Return to Sports Law 2011 main Web page, http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/sla12/

Note: First created October 4, 2010, updated January 29, 2011, December 14, 2011; January 12, 2012, January 14, 22, 26, 29; February 8, 13, 16, 26, 27; March 12.

With emphasis on "illustrative," these selections -- and the more current stories that will be added -- are primarily intended to provide examples for students and others of the sports law-related issues that are a part of the daily news. They are not intended to be a thorough presentation of all such stories, nor, given this purpose, are they limited to the most current. Indeed, all are equally illustrative regardless of age..

Scott Dochterman, "A look at Jim Delany, the man behind the Big Ten," The Gazette, October 2, 2010, http://thegazette.com/2010/10/02/a-look-at-jim-delany-the-man-behind-the-big-ten/ ("Whether it’s adopting instant replay for football, revising the league’s gender-equity policy, adding a television network or expanding his conference, Delany is at the forefront of all things Big Ten. He’s revered and feared, ambitious and disliked, depending on your perspective.")

Judy Battista, "Broncos Penalized in ‘Spygate’ Redux," New York Times, November 28, 2010, p. SP4,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/sports/football/28broncos.html ("N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the Denver Broncos and Coach Josh McDaniels $50,000 each because the team’s video operations director broke league rules by filming a San Francisco 49ers practice in London last month. . . . [T]he N.F.L. fined McDaniels and team because the matter was not reported, as required by league policy. The Broncos fired [video operations director Steve] Scarnecchia. Goodell notified him that as a repeat violator of league rules regarding integrity, he will have a hearing to determine if he will be barred from the N.F.L. Scarnecchia and McDaniels previously worked for the New England Patriots, who were found to have videotaped Jets coaches sending in signals during a game three years ago. The N.F.L. issued $750,000 in fines against the Patriots and Coach Bill Belichick. The Patriots also were stripped of their 2008 first-round draft pick.")

Judy Battista, "Record Parity, and Playoff Hopes to Go With It," New York Times, November 30, 2010, p. B13, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/sports/football/30fastforward.html ("Before Sunday’s games, 19 teams were within a game of first place in their division, the most through a Week 11 in N.F.L. history. Sunday’s results did nothing to clarify the picture: 23 of the 32 teams are within two games of the lead in their division, with five games remaining. . . . Flawed teams may have had fewer opportunities to fill their needs before the season began. Some 200 players were unable to become unrestricted free agents because of rules related to the expiring collective bargaining agreement.")

And see, Karen Crouse, "Fired U.S. Swim Coach Looks for Answers," in "International," below.

Gender Equity

Molly McDonough, "7th Circuit Revives Suit Claiming Girls Basketball Denied ‘Prime-Time’ Scheduling," ABA Journal, February 3, 2012, http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/7th_circuit_revives_suit_claiming_girls_basketball_denied_prime-time/ ("A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals has revived a lawsuit that claims a girls basketball team in Indiana gets less desirable scheduling than the boys team in violation of Title IX. The Chicago-based panel held that the Franklin County, Ind., school system should face trial to determine whether an 'obvious disparity' in the schedules amounts to denying equal athletic opportunities to girls, Education Week's School Law blog reports [Mark Walsh, "Court Revives Title IX Challenge to Girls Basketball Schedule," Feb. 3, 2012].") Parker v. Franklin County Community School Corp. (7th Cir. 2012), http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/FX1FG3W5.pdf

Howard Beck, "Former N.B.A. Employee Says Sexual Harassment Concerns Were Ignored," New York Times,
December 16, 2011, p. B14, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/sports/basketball/former-nba-official-says-sex-harassment-concerns-were-ignored.html ("A former N.B.A. security official says that he repeatedly warned his superiors that women in the office were being sexually harassed or discriminated against, but that his concerns were ignored and that he was ultimately fired for his actions on the women’s behalf. He is suing the league for lost wages and damages.")

Media Relationship, Impact on Sports

"NFL nixed Nixon bid on TV blackouts," Associated Press/ESPN, February 11, 2012,
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7565229/nfl-rejected-president-nixon-blackout-proposal-white-house-tapes-reveal ("The NFL, which is trying to maintain its TV blackout of home games that don't sell out, missed an opportunity 40 years ago to preserve an even more restrictive policy when it rebuffed an effort by President Richard Nixon to lift the hometown blackout just for playoff games. On a previously unreported tape recording, now in the National Archives, Nixon told his attorney general to offer the league a deal: Allow playoff games to be televised in the hometown city, and the president would block any legislation requiring regular-season home games to be televised.")

Richard Sandomir, "F.C.C. May Move to End NFL Blackouts," Fifth Down/New York Times, January 12, 2012, http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/f-c-c-may-move-to-end-n-f-l-blackouts/?hp ("The N.F.L.’s television blackout policy dictates that for a home game to be shown in the team’s market, it must be sold out 72 hours before kickoff. . . . On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission took a step that may lead to the elimination of all sports blackouts, of which the N.F.L.’s are the most notable. . . . 'We’re asking the government to get out of the business of propping up sports blackouts,' said Brian Frederick, executive director of the Sports Fans Coalition, which filed a petition in November to end the F.C.C.’s blackout rule with four other interest groups. . . . They added: 'The leagues are at the root of the problem because they currently charge exorbitant prices for tickets, which in turn results in lower attendance. The leagues then punish fans by blacking out games from television because a few seats remain unsold.'”)

Richard Sandomir, "Judge Halts Dodgers' Sale of TV Rights," Bats/New York Times, December 23, 2011, http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/judge-halts-dodgers-sale-of-tv-rights/ ("A federal district court judge Friday granted a request by Fox Sports to stop, for now, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sale of their TV rights . . .. The Dodgers had received the go-ahead by a federal bankruptcy court judge earlier this month to start marketing their future television rights about a year before their current contract with Fox allowed. . . . Fox Sports, whose Prime Ticket channel has a deal to carry Dodgers games through 2013, wanted to prevent the Dodgers from shopping their next contract to any of Fox’s competitors any earlier than Nov. 30, 2012.")

Reed Albergotti, "The Footage the NFL Won't Show You; Despite Its TV Ubiquity, the League Won't Share 'All-22' Footage; Second-Guessing the Coach," Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577015903150731054.html ("Every play during an NFL game is filmed from multiple angles in high definition. There are cameras hovering over the field, cameras lashed to the goalposts and cameras pointed at the coaches, who have to cover their mouths to call plays. But for all the footage available, and despite the $4 billion or so the NFL makes every year by selling its broadcast rights, there's some footage the league keeps hidden. If you ask the league to see the footage that was taken from on high to show the entire field and what all 22 players did on every play, the response will be emphatic. 'NO ONE gets that,' NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email.")

"Field Guide," On the Media, Aug. 20, 2010, http://onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/08/20/06 ("BOB GARFIELD: Last week, retired NFL running back Tony Davis sued Electronic Arts, the publisher of the Madden NFL video game series, for allegedly stealing his likeness, and those of 6,000 other retired players, to add realism to its blockbuster simulated football games. Image theft is one way for players to look at Madden NFL, but it’s not the only one. As Wired Magazine’s Chris Suellentrop told us a few months back, the game has actually had a huge impact on a generation of actual pro players who have grown up playing hours and hours of Madden NFL. I asked Chris about an anecdote from his article about a game between the Denver Broncos and the Cincinnati Bengles, 28 seconds left on the clock. In a real football game, here’s what happened.")

Arnie Stapleton, "New handheld device enhances stadium experience," Bloomberg Businessweek/Associated Press, October 25, 2010, http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9J2VI2G0.htm ("Fans in a dozen NFL cities are using a new handheld device at games that allows them to see replays from angles not available on television, follow their fantasy lineups in real time, check out other games via NFL Red Zone and see updated stats from the game they're attending. . . . It retails for $200 and is not quite half the size of an iPad, . . . one of many ways teams are trying to enhance the stadium experience . . ..")

Richard Sandomir, "Anheuser-Busch Files Suit Against M.L.B.," New York Times, November 13, 2010, p. D5, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/sports/baseball/13baseball.html, ("Budweiser’s decades-long connection to Major League Baseball frayed Friday when the giant brewer’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, alleged in a federal lawsuit that baseball reneged on an agreement reached earlier this year to extend the beer maker’s sponsorship.")

Richard Sandomir, "Fox Goes for Big Ten," New York Times, November 18, 2010, p. B22, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/sports/ncaafootball/18sportsbriefs-FOXGOESFORBI_BRF.html ("Fox Sports acquired the rights to carry the new Big Ten Conference football championship game from 2011 to 2016. . . . Fox, which owns 49 percent of the Big Ten Network, has wanted to return to carrying big-time college football on broadcast TV since it was outbid by ESPN two years ago . . ..")

Player Recruitment

Joe Nocera, "Let’s Start Paying College Athletes," New York Times Magazine, January 1, 2012, p. MM30
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/lets-start-paying-college-athletes.html ("The hypocrisy that permeates big-money college sports takes your breath away. College football and men’s basketball have become such huge commercial enterprises that together they generate more than $6 billion in annual revenue, more than the National Basketball Association. A top college coach can make as much or more than a professional coach; Ohio State just agreed to pay Urban Meyer $24 million over six years. Powerful conferences like the S.E.C. and the Pac 12 have signed lucrative TV deals, while the Big 10 and the University of Texas have created their own sports networks. Companies like Coors and Chick-fil-A eagerly toss millions in marketing dollars at college sports. Last year, Turner Broadcasting and CBS signed a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal for the television rights to the N.C.A.A.’s men’s basketball national championship tournament (a k a “March Madness”). And what does the labor force that makes it possible for coaches to earn millions, and causes marketers to spend billions, get? Nothing. The workers are supposed to be content with a scholarship that does not even cover the full cost of attending college. Any student athlete who accepts an unapproved, free hamburger from a coach, or even a fan, is in violation of N.C.A.A. rules.")

Bill Pennington, "Financial Aid Changes Game as Ivy Sports Teams Flourish," New York Times, December 23, 2011, p. A1
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/sports/financial-aid-changes-game-as-sports-teams-in-ivies-rise.html ("In the last two years, the Ivy League has produced 108 first-team all-Americans and won numerous individual national championships. Nineteen of its athletes competed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and 10 won medals. This renaissance in a league known as the Ancient Eight can be traced to something that has nothing to do with sports: new policies that have substantially enhanced financial aid for all admitted students, making it easier to recruit elite athletes, coaches and athletic administrators said.")

Mike Tierney, "For Transfer, a No-Huddle Scholarship," New York Times, December 1, 2011, p. B12, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/sports/ncaafootball/recruiters-pounce-on-british-transfer-with-no-football-experience.html
 ("Before ever breaking the huddle in a game for Central Gwinnett High School here, Kallon had sorted through 13 scholarship offers, all from colleges in major conferences. The attention was astonishing for a player who required an assistant before the first two games to help him put on his pads; who once plowed into opponents out of bounds because the field’s white stripes were meaningless to him; who has been penalized for roughing the punter and hitting the quarterback late because he was unaccustomed to shutting down quickly at the end of a play.")

Rod Boshart, "Legislation would change Iowa’s athletic ineligibility standards," The Gazette, January 29, 2011, p. A11, http://thegazette.com/2011/01/29/legislation-would-change-iowa%E2%80%99s-athletic-ineligibility-standards/  ("Iowa lawmakers expect to take another look this session at expanding the period of time that an athlete must sit out of varsity sports competition when transferring to another school. Iowa is among a minority of states that has a 90-day ineligibility period for varsity athletes who move to a different school district using open enrollment or transfer provisions. Bills have been drafted in the House and Senate this session saying that students would be ineligible to participate for the first 180 days of enrollment.")

Stewart Mandel, "Inside Look at NCAA Enforcers Who Are Spearheading AgentGate," Sports Illustrated, September 16, 2010, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/stewart_mandel/09/16/ncaa-agents/index.html ("Marcus Wilson . . . the former North Carolina football player . . . is in the agent business -- the business of busting them, that is. Following two years as a prosecutor, Wilson joined the NCAA's Agent, Gambling and Amateurism Activities division in 2008. The four-person group -- composed of director Rachel Newman-Baker, 33; associate director Angie Cretors, 33; and assistant directors Wilson, 29, and Chance Miller, 27 -- has spent much of its time flying to campuses around the country spearheading a slew of highly publicized investigations into players receiving extra benefits from agents and their recruiters.")

William C. Rhoden, "Coaches Shouldn’t Be Immune to Penalties," New York Times, November 6, 2010, p. D1, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/sports/ncaafootball/06rhoden.html ("NCAA President Mark] Emmert’s greatest challenge is eliminating agents from big-time college sports, or at least reducing their influence, beginning with the recruiting process. Predictably, the N.C.A.A.’s remedy is to penalize the student-athlete. Not content to merely punish athletes while they are in school, the N.C.A.A. wants to extend sanctions into their professional careers as well. The organization wants punishment to go pro. Last week, representatives from the N.C.A.A., the N.F.L., the N.F.L. Players Association and the American Football Coaches Association met to discus how players who lose their college eligibility for receiving improper benefits from agents could face financial penalties upon entering the N.F.L. draft.")

"NCAA investigating Auburn QB Cam Newton's recruitment," Sporting News, November 11, 2010, http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/feed/2010-11/cam-newton-probe/story/ncaa-investigating-cam-newton#ixzz15CM7qUOU,  ("The NCAA is investigating allegations that an agent supposedly representing Auburn quarterback Cam Newton asked schools for upwards of $200,000 in exchange for Newton's commitment when he was being recruited out of junior college, ESPN and The New York Times reported Thursday.") (And see, "Report: Cam Newton cheated at Florida," ESPN News Services, November 10, 2010, http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5783051 ("Auburn quarterback Cam Newton was facing possible expulsion from the University of Florida for academic cheating when he transferred to junior college in the spring of 2009, FoxSports.com reported Monday. "))

Lorene Yue, "Former White Sox recruiter, scouts charged in kickback scheme," Chicago Business, November 10, 2010, http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101110/NEWS07/101119986/former-white-sox-recruiter-scouts-charged-in-kickback-scheme ("The former top recruiter for the Chicago White Sox and two other scouts were indicted Wednesday on federal charges of taking a total of $400,000 in kickbacks from 23 ballplayers that signed with the team. The indictment from the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago accuses David Wilder, Jorge Oquendo Rivera and Victor Mateo of cheating the White Sox out of money from December 2004 to February 2008 by "secretly inflating" player signing bonuses to fund kickbacks.")

Tom Witosky, "NCAA: Hawkeye violations are secondary," Hawk Central/Des Moines Register/Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 2, 2010, http://hawkcentral.com/2010/11/01/ncaa-accepts-u-of-i-rule-violation-report/, ("University of Iowa officials said Monday the NCAA has told them that violations involving two men’s basketball recruits and actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have been deemed secondary in nature, and that the players will not be penalized.")

Michael S. Schmidt, "New Exotic Investment: Latin Baseball Futures," New York Times, November 18, 2010, p. A1, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/sports/baseball/18investors.html ("[M]ajor league teams are offering multimillion-dollar contracts to some teenage prospects, the [American] investors are either financing upstart Dominican trainers, known as buscones, or building their own academies [for] guaranteed significant returns . . . as much as 50 percent of their players’ bonuses . . . when they sign with major league teams. Agents in the United States typically receive 5 percent.")
 

"SEC Suspends Vols Coach Bruce Pearl for 8 Games," Associated Press/New York Times, November 19, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/19/sports/ncaabasketball/AP-BKC-T25-Tennessee-Pearl.html ("Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has been suspended for the Volunteers' first eight Southeastern Conference games as punishment from league Commissioner Mike Slive for violating NCAA rules and misleading investigators. . . . Pearl acknowledged in September that he misled investigators about photos taken of him and recruit Aaron Craft, when Pearl improperly hosted the prospect at his home in 2008. Tennessee also revealed Pearl and his staff made excessive calls to recruits.")

Player (and Coach) Discipline

Off-field behavior. "Tiger Woods saga voted AP sports story of year; Fallout from golfer's saga beats out New Orleans' run to Super Bowl crown," Associated Press/The Gazette, January 2, 2010, p. B7 ("Tiger Woods' humbling return to the public eye, from his televised confession to a winless season on the golf course, was voted the sports story of the year by members of the Associated Press. The fallout from Woods' admission of infidelity edged a very different sort of story: The New Orleans Saints winning their first Super Bowl championship, . . .. It was late 2009 when Woods' pristine image unraveled after he crashed his SUV into a tree outside his home, unleashing salacious revelations of extramarital affairs. . . . But the twists and turns weren't over for Woods. Many more developments were still to unfold in 2010. . . .Major League Baseball's ongoing travails with performance-enhancing drugs was the top story last year. Here are 2010's top 10 stories: 1. TIGER WOODS: Woods returned to public view with a 13 1/2-minute statement in February, then came back to golf at the Masters in April with a fourth-place finish. That would be one of his few highlights on the course - Woods went winless on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career and lost his No. 1 ranking for the first time in years. In August, he and Elin Nordegren divorced.")

Paul Zeise and Bill Brink, "Hired in mid-December, Pitt coach fired after arrest," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 2, 2011, http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20110102_Hired_in_mid-December__Pitt_coach_fired_after_arrest.htmlhiladelphia Inquirer ("Sixteen days after the University of Pittsburgh announced the hiring of Michael Haywood as its football coach, he was fired Saturday, hours after he was released from jail in South Bend, Ind., on a domestic-violence charge.")

"NFL looking into Brett Favre allegations," Sporting News, October 8, 2010,
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/feed/2010-10/favre-scandal/story/nfl-looking-into-brett-favre-allegations#subnav, ("The NFL said Friday it would review allegations involving the Minnesota Vikings' Brett Favre, who the website Deadspin said sent racy messages and photos to a former game hostess while he was the New York Jets' quarterback in 2008.")

Drugs. Michael S. Schmidt, "Giants’ Jose Guillen Linked to Drug Investigation," New York Times, Octobrer 29, 2010, p. B18, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/sports/baseball/29guillen.html, ("Jose Guillen, the San Francisco Giants outfielder, was kept off the team’s postseason roster shortly after federal authorities informed Major League Baseball that he was tied to an investigation into shipments of performance-enhancing drugs, according to several lawyers briefed on the matter.")

Other criminal violations. Tom Witosky, "Illegal-hunting probe involves Iowa wrestling coach," HawkCentral/Des Moines Register, November 16, 2010, http://hawkcentral.com/2010/11/16/illegal-hunting-probe-involves-iowa-wrestling-coach/ ("[Mike] Zadick, 32 [University of Iowa assistant wrestling coach], is under investigation for harvesting wild animals out of season and without a license . . .. The records allege Joshua Dziewa, a freshman wrestler from Yardley, Pa., participated in an illegal hunt for raccoons in late October with five or six other individuals whom he refused to name . . .. State law forbids hunting animals out of season and prohibits collection of hides and pelts without a license.")

And see, Grant Wahl, "The Party Ends For An Admitted Alcoholic; Larry Eustachy: Forced Out," Sports Illustrated, May 12, 2003, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1028732/3/index.htm, and Don Yaeger, "How He Met His Destiny At A Strip Club; Mike Price: Fired," Sports Illustrated, May 12, 2003,
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1028730/index.htm

Players' Rights

National College Players Association, "Football Coaches' Salaries vs. Scholarship Shortfall (BCS Colleges) [undated]
http://www.ncpanow.org/research?id=0020

Kevin Baxter, "Former Ducks minor league player says he faced anti-Semitic remarks; Jason Bailey once played for the Bakersfield Condors, a former Ducks affiliate. He has filed a lawsuit, seeking damages from both teams," Los Angeles Times, January 26, 2011, http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0127-ducks-suit-20110127,0,1227761.story ("Officials for both the Ducks and the team's former affiliate in the minor league ECHL declined to comment Wednesday on a lawsuit filed by a former player who said he was forced to "endure a barrage of anti-Semitic, offensive and degrading verbal attacks regarding his Jewish faith" during his time with the organization.")

Ken Belson, "A Star College Quarterback Is Worth ...," New York Times, November 14, 2010, p. WK2, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/weekinreview/14belson.html, ("Cam Newton . . . has reignited the debate over whether college athletes ought to be paid. . . . Since these players help generate lots of cash for their schools, the theory goes, they should be compensated.")

Katie Thomas, "N.C.A.A. Sued Over One-Year Scholarships," New York Times, October 26, 2010, p. B16,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/sports/ncaafootball/26ncaa.html, ("A former Rice University football player who lost his scholarship for his senior year has filed a class-action lawsuit against the N.C.A.A., arguing that the one-year limit on athletic scholarships amounts to a price-fixing scheme between the association and member universities.")
 

Players' Safety & Drugs

"NFL: Saints defense had 'bounty' fund," ESPN.com, March 3, 2012,
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7638603/new-orleans-saints-defense-had-bounty-program-nfl-says ("New Orleans Saints players and at least one assistant coach maintained a bounty pool of up to $50,000 the last three seasons to reward game-ending injuries inflicted on opposing players, including Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, the NFL said Friday. 'Knockouts' were worth $1,500 and 'cart-offs' $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.");
and see Greg Bishop, "Bounties Called 'Inmates Governing Themselves,'" New York Times, March 4, 2012, p. SP5,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/sports/football/former-jets-player-calls-bounties-inmates-governing-themselves.html
 ("On Friday [March 2, 2012], the N.F.L. released the results of its investigation of the New Orleans Saints, who the league said used a bounty system, paying cash to players who injured opponents, from 2009 to 2011. The system . . . also included detailed record keeping, which [Trevor] Pryce found strange, a level beyond what he understood as the common practice, because 'that says the organization was in on it,' Pryce said.")

"Ryan Braun wins appeal of suspension," ESPN, February 24, 2012,
http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/7608360/ryan-braun-wins-appeal-50-game-suspension ("National League MVP Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension was overturned Thursday [February 23, 2012]  by baseball arbitrator Shyam Das, and sources told ESPN that Major League Baseball is weighing the possibility of suing in federal court to reverse the decision. Braun's case marks the first time a baseball player has successfully challenged a drug-related penalty in a grievance.")

Tom Farray, "Study: Impact of Youth Head Hits Severe," ESPN, February 22, 2011 (with link to 8:15 video), http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7601017/study-impact-kids-football-head-hits-severe-college-games
 ("In the wake of a new study showing that head impacts among second-grade football players are sometimes as severe as those seen at the college level, the national president of Pop Warner said he will propose a rule that, for the first time, would limit the amount of contact allowed in practices. Jon Butler, who heads the nation's oldest and largest youth football organization, told ESPN on Wednesday that his membership needs to take action to protect the safety of children and prevent attrition driven by parents who are increasingly concerned about concussion risks.")

"TCU football players among 17 caught in drug sting," Associated Press, February 15, 2012,
http://news.yahoo.com/tcu-football-players-among-17-caught-drug-sting-160615482--spt.html ("Authorities arrested 17 students at Texas Christian University on Wednesday as part of a six-month drug sting, an especially embarrassing blow to the school because it included four members of the high-profile football team. Arrest warrants painted a startling picture of the Horned Frogs, with a handful of players who allegedly arranged marijuana [and "cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs"] sales after class or around practice and who told police that most of the team had failed a surprise drug test just two weeks ago. . . . [TCU] Chancellor Victor Boschini said he didn't think TCU had a 'football problem,'")

Sam Borden, "Giants Deny Taking Aim at 49er With Concussions," New York Times, January 25, 2012, p. B15,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/sports/football/giants-deny-targeting-49er-with-history-of-concussions.html
 ("Two days after two Giants players made an opponent with a history of concussions a target, the team did its best to back away from the notion and the N.F.L. said it would not impose discipline. In comments to reporters after the Giants’ victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday [Jan. 22], Jacquian Williams, a rookie linebacker, said the Giants were aware that 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams had sustained head injuries and tried to capitalize on that information. Kyle Williams muffed one punt return, and lost a fumble on another one in overtime that set up the Giants’ winning field goal. 'The thing is, we knew he had four concussions, so that was our biggest thing, to take him out of the game,' Jacquian Williams said . . ..")

Andrew Keh, "Sarah Burke, Freestyle Skier, Dies From Injuries in Training," New York Times, January 20, 2012, p. B10,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/sports/skiing/sarah-burke-canadian-freestyle-skier-dies-from-injuries.html
 ("Just over a week ago . . . as [Sarah] Burke, a top Canadian freestyle skier from Ontario, neared the end of a normal training run inside a 22-foot halfpipe at a resort in Park City, Utah, something went wrong. Burke completed the move and then flipped over — awkwardly, but seemingly innocuously — hitting her head on the ground. She then lost her pulse and stopped breathing. . . . [N]ine days after the fall, Burke died at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City . . .. She was 29")

Ken Belson, " For N.F.L., Concussion Suits May Be Test for Sport Itself," New York Times, December 30, 2011, p. A1, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/sports/football/nfl-faces-retired-players-in-a-high-stakes-legal-battle.html
 ("The long debate over the National Football League’s handling of concussions is reaching the courts in a flurry of lawsuits, raising the possibility that dozens of former players will go before juries to outline the league’s medical practices and describe long-term cognitive problems they say were caused by the sport. More than a dozen suits, filed since July on behalf of more than 120 retired players and their wives, say that the N.F.L. and in some cases helmet manufacturers deliberately concealed information about the neurological effects of repeated hits to the head. Several suits also say that even if the league did not know about the potential impact of brain trauma sustained on the field, it should have known."); and see "Players still willing to hide head Injuries," Associated Press, December 26, 2011, http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7388074/nfl-players-say-hiding-concussions-option ("Ask Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew whether he would try to play through a concussion or yank himself from a game, and he'll provide a straightforward answer. "Hide it," the NFL's leading rusher said. "The bottom line is: You have to be able to put food on the table. No one's going to sign or want a guy who can't stay healthy. I know there will be a day when I'm going to have trouble walking. I realize that," Jones-Drew said. "But this is what I signed up for. Injuries are part of the game. If you don't want to get hit, then you shouldn't be playing." Other players say they would do the same: Hide it.")

[Photo Credit: New York Times/Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI, via Getty Images]

John Branch, "Derek Boogaard: A Boy Learns to Brawl," New York Times, December 4, 2011, p. SP1,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-a-boy-learns-to-brawl.html ("[Hockey 'enforcer' Derek] Boogaard [dead at 28] rarely complained about the toll — the crumpled and broken hands, the aching back and the concussions that nobody cared to count. But those who believe Boogaard loved to fight have it wrong. He loved what it brought: a continuation of an unlikely hockey career. And he loved what it meant: vengeance against a lifetime of perceived doubters and the gratitude of teammates glad that he would do a job they could not imagine. He did not acknowledge the damage to his brain, the changes in his personality, even the addictions that ultimately killed him in the prime of his career. If he did recognize the toll, he dismissed it as the mere cost of getting everything he ever wanted.")
First in a series that continues:
John Branch, "Derek Boogaard: Blood on the Ice," New York Times, December 5, 2011, p. D1,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-blood-on-the-ice.html;
John Branch, "Derek Boogaard: A Brain ‘Going Bad,’" New York Times, December 6, 2011, p. B13,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-a-brain-going-bad.html;
Video: An Enforcer's Story, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/04/sports/hockey/boogaard-video.html.

Tom Witosky and Bryce Miller, "Did other factors affect stricken Hawkeyes?" Des Moines Register/Hawk Central, January 27, 2011, http://hawkcentral.com/2011/01/27/did-other-factors-affect-stricken-hawkeyes/ ("Details about what sent 13 University of Iowa football players to the hospital raise questions about player activities outside strenuous weekend workouts, a medical expert and major-college strength and conditioning coach said Thursday. Players were admitted Monday after some reported brown and discolored urine, and university officials said the men remain hospitalized while being treated for rhabdomyolysis. Dr. John Graves, a staff physician in the division of hypertension and internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said doctors at University of Iowa Hospitals should center substantial attention on nontraining factors. . . . Meanwhile, a joint news release Thursday from university President Sally Mason and the Iowa Board of Regents said an investigation into events that led to the athletes’ hospital treatment would be conducted over the next 90 days. Gov. Terry Branstad said officials should ensure that a complete explanation of what happened to the football players, who have yet to be identified by the university, is shared with the public.") See also Marc Morehouse, "Hospital head count dwindles to 8," The Gazette, January 29, 2011, p. B1, http://thegazette.com/2011/01/29/uihc-investigating-privacy-violations-in-hawkeye-football-case/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GazetteOnlineSports+(TheGazette.com+Sports+News)
 ("The Sporting News and ESPN.com reported the 13 players tested negative for illegal drugs. Possibly because of The Sporting News report, the UIHC sent employees a reminder on HIPAA privacy laws early Friday. By Friday afternoon, hospital officials announced they are conducting an investigation after a proactive screening of electronic medical records system indicated that some of the players’ records may have been accessed inappropriately.")

"NFL fines Vikes' Edwards, Saints' Jenkins for Week 6 hits," Associated Press/Sports Illustrated, October 22, 2010, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nfl/10/22/fines.ap/index.html

Judy Battista, "Defenders Criticize N.F.L. For Helmet-to-Helmet Fines," New York Times, Oct. 21, 2010, p. B19
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/sports/football/21hits.html, ("The N.F.L. knew its crackdown on helmet-to-helmet hits would not quickly be embraced by defensive players who have long complained that rules protecting offenses make it difficult to do their jobs. But they probably did not expect one of the best linebackers in the game, the Steelers’ James Harrison, to threaten to take his football and go home.")

Katie Thomas, "N.F.L.’s Policy on Helmet-to-Helmet Hits Makes Highlights Distasteful," New York Times, Oct. 22, 2010, p. B11, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/sports/football/22hits.html, ("For more than two decades, a recurring opening sequence on “Monday Night Football” featured an image of two helmets crashing into each other and exploding into smithereens. . . . Helmet-to-helmet hits are in the news this week after the N.F.L. announced that it was fining three players as part of a plan to crack down on those who violate the league’s safety rules. But even as officials are stiffening penalties, critics have pointed out that the N.F.L. and television networks have capitalized for years on the same kind of bone-crunching hits they are now condemning.")

Alan Schwarz, "As Injuries Rise, Scant Oversight of Helmet Safety," New York Times, Oct. 21, 2010, p. A1,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/sports/football/21helmets.html, ("Moments after her son finished practicing with his fifth-grade tackle football team, Beth Sparks examined his scuffed and battered helmet for what she admitted was the first time. She looked at the polycarbonate shell and felt the foam inside before noticing a small emblem on the back that read, “MEETS NOCSAE STANDARD.” “I would think that means it meets the national guidelines . . .. That assumption, made by countless parents, coaches, administrators and even doctors involved with the 4.4 million children who play tackle football, is just one of many false beliefs in the largely unmonitored world of football helmets. Helmets both new and used are not — and have never been — formally tested against the forces believed to cause concussions.")

"Anatomy of a Traditional Football Helmet" (an Interactive Graphic), New York Times, October 20, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/10/20/sports/football/helmet.html, ("The dense foams used in football helmets work well for impacts that can cause fatal injuries, but have been less successful at reducing concussions.")

Jeff Z. Klein, "N.H.L. Has No Plans to Modify Rules on Hits to Head," New York Times, October 21, 2010,
http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/n-h-l-has-no-plans-to-modify-rules-on-hits-to-head/, ("Bill Daly, the N.H.L. deputy commissioner, said Thursday that the league is “comfortable with the steps we have already taken” to reduce concussions and had no plans to modify its new head-checking rule. His remarks came in response to the Mayo Clinic’s recommendation that the N.H.L. outlaw all contact with the head.")

Alan Schwarz, "Ex-Player Is Suing Over Pay for Injury," New York Times, November 30, 2010, p. B13,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/sports/football/30helmets.html ("A recently retired N.F.L. player filed a lawsuit Monday claiming that the league’s disability plan withheld benefits for an injury caused by one of the helmet-to-helmet impacts the league has recently been trying to minimize.")

Mark Sappenfield, "Luge death of Nodar Kumaritashvili shows danger of Whistler track," Christian Science Monitor, February 12, 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics/2010/0212/Luge-death-of-Nodar-Kumaritashvili-shows-danger-of-Whistler-track  ("The luge death of Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili in a crash during training Friday opens the Vancouver Organizing Committee to criticism that it has built a sliding track that is recklessly unsafe. News reports indicate that Kumaritashvili crashed into both walls near the bottom of the track while traveling at 90 miles per hour before being thrown from the track entirely and hitting a metal pole. It was his second crash of the week, the Toronto Sun reports. Even before Friday’s events, the track had gained a reputation as perhaps the most dangerous in the world.")

Racial Issues

Roy S. Johnson, "Modify the Rooney Rule," ESPN, January 11, 2012, http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7450944/modify-rooney-rule-include-nfl-hires-offensive-defensive-coordinators
("I LOL'd a few weeks back when Miami, Jacksonville and Kansas City all fired their head coaches and replaced them with African-American interim coaches. I chuckled because the moves were manifestations of the new NFL Way when it comes to the league's top on-the-field job: Hire White Guy. Fire White Guy after two or three mediocre seasons. Elevate Black Guy to interim. Hire White Guy. Repeat after, say, two or three mediocre seasons.")

Marketing (Trademarks); Sports Business

Alan Schwarz, "Ad Change Underlines Influence of N.F.L.," New York Times, January 22, 2011, p. D1, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/sports/football/22toyota.html ("A mother worried 'about my son playing football.' Two children colliding helmet-to-helmet — with superimposed crashing sounds and force lines rippling from their heads — drove home her fears. Unveiled by Toyota in November, the television commercial highlighted the carmaker’s decision to share crash research with scientists studying football concussions, and was an explicit reminder of football’s recent controversies regarding concussions. So explicit, it turns out, that the N.F.L. demanded that Toyota alter the 30 second commercial, and Toyota promptly did. . . . A spokeswoman for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Zoe Ziegler, said in an interview that the changes were made at the N.F.L.’s insistence. If Toyota did not change the ad, she said, the league had threatened to curtail or end the carmaker’s ability to advertise during games.")

Leah Friedman, "Troubleshooter: Tar Heel fan booted from seat at UVA," [North Carolina Triangle] News & Observer, January 14, 2011, http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/14/919700/true-blue-unc-fan-loses-a-seat.html ("Greg Demery proudly wore his team's colors - Carolina blue coat, T-shirt and hat - when he headed to Charlottesville, Va., Saturday to watch UNC-Chapel Hill take on the University of Virginia in basketball. But his attire didn't suit Virginia athletic officials, who removed him from his ticketed seat behind the Cavalier team. Demery had a question for Triangle Troubleshooter: Can the home team legally do this? . . . [He] paid $100 to the scalper for a single seat. . . . The seat turned out to be two rows behind the Virginia bench. . . . [A] man asked to see his ticket. The man told him he had on the wrong colors. 'At first, I thought he was joking and just giving me a hard time,' Demery said. . . . Then Jason Bauman, an associate athletics director, approached Demery and . . . told Demery that Virginia doesn't let opposing fans sit in those seats . . . and found him another seat 19 rows up from his previous one . . .. 'We don't allow people in those seats to be dressed in the opposing team's apparel,' Bauman said. 'Because he was in that section, we moved him.'")

"How Superstars’ Pay Stifles Everyone Else," from Eduardo Porter, The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do (Potfolio: January 4, 2011), New York Times, December 26, 2010, p. BU1,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/business/26excerpt.html (“Pelé, from Brazil, the greatest soccer player of all time, . . . became an instant star . . .. By 1960, his team, Santos, reportedly paid him $150,000 a year . . .. [T]he inflated rewards of performers at the very top have to do with specific changes in the underlying economics of entertainment. . . . Pelé was not held back by the quality of his game, but by his relatively small revenue base. He might be the greatest of all time, but few people could pay to experience his greatness. In 1958, there were about 350,000 television sets in Brazil.”)

Albert R. Hunt, "Tensions Undermine the N.F.L.," Bloomberg News/New York Times, November 28, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/us/29iht-letter.html ("Dig a little below this dazzling picture and there are tensions that threaten to roil the $8 billion-a-year business: labor unrest, perhaps leading to a lockout of players by the owners next season, an alarming level of physical violence and sluggish attendance at some games. Most serious is the potential impasse between the players’ union and the teams over the current contract, which expires March 3. The owners appear intent on a lockout if the players’ association doesn’t agree to a deal. DeMaurice Smith, the new executive director of the National Football League Players Association, says such a shutdown of the football season, which he believes would drain more than $4 billion from the U.S. economy, appears a “near certainty.” The financial situation facing many of the 32 teams, the owners say, has soured, impairing the construction of new stadiums and other improvements for the fans. Thus, they say they can no longer afford to give 60 percent of revenue to the players. The players’ union says that the privately owned teams refuse to disclose their financial data (the one publicly owned team, the Green Bay Packers, in the smallest city in the league, continues to show a healthy profit), that their health care coverage is a disgrace for an injury-prone profession that affords athletes an average tenure of only three-and-a-half years, and that the players actually get only about half the revenue.)

Diane Heldt, "University of Iowa challenging schools’ logos," The Gazette, November 19, 2010, http://thegazette.com/2010/11/19/university-of-iowa-challenging-california-schools-logo/ ("The University of Iowa recently sent letters to about a half dozen high schools around the country, asking them to stop using the UI’s trademarked Tiger Hawk logo. . . . In the case of one of the schools in the most recent round of letters – Murrieta Valley High School in Murrieta, Calif. — the school was using a red version of the UI Tiger Hawk. The school mascot is the Nighthawk.")

The logo for Murrieta Valley High School (left) and the logo for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Adam Himmelsbach, "Universities Tell High Schools Logos Are Off Limits," New York Times, November 27, 2010, p. A1, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/sports/football/27logos.html ("Universities steadfastly protect their trademarked logos, which appear on everything from oven mitts to underwear . . .. After Pittsburgh ordered Whitmer High School to stop using its Panthers design last spring, a senior at the high school created a new logo and the school district applied to register the design with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 'I never thought we’d be trademarking a high school logo,' said Patrick Hickey, the Washington Local School District superintendent. 'But I just didn’t want to go through this again.'”)

N. Edward Coulson and Rodney Fort, "Tax Revisions of 2004 and Pro Sports Team Ownership," Contemporary Economic Policy, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 464-473, October 2010,
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2009.00192.x/full (authors' abstract: "Tax law revisions of 2004 altered the 'roster depreciation allowance' enjoyed by pro sports team owners. Supporters claimed this would practically eliminate costly legal oversight by the IRS and, ultimately, increase owner tax bills. Government officials and leagues remained silent on team value impacts but outside analysts argued they would rise by 5%. We model this policy change and investigate it empirically. Supporters in Congress were absolutely correct that owner tax payments should increase but outside analysts underestimated team value increases by half. No wonder Major League Baseball and the National Football League favored the revision.")

Sports Gambling

Michael S. Schmidt, "Bats: Mets Fire Clubhouse Manager Samuels," Bats/New York Times, November 12, 2010, http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/mets-fire-clubhouse-manager-samuels/?scp=1&sq=mets%20gambling&st=cse, ("The Mets fired their longtime clubhouse attendant, Charlie Samuels, amid allegations that he was tied to an organized-crime gambling ring and that he stole money from the team. The Mets and Major League Baseball have been investigating Samuels, who was also the team’s traveling secretary, for several months. The investigation uncovered evidence that he had gambled and had misappropriated funds, tickets and equipment. The Mets and Major League Baseball alerted the Queens district attorney’s office, which opened an investigation of its own.")

International News

Brian Homewood, "Anxious World Cup bidders await outcome of FIFA meeting," Reuters, October 29, 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69S0JK20101029 ("Bidding nations for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups . . . has been hit by a corruption scandal, with allegations of vote-selling by two FIFA executive committee members and collusion by unnamed bidding nations. . . . Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti --- . . . offered to sell their votes for the two World Cup hosts to undercover newspaper reporters from the Sunday Times.")

Julian Linden, "Olympics-IOC urges FIFA to act over vote-selling claims," Reuters, October 26, 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE69P2KB20101026 ("The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged FIFA to introduce reforms . . . More than a decade after the IOC was plunged into crisis following revelations about the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City, FIFA is facing similar allegations of vote-selling and unethical behaviour in the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.")

"FIFA Officials Accepted Payoffs, Reports Say," Associated Press/New York Times, November 29, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/29/sports/soccer/AP-SOC-FIFA-Corruption-Allegations.html
 ("Three days before the vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, FIFA was hit by further corruption allegations Monday when three senior officials were accused by European media of having received secret payments.")

Karen Crouse, "Fired U.S. Swim Coach Looks for Answers," New York Times, November 18, 2010, p. B19, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/sports/18swimming.html (“'If the athletes and the coaches want me back, I’m ready go to back to work,' [United States Olympics swim team coach Mark] Schubert said. He was flanked by his lawyer, Michael Bernstein, who described the circumstances surrounding Schubert’s termination last week as 'unfounded' and added, 'At this point I do not feel that his firing was within the parameters of his contract, justified in the eyes of the law or fair in any way whatsoever.' . . . There was known to be friction between Schubert and Chuck Wielgus, the executive director of USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body.")

Stadiums

Ken Belson, "S.E.C. Subpoenas Details on Marlins’ Stadium Financing," Bits/New York Times, December 3, 2011, http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/54935/ ("The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed the City of Miami [Florida] and Miami-Dade County seeking details about what investigation and analysis they did before agreeing to issue nearly $500 million in bonds to pay for the stadium and adjoining parking lots in the Little Havana neighborhood . . . for any documents concerning the team’s ability to help pay for the stadium [and] any campaign contributions that the Marlins may have given to officials working for the city, the county and the state . . ..")

B.A. Morelli, "University slow to release info about suites," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 4, 2010 , p. A1,
http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20101104/NEWS01/11040332/1079, ("The University of Iowa Foundation is bringing in more than $2.3 million from 57 individuals and companies who are leasing 46 Kinnick Stadium luxury suites, according to records UI released Wednesday. Among the lease holders are Iowa power players and companies including: . . . Riverside Casino and Golf Resort and Wild Rose Entertainment, which has casinos in Emmetsburg and Clinton, also can be found in UI's $90 million, 2006 remodel of the Paul W. Brechler Press Box. UI took nearly a month to provide the list it estimated would take two hours to compile, and in the process might have exceeded the maximum time frame in Iowa's Open Record law.")

Ken Belson, "As Stadiums Vanish, Their Debt Lives On, New York Times, September 8, 2010, p. A1, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/sports/08stadium.html, ("It’s the gift that keeps on taking. The old Giants Stadium, demolished to make way for New Meadowlands Stadium, still carries about $110 million in debt, or nearly $13 for every New Jersey resident, even though it is now a parking lot. . . . New Jerseyans are hardly alone in paying for stadiums that no longer exist. Residents of Seattle’s King County owe more than $80 million for the Kingdome, which was razed in 2000. The story has been similar in Indianapolis and Philadelphia. In Houston, Kansas City, Mo., Memphis and Pittsburgh, residents are paying for stadiums and arenas that were abandoned by the teams they were built for.")

University-NCAA Academics & Governance

Jerry Hinnen, "30 BCS schools vote against scholarship proposal," CBS Sports, February 22, 2012, http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/34949199?source=rss_blogs_NCAAF ("The new NCAA legislation allowing schools to offer multiple-year scholarships to athletes only narrowly survived its recent override vote . . .. The overwhelming majority of support for the override came -- as expected -- from non-BCS or mid-major schools worried over the potential increase in costs. . . . [A] healthy portion of BCS conference schools also voted for the override. According to this NCAA document obtained by the Chronicle [of Higher Education], 30 different current and future BCS members supported the override, including the entire Big 12.")

Joe Nocera, "Et Tu, Harvard?" New York Times, January 28, 2012, p. A23,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/opinion/nocera-et-tu-harvard.html ("[Temi] Fagbenle’s ordeal is worth telling for three reasons. It illustrates the sheer pettiness of the N.C.A.A. It shows that the N.C.A.A. won’t rectify even an obvious mistake to help an athlete. Saddest of all, it shows that even mighty Harvard won’t stand up to the N.C.A.A. Originally intended to help universities police their athletic teams, the N.C.A.A. has become higher education’s Frankenstein, terrifying its overseers.")

Morgan Smith, "Silencing Cheers, to Save Troubled School District," New York Times, January 27, 2012, p. A19,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/education/premont-tex-schools-suspend-sports-to-save-costs.html ("A plan to save a school district has come down to rows of yellow Post-it notes. . . . Each note points to a step taken toward the corresponding goal. Scrawled on one Post-it are two words that have brought national attention to this 570-student South Texas school district: suspend sports.")

"Penn State scandal helped shape Wisconsin’s response to Chadima allegations," Associated Press/Washington Post, January 25, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/penn-state-scandal-helped-shape-wisconsins-response-to-chadima-allegations/2012/01/25/gIQAxTa6QQ_story.html
("The Penn State scandal certainly caught the attention of officials at Wisconsin, compelling them to review and reinforce protocols for reporting sexual assaults and think about how they might handle a scandal of their own. It didn’t take long. According to a report released by the school Tuesday night, a male student employee accused athletic department official John Chadima of grabbing his genitals at an alcohol-fueled party while the team was at the Rose Bowl. Chadima has resigned and issued an apology without acknowledging the specific allegations in the report.")

Joe Nocera, "Living in Fear of the N.C.A.A.," New York Times, January 24, 2012, p. A27,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/opinion/nocera-living-in-fear-of-the-ncaa.html ("When I asked the N.C.A.A. about the [University of Connecticut freshman basketball player Ryan] Boatright case, the response I received was deeply disingenuous. Refusing to discuss the actions of its investigators, it essentially said that Connecticut, not the N.C.A.A., declared Boatright ineligible. That is technically true. Schools declare athletes ineligible because if they don’t, the N.C.A.A. will deprive them of scholarships, force them to forfeit games and prevent them from playing in postseason games. Most astonishing, an N.C.A.A. spokeswoman told me that the organization does not have the legal authority to compel cooperation from parents. Again, technically true: Its real weapon — the threat of destroying their sons’ careers — is far more potent than any mere subpoena.")

Joe Nocera, "More N.C.A.A. 'Justice,'" New York Times, January 14, 2012, p. A21, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/opinion/nocera-more-ncaa-justice.html ("How can a miffed coach’s pique control the activities of a student [Todd O'Brien] who doesn’t even play for him anymore? Can a music teacher who is angry at a violin student prevent him from playing in another school’s orchestra? The very idea is absurd. Why is it any less absurd when the student is an athlete? . . . Yet that is precisely what the N.C.A.A.’s rules make possible. And which it then reinforces with its own iron fist. . . . Mark Emmert, the N.C.A.A. president, . . . said that the N.C.A.A. had to come up with solutions 'that reflect our values.' Its real values are reflected in cases like Todd O’Brien’s. There are a hundred others just like his. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, a small Catholic school [St. Joseph's University] has disgraced itself because it won’t stand up to its bully of a basketball coach.") And compare, Michael Marot, "NCAA President Pushes to Clean Up College Sports," Associated Press, January 12, 2012, below.

Ryan J. Foley, "Lawyer: Iowa should have acted sooner on [football player]," Associated Press/Yahoo! Sports, January 13, 2012, http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-iowa-coker
("Attorney Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines said school officials must explain what actions they took . . .. 'Innocent until proven guilty is still the law of the land, but you need to conduct an immediate investigation and the university needs to determine whether or not he did in fact rape somebody. And if he did, he shouldn’t be playing football,' Conlin said. . . . Conlin, who has represented several women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Iowa athletes in the past, said the university’s response has been inadequate. 'Things have not gone well in the past. The ball has been dropped, to use a football analogy, so many times that they need to be out making public statements that explain what they’ve done or what they have failed to do. . . . It’s very frustrating.'”)

Michael Marot, "NCAA President Pushes to Clean Up College Sports," Associated Press, January 12, 2012, http://news.yahoo.com/ncaa-president-pushes-clean-college-sports-221412379--spt.html ("NCAA President Mark Emmert would like to erase all the tawdry tales from his first full year in office. . . . Emmert wants to restore some of college sports' core principles -- choosing education over money, amateurism over professionalism and abiding by the rules rather than ignoring them. . . . [S[peaking sternly and with few laugh lines, Emmert broadly recounted some of the most damaging phrases he'd heard: College sports is about winning at all costs, it's all about the money, everybody cheats and the term student-athlete is an oxymoron. 'I've heard people say that there are no ethics and no integrity in college sports and the whole system is broken. But here's the really bad news. There's truth in some of those criticisms. . . . We do have some people that want to win at all costs . . . some student-athletes that don't care about getting an education and some that simply don't get the education they deserve.'")

Lester Munson, "Challenges for Change in the NCAA," ESPN, December 2, 2011,
http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/munson-111202/three-separate-lawsuits-force-reforms-ncaa
("As with most train wrecks, it's hard to turn away from the pile-ups across college sports these days. . . . Could the NCAA be teetering on the edge of reform? With an operating budget of nearly $800 million and more than five acres of office space at its headquarters in Indianapolis, the NCAA is a colossus in which change has been difficult. . . . But now, it's possible that a growing mass of litigation just might do to Big College Sports what a critical mass of litigation did to Big Tobacco.")

Kevin Begos and Mark Scolford, "Penn State president to face alumni in Pittsburgh," Associated Press/Miami Herald, January 11, 2012, http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/11/2583953/penn-state-president-to-face-alumni.html ("[Penn State President Rodney] Erickson is attempting to repair the school's image with alumni, faculty, staff, and students, more than two months since Sandusky was arrested, bringing with it controversy, criticism and contemplation. Some alumni have criticized the school failing to conduct a complete investigation before firing Paterno and ousting Erickson's predecessor, Graham Spanier, while decrying the school's leadership as secretive and slow to act.");
see generally,
Nicholas Johnson, "College Football Scandals Larger Lessons," November 8, 2012-January 19, 2012, http://fromdc2iowa.blogspot.com/2011/11/college-football-scandals-larger.html
and see,
"Penn State President Draws Fire From Alumni," Associated Press/New York Times, January 13, 2012, p. B13, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-alumni-express-unhappiness-with-handling-of-scandal.html
 ("A plan designed to soothe angry Penn State alumni may instead be sowing seeds of outrage.");
and,
Sally Jenkins, "Joe Paterno’s first interview since the Penn State-Sandusky scandal," Washington Post, January 14, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/joe-paternos-first-interview-since-the-penn-state-sandusky-scandal/2012/01/13/gIQA08e4yP_story.html, (“'I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was,' he [Joe Paterno] said. 'So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.'”),
and
Pete Thamel and Mark Viera, "Penn State's Trustees Recall Painful Decision to Fire Paterno," New York Times, January 19, 2012, p. B15, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-trustees-recall-decision-to-fire-paterno.html (a lengthy, detailed narrative of the board of trustees struggle with their decisions),
and,
Mark Viera, "Strong Words Resound at Tribute to Paterno," New York Times, January 27, 2012, p. B14, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/sports/ncaafootball/tribute-to-paterno-includes-a-few-strong-words.html ("Phil Knight, the chairman of Nike, . . . in the memorial’s most riveting moment . . . lambasted Penn State’s board of trustees for firing Paterno . . .. 'It turns out he gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chain to the head of the campus police and the president of the school . . . The matter was in the hands of a world-class university and a president with an outstanding national reputation. Whatever the details of the investigation are, this much is clear to me: if there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation, not in Joe Paterno.'”)
and
"Penn State scandal helped shape Wisconsin’s response to Chadima allegations," Associated Press/Washington Post, January 25, 2012,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/penn-state-scandal-helped-shape-wisconsins-response-to-chadima-allegations/2012/01/25/gIQAxTa6QQ_story.html
("The Penn State scandal certainly caught the attention of officials at Wisconsin, compelling them to review and reinforce protocols for reporting sexual assaults and think about how they might handle a scandal of their own. It didn’t take long. According to a report released by the school Tuesday night, a male student employee accused athletic department official John Chadima of grabbing his genitals at an alcohol-fueled party while the team was at the Rose Bowl. Chadima has resigned and issued an apology without acknowledging the specific allegations in the report.")

James K. Gentry and Raquel Meyer Alexander, "From the Sideline to the Bottom Line," New York Times, January 1, 2012, p. SP1, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/sports/ncaafootball/contracts-for-top-college-football-coaches-grow-complicated.html ("A review of the contracts for more than 40 major college coaches — including [Alabama Coach Nick] Saban, [Louisiana State Coach Les] Miles and many of the other men whose teams are appearing in the B.C.S. games that begin Monday — shows that agreements that once seemed simple and straightforward have morphed into an ever more intricate combination of guaranteed salary increases, lucrative bonuses and desirable perks that cover everything from country-club memberships to free travel on private airplanes.")

Diane Heldt, "Professor: Athletics important too; Faculty asked to take an interest in issues related to sports," The Gazette, November 17, 2010, p. A2, http://iowahighereducation.com/2010/11/16/altmaier-ui-faculty-leaders-must-care-more-about-athletics-issues/ ("Professor Betsy Altmaier . . . serves as the UI's faculty representative to the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference. She also serves as a member of the UI's Presidential Committee on Athletics, an advisory board to the president and athletics director. . . . 'I'd like you to be better informed. I'd like you to have a faculty voice,' she said [to the Faculty Council]. . . . [H]er three main areas of concern: the exact role of the Presidential Committee on Athletics; that group's role in athletic facilities decisions on campus; and the UI's record of gender discrepancy in athletic scholarships, the worst in the Big Ten. . . . 'When do its [the Presidential Committee's] policies stand and when don't they?' Altmaier asked.")

Taylor Branch, "The Shame of College Sports," The Atlantic, October 2011, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1969/12/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/ ("A litany of scandals in recent years have made the corruption of college sports constant front-page news. We profess outrage each time we learn that yet another student-athlete has been taking money under the table. But the real scandal is the very structure of college sports, wherein student-athletes generate billions of dollars for universities and private companies while earning nothing for themselves. Here, a leading civil-rights historian makes the case for paying college athletes—and reveals how a spate of lawsuits working their way through the courts could destroy the NCAA.")

Darley, Slatton, and Grant, "Guiding Principles for Intercollegiate Athletics," Big Ten (1995), http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/sla12/AthleticsPrinciples1995.doc
 

Sports History

Tim Arango, "Myth of Baseball’s Creation Endures, With a Prominent Fan," New York Times, November 13, 2010, p. D1, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/sports/baseball/13doubleday.html, ("The old chestnut about Abner Doubleday’s inventing baseball in a cow pasture in upstate New York has been so thoroughly debunked that it has taken a position in the pantheon of great American myths, alongside George Washington’s cherry tree, Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed.
So it came as a surprise when . . . the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, wrote . . . "I really believe that Abner Doubleday is the ‘Father of Baseball.’")

Other

Fans; public advocacy.

David Crary, "Ralph Nader's latest opponent - our obsessive sports culture," Associated Press, December 25, 2011,
http://www.masslive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/12/ralph_naders_latest_opponent_-.html ("Throughout his career, which has been punctuated by four presidential campaigns, Nader has helped form scores of public interest groups, including one called the League of Fans that advocates for sweeping changes in the sports world. Items on its agenda include ridding youth sports of tyrannical coaches, discouraging taxpayer funding of stadiums, promoting broader participation in sports at schools and colleges, and outlawing fighting in pro hockey. Many of its concerns are being addressed in a 12-part manifesto that's on the verge of completion.")

Inspirational stories.

Frank DeFord, "When There's More to Winning Than Winning," Sweetness and Light, NPR, February 22, 2012,
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/22/147186116/when-theres-more-to-winning-than-winning ("The crowd cried as much as it cheered. The assistant vice president for athletics at Gettysburg, David Wright, wrote to Washington College: 'Your coach, Rob Nugent, along with his ... staff and student-athletes, displayed a measure of compassion that I have never witnessed in over 30 years of involvement in intercollegiate athletics.'  Cory Weissman had made a point. Washington College had made an even larger one.")

Les Carpenter, "Big Coach In The Little Gym," The Post Game/Yahoo! Sports, January 27, 2011, http://www.thepostgame.com/homepage/201101/big-coach-little-gym
("Scott Lang was 41 years old when he died last month. . . . He spent almost all of his adult life as the basketball coach at La Roche College, a tiny Division III school in the north hills just above Pittsburgh. He had an apartment and eventually a house but he might as well have lived in his office at the Kerr Fitness and Sports Center . . .. Because it was in this office and the gym just outside where he was happiest; where he could be found until well after midnight watching tapes of opposing teams, washing uniforms and endlessly searching for the perfect drills to use in the following day’s practice. Some men are lucky like this. They discover what they love and they never leave. La Roche is not the kind of place a young basketball coach aspires to stay. Lang had offers to become a Division I assistant, to move himself toward the bright lights and the big games on television with student bands booming and announcers screaming. There were chances to be known, to make real money, to maybe someday be a star. . . . [H]e told his brother Mike. 'I can do more here. I can make a bigger impact on people’s lives.'”)

Mark Hyman, "Sports Training Has Begun for Babies and Toddlers," New York Times, December 1, 2010, p. A1, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/sports/01babies.html ("Kindergartners play in soccer leagues and at an annual T-Ball World Series in Milton, Fla. But now children are being groomed as athletes before they can walk. . . . Dr. Lyle Micheli, an orthopedic surgeon and founder of the first pediatric sports medicine clinic in the United States at Children’s Hospital in Boston . . . said he did not see any great advantages in exposing babies to sports. 'I don’t know of any evidence that training at this infancy stage accelerates coordination,' he said.")