Sports Law Scoreboard

"Icons at the End of the Road?"

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:51:14 -0500

In its article, "Icons at the End of the Road," Sports Illustrated Online features a collection of photos starting with Peyton Manning, musing as to whether he will be leaving Indianapolis. Some of the photos are painful to view: Willie Mays as a Met, Hakeem as a Raptor. But the photo essay largely ignores other times where a new location meant a new lease on (sports) life. Andre Dawson as a Cub (and MVP). Sir Charles and Nash as Suns (and MVPs). In law too, sometimes a first or second job is not the right venue and people blossom in other locations or get a new passion for the profession. Fitzgerald said "there are no second acts in America" but the Talmud says "change your location and change your luck."

Tennis Encounters

Jaysen Chung — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:15:28 -0500

I attended a patent law conference in San Diego this past weekend and encountered two individuals to whom I am connected by, interestingly, the game of tennis.

First, I had the opportunity to play tennis with Hon. Randall Rader, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In my previous life, I was a collegiate tennis player (Go Bruins), and was looking forward to playing after a long hiatus. Judge Rader did not disappoint with his skills on the court. In particular, I was most impressed by Judge Rader’s intensity, competitiveness, and passion for the sport. I’m not even sure I saw him stop to drink water on changeovers.

After listening to Judge Rader speak at the conference later on, it was clear that he has the same passion in all aspects of life and including his position as chief judge, which requires many administrative responsibilities in addition to his own docket. Certainly, the Federal Circuit appears to be running quite efficiently, which is likely attributable in large part to Judge Rader. In short, I must say I was thoroughly impressed.

I was equally impressed by a friend who I had the chance to catch up with while in San Diego, and who I had not seen for literally a decade. He spent five years dutifully serving our country in the Marines, then went to college and graduated in just three years. Now he has his own successful fitness company, HMS Fitness. After five years on active duty, I’m sure the transition back to civilian life wasn’t easy. Yet, I’m not sure he has even realized the significance of his accomplishments because he continues to look onward and upward. Quite admirable.

Indeed, what you can get from a sport is not only experiences on the court, but those off the court—such as these from my past weekend—as well.

Joe Paterno vs. John Wooden

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:11:06 -0500

The Los Angeles Times for today has a comparison between Joe Paterno and John Wooden, each loved and put up as models of behavior with the inevitable conclusion that Wooden perhaps escaped criticism by retiring at 64 rather than 85. Reminds me of the story of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court forever. Holmes as a young man drew the short straw to tell Justice Story that it was time for him to retire, which he did and Story did. Years later, Holmes was perhaps reaching that point and a younger judge took him for a walk along the Potomac River. "Remember your talk with Justice Story" the young justice began. Holmes interrupted him to say "Yes, and a dirtier deed was never done by man." Holmes served another 20 years!

Creativity, Focus, and Hard Work

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:33:52 -0500

My friend and mentor, Cordell Parvin, recently blogged on the Giants beating the Packers. Seems one of the New Yorkers held a team meeting and challenged his teammates:: "Are you all in?" Cordell, who has boundless enthusiasm, used it as a metaphor for our professional activities. Are we focused or going through the motions? The truly talented lawyers that I see are those who are all in...which does not mean being a law slave but does mean bringing focus, creativity and yes, hard work, to the tasks at hand.

Salaries for College Athletes?

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:28:39 -0500

Last month, the New York Times Magazine ran a kick-tush article advocating paying college athletes in football and basketball for their services. The arguments have been made before in other forums, but the economic data in the article was most impressive. The article drew a rejoinder from Tom McMillian. Mr.. McMillian was an excellent college basketball player himself (the Maryland Bill Walton to us west-coasters) and he then served as a U.S. Congressman. His rejoinder was that this could not work because it would be violative of Title IX as women athletes would not be covered.

While I wax and wane on whether we should abandon all pretense of amateur big-sport athletics, seems to me that the proposal would pass muster as long as the payments are defined by revenue generated by the sport and not by limitation to boys and men. In other words, if women's college tennis can generate the revenue, why not pay them? Thoughts readers?

Photo credit: http://nephos.wordpress.com/

Tony Blankley RIP

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:03:34 -0500

As reported by SFGate.com, Tony Blankley has passed away. Blankley was best known as Newt's press secretary when Newt was the majority leader. My path crossed with his when we were both at the State Attorney General's office in California. He and I would discuss politics and we agreed on virtually nothing except the civility with which to conduct the discussion. Blankley had that wonderful British accent, which belied the fact that he was one of a gaggle of Jewish boys that had graduated from Fairfax High School.

What does this have to do with sports? In virtually every team event these days, the winners and losers shake hands or give hugs at the end of the contest. Before the '70s, you never saw that. The philosophy was that you were to hate the other team with a purple passion. Today's players (albeit well-paid) have realized it is better to focus on the game than hating your opponent. Politics is both a game and a serious calling, but on the day of the New Hampshire primary, and in honor of Tony, perhaps we should all realize the beauty of the clash of ideas and not individuals...

Why Chris Petersen Is My Hero (For Now)

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:50:55 -0500

According to Bloomberg News, Chris Petersen of Boise State just inked a $2 million per year contract with Boise State to continue coaching their football team. No one had ever heard of Boise State as a football powerhouse five years ago and now they have been invited into the Big East. Why is he my hero? Because he built it and stayed. We are familiar with the ring-around-the Rosie movings of elite football and basketball coaches, but Petersen defies the common succeed and move up model, choosing to stay instead and achieve his further goals there. Link to law? A law firm is a platform. Too often one sees successful partners leave successful firms, instead of building on the platform they have helped create. Too often one sees this followed by multiple moves. Advice for the new year.....if you have achieved at (your business) consider staying and building rather than jumping around, provided that your platform allows for further growth with people you enjoy.

Take Care in What You Say

Jaysen Chung — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:16:12 -0500

Adding to the firestorm that has broken out over the Bernie Fine sexual abuse scandal is the recorded telephone conversation between Bobby Davis, one of Fine’s accusers, and Fine’s wife, Laurie. Mrs. Fine suggests that the taping has been edited, but whether the taping was legally recorded is perhaps a more interesting issue. Both Utah, where the call originated, and New York, where Mrs. Fine was, are states with “one party consent” laws in the realm of recording phone conversations. Essentially, this means that only one party to the conversation needs to have knowledge of and give consent to the recording for it to be legal.

Had at least one of the parties been in California, for example, the recording’s legality would be more tenuous because California laws require all parties to a phone conversation to be aware of and consent to the conversation’s recording. States like California, however, are the minority in this area. Indeed, the fact that the privacy of one’s phone call depends on where exactly the parties to the call are geographically located may be quite troubling to some. Adding to the saying, “Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words,” we should surely be careful with our words. . .because they might be recorded!

photo credit: transom.org

Be Yourself, but Be Your Best Self

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:19:09 -0500

Tim Tebow was a huge college quarterback, projected for failure in the NFL. Instead, he is winning. He is hallelujah, not hip hop, square, not cool, thankful, not thankless. Lesson here: be yourself. One of the biggest (actually quite short) trial lawyers in LA during my pup days was a short guy, with a Radar O'Reilly look (from Mash), who had a courtly Southern presentation, rather than cut and slash. Motto once again: be yourself, but be your best self.

photo credit: Caveit Calcei

Baseball for Basketball

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:11:20 -0500

When baseball players seek free agency, there is a procedure called a baseball arbitration. In it, each side names a number not known to the arbitrator. The arbitrator examines the proofs from management and the player's representative, and then announces his "number." The party closer to the number gets what it has advanced. Why not try it in basketball? It would be high stakes, but would end the impasse. I do not know whether I am more depressed by the state of basketball negotiations or the Super Committee.

Always Prepare to Face the Best

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:31:43 -0500

Went to see the UCLA Bruins play Middle Tennessee State the other night. I am a UCLA graduate and have a friend who worked for years at Middle Tennessee. I was shocked to see the Bruins lose by 20 points to a mid major and without being unkind to those who are still adolescents or post-adolescents, they have a long way to go before being a Ben Howland team. Poor defense, no crashing the boards and above all, no spirited play. Which gets me to the law side of the column. I have long been a believer that you need to prepare for and respect every opponent. I have seen too many cases where one side underestimates the other. I do not know if that was the issue here, but with a fine coach like Howland, do not expect it to happen again. When an associate comes in and tells me that the other side's papers are not Harvard White Book, I always remind them that juries do not read or use the Harvard White Book. Always prepare to face the best.

Sports Gambling and...Taxes?

Jaysen Chung — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:02:05 -0500

Post written by Jeffrey Kravitz and Jaysen Chung

At the end of last month, Kelly Phillips Erb posted an article on Forbes.com about a great night of MLB play as the regular season drew to an end (including the Rays big comeback against those Yankees). Perhaps more importantly to you gamblers out there, Erb put her readers on notice of the requirement to report your winnings from betting on sports games for tax purposes, “even if it comes from your neighbor or office pool” (leave it up to the IRS to take the fun out of betting on sports games). Erb even identified the forms necessary to fill out to report the winnings as well as those to claim your losses. This is great advice for the casual gambler who doesn’t want to get caught up in any trouble for some innocent fun. Like the phrase goes, “Better safe than sorry.” You never know what can of worms might be opened up by some innocent, casual sports gambling. Though not necessarily tax-related, think back to Rick Neuheisel’s neighborhood basketball gambling pool that not only violated NCAA rules but also led to a whole slew of related headaches. As my father used to say, "You can do things the hard way or the easy way." I was an adult before I realized that the easy way was always his way!

Concussions Lawsuit: Another Headache for the NCAA

Jaysen Chung — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:14:39 -0500

Just last month, Adrian Arrington, a former strong safety on Eastern Illinois University’s (EIU) football team who suffered memory loss, seizures, and other symptoms caused by the several concussions he suffered while a student-athlete, filed a class action lawsuit against the NCAA for, among other counts, negligence and fraudulent concealment. Arrington alleges the NCAA failed to set in place proper regulations for its member schools regarding concussions and that for the past forty years, the NCAA has “concealed any correlation between on-field concussions, its return-to-play policies and the chronic mental illnesses and maladies suffered by former student-athletes.”

The health of college student-athletes should be a priority to both the NCAA and schools, but on whose shoulders should the responsibility fall? The NCAA, the school, or both? In my opinion, because the school has the most direct access to these athletes and therefore the best opportunity to monitor them, the majority—if not all—of the responsibility should fall on the school.

However, given that EIU is a state university, it could assert and probably succeed on a sovereign immunity defense. Even if such a defense fails, the school can still probably ward off blame by saying it adhered to the NCAA guidelines (or, allegedly, the lack of them). With that said, if the NCAA instituted stricter guidelines for concussions, would schools actually follow them? We’ve already seen how schools fail to abide by even the simplest of NCAA rules (i.e., Kentucky, Miami, USC). So, at the end of the day, will the (possible) success of this suit have any actual effect on this issue?

Never Say Never

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:13:32 -0500

As featured in CNN’s report about the international Olympic Court threw out the lifetime ban on athletes found guilty of violating drug policies. I am just back from an international conference held in London where I met with some fantastic attorneys from European countries. The reaction there was that a lifetime ban was just too close to a death sentence for civilized people. Broadly, Americans tend to be more absolutist in their thinking. I asked a Belgian attorney why so many international negotiations tend to take place in Brussels and his reply was telling: "Our whole country is a compromise (Flemish and French)." The argument is a little like the argument for a death penalty....no ambiguity in the results!

The Reality of Injustice in Life, the Law, and Sports

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:45:08 -0500

"Teach Your Children Well"was a well-known song of my youth. A recent column of the New York Times questions whether we parents are meeting that obligation. The gist of the column is that young people do not even understand when there is a moral quandary, deferring that such issues are matters of personal preference or taste. Back to Sports and Law. The reason we have rules in each is to govern our behavior, in society and on the playing fields. Maybe we all fudge a little, but I am always pleased and amazed when clients come in expecting justice from our society. And we are offended when people cheat in sports. I would suggest that this shows some good things in society, that people do understand that there is such a thing as a higher decider, be it judge, jury or umpire. The hardest things for clients to understand is that others may lie in the process and that, as I am fond of saying, if we have 100% of the law and 100% of the facts, you usually win about 75% of the time. We strive for justice, but the system is inexact.

Lay View on NCAA Using Players' Image for Profit

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:20:28 -0500

Ex Bruin, All American and former national player of the year Ed O'Bannon is suing the NCAA for using his image without his permission. O'Bannon, who has always appeared as a man of immense dignity, sells cars in Las Vegas, the last I heard, so he certainly has an economic reason to file suit. The decision to allow the case to proceed has been profiled in USA Today and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

While the article was written awhile ago, I recently asked a good friend about it. The friend was a major retailer in town before he retired, is a huge basketball fan and is not fond of lawyers. Here is his lay view:

“Clearly the NCAA should clearly state, in their scholarship agreements, their intentions with respect to commercial use of images. In fact, a "miranda" type announcement separately signed by the players should be required.

Even with that , their is a difference (to me) between using photographs and film of players versus using their electronic 'embodiment' in a video game, especially one that is interactive. An audio/video/visual record of a player in college is one thing but the creation of a virtual 'likeness' is quite beyond that.

Does the NCAA claim that they have the right to have an electronic interactive all star game featuring say Bill Russel, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Lew Alcindor etc without compensating the players?

I suppose that one might make the argument that their is a substantitive difference between using a player while he is on scholarship as opposed to later after he had cemented hall of fame credentials in the pros.”

I do not want this to be another hosanna about the evils of money in college sports, but with rich new contracts, and rich new penalties against USC, Ohio State and Miami, perhaps we are at the watershed.

Success Often Comes Through Luck and Mentorship

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:05:38 -0500

Marcus Dupree is the Greatest Who Never Was, as per an ESPN special on the very special running back. Everything that could go wrong did and he never fulfilled his greatness. Much like law, there are some who prosper with modest skills and others with greatness where greatness alludes. Call it fate, kismet or bashert. What I do see is that those who prosper often had great counseling along the way. Others falter because they are always on their own. My advise to both athletes and young lawyers: find yourself someone to trust who will bring you along. Learning your craft means learning to find great teachers you can trust.

Top 5 Athletes Who Became Lawyers

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:06:31 -0500

Here is a list of athletes who turned lawyers after their sports careers:

5. Alan Page (Football Hall of Famer and former Justice of Minnesota Supreme Court)

4. Nick Buoniconti (NFL Pro-Bowler and Massachusetts lawyer)

3. Ken Dryden (Montreal Canadians and Canadian lawyer)

2. Terry Baker (Heisman Trophy winner and Oregon attorney)

1. Fidel Castro (baseball and ...depending on your political bent...government or thuggery)

Silly Lawsuits

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:02:47 -0500

As reported on ESPN.COM on August 13, 2011, Ok State's Mike Gundy is being sued by his carpenter. The dude showed up wearing an Oklahoma T-shirt and allegedly was greeted by profanity, insults and accusations.

Silly but interesting. We believe in free speech in this country, but do not always like to see it exercised. Also, unless there is a public aspect to the speech, you do not have to hire a Democratic plumber or a Republican gardner. And team affiliation sure is not a protected class, such as race or gender.

Dodging a Bullet

Jeffrey S. Kravitz — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:11:55 -0500

Richard Williams was the Swiss tennis champion and one of the survivors of the Titanic. He went on to be NCAA singles champion. Talk about dodging the bullet.....As a pup lawyer and a Deputy Attorney General, I defended a civil rights case filed in propia persona by one James Von Brunn. We won and years later he invaded the Holocaust Museum and killed a guard before being gunned down himself. And yes, I thought he was dangerous at the time. Let no one tell you law is a no-contact sport.