Interesting note from ESPN.com’s Mike Andrews, the President and Executive Editor of SoxProspects:
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Over at ESPN.com, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, the senior director of advocacy for the Women’s Sports Foundation and professor at Florida Coastal School of Law, has a good article up defending the recent decision in the competitive cheerleading-Quinnipiac Title IX case. Hogshead-Makar does a particularly strong job of responding to Gregg Easterbrooks attackalso posted on ESPN.comof the decision and of Title IX itself. For those of you who missed it, Easterbrooks column focuses on two arguments: First, he essentially concludes that Title IX is no longer needed, has descended into absurdity, and slog[s] on, causing asinine intrusions. Second, he challenges the courts conclusion that competitive cheerleading is not a sport for purposes of Title IX. As Easterbrook puts it, where does a federal judge get off saying it is not athletics athletics yet a volleyball bouncing back and forth across a net is?…. Courts have no business sticking their noses into such issues.

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I have the Viewpoint Column today on SI.com and it’s an extensive piece on painkiller abuse in the NFL. Here is an excerpt:

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Daniel Walsh of the Advertising Specialty Institute has a very thoughtful and comprehensive article on the litigation background of American Needle v. NFL and the impact of the decision on the sports apparel industry. The nearly 2,000 word article titled, “Reversing Field,” is unique because it looks at the decision partly from the vantage point of the sports apparel industry, as opposed to offering solely an antitrust or sports business perspective. Here is an excerpt:

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Today, August 8, is the 22d anniversary of the first night game at Wrigley Field, between the Cubs and the Phillies. Or at least the first attempted night game. Play was called because of rain after 3 1/2 innings–which many took as a sign from God–and the first official game was played the following evening, against the Mets. So the date still is appropriate, even if you do not read this until tomorrow.

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Jeff Eisenberg of Rivals.com has a very interesting piece on the New York Knicks hiring of its former head coach and president of basketball operations, Isiah Thomas, to be a consultant to the team. Thomas, who was fired by the Knicks in 2008, is currently the head coach of Florida International University’s men’s basketball team.

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The new Athletic Director of N.C. State, Debbie Yow, has a message for agents who intend to break NCAA recruiting rules while on the N.C. campus: if you do, and the NCAA punishes us with sanctions, we’ll be suing you. Ken Tysiac of the News and Observer has the story, which is excerpted below.

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ESPN’s Page 2 is seeking opinions, in the wake of the Title IX/cheerleader case, on what is not a sport and why. Join the conversation. more…

Over on Saving Sports, the official blog of the College Sports Council which advocates reform of Title IX, Eric McErlain argues on behalf of competitive cheer qualifying as a Title IX sport. He also takes issue with U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill’s recent opinion in Biediger v. Quinnipiac University, where Quinnipiac was ordered to keep it’s women’s volleyball team in order to comply with Title IX. McErlain contends that the lack of international and professional competitions for competitive cheer should not impair competitive cheer’s chances for Title IX recognition since similar opportunties for softball are on the decline as well (and Eric cites Holly Vietzke post on our blog titled Is Softball on Life Support?). Eric also notes:
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I think it’s safe to say that organizational conflicts can distract athletic institutions from being their most effective. That was clearly the case at the University of Southern California, with Pete Carroll locking heads with compliance officers and other USC administrators, and it probably happens in less dramatic ways in other athletic departments and in sports agencies and front offices.

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