Jan

13

Baseball’s New Plan for Daily Interleague Play Is Not without Precedent

Posted by: | January 13, 2012 | 1 Comment

Major League Baseball is changing again. For more than nine decades, from 1901 to 1994, it was a cardinal rule of baseball that teams in the American and National League met in exhibition games, the All-Star Game, and the World Series, but never in games that counted during the regular season. Since 1994, we have [...]

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Jan

12

Tebowing and the Constitution

Posted by: | January 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Much has been made of Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow’s outward expressions of his Christian faith, especially his practice of kneeling in moments of prayer—“Tebowing” as it is now called—after touchdowns, some of them admittedly a bit miraculous. A recent issue of Time magazine, for example, included an article on Mr. Tebow, his faith, and the [...]

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Jan

1

Why Milwaukee Lost the Braves: Perspectives on Law and Culture From a Half-Century Later

Posted by: | January 1, 2012 | 3 Comments

Forty-five years ago, the baseball world trained its attention on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and its impending decision in the case of Wisconsin v. The Milwaukee Braves, soon to be reported as 144 N.W.2d 1 (1966). At issue was whether or not a Milwaukee trial judge, acting on behalf of the state of Wisconsin, could [...]

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Dec

24

Before the Sports Broadcasting Act: Professional Football Fifty Years Ago

Posted by: | December 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Warning:  This essay contains pure, unadulterated nostalgia for the professional sports regime of the middle third of 20th century America. I remember watching the 1960 World Series on television, but the first year that I really followed major league baseball was 1961, the year of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle’s historic assault on Babe Ruth’s [...]

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Dec

14

Interested in Starting Your Own Minor League Baseball League and Joining Organized Baseball? Think Again.

Posted by: | December 14, 2011 | 2 Comments

The revival of independent professional baseball, which began with the establishment of a new Northern League in 1993, has been one of the most fascinating developments of the past 20 years in the world of baseball. The baseball-reference.com website, one of the authoritative sources for information on baseball history, lists thirty different independent professional baseball [...]

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Dec

13

Why the Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs by Great Athletes Still Bothers Us

Posted by: | December 13, 2011 | 3 Comments

The recent revelation that Milwaukee Brewer all-star Ryan Braun has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs once again raises the question of why such revelations bother sports fans so much. The answer lies, I believe, in the typical fan’s feelings about his or her lack of natural athletic ability.  It is one of the sad [...]

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Nov

29

How the NBA Should Have Handled the Recent Labor Dispute

Posted by: | November 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Most fans of professional basketball were probably delighted to learn of the recent agreement between the NBA owners and their players which will make possible a 66-game regular season beginning on Christmas Day. However, for fans of sports law (like myself), the resolution was disappointing.  Had the players’ antitrust suit gone to trial, followed by [...]

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Nov

7

Recent College Football Realignments Are Nothing New

Posted by: | November 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment

The realignment of major college football conferences has been one of the most important sports stories of the fall. As teams shift from one conference to another, many commentators have described these happenings as unprecedented, and in the minds of many, these developments appear to threaten the stability of college athletics. Rumor has it that [...]

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Nov

1

Maybe the Brewers Should Hire a Lawyer as Their Next Manager

Posted by: | November 1, 2011 | 1 Comment

The announcement that St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa is retiring after his team’s victory in the 2011 World Series provides us with an opportunity to remind the non-lawyer world of the extraordinary success of lawyers who have served as managers in Major League baseball. LaRussa, who earned his law degree from Florida State in [...]

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Oct

17

Marquette Law School’s Enduring Connection to the Sports Law Industry

Posted by: | October 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment

As noted in an earlier post, the current issue of Marquette Lawyer magazine contains a profile of the current Marquette Sports Law program and the National Sports Law Institute. What the article fails to note, however, it that the law school’s involvement with the sports industry long pre-dates the founding of the National Sports Law [...]

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Oct

10

Do We Need an Anti-Siphoning Act in the United States?

Posted by: | October 10, 2011 | 1 Comment

The remarkable Milwaukee Brewers have now reached the second round of the Major League Baseball play-offs, but many Brewers fans have yet to have the opportunity to stay at home and watch the team play post-season games on television. The reason, of course, is that this year all first round play-off games as well as [...]

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Oct

9

Al Davis, R.I.P.

Posted by: | October 9, 2011 | 1 Comment

The late Al Davis, the mercurial owner and general manager of the Oakland Raiders football team, arguably had a greater impact on American sports law than any member of his generation. Davis reached the pinnacle of American sport even though he possessed neither great athletic ability nor access to financial resources. Born in Brocton, Massachusetts, [...]

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