Presentation to Northwestern Sports Law Society

I will be at Northwestern University School of Law tomorrow (Thursday), presenting The Economics of the Infield Fly Rule to NU's Sports Law Society as part of Sports Law Society Week. The program runs from 12:10-1:20. Feel free to stop by if you are in Chicago.

Slate on Indian Mascots

Following up on our discussions of Indian mascots, this week's Slate Hang Up and Listen podcast includes a segment (starting at 34:10) on the controversy, featuring Dr. Ellen Staurowsky, a professor of sports management at Drexel University (Ellen also was kind enough to contribute an excellent chapter for my book on Duke lacrosse). It is a good conversation, touching on many of the issues of Indian self-concept and self-image that Alex mentions in his post.

Worth a listen.

A Call to Action

NCAA President Mark Emmert's leadership, and lack of accountability, surrounding his organization's investigation into the University of Miami was an embarrasment to those of us in higher education.  Thankfully, the good folks at The Huffington Post have provided me an outlet to rant.

The result is the following piece, titled "A Call to Action" where I advocate that it's time for Emmert to go; and since he's declared he won't resign, the NCAA Executive Committee needs to take action.  Feel free to lobby the members, who are listed here.

More on the significance of defining sport

The surprising and controversial announcement that wrestling is being dropped from the core Olympic programme effective with the 2020 Summer Games made me think that we may have found a reason why it matters whether something is a sport or not: Whether something is a sport (as opposed to a game or a competition) should be a tiebreaking factor when choosing between two events. In other words, when the IOC is deciding between wrestling and, say, synchronized ballroom dancing, the former wins out because it is a sport and the other is not.