered up this little impromptu performance for us and, as I managed to capture it, I would like to share it. I particularly like the bit towards the end where she has to fight off an attack of the 'smiles' - I think she covers well....

Read More

More on Steve Jobs

The more I read about Steve Jobs the more it is apparent to me that the man is dying. Apple is not being honest with its shareholders or the public which is stupid. Ultimately, this is Steve Jobs making this decision.Jobs needs to come clean. He needs to make an appearance. He needs to tell the world what is up with h...

Read More

Hey TVNZ, there are other sports people beside Lomu

Hey TVNZ, it was Olympic year, it was the year we had three Gold medalist, it was the year our Junior girls footballers took the world by storm and most important of all, it was the year that THE KIWIS WON THE RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP!!!!!!So why the heck on your last show of the year, your xmas show, your big star of the show to help celebrate Paul holmes retirement was Johan...

Read More

Is Steve Jobs Dying?

There's a lot of rumors swirling about one of my heroes that he may be knocking on death's door. I hope not. But he does look skeletal, and he is ditching Macworld and letting his subordinates play a bigger role.The sad reality is that one day Apple will carry on without Jobs. It sucks, but this is the way it is. Things might be better without Jobs, but I doubt it. So do a lot of other people.Jobs is a big hero of mine, and I will do a blog post in the "heroes" section on him. He is a remarkable individual, and I would miss his innovative spirit...

Read More

Minority Football Coaches and Civil Rights (Updated and Moved to Top)

Update, Thursday, 1:00 p.m.:Alert reader Michael Nichols has written in detail on this subject in a forthcoming piece in the Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal.The new-old controversy in college football is the lack of Black head coaches in Division I-A college football. With recent firings and resignations, there are four Black coaches (out of 119 schools) in a sport in which approximately 46 % of players are Black. Exacerbating this problem is the recent trend of current head coaches at major programs designating a current (usually...

Read More

NFLPA Concerned about Bonuses and U.S. Tax Code Section 409A

Aaron Zelinksy of Yale Law School and The Huffington Post passes along a link to a story on Janell Grenier's Benefits Blog, which excerpts a story from Andrew Brandt on The National Football Post:* * *Even though 409A has been around now for three years, employers continue to be surprised at the implications, as evidenced by this story:NFL agents were sent an urgent memo this...

Read More

I am always one mistake away from terminati...

Read More

I clambered aboard ...

I'm waiting to hear back from Bree's owner but I think it is 4 or 5 years since she was last ridden. She was very good but we definitely have our first goal - a nice free walk! There was a lot of very slow jog and although I tried to ride her as quietly as I possibly could, I barely managed more than half to three quarters of a 20m circle in walk. Still, it is good to have...

Read More