Dear Mr. Bettman:
It’s time to act. The National Hockey League must take immediate steps to ban fighting and outlaw all blows to the head. And you, Mr. Bettman, as league commissioner, must lead the way.
Fighting in hockey can no longer be a long-debated issue pitting those who find it barbaric and unsportsmanlike and […]
Continue Reading →: An Open Letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: It’s Time to Ban Fighting
Joe Ehrmann is a former National Football League star, playing most of his career with the Baltimore Colts. After his playing career, he became an ordained minister and social justice activist in Baltimore’s inner city. He serves as a volunteer assistant for the Gilman (Maryland) High School football team. His unconventional coaching style is chronicled […]
Continue Reading →: Q’s & A’s with Notable Sports Figures: Joe Ehrmann
When considering whether or not the NHL’s staged fights are in fact boxing matches requiring a license, the following language from California Bus & Profs. Code Section 18625 could prove insightful.
California Bus & Profs. Code Section 18625 defines a “match” or “contest” as follows:
“”Contest” and “match” are synonymous, may be used interchangeably, include […]
Continue Reading →: California Codes for ‘Match’ or ‘Contest’
“There is so much money tied into big-time college athletics that it forces some people to make bad decisions,” says Robin Harris, executive director of the Ivy League.
A more accurate understatement has never been uttered.
At universities with NCAA Division I athletic programs, most notably Bowl Championship Series (BCS) schools, the school’s educational mission […]
Continue Reading →: Arms Race Needs in College Sports Supersede Higher Education Values
The NFL just wishes the concussion issue would go away. But it’s not going anywhere.
In fact, sports-related head trauma in general, and concussions in particular, will be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest sports issue in the next decade. The NFL will be thrust right into the middle of it.
For […]
Continue Reading →: NFL Slowly Making Progress On Concussion Policy
A League of Fans Special Feature
John Gagliardi
John Gagliardi is the head football coach at NCAA Division III St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He’s the winningest coach in college football history, with a 484-133-11 all-time record, including 30 conference titles and four national championships. He’s the first active head coach to be inducted […]
A couple of professional snowboarders, Bryan Fox and Austin Smith, have started a “Drink Water” campaign to combat what they see as a troublesome trend: the heavy marketing of energy drinks like Red Bull and Rockstar at sporting events in general and snowboarding competitions in particular. As part of their campaign for water in […]
Continue Reading →: Snowboarders Fight Growing Use of Energy Drinks in Sports
A group of petitioners, including the League of Fans, has successfully pushed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to rule on the sports blackout rule. The FCC has released a public notice seeking public input on the matter. It’s important that fans respond in force in order to increase the chances of ultimate success on […]
Continue Reading →: FCC Seeks Fan Comment on Elimination of Sports Blackout Rule
Rick Telander, a respected columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and author of the book The Hundred Yard Lie, which exposed a lot of the myths and hypocrisy surrounding college football when it was released in the late 90’s, has written a column calling for a players strike in big-time college sports.
If the […]
Continue Reading →: Movement to Pay College Players Continues to Gain Momentum
A League of Fans Special Feature
Robert Lipsyte
Robert Lipsyte was an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Times. His book SportsWorld: An American Dreamland, published in 1975, is a seminal work in the field of sports journalism. It was one of the first sports books to not “god up” the athletes or view games […]