San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Tim Sullivan has a piece on star NCAA athletes who accept gifts from would-be agents (e.g., Reggie Bush; O.J. Mayo) or who otherwise break other NCAA rules (e.g., Derrick Rose/SAT exam) and how, practically, little can be done to stop that from happening. He interviews me for the column, which is excerpted below..
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I have a column on SI.com concerning the first case in which a high school coach has been criminally charged with a player’s death. The trial will begin on Monday. Here’s an excerpt of the column:
The en banc Ninth Circuit today held that government investigators violated the Fourth Amendment when, during a raid on BALCO, they seized the names of 104 MLB players who tested positive for steroids, while acting on a warrant targeted at only ten players. (H/T: Jon Pessah).
Chad Oldfather (Marquette) and Matthew Fernholz (J.D. Candidate at Marquette) have posted Comparative Procedure on a Sunday Afternoon: Instant Replay in the NFL as a Process of Appellate Review to SSRN. The paper considers analogies and distinctions between replay review (for which I have expressed my distaste) and judicial appeals. Here is the abstract:
Sports Business Daily, citing timteblog.com, reports that the Fort Myers Miracle minor-league baseball team is holding a “What Would Tim Tebow Do?” promotion on Wednesday night during its game against the St. Lucie Mets (See Tebow: The Minor-League Baseball Gimmick). According to timteblog.com, the park is going to use Tim Tebow’s name and/or indentity in the following events:
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Gabe has previously discussed the lawsuit filed by the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA seeking to prevent Delaware from effectively implementing legalized sports gambling as part of the state’s lottery program. Earlier this month, the federal district court denied the leagues’ and the NCAA’s request for a preliminary injunction which would have prevented Delaware from offering single-game betting beginning next month. Today the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held an oral argument in the leagues’ and NCAA’s appeal from the district court’s decision, and ruled that Delaware’s proposal, as currently envisioned, violates the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. A written opinion is expected at a later date.
Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz (of many sources of fame, including being a member of O.J. Simpson’s successful legal team in People of California v. Simpson and successfully representing Claus von Bulow in his murder trial), has an interesting op-ed in the Boston Globe on what he considers to be inadequate penalties for big league pitchers who throw at and hit batters, as well as the managers of those pitchers. Dershowitz proposes dramatic increases in punishment.
Dave Altimari of the Hartford Courant recently made a Freedom of Information Request to discover UConn’s self-reported violations for its big three sports teams: men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and football. Interestingly, despite the various scandals of the school — most notably the scandal involving recruit basketball recruit Nate Miles and UConn student-manager-turned agent Josh Nochimson — UConn only reported 17 minor infractions involving those teams over the last five years.
Professor Christopher Robinette of Widener University School of Law and TortsProf Blog passes along a provocative student note written by Steve Matzura, who will be graduating from Widener Law next May. Matzura’s note, which is being published by the Widener Law Journal, is titled, “Will Maple Bats Splinter Baseball’s Antitrust Exemptions?: The Rule of Reason Steps to the Plate.”
In 2008, Justice Alito gave a speech to the Supreme Court Historical Society on Major League Baseball’s antitrust status, as Howard and Ed Edmonds discussed here and here. Justice Alito’s remarks have now been published in the Journal of Supreme Court History, and are available on-line. more…
