Bloom Appeal Denied: A Colorado appellate court has denied Jeremy Bloom's appeal seeking a preliminary injunction against the NCAA. Bloom was hoping the court would stop the NCAA from preventing him from playing college football while receiving the endorsement money he needs to be an Olympic skier.



You can read more on the case here.

Read More

You Can't Sue Over This, But Don't You Wish You Could? Major League Baseball has agreed to sell promotions for Spider Man 2 ON THE BASES. The bases will be adorned with Spider-Man logos to promote the new movie, with some teams getting up to $100,000 for desecrating their field.



And that is exactly what they are doing. I understand the economics of sports and the need to generate revenue. Outfield signs are signs behind home plate are one thing. But this is on the field of play. The terms used to describe baseball fields include "diamonds" and "green cathedrals." There is something magical, and yes, unspoiled, at the simplicity and elegance of the green, brown and white interacting together and forming a union of nature and sport. Baseball fields have taken this same format since the game was formed, with subtle variations in dimensions over time. Yes, astroturf was used at one time, but with one very brief exception, it has always been green, brown and white.



This latest move has spoiled one of the last sacred parts of sport. What's next? Advertisements painted on the fairway at Augusta? The "Old Spice" rubber on the "Bud Lite" pitching mound? Unlike a basketball court or a sheet of ice, a baseball field has a character about it that screams "Leave me alone!" For major sports to be successful, the "game" and the "business" must learn to co-exist, so that fans do not forget why they love the sport they are paying tons of money to witness. If baseball sells out the field, there truly is nothing sacred left in sports and the "game" will be forever lost to the "business."

Read More

Coach's "Crybaby Award" May Cost Him Job: A junior high basketball coach is in trouble over a "Crybaby Award" he gave one of his players at the end-of year banquet, but the school may face legal hurdles if it attempts to fire him. The coach awarded a 13 year-old player the award because he always begged to get into games and "whined" a lot. The player was called up to stage and presented the award in front of all of his teammates and guests at the end-of-year banquet.



The school board voted yesterday to fire the coach, but the board's own attorney said that the move may not be legal. Board policies dictate that only the superintendent can make hiring and firing decisions. In addition, the collective bargaining agreement with the local teacher's union allows some rights before termination, including a due process right to a hearing.



I have a few thoughts on this. One, the coach was wrong, not just for giving the award, but for not having any common sense. The player was thirteen, and all he wanted to do was get in the game. Sure, I bet he whined a little bit, but honestly, what 13 year-old doesn't? He was enthusiastic about getting in the game and you cannot fault a player for that. By mocking this desire, the coach was sending a bad message to his team.



But as dumb and insensitive as this was, should this really cost the man his job? Apparently, he has been a very good teacher the past three years. In addition, he teaches special education, an area in which it must be difficult to find good teachers. The president of the teacher's union summed it up nicely:

"Nobody should have a promising teaching career shot down by an obvious bad taste of judgment. To go as far as they're going? That's unconscionable," said Hovey, president of the Pleasantville Education Association.

The coach should be reprimanded, and probably prevented from coaching, at least for next year. But firing him is a knee-jerk reaction that represents society's overly-sensitive nature. I am certain that this is not the worse thing ever to happen in a public school. In fact, I was embarrassed in a similar way by a teacher in middle school (not with a "crybaby" award, but something somewhat analogous) Yeah, it upset me at the time, but the teacher was a good man that made a mistake. If we fired everyone that had a lapse in judgment, unemployment lines would be pretty long.

Read More

Marcus Dixon Wins Appeal: The Georgia Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of Marcus Dixon on felony child molestation charges, ruling the state should have used the narrower statute of misdemeanor statutory rape. Dixon was accused of raping a sixteen year-old girl when he was eighteen. He claimed it was consensual sex, and was acquitted of the rape charge. He was still guilty of statutory rape because of her age, but the prosecution attempted to use the much harsher, and broader, felony child molestation statute to get Dixon a harsher sentence. Dixon was sentenced to ten years, but the Georgia court said no:

It would be entirely incongruous with the intent of the legislature, when it eliminated the discretionary aspect of the statute and mandated that conduct meeting the misdemeanor statutory rape criteria be punished only as a misdemeanor, if the State retained the discretion to prosecute the exact same

conduct as either misdemeanor statutory rape or felony child molestation.



*****



That result would completely undermine the legislature's intent to remove any discretion over whether to punish sexual intercourse between teenagers, other than forcible rape, as a misdemeanor or a felony.

As I stated in this earlier post, this is absolutely the correct result. The evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated that the state deliberately used the harsher felony statute to convict Dixon when he wasacquittedd of rape. Thankfully, the Supreme Court said no, saying the intent of the statute, and the legislature, was clear.



You can read the full opinion here.



This case should give cause for much alarm. Marcus Dixon's status as a star athlete gave this case incredible publicity, and in many ways, allowed for funds to be raised to mount this legal appeal. There are many defendants, though, that do not have this publicity and do not have the money available to mount successful appeals. Thus, one wonders how many similar abuses of the criminal justice system occur unnoticed on a daily basis, especially against defendants that are poor or minorities. Stopping these abuses, and eliminating the "wealth gap" in criminal justice, should be a top priority for our legal system.

Read More

On the Feds and Steroids: Doug Pappas at Business of Baseball has a detailed look at the seizure by federal agentsof the drug test samples from 1400 major league baseball players.



Pappas blames the federal agents for choosing to "trample on the privacy concerns" of Major League Baseball and its players. As has been stated by many, though, the seizure was perfectly legal under the 4th Amendment. There are clear ties between this lab and the Balco investigation. As a result, the government is legally justified in seizing these samples in hopes of finding evidence for its case against Balco and Victor Conte.



The real question is what will be done with this information. The government has no interest, and indeed maybe no right, to reveal what is discovered. Seizing incriminating evidence is one thing, but exposing it is another. THG was not an illegal drug when these tests were conducted. As a result, I cannot see any criminal charges coming against any players on the basis of these drug tests. What the tests could be used for, though, is to prove perjury against any players that testified in front of the grand jury. As I wrote last month on Only Baseball Matters, one can commit perjury even if he has not been or will not be charged with any offense.



How will this affect the relationship between the league and the union in regards to drug testing?

Ultimately, it could be MLB's response to any released drug tests that determines whether or not the league and the union can work together to formulate a drug plan. If positive tests are released, MLB will be under enormous public pressure to sanction the players involved, either for committing perjury or for taking drugs. It should be remembered, though, that THG was not banned by baseball until early last year, right about the time these samples were taken. Any suspension for "drug use" could be viewed by the players association as a violation of good faith by baseball, and any suspension for "perjury" may be viewed as a facade. Thus, any action baseball takes could be met by swift condemnation by the players association, which could prevent any meaningful agreement on the drug issue.

So far, the league has been standing by the players and attempting to protect them at all costs. This bodes well for future agreements, even if all of the samples may not have been destroyed on schedule. The players and the owners both have an interest in keeping the stars on the field, and both sides know this. Expect a new agreement to be reached for testing, but one that strictly limits the storage of the samples. The samplwillil most likely be kept only long enough for a re-test and confirmation before being destroyed. Only by doing this can baseball avoid situations such as these, where it is a pawn in a much-larger government investigation.

Read More

Great Site for Small Firms: The nice folks at Law.com have provided a link to this blog. If you are a small firm or a solo practitioner, be sure to check out the Law.com Small Firm Business page. There are some interesting stories and links to other relevant websites.

Read More

Call for Commentary: The fun of exams is upon us (or rather, me). Thus, blogging will be lighter for the next two weeks. I will endeavor to post on big news and stories. However, if you have any commentary on an issue that you would like to share, please let me know via email. I will post any interesting views as guest posts.

Read More