{"id":613,"date":"2011-12-31T10:31:38","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T16:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/?p=613"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:37:32","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:37:32","slug":"top-11-sports-law-stories-for-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/top-11-sports-law-stories-for-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 11 Sports Law Stories for 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Paterno-Sandusky.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-609\" width=\"320\" height=\"256\"\/><figcaption>Sandusky scandals leads the way<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the stories that we\nhave identified as the biggest stories in 2011 that incorporated elements of\nSports Law into their midst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Penn\nState<\/li><li>Ohio\nState<\/li><li>Syracuse<\/li><li>NFL\nCBA<\/li><li>NBA\nCBA<\/li><li>Chris\nPaul trade<\/li><li>Sam\nHurd drug bust<\/li><li>FIFA\ncorruption<\/li><li>Concussions<\/li><li>Agent\nregulations<\/li><li>Conference\nrealignment<\/li><li>***Explanation\nfor why NO TIM TEBOW<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>So now if you want the details, you have to follow along\nbelow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><strong>Penn\nState<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Where do we even start with this\nprocess?&nbsp; The entire conspiracy and cover\nup at Penn State is beyond belief.&nbsp;&nbsp; Despite\nthe objections of supporters of the school and supporters of Coach Paterno,\nthere is no feasible way that this situation should not have received much more\nattention and awareness prior to 2011.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The incidents were clearly known\nin 1998 when Sandusky was essentially forced&#8221; to take an early\nretirement.&nbsp; There is no other\nexplanation for that occurrence.&nbsp; And yet\nSandusky was allowed to continue to have a presence on campus and obviously\ncontinue inflicting unspeakable terrors on those young boys.&nbsp; Even when the incident of 2002 occurred, the\nuniversity and its administration did virtually nothing.&nbsp; While everyone chooses to bash Mike McQueary,\nand while he may deserve some of the wrath and anger, his failures&#8221; pale in\ncomparison to those of Spanier, Curley, Schultz and Paterno.&nbsp; They can choose to classify this situation\nhowever they want to, but the reality is that their decisions in 1998 and 2002\nallowed at least a dozen more incidents to occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Should Mike McQueary have taken\ngreater steps to prevent the 2002 incident.&nbsp;\nPerhaps.&nbsp; But none of us know how\nwe would react despite our instinctual response of saying of course we would\nhave intervened, stopped the incident and called the police immediately.&#8221;&nbsp; When your boss and\/or supervisor are doing\ninappropriate things it is very difficult to even report it up the chain.&nbsp; McQueary did that.&nbsp; Much more of the blame belongs to Spanier,\nCurley, Schultz and Paterno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And while the media blasts Penn\nState for the cover up of the activities, you have to wonder where the coverage\nof the incidents was in 1998 and 2002.&nbsp;\nAnd even more egregious, why was it so late in the year when these\nincidents came to light.&nbsp; One of the best\nreporting jobs in 2011 was by Sara Ganim (@sganim).&nbsp; Her coverage was there for everyone to see in\nAPRIL!!!&nbsp; YES APRIL!!! How did the\nstories she wrote go unnoticed for so long by the mainstream media?&nbsp; She provided great coverage throughout and\nwas one of the first people with most of the elements of the story as it\nunfolded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where does Penn State go from\nhere?&nbsp; They were probably wise in laying\nlow in the coaching search until after the bowl season is completed so that it\ndoes not become a major distraction for the team.&nbsp; That strategy also helps keep it out of the\nlimelight of bowl week when college football dominates the landscape.&nbsp; By the time PSU makes its hire, the college\nfootball calendar is essentially over and everything will be dominated by the\nNFL playoffs and the NFL Draft preparation season (Senior Bowl (and other\nAll-Star games), National Signing Day and the NFL Combine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can PSU recover?&nbsp; Absolutely.&nbsp;\nA few people made terrible decisions that allowed this situation to\ncontinue way long than necessary.&nbsp; &nbsp;But the school remains.&nbsp; Its pride and heritage remain (though\ntarnished).&nbsp; With a good hire PSU will be\nback as a major force in football in just a few years.&nbsp; So in an absurd turn of events, those fans\nlooking for new leadership and an end to the Paterno era got their wish, though\ncertainly not in the manner they desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Ohio\nState<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If Penn State was the pure\nevil&#8221; in college athletics, Ohio State was the mischievous younger sibling that\nfeels like they can get away with anything.&nbsp;\nYou heard me rip apart the decision last year to allow all of the OSU\nplayers to participate in the Sugar Bowl before starting their\nsuspensions.&nbsp; It was absurd.&nbsp; And the degree of absurdity was not really\ndiscovered until we had hard facts and evidence showing just how early Jim\nTressel knew about the problems. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ohio State has frequently acted\nwith the sense of entitlement throughout its program.&nbsp; The attacks on the Little Sisters of the Poor\nand the annoying introductions of THE Ohio State University.&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp; And its athletic department continued to\nshow the same arrogance as it expected the NCAA to roll over and let its weak,\nself-imposed penalties stand for its actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nobody can compare what happened\nat OSU to the despicable conduct at PSU, but the great lack of institutional\ncontrol is one that needed to change.&nbsp; So\nnow, from this day forward, it will be known as A state of Ohio university.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Syracuse<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oy, aren&#8217;t we tired of scandals\nyet?&nbsp; The long time frame in which Bernie\nFine remained in his position is far less surprising than what happened at Penn\nState because there have been no allegations that Fine used University\nfacilities to accomplish his actions.&nbsp;\nThere may have been some involvement and connection to the program, but\nthere have not been credible claims to date that anyone else at Syracuse knew\nwhat was going on.&nbsp; The early statements\nby Jim Boeheim may be the ones that cause the school the most damage.&nbsp; We still have a long way to go to hear all of\nthe details of this situation so you can expect it to remain at the forefront\nof the news for 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>NFL\nCBA<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It was only&#8221; 136 days, but the\nimpact of the NFL labor dispute received almost round the clock coverage.&nbsp; From the lockouts to the lawsuits, to the\nappeals to the procedural manipulations engaged in by both parties it was an\ninteresting battle.&nbsp; But it was also a\nbattle that could not be won by either side without a negotiated\nresolution.&nbsp; All parties were poised to\nlose too much money.&nbsp; While the\ngrandstanding and media ploys of each side played out, the public grew\nincreasingly agitated with BOTH sides.&nbsp;\nSupport was sharply divided and there were many good arguments made by\nboth the NFL and the NFLPA.&nbsp;&nbsp; Players\nsacrificing their bodies for short careers and long term damage and owners who\nhave invested billions of dollars in team ownership, operations and\ninfrastructure.&nbsp; Despite the legal\nmaneuvers of each party, you could tell that each side was entrenched in its\ncore beliefs and until they were both threatened with losing real dollars,\nneither would budge.&nbsp; Ultimately Robert\nKraft probably saved the day and essentially went in like a business person,\ntook some of the control away from the lawyers, and helped pushed through an\nagreement that appears to be more positively constructed for the long term than\nthe prior deal that was opted out of by the owners.&nbsp; Labor peace for 10 years.&nbsp; Now if only they would allow cable systems\nand smart phones to get the Sunday Ticket without needing to be a DirecTV\nsubscriber we would all be set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>NBA\nCBA<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The NBA lockout received FAR less\nattention from the media than the NFL lockout did.&nbsp; In part there was much more going on in the\nsports landscape with MLB post-season, college and NFL football underway and\nthe NHL continuing to grow in popularity.&nbsp;\nAs with most labor disputes, nothing seems to get done proactively.&nbsp; It typically takes significant losses or\ncollateral damage before the parties are willing to give concessions over the\nlast few points of contention.&nbsp; For the\nNBA, this amounted to the split of the revenues.&nbsp; So with the season pushed back and the Chris\nPaul fiasco over (see below), the NBA appears poised for a strong season with\ninterest heightened by the fact that there will be a condensed schedule which\nwill make each game more meaningful in the playoff race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Chris\nPaul trade<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you say conflict of\ninterest?&#8221;&nbsp; I knew that you could.&nbsp; But apparently it is a concept that the NBA\nis not clear about.&nbsp; High on everyone&#8217;s\nlist of problems in the NBA is the fact that no league should own a team.&nbsp; Who is the league really representing?&nbsp; The existing franchise?&nbsp; The fans?&nbsp;\nThe future owner?&nbsp; The value of\nthe franchise?&nbsp; The current community in\nwhich the team exists?&nbsp; Depending on how\nyou answer those questions you will see that there is an enormously large\ndiscrepancy in what actions need to be taken and the prioritization of those\nactions.&nbsp; Voiding the Chris Paul trade\nwas something that the league did purportedly to protect the value of the\nfranchise.&nbsp; Was it Dan Gilbert&#8217;s public\nadmonishment? Was it prospective owners getting unhappy? The reality is that\nChris Paul was going to be leaving at the end of the season regardless of\nanything that the league did.&nbsp; So the\nquestion begging to be asked is Was it better for the franchise to get\nsomething in return instead of nothing after the season.&#8221;&nbsp; There is obviously no right or wrong answer\nto that question, it is one that each owner (or ownership group) has to answer\nfor itself.&nbsp; Putting the league in the\nposition of deciding what media market to send one of its biggest starts to\nsmacks of self-dealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Sam\nHurd drug bust<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>How scared are any NFL players\nthat were getting their drugs from Sam Hurd?&nbsp;\nHurd was not merely dealing a small quantity of drugs to a few close\nfriends and\/or acquaintances, he was preparing to establish and operate a drug\nempire of the scale that has never been seen within professional sports,\nespecially by an active player.&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nate_Newton\">Nate Newton&#8217;s infamous arrest\nwith enormous amounts of marijuana<\/a> occurred after his playing days were\nover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you did not follow the\ndetails closely, go back and read through the links in this posting which\noutline the magnitude of the drugs Hurd was seeking to purchase.&nbsp; There is little doubt that he was supplying\nto other NFL players but those merely buying and using the drugs will not face\ngreat punishment.&nbsp; The question is\nwhether any other NFL players were working with Hurd or working under Hurd to\nestablish their own distribution schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>FIFA\ncorruption<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>One thing that you have to give\nFIFA credit for is doing something that no other organization has ever been\nable to accomplish?<strong>Making Chicago\npolitics look clean and efficient<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Has there ever been a more\ncorrupt organization from top to bottom?&nbsp;\nThe only question that remains about FIFA is whether it should even\nexist.&nbsp;&nbsp; It certainly has an important\nrole in world soccer and there is undoubtedly the need to have an organization\nto provide the function.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if you analyze what FIFA has\ndone and how it has done it, you are likely to reach the conclusion that the\nentire organization is TOO broken to be fixed.&nbsp;\nAt a certain point if you have a money pit of a building you are better\noff knocking the whole thing down and building from scratch.&nbsp; Is there really any way to salvage FIFA from\na structure that has layers of corruption built upon other layers of corruption\nwhich are obscuring more corruption which is undetectable from the surface\nbecause you cannot get past the first 3 layers of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Go and look at the number of\nhigh ranking FIFA officials brought into question.&nbsp; Look at the voting process involved in\nawarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.&nbsp;\nLook at the way in which any of these things came about.&nbsp; I dare you to find any shreds of integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Concussions<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>How many concussion lawsuits have\nwe seen?&nbsp; The number rises every single\nweek.&nbsp; By some accounts, the number of\nsuits filed against the various entities is already in double digits. Every\nplayer (and many of their lawyers) are trying to get their piece of the\nconcussion lawsuit pie just like the large class action firms try to sign up\nPlaintiff&#8217;s in the mass tort litigation space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sad part is that we seem to be\nhaving a fundamental failure in the approach to concussions. Virtually all of\nthe time and energy is spent on just 2 of the 3 elements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Preventing concussions<\/li><li>Diagnosis<\/li><li>Treatment and Recovery.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The third element is virtually\nignored.&nbsp; The only recovery anyone talks\nabout is how quickly can we get someone back on the field\/court\/ice.&nbsp; But the long term impacts have been almost\nentirely ignored and there are very few groups working to develop a process\nthat can allow athletes and former athletes to overcome some of the effects of\nconcussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><strong>Agent\nregulations<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Do I have to repeat myself year\nafter year?&nbsp; You can read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fromthebench.us\/2011\/01\/06\/top-11-for-2011-agent-regulations\/\">my\narticle from the preview for 2011<\/a> and you will see that the core issues\nhave not changed.&nbsp; Is anything going to\nbe done? Soon?&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this year I made a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fromthebench.us\/2011\/05\/19\/rtc-a-call-for-national-agent-regulations\/\">plea\nfor National Regulations<\/a>.&nbsp; Not on top\nof the other regulations, but instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The timing seems right and I would\nhave been more optimistic about where this was going before all of the sexual\nabuse scandals broke.&nbsp; Deservedly they\nhave received more of the attention and the powers that be are scrambling to\nfind ways to not only prevent it from happening in the future but figuring out\nhow to handle the next inevitable scandal that breaks, hopefully not from their\ninstitution or organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><strong>Conference\nrealignment<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Are we done? Doubtful.&nbsp; Have we reached the saturation point?&nbsp; Maybe.&nbsp;\nWhen all heck seemed ready to break loose and turn into four 16 team power\nconferences, the process got bogged down in TV deals, rivalries and often a\ndesire of certain key players (Texas and Oklahoma) to stay together and try to\nkeep their power spots.&nbsp; Would UT and OU\nhave the same clout if they joined the Pac 12, SEC or Big Ten? Nope.&nbsp; And therefore the Longhorn Network was\nborn.&nbsp; But with Boise going out to the\nBig East and with TCU going east, then not going or were they going?&nbsp; Can you really keep track of where everyone\nis these days?&nbsp; Just a few short years\nago any college football fan could easily tell you what conference the Top 100\nschools were in.&nbsp; Today, that is a far\nmore challenging task.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><strong>NO\nTim Tebow???<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I get bashed by all of\nthe Tim Tebow supporters out there, remember this is supposed to be a sports\nlaw blog not a cult icon blog.&nbsp; While\nTebow has transcended the game in an amazing way for a QB who has so few on the\nfield accomplishments in the NFL, he has fortunately not been involved in legal\nissues.&nbsp; Plenty of dilemmas as he went\nfrom 2<sup>nd<\/sup> string at the start of training camp to a reported 4<sup>th<\/sup>\nstring to a starter when Kyle Orton was not getting the job done to the\nsatisfaction of the Denver fans.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is Tim Tebow the answer?&nbsp; Long term?&nbsp;\nDoes not look like he is ready to be a quality PASSER in the NFL.&nbsp; Does that mean he cannot play QB?&nbsp; No.&nbsp;\nTebow is undoubtedly one of the greatest leaders that we have ever seen,\nespecially from a person whose skill set is questioned around the country on a\nminute by minute basis.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Was Tebow played by the Broncos\nmerely with the hope that he failed so that they could say See, we gave him\nthe chance and he did not get the job done.&#8221;&nbsp;\nWe will never know because Tebow never let himself fail.&nbsp; His win streak had an almost divine\nintervention like quality with recovered onsides kicks, runners going out of\nbounds to keep Denver in the game, his kicker hitting 50+ yard FGs like they\nare XPs and a slew of turnovers and outstanding play generated from his\ndefense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are the stories that we have identified as the biggest stories in 2011 that incorporated elements of Sports Law into their midst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,294,80,17,322,290,11],"tags":[314,365,329,367,35,360,296,364,352,368,6,366,323,354],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}