Friday, July 29, 2011
Blog: Avoiding the Legal Haze of Hazing
As high schools and colleges around the country open their doors to a new crop of student-athletes, it is worth keeping in mind the recent decision in Mathis v. Wayne County Board of Education [2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20282]. In Mathis, the mothers of two 7th-grade boys sued Waynesboro (Tenn.) Middle School over a series of incidents of sexual misconduct by members of the boys’ basketball team and coach David Sisk’s deliberate indifference in stopping it.
The two boys argued that Sisk was almost never in the locker room after practice, which turned the locker room into “chaos” and a “wild, insane, crazy” environment in which certain 8th-grade players frequently pulled “pranks” on 7th-grade players. One common prank involved various 8th-graders gathering around a 7th-grader and humping and gyrating against him.
While Sisk acknowledged that “horseplay” did go on between the players, he stated that when he observed conduct that was not appropriate, he would make the offender run as punishment or might suspend the player if the conduct was particularly inappropriate. From his deposition, it was clear that Sisk’s definition of “horseplay” was rather broad. For example, with regard to an incident that occurred after basketball practice, when three 8th-graders grabbed one of the plaintiffs and held him down while inserting a magic marker into his rectum, Sisk testified that it was “horseplay that got out of hand.”
When the marker incident was brought to the attention of Ryan Keaton, the school’s principal, Keaton called off practice for the next two days and discretely interviewed the individuals involved. The four 8th-graders involved were eventually suspended for hazing, while Sisk received a written reprimand.
While individual players involved in such cases could be held both criminally and civilly liable for their actions, plaintiffs are much more likely to sue a school’s coach and administrators for violating the portion of Title IX that criminalizes student-on-student sexual harassment. To prevail on such a claim, students must show that 1) the sexual harassment was severe, pervasive and objectively offensive, such that it deprived them of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school; 2) the funding recipient had actual knowledge of the sexual harassment; and 3) the funding recipient was deliberately indifferent to the harassment.
While Mathis works its way through the courts, coaches and athletic administrators elsewhere should keep an eye out for any misconduct — and, once they hear of any hazing and other inappropriate behavior, they must take immediate steps to punish those involved. If they fail to take such steps, they should not be surprised when they end up in court.
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Thursday, July 28, 2011
Blog: Sports Facilities: Keep People Out, or Let Them In?
I was waiting for a traffic light to turn the other day, and realized my car was right next to a high school. Sports facility geek that I am, I started counting the tennis courts (six), the ball fields (two) and staring at the big multisport field that sat in the middle of an all-weather track.
It all looked good until I realized that come September, some coaches were going to be really unhappy. A woman was walking on the running track, and was being tailed by one kid on a tricycle and another on a scooter. Over on one tennis court, a group was playing inline hockey. And just as the light changed and I had to drive on, I realized someone in the field in the center of the track was playing fetch with their dog. On the whole, it's just as well I was in a car and not outside, where I would have stood there staring and practicing some vigorous hand-wringing.
Don't get me wrong — I'm always glad to see kids out getting exercise, and adults encouraging them to do so. And I'm especially glad to see it in the summer, when the temptations of all-day Wii and Facebook and TV are strong.
Problem is, though, rubberized running tracks weren't meant to stand up to scooters and trikes. (Before you ask, athletic racing wheelchairs use a different type of tire). Tennis court surfacing wasn't designed with inline skate wheels in mind. And really — don't get me revved up again about dogs playing in athletic fields.
The great thing about facilities that are open for public use is just that — they're open for public use. Unfortunately, that also means they're subject to the abuse that people heap on them when there's nobody around to supervise. Sometimes, members of the general public are Public Enemy No. 1.
In early May came news of a high school that in opening its rubberized track to the public, also instituted rules regarding proper footwear, lane use and more, in the interest of keeping the track from becoming damaged or overly worn. While that school was able to have someone come out and supervise the track users, not all facilities have that ability, particularly not during the summer. Signage helps. So do regular visits by school personnel. Unfortunately, fences and gates that lock work well, but they also keep out the nice people who take the time to read the rules and abide by them.
With school and park budgets as tight as they are, it's imperative to keep sports facilities in good shape, since repairs can be expensive. Being proactive goes a long way toward holding the line on costs. If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Uniform Ban Has Boise State Singing the Blues
Picked by media to win the Mountain West Conference in its first season in the league, Boise State University’s football program has already gotten some pushback from its new MWC rivals. The Broncos were allowed to join the Mountain West on the condition that they didn’t wear blue jerseys with blue pants while playing on their home field — which, unnaturally, is blue.
“What we had heard from our coaches is ‘a competitive advantage,’ ” said MWC commissioner Craig Thompson, as reported by Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman. “It’s as simple as that.”
“I thought it was ridiculous,” said BSU coach Chris Peterson. “That’s our colors. That’s who we are. That’s who our fans have wanted us to be since I’ve been at Boise State. That’s what it’s been through and through.”
The Broncos, who open their conference home schedule Oct. 22 against Air Force, have worn all-blue uniforms for years, but they do have options. They debuted an all-orange look last season against Fresno State. They also have white, orange and blue pants, and white, orange, blue and gray jerseys. “Nike has saved us by giving us a bunch of different combinations,” Peterson said.
Boise State can still wear blue top to bottom during non-conference home games. A complaint among Mountain West members was the difficulty in watching game film of blue-clad players running around on blue synthetic turf — a problem Peterson says will be cleared up once schools switch to high definition.
That said, Colorado State, a MWC member that wears green and plays on a green field, has not been targeted by the rule.
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Monday, July 25, 2011
Blog: Sometimes, the Other Team Wins
Leave it to Bryant Gumbel to clearly articulate what is wrong with women’s sports, men’s sports and the sports media that covers mostly the latter.
In case you missed it, Gumbel closed his Real Sports show on HBO Sports last week with some challenging words for his profession in the wake of the Americans’ defeat in the Women’s World Cup final against Japan. “Can we stop coddling women in sports? Are we now so fearful of being labeled sexist that we can’t objectively assess the efforts of female athletes?” Gumbel asked. “Had a men’s team turned in a similar performance, papers and pundits nationwide would have had a field day assailing the players, criticizing the coach and demanding widespread changes to a men’s national team that flat-out choked. Yet the common reactions to this ladies’ loss were simply expressions of empathy for the defeat of the unfortunate darlings and pride in their oh-so-heroic effort.”
I say, let’s coddle the men, too.
Gumbel’s right about the way the women’s team was celebrated after the fact, and he’s right about the way the men would have been savaged after the fact. What I want to know is, why is savagery called for at all?
Even my kids understand that sometimes, the other team wins. It just happens. My son’s a keeper on a U-11 team. Last season during group play of a tournament, his team controlled the ball virtually the entire game on a blustery day, taking shot after shot that were either saved, just missed or hit the woodwork. But their opponents’ keeper twice kicked the ball far downfield with the wind behind him, and the other team beat my son one-on-one, the latter score winning the game 2-1 in the closing minute.
He did his best to stop them. His teammates did their best to prevent the counterattacks. They failed. They lost.
Did the United States’ women flat-out choke? By the common definition accepted by the (male) blowhards that dominate sports reporting, yes. The women twice took the lead only to have Japan equalize off defensive errors and using their own attacking skills, and then they lost in a penalty shootout by taking poor penalty shots. As happens to many soccer teams that lose a lead late, they appeared deflated, caught short, most of them probably having thought the game was won before Japan, as shockingly as the U.S. managed to do against Brazil in their stunning quarterfinal reversal, drew even in the dying minutes.
Let’s play, “What if?” What if the defensive errors occurred in the first 40 minutes rather than the last 40? What if the score stood at 2-2 at halftime, and then the Americans peppered the Japanese keeper with shots, pounding ball after ball off the woodwork but not quite managing to get the third goal? What if, exhausted after 120 minutes of play, the U.S. women then lost in the shootout in the exact same fashion? Would it be accurate to call them chokers?
Why is it acceptable, required even, to call professional athletes chokers? Is it because guys like Bryant Gumbel are frustrated wannabe athletes who sit on their expanding rear ends watching people who can do things that they in their wildest dreams could never do, and make millions of dollars doing it? (I’m talking about male athletes here. The women mostly go home and work regular jobs and take care of their families, unless they look like a fashion model.)
The U.S. women lost. Sometimes, the other team wins. Sometimes the other team gets the breaks, runs harder, plays more inspired. This shouldn’t give commentators license to eviscerate the athletes or the coaches, questioning their talent, their desire, their smarts, their “heart” or their “guts.”
Yes, there’s a double standard. Commentators did back off the women after their gut-wrenching loss. I say, good for them. It seems like the world took a deep breath, understood it was just a game, and moved on.
You want to know what the real double standard was during the Women’s World Cup? After the Brazil game, there was hardly an American sports columnist or commentator who didn’t declare that the 122nd-minute tying goal by Abby Wambach was proof that the character of the United States team, and Americans in general, was somehow exalted, a cut above the rest of the world’s. Americans never give up. Americans have a can-do attitude that is unparalleled. Americans are unmatched at overcoming adversity.
Japan won, overcoming more adversity than the U.S. team did, with a can-do attitude that was unmatched. So, we were supposed to rip the Americans afterward? What on earth for?
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Friday, July 22, 2011
Blog: A Fundraiser I’m Geared Up to Participate In
I was sitting at my neighborhood pool doing absolutely nothing of value — I don't mind admitting that — when a dozen bicyclists ran into the enclosure. They trotted across the pool deck, leaving a trail of helmets, gloves, shoes, sunglasses and spandex as they stripped.
I was getting mildly concerned until I realized they had bathing suits on underneath the stuff they were peeling off. They yanked on goggles, hopped into the water, swam one lap, climbed out, ran back to their bicycles and disappeared. Since the lifeguard didn't seem to think anything was wrong, I asked her to explain what I had just seen.
It was a fundraiser, she told me, for a local charity, the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The event was called the Columbia Pedal and Paddle, and it was a 45-mile supported ride through the town of Columbia, Md. Columbia has 23 pools that are affiliated with the Columbia Association. The goal of the ride was to bicycle out from a central starting point, hit every pool and swim at least one lap there before finishing up. Is that a creative fundraiser or what? I love this idea.
I recognized two of the cyclists who came by during the day as a husband and wife who played in my racquetball league. They were incredibly jazzed to be doing the pedal/paddle event, which is an annual tradition for them. "It's great!" my friend yelled over her shoulder as she ran toward her bike. "We look forward to it!"
While endurance and multisport events have a well-deserved reputation as challenges for hardcore athletes, they can also be fun for a wider audience if creativity is applied. And so can fitness as a whole. Fitness of any kind shouldn't be a chore or an impossible challenge. It has to be attainable and it has to be fun.
Watching people embrace the two-sport challenge made me wonder about other creative sports fundraisers and whether they could be used to be bring the non-exercise crowd into the fitness fold. I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities. But I can hardly wait for next year when I can try this one for myself.
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Thursday, July 21, 2011
Education Department Sued Over Title IX in High Schools
An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education claiming the three-pronged test used to determine Title IX compliance violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
In February, the American Sports Council, which was then known as the College Sports Council, urged high schools to ignore the compliance test, predicting that Title IX could sideline as many as 1.3 million male athletes, according to Bryan Toporek of Education Week. That month, a conservative think tank called the Pacific Legal Foundation sent a letter to the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights noting that “no federal regulation or interpretation has ever said that high schools must abide by the three-part test and the sex-based quota system it fosters.” The ASC lawsuit maintains that all Title IX interpretations have been designed for intercollegiate athletics.
The main Title IX policy interpretation, issued in 1979 by what was then known as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, states that while designed for intercollegiate athletics, the language’s “general principles will often apply to club, intramural, and interscholastic athletic programs, which are also covered by regulation. Accordingly, the policy interpretation may be used for guidance by the administrators of such programs when appropriate.”
Satisfying any of the three prongs (ensuring that female athletic participation is in proportion to female enrollment, demonstrating a history of expanding female athletic participation opportunities and/or providing evidence that the athletic interests and abilities of females are being met) places a federally funded institution in compliance with the 1972 law. But, the plaintiffs argue, this often forces schools to eliminate men's/boys' sports.
“If high schools are required to submit to the same regulatory burdens as have colleges over the past three decades, high school athletes and their teams will face similar discrimination in the form of numerical quotas on sex-specific athletic participation,” states the lawsuit, filed today in federal district court in Washington, D.C.
As Toporek reports, similar suits, including the Equity in Athletics Inc. v. Department of Education case decided by an appeals court in March, have not fared well in the courts. “Courts have repeatedly recognized that the three-part test in no way creates quotas,” including when applied to cases involving high schools, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, senior director of advocacy at the Women’s Sports Foundation, told Education Week in a recent e-mail interview. While Title IX ignorance and indifference persist, particularly among coaches, the law and its application have long been clear, according to Hogshead-Makar, who added that the sports council “is attempting to inject uncertainty into an area where there is none.”
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Former Players Sue NFL For Hiding Concussion Dangers
Seventy-five former professional football players are suing the National Football League for allegedly concealing the dangers of concussions for 90 years. They cite fraud, negligence and failure to warn. TMZ reports that the players and their wives claim "the NFL knew as early as the 1920s of the harmful effects on a player's brain of concussions; however, until June of 2010 they concealed these facts from coaches, trainers, players and the public."
According to TMZ, the suit claims the NFL commissioned a study in 1994, titled "NFL Committee on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury," and published a report in 2004 that concluded there was "no evidence of worsening injury or chronic cumulative effects" from multiple concussions. The suit also alleges that it was not until June 2010 that the NFL acknowledged concussions can lead to dementia, memory loss, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and related symptoms. All of the players claim they suffered injuries as a result of multiple concussions.
In February, former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson committed suicide at age 50. Researchers at Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy determined that he was suffering from a moderately advanced case of CTE, a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated brain trauma that likely contributed to his deteriorating condition in recent years.
On Monday, new research was presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2011 suggesting that retired NFL players also face a higher risk for mild
cognitive impairment — a kind of dementia related to Alzheimer's
disease — than do similarly aged men who do not play football.
The NFL has made several adjustments since last year that indicate league officials now recognize the severity of concussions and repeated blows to the head, including issuing health warnings to players and fining them for violent hits. And NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has gone before Congress to urge legislators from all 50 states to pass youth concussion laws.
NFL helmet manufacturer Riddell also is a defendant in the suit, which TMZ reports seeks unspecified damages.
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Rangers to Raise Ballpark Railings to 42 Inches
The Texas Rangers announced Tuesday that they are raising the railings located in front of all seating sections at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington to a height of 42 inches.
That represents an increase of a foot in some areas and a height eight inches higher at the leftfield location where on July 7 Shannon Stone toppled over a 34-inch railing and onto a concrete surface 20 feet below while reaching for a tossed ball. Stone, 39, died from his injuries within an hour.
In addition, the Rangers will add bright yellow signage at the base of all aisles and in front of upper-level seating sections warning fans to not “lean, sit on, or stand against rail,” according to ESPN Dallas reporter Richard Durrett. The Rangers will make scoreboard and public address announcements emphasizing this warning before games (Texas opens a seven-game home stand Friday), and security personnel will strictly enforce the policy among fans seated near railings.
The team removed a tarp installed to bridge the gap between the leftfield seating section and the visitors scoreboard through which Stone fell. No safety net will be incorporated into the Rangers’ safety changes, which emphasize railing height above all else. Engineering evaluations are under way as to how to best accomplish the adjustments, and an exact date of completion was not known as of this writing.
“The safety of our fans is our top priority,” said Rangers CEO and president Nolan Ryan in a statement Tuesday. “The initiatives we are announcing today for Rangers Ballpark in Arlington will help to ensure that we meet that priority.”
Select railing heights were raised in 1994, after a fan fell out of the Home Run Porch following the ballpark's debut game. However, a railing that remained at its original height failed to contain another fan who fell 30 feet from the stadium’s club level last July. Both survived.
Following a pair of unrelated non-fatal falls at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in 2009, a sports architect told AB that 42 inches may become the new standard for all stadium railing heights. Currently, the International Building Code requires a height of 42 inches in front of aisles, but only 26 inches in front of seating.
According to the ESPN Dallas report, the Rangers’ extra precaution pleases Josh Hamilton, the player who tossed a foul ball to Stone. “I think it’s smart,” Hamilton said. “It’s not going to hurt anything. It’s good to know that the organization really cares about the fans and the safety of the fans and is willing to make improvements even though they aren't necessary as far as safety standards.”
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011
NFL Players More Apt to Develop Alzheimer's Disease
Retired National Football League players face a higher risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — a kind of dementia related to Alzheimer's disease — than do similarly aged men who do not play football, according to new research presented Monday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2011 in Paris.
In 2001, all 3,729 retired NFL players who belonged to the NFL Players' Association were mailed a general health survey. In 2008, an additional survey specifically focusing on memory issues (including an Alzheimer's screening questionnaire known as the AD8) was sent to all players over age 50 who responded to the first survey. A total of 513 follow-up surveys were returned with the AD8 completed by both the former player and his spouse. The mean age of all the players who responded was 61, and more than 35 percent of respondents had an AD8 score that suggested possible dementia. By comparison, according to the Alzheimer's Association, only 13 percent of all Americans 65 and older has Alzheimer's.
Researchers, led by Loyola University Medical Center neurology professor Christopher Randolph, then focused additional attention on select former players, comparing their neuropsychological test results with those of two other groups of individuals with no history of playing professional sports — some with no cognitive impairments and others diagnosed with MCI. They found that the former athletes were clearly impaired compared with the demographically similar non-athletes, and since the two groups were similar except for professional sports background, this finding suggests that football may have played a role in the athletes' impairment.
"It appears that there may be a very high rate of cognitive impairment in these retired football players, compared to the general population," Randolph said. "These findings support the hypothesis that repetitive head trauma from many years of playing American football may result in diminished brain reserve, and lead to the earlier expression of age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as MCI and Alzheimer's. However, additional studies are necessary to confirm this conclusion. These results should be considered preliminary."
This news comes as retired players lobby for greater benefits and players
negotiate for tighter safety regulations during the NFL lockout.
While it may seem obvious that former football players are more at risk for this type of dementia, it's worth noting for administrators of football programs at all levels that, unlike other types of brain damage associated with football-related head injuries, MCI can be caused by much lower-impact hits — including those that do not cause concussions.
According to TIME magazine, MCI-related damage occurs inside the skull, when the force of a hit causes softer brain tissue to ram against the inside of the skull, then "slosh" back. "The harder the stop, the more movement you have in the brain tissue," Randolph told reporter Alice Park. "You stretch nerve fibers, tear fibers and bruise things. So helmets are not going to protect you."
But, he added, "it's conceivable that by changing the ways players drill in practice, we could change things."
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Researchers: Playground Risk Good for Children
Norwegian researchers contend that playground design that places a premium on safety may actually stunt child development, according to a report in today’s New York Times.
“Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground,” Ellen Sandseter, a professor of psychology at Queen Maud University in Norway, told Times reporter John Tierney. “I think monkey bars and tall slides are great. As playgrounds become more and more boring, these are some of the few features that still can give children thrilling experiences with heights and high speed.”
The benefits of conquering fear and developing a sense of mastery outweigh playground dangers, suggest Sandseter and Leif Kennair, a psychologist at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology, who write in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, “Risky play mirrors effective cognitive behavioral therapy of anxiety.”
Broken bones suffered as a result of playground falls, the most common cause of injury, rarely leave a child with any permanent physical or psychological damage. “Paradoxically,” the psychologists write, “we posit that our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychopathology.”
Studies have indicated that a child who’s hurt in a fall before the age of nine is actually less likely to fear heights as a teen. “Climbing equipment needs to be high enough, or else it will be too boring in the long run,” Sandseter told the Times. “The best thing is to let children encounter these challenges from an early age, and they will then progressively learn to master them through their play over the years.”
Recent innovations in the interest of safety have included lower-profile equipment with enclosed decks and a variety of resilient surfacing materials. But some argue that too much precaution may have unintended consequences. “If children and parents believe they are in an environment which is safer than it actually is, they will take more risks,” David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University in London, told the Times. “An argument against softer surfacing is that children think it is safe, but because they don’t understand its properties, they overrate its performance.”
In addition, “older children are discouraged from taking healthy exercise on playgrounds because they have been designed with the safety of the very young in mind. Therefore, they may play in more dangerous places, or not at all,” according to Ball.
These sentiments echo what Tim Karl, Detroit’s chief of landscape architecture, told AB in 2009. “If they’re going to jump off the equipment, they’re going to go from the railings,” said Karl, who insisted that impact attenuation tests performed on his playground surfacing account for the extra 38 inches posed by a deck enclosure. “They may try to do a tightrope walk, and if they fall, we can say we’ve been proactive.”
Equipment heights that encourage self discovery coupled with surfacing that mitigates injury risk represent the best of both worlds in today’s playgrounds, according to surfacing manufacturer and safety consultant Rolf Huber, who told AB, “Reducing the challenge on the playground, which is sort of the knee-jerk reaction, is not a good thing. Don’t go away from the high stuff. Then you get kids falling out of trees because there’s no challenge on the playground. Instead, put a surface in that’s protective.”
“I think safety surfaces are a godsend,” New York parks commissioner Adrian Benepe told the Times’ Tierney. “I suspect that parents who have to deal with concussions and broken arms wouldn’t agree that playgrounds have become too safe.”
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Military World Games Open in Rio; U.S. Yet to Medal
More than an estimated 4,000 members of the international armed forces of more than 100 countries participated in the Opening Ceremony of the fifth Military World Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday. Brazilian soccer legend Pele lit the cauldron at Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium, signaling the beginning of this quadrennial show of unity and solidarity through sport. A record 20 events will be held July 16-24, including basketball, beach volleyball, orienteering and skydiving.
"We will have Olympic athletes who are worth watching, competing in professional arenas," Marcia Lins, secretary of state for tourism, sport and recreation of Brazil, told People's Daily Online of China. "The Military World Games is beyond the military sphere."
Through the first two days of competition, the People’s Republic of China lead in the medal standings with 21, followed by host Brazil with 19 and Italy with 14. Brazil’s men have dominated the gold-medal standings with seven of the 13 contested so far, while China’s women have won seven of 11. Seventeen countries have won medals so far, a list that does not yet include the United States. However, the USA finished first in the qualifying for Women's Formation Skydiving, with the semifinals scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Russia, which tops the medal count in the four previous Military World Games (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007), bowed out of the competition this year, citing financial reasons.
The event represents another opportunity for Brazil to test its readiness for hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Military World Games, the second largest international athletic event after the Olympics, is the brainchild of the Conseil International du Sport Militaire (CISM), which has close ties to the International Olympic Committee.
Look for a feature on this month's Military World Games in the August issue of Athletic Business.
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Monday, July 18, 2011
Second Man Dies in Staten Island Breath-Holding Accident
A second man has died following an underwater training accident at a public pool on Staten Island. The New York Daily News reports that 21-year-old off-duty lifeguard Jonathan Proce died Sunday at New York Presbyterian Hospital following an exercise at Lyons Pool last Wednesday in which he and his friend, Bohdan Vitenko, also 21, were practicing underwater breath-holding.
The two were found unconscious and in cardiac arrest in three feet of water at the bottom of the pool; Vitenko died later that day. Two lifeguards have been pulled from their duties after failing to notice Proce and Vitenko, according to The New York Post. Approximately 20 other swimmers were in the pool at the at the time, the paper reports.
Proce was bound for the U.S. Air Force, while Vitenko had dreams of becoming a Navy SEAL. They were regulars at the pool, reportedly participating in a grueling workout routine that included swimming and underwater sit-ups. It is not clear if the men were following an official training program or had developed their own workouts. Either way, the military advises against certain breath-holding exercises or swimming underwater at length to avoid "shallow water blackout," which can lead to drowning.
According to ShallowWaterBlackoutPrevention.org — an awareness and education site — the condition occurs because of low carbon dioxide and low oxygen (which triggers unconsciousness). Hyperventilation done before breath-holding lowers carbon dioxide abnormally, allowing individuals to hold their breath longer. But the lower carbon dioxide levels rob the body of its built-in mechanism to tell the breath-holder to breathe before going unconscious and taking water into the lungs.
Additionally, "because of the hypoxia, one feels euphoric and empowered to continue breath-holding," the site states. Unlike regular drowning, where six to eight minutes can elapse before brain damage and death, brain damage and death caused by shallow water blackout can occur within two and a half minutes. More information about shallow water blackout can be found on the Aquatic Safety Research Group's website.
In 2008, the National Swimming Pool Foundation warned that "anyone who practices competitive, repetitive underwater breath-holding is at risk for shallow water blackout. Once submerged underwater, the swimmer may be hidden from the view of lifeguards by surface glare and ripples/waves on the surface. A series of events is then triggered, including the inhalation of water, possible convulsions and ultimately cardiac arrest and death."
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Blog: Reigniting the Passions of the Ex-Athlete
A friend of mine runs a gymnastics program, and is counting the days until next summer. She knows the second that the Summer Olympic Games torch is lit in London, her phone is going to start ringing. And hers won't be the only phone, either — all over the nation, kids will be discovering new heroes and wanting to emulate them.
But the Olympics only come around once every four years, meaning sports like gymnastics don't get the spotlight all that often. Kids are fickle, too, and they can be quick to move on to the next diversion, whether it's sports, Scouts or something else.
My friend is well aware of this. She knows some of the little kids in her program will lose interest in a few months’ time. But she's also a canny businesswoman, and she's learned that the Olympic torch lights up another flame — the one living in the hearts of many former gymnasts.
The first time little girls started coming in to learn basic tumbling, my friend saw their moms gathered at one end of the gym, looking wistful and talking about the years they'd spent on their school teams, or just doing gymnastics on their front lawns. They obviously loved those times, because they peppered my friend with questions about her own sports career, and they talked endlessly about who their Olympic heroes had been.
"It got me thinking," said my friend, "that I should offer a refresher course for grown-ups."
She floated the idea, and the moms came running. Now, every week, they show up for designated adults-only sessions. These formerly sedentary women are practicing their tumbling and using the equipment they remember from their glory days. They're doing gymnastics again, and loving it.
For my friend, it was an unexpected revenue stream. She could offer sessions during school hours (the traditional down time), and plow some money back into her facilities to keep them updated.
This is an idea that could work with any sports parents might have thought they outgrew. Maybe swimming or diving, maybe tennis — maybe your community has a number of former riders who would be excited to be reintroduced to equestrian skills training. Think outside your expected age group and demographic. Maybe there's a whole new group of athletes out there, and you just didn't notice them because they're not, strictly speaking, new.
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Friday, July 15, 2011
Blog: Breath-Holding Can Be as Lethal as a Grenade
On July 13th, I achieved a personal milestone: I swam for 1.1 miles during my master’s class at my Colorado Springs rec center. I wouldn’t call it shabby, but in reality, it is more like a series of 25- or 50-yard swims followed by prolonged huffing and puffing. Our coach told me he would not go public with the percentage of time I spent stroking versus gasping. I’d like to be able to swim long and fast. But I am getting older, and the pool is at 6,000 feet elevation. At this elevation, oxygen is pretty precious.
That same morning, two younger and more strapping men were practicing holding their breath at a Staten Island, N.Y., pool to prepare for military training. Today, one of their families will be preparing for his funeral. Bohdan Vitenko, 21, died at a hospital. His Air Force-bound buddy, Jonathan Proce, 21, was resuscitated and is in critical condition.
After my swim, I went to Starbucks, and while I was waiting for my latte, I saw the USA Today image of President Obama reaching to shake the artificial hand of Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Metry, who was just awarded the Medal of Honor. He was shot in both legs, but led other Rangers to cover, radioed for support, and lobbed a grenade to provide cover. One enemy grenade landed, exploded and injured two comrades. A second grenade landed only a few feet away. This father of four did not turn away like a normal person. He lunged forward and grabbed the grenade, which exploded as he was throwing it back.
As I read his story, I felt that I had stopped breathing. I took a deep breath when jerked back to reality by the barista’s call. And I realized in that moment how fortunate we all are to be protected by so many who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the heat of battle so we can swim and enjoy enjoy coffee. It is humbling to see the sacrifices that earn the gift and blessing of our freedom.
Even these young heroes are human. They are flesh and blood. They require oxygen to pump through their veins. They may gasp less than the rest of us after swimming, but they cannot escape physics and physiology — that is, that swimmers who practice prolonged underwater breath-holding are particularly at risk of Shallow Water Blackout (SWB), which is what happened to Bohdan Vitenko and Jonathan Proce.
In 2008, we at NSPF reported critical information about this practice:
By rapidly breathing deeply prior to submersion (hyperventilation), swimmers exhale an excessive amount of carbon dioxide. When the oxygen level in the blood runs low before the carbon dioxide level rises to the point that triggers the breathing reflex, the swimmer loses consciousness. The swimmer never actually feels as though a breath is needed.
Anyone who practices competitive, repetitive underwater breath-holding is at risk for Shallow Water Blackout. Once submerged underwater, the swimmer may be hidden from the view of lifeguards by surface glare and ripples/waves on the surface. A series of events is then triggered, including the inhalation of water, possible convulsions and ultimately cardiac arrest and death.
It is tragic when we lose a soldier. It is even more tragic to lose a young man (or woman) who is willing to serve our country, but never got the chance to do so.
Oxygen is precious at any elevation. I like to break the rules in my little ways — and maybe you do, too. But let’s not try to defy physics and physiology. Let’s never forget that breath holding and hyperventilation will snuff out a life as surely as a hand grenade.
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11:05 AM
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Thursday, July 14, 2011
Blog: Things We’d Like to Say to Our Members
One of the nice things about being owners (as opposed to employees) is that we don’t have to mince words. If a salesperson won’t take a polite “no” as an answer, we might say, “We’re never going to use your product, so please stop calling.” If a member has a request we can’t accommodate and says, “But you’re the owner — you can do anything you want,” we have been known to say, “We can, but we’re not going to,” rather than something more politically correct. One employee so desperately needed to be fired that we actually said the words, “You’re fired; get out now.”
Call us rude. Actually, we’re not. In fact, even though we spend a large percentage of our time answering (typically) redundant questions and fielding (mostly) unhelpful comments from our members that run from naïve to vaguely insulting, most of the time we have to resort to politically correct speech. It’s a shame that we can’t use our usual candor, though. Here’s what we’re thinking when we hear:
1. From the prospect or new member who has never exercised before: “Do you exercise regularly?”
If by “regularly,” you mean at least one hour at a time, three to four days a week for the past 25 years, then gosh, I guess I do. I’m sorry that I don’t resemble the bodybuilders you might see on TV or the fitness models on magazine covers, but I’m in a lot better shape than you and sort of hope that I’m a bit of a role model for you. Would it help if I took off my shirt?
2. From the female member who is considering weight training: “I don’t want to get too big.”
Are there Russian shot putters in your family tree? Do you plan on making steroids a part of your training regime? We’ll be lucky to get one set of 12 out of you with almost no resistance on most exercises for the foreseeable future. How about we worry about you getting in and out of a chair without making a groaning sound before we worry about your muscles bulging out of your clothes like The Hulk?
3. From the male member who is embarrassed by having no 45-pound plates on his bar while bench pressing: “I want the big plates.”
And I want to avoid a liability claim. If you were on the beach, there would be guys kicking sand in your face. Everybody wants the big plates, but let’s start by not getting you killed.
4. From the member who can’t understand why they’re not losing weight: “I’m here two hours a day, five days a week, and I kill myself, but I can’t lose weight.”
So, that box of Oreos that you eat every day when you leave here isn’t a factor?
5. From the former member who is unhappy with our cancellation process: “I’m certainly not going to recommend your gym to anyone now.”
We’ve had so many referrals from you in the past that we’ll brace ourselves for that economic impact.
Of course, if you are playing along at home, you know that our actual responses have to begin as follows:
1: “Regular exercise is a big part of my life.”
2. “Don’t worry.”
3. “Let’s see how we do with these.”
4. “Let’s talk about what you’re doing when you’re not here.”
5. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
But once — just once — wouldn’t it be fun to be honest?
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8:32 AM
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Blog: Michael Irvin's 'Straight' Talk About Gays in Sports
The news that former Dallas Cowboys and Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin appears on the cover of the August issue of Out magazine — and, inside the gay men's publication, discussing his passion for equality issues — is a hugely positive development for the sports world and the gay community. Heck, it's great for everybody. In a year in which it has appeared that one of the last great taboo subjects in sports is finally out in the open, with many observers predicting an imminent rash of athletes coming out, Irvin's message of love and acceptance is hugely important.
But given some of his statements to the magazine, you have to wonder whether Irvin's the right guy to deliver this message of love and acceptance.
Advance reports of his interview have Irvin describing how his brother's sexual orientation — Vaughn Irvin, who died of stomach cancer in 2006 — may have contributed to his womanizing issues. He discovered his brother was gay sometime in the 1970s when he found him wearing women's clothing. "And through it all we realized maybe some of the issues I've had with so many women, just bringing women around so everybody can see, maybe that's the residual of the fear I had that if my brother is wearing ladies' clothes, am I going to be doing that? Is it genetic?" Irvin says. "I'm certainly not making excuses for my bad decisions. But I had to dive inside of me to find out why am I making these decisions, and that came up."
Irvin goes on to say he'll support any athlete who comes out, and delivers a forceful condemnation of anyone in the African-American community who wouldn't support marriage equality:
"I don't see how any African-American, with any inkling of history, can say that you don't have the right to live your life how you want to live your life. No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality, and everybody being treated equally, I don't want to know an African-American who will say everybody doesn't deserve equality."
So, let's see…how many different fumbles did Irvin commit during this game-winning touchdown catch and run? I count three:
1. Having a gay brother won't turn a heterosexual into a womanizer.
2. There is no definitive evidence that homosexuality is genetic. So, genetics probably can't explain Irvin's being a womanizer with a gay brother.
3. His brother's gay, yes, but it's worth pointing out that there's no correlation between transvestism and homosexuality. So while finding Vaughn in women's clothes might have been unsettling, Michael would only have known his brother was gay if he found him dressed as RuPaul at a gay pride parade.
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10:12 AM
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Another Upper Deck Accident Underscores Safety Debate
The death last week of Shannon Stone, a Texas firefighter who fell 20 feet in pursuit of a souvenir baseball, brought solemn urgency to the ongoing discussion of stadium safety and, in particular, the railing heights at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and other sports venues. The near tragedy that took place last night in Phoenix during the MLB All Star Game Home Run Derby adds a new facet to the debate — countertops that often abut railings in a stadium’s specialty seating and socializing areas.
Keith Carmickle stood on an upper deck countertop at Chase Field and missed catching a home run ball by two feet, but the attempt sent him tumbling forward toward a likely headfirst dive onto a concrete pool deck some 20 feet below (more photos). A brother and a friend grabbed Carmickle by the limbs and eventually pulled him back to safety. Carmickle later admitted that while dangling momentarily from the wrong side of the railing he thought to himself, “I’ve lived a good life.” His accident happened on the same day memorial services were held for Stone.
The introspection didn’t last long. Once Carmickle was back on his feet, there were high fives all around. He put his arm around a stadium security official, who reportedly told Carmickle to be careful. Carmickle later told reporters, “We caught three balls and I told the guys I was going to go for the cycle. Dude, they were really holding onto me.”
The cavalier attitudes of Carmickle, and notably Chase Field security, led Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk to write, “Despite his idiocy, he (a) escaped this dangerous situation of his own making unscathed; and (b) was allowed to stay at the Derby by security. Both of these factors have been added to the 'evidence that there is no God and/or that He is not just and fair' side of the big ledger I keep on my desk and in which I tally the wonder and folly of Humanity as I encounter it.”
Will such cavalier attitudes toward stadium safety and security continue to haunt Major League Baseball, or will building codes pertaining to railing heights and countertop proximity be reexamined? With two incidents — one fatal, one potentially so — occuring five days apart, let's hope we're not left hanging much longer.
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Blog: Volunteers Not as Immune as They Think
In an attempt to protect doctors who volunteer their time to work with local high school athletic teams from malpractice lawsuits, a number of states have passed what’s called a “Volunteer Team Physician Immunity Statute.” However, a recent case in Florida, Weiss v. Pratt [53 So. 3d 395 (Fla. App. 2011)], calls into question just how valuable immunity statutes are in protecting such volunteers.
Michael Weiss, an orthopedic surgeon who also served as the volunteer team physician for a Florida high school, failed to place Ancel Pratt on a backboard after Pratt was injured making a tackle on the football field. After the tackle, Pratt was unable to move for a few seconds before he then kicked his legs and flipped himself over. Weiss ran onto the field and spent approximately 15 minutes questioning Pratt and conducting a brief medical exam. However, the doctor did not believe Pratt had suffered a spinal cord injury and, with the assistance of the athletic trainer, removed Pratt’s helmet, assisted him in sitting up and walked him off the field. After complaining of nausea, Pratt was strapped on a backboard and transported to the emergency room. It was found after a few days and an MRI that Pratt had suffered an epidural hematoma on the right side of the spinal cord at the C1-C4 levels, and a non-hemorrhagic cord contusion behind the C5 level.
In awarding Pratt $750,000, a jury found that Weiss’ failure to place Pratt on a backboard before removing him from the field fell below what a reasonably prudent doctor would have done under the same or similar circumstances. Interestingly, the “reasonably prudent” standard is the same standard used to determine “ordinary negligence” — the standard that Weiss would have been held to if there were no immunity. The District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District, where the jury’s verdict was upheld, nonetheless questioned how the immunity statute’s protection differs from basic tort law, concluding that “the statute purports to provide immunity, but its protection is illusory. If the legislature intended to provide some additional layer of protection to those physicians who volunteer their services, then perhaps the statute needs another look.”
Weiss could significantly impact high school athletics. If they believe that the immunity statute will not protect them from malpractice, doctors will either need to start billing teams for their services, or they will simply not volunteer. Either result would have a negative impact on high school sports in general and football in particular.
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Friday, July 08, 2011
Blog: Getting the Bocce Ball Rolling
The way some people are about trying the newest wine bar or restaurant? I'm that way about sports. If you offer an open house or a chance to try something new, I'm there. And while I haven't stuck with everything I tried (I was epically bad at curling, for instance), I'm always grateful for the opportunity to investigate another activity.
National Bocce Day is Saturday, Aug. 13, and according to BocceNation.com, is the perfect time to try this sport. For those unfamiliar with it, the website for the event notes that bocce “is one of the world's oldest sports, discovered over 5,000 years ago, starting with Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.” An impressive pedigree like that is just one more reason to give bocce a chance, but here are a few more: it's low-impact, multigenerational, can take place on a variety of surfaces, and it's even a wheelchair-accessible sport. Although professional courts have been set up in many cities, temporary courts can be used, and so can lawns.
Bocce Day is an industry-wide initiative of bocce manufacturers, retailers, facilities, leagues and events to promote the sport to Americans of all generations, demographics and physical abilities. There will be nationwide events and celebrations, with event proceeds to benefit designated charity and non-profit organizations. The site even has a "Find a Bocce Facility Near You" locator. Already know where bocce is and want to join the initiative? You can do that on the site, too.
Internationally, the sport is governed by the International Bocce Federation, although you may find the site of the United States Bocce Federation easier to understand unless you're multilingual. The USBF site includes a listing of the rules, proper court construction and more.
One of the great places in Baltimore City to try bocce is Little Italy (the sport was brought to the U.S. primarily by Italian immigrants), where one can find courts, leagues, tournaments and more. And come Aug. 13, that's where you'll find me, too. Even if I turn out to be as bad at bocce as I was at curling, I can always have a seat at one of the little cafes and enjoy gelato afterwards.
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Blog: Will Death Finally Force Rangers to Raise Railings?
“Maybe this gentleman fell so that the Rangers will now really open their eyes and raise the rails everywhere else, because next time — and I hate to say this — somebody's going to die.”
A year to the day after Hollye Minter told me that, somebody did.
On Thursday, a man attending a Major League Baseball game between Oakland and Texas at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington toppled over the railing that separates the front row of seats from an open area behind a left-field video board. Shannon Stone, a 39-year-old firefighter, was attempting to catch a ball tossed in his direction by the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton when he fell 20 feet, suffered injuries to his head and arms, went into full arrest and died at a hospital less than an hour later. Witnesses say Stone, who was at the game with his only child, 6-year-old son Cooper, was bleeding heavily but conscious as he was taken from the area on a stretcher. According to A’s reliever Brad Ziegler, who was in the visitors' bullpen in left-center, Stone was waving his arms when he told police, “Please check on my son. My son was up there by himself.”
So, who is Hollye Minter and why was I talking to her on July 7 last year? At the Ballpark’s first Opening Day in 1994, Minter fell out of a steep embankment of seats known as the Home Run Porch and lived to tell about it. I asked her to tell me about falling from an upper deck the day after Tyler Morris survived a 30-foot fall out of the same stadium’s club level.
At the time of her accident, Minter said, “I don't care if the railings obstruct my view, as long as nobody else falls.” When reminded of that statement in the wake of the Morris fall, she told me it gave her chills.
Yesterday, Rangers Ballpark’s first fan fatality brought tears to Ziegler, distress to Hamilton (who was merely obliging the fan’s call for a souvenir) and something to think about for Texas team president Nolan Ryan. Minter, who remains a Rangers fan, says 30-inch railings along the Home Run Porch were raised only days after her accident 17 years ago, but that other railings in the stadium remained at their original heights. Since then, several falls from upper decks in other stadiums have forced officials to at least consider design alterations in the interest of fan safety. Even lower-level seating sections aren’t immune to tragedy, as evidenced last year at Milwaukee’s Miller Park.
According to an Associated Press report, Ryan stated after Thursday's game that it was too early to talk about railing evaluations. “Tonight, we’re not prepared to speak about anything further than the accident and the tragedy,” he said. “That’s where I’m going to leave it.”
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Thursday, July 07, 2011
Soccer Stadium Roof Collapses, Killing 1 and Injuring 16
One person has died and at least 16 others are injured after part of the roof at De Grolsch Veste Stadium in the Dutch city of Enschede collapsed today. Early reports indicate that the incident occurred at 12:03 p.m. local time, and construction crews were trapped beneath the wreckage at the south end of the stadium. Everyone involved has since been accounted for, according to guardian.co.uk, but a local government spokesperson was unable to confirm the exact nature of the injuries.
The stadium is home to FC Twente, a soccer club founded in 1965 that has grown in recent seasons and was expanding seating capacity at the stadium.
FC Twente posted a statement on its official website: "During the renovation work at the Grolsch Veste, the roof of the building collapsed. Our thoughts are with everyone involved."
The club's friendly match against Zeeuws Elftal on Saturday has been canceled.
For video footage of the wreckage, click here and here.
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11:19 AM
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Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Blog: Ageist Marketing Is Getting Old
According to market research, three in four adults over 55 feel dissatisfied with marketing aimed at them, and 71 percent say that advertising images largely do not reflect their lives. Results from a survey conducted for TV Land, a U.S. cable television channel, back this up. Nearly two-thirds of Boomers responding to the survey said they are growing increasingly dissatisfied with media that ignores them and they are tuning out. In the UK, a survey found that 55 percent of adults over 50 feel that businesses have little interest in older people’s consumer needs; 46 percent often don’t feel that advertising and marketing are aimed at them; and 50 percent find advertising and marketing that are obviously targeting older people as patronizing or stereotypical. Further, a report by Help the Aged (now part of the charity Age UK) notes that 75 percent of respondents to a survey of people ages 60 and older thought that the media ignored the views of their age group.
When marketing messages and advertising do target adults ages 55 and over, they are largely ineffective, as the above studies (and numerous others) suggest. Such efforts waste billions of dollars, while reinforcing ageist stereotypes. When will media and marketers get that this group has money, power and, yes, the desire and ability to buy products that appeal to them?
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10:04 AM
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Possible Explanation Offered in Bizarre Fall River Drowning
How could a drowned swimmer's body have laid at the bottom of a public pool for more than two days — surrounded by other swimmers — without someone noticing? That's the question Benjamin Radford, a writer for Discovery News, attempts to answer in an online piece exploring the physics of water reflection in the wake of the bizarre drowning in Veteran's Memorial Pool in Fall River, Mass., last week. Marie Joseph, 36, drowned on June 26 but was not discovered until early June 29 by trespassers who snuck into the pool overnight.
"Water is, of course, highly reflective, scattering both direct sunlight and ambient reflected light from the sky," Radford wrote. "When water is calm, it can create a mirror-like image, preventing anything below the surface from being seen (think of photographs of scenic mountains reflected in lakes). But when the water surface is continuously disturbed — as it is in a public pool where dozens of people are swimming and splashing — the reflection is broken up into tens (or hundreds) of thousands of individual images or light spots, each reflecting the blinding sun for a split-second, at countless different angles. This phenomenon, called sun glitter, can dramatically reduce visibility of objects in water.
"Even if one of the six lifeguards on duty had seen Joseph from above, this continual movement of the water's surface gives the illusion of movement below. A stationary sunken object can look like it's moving on its own, because the light waves carrying the image to our eyes are themselves moving. Our brains unconsciously compensate for this illusion when we recognize objects (such as rocks or toys) as inanimate, but if we glance at a person below the surface of the water, we are unlikely to notice that they are not moving."
Nonetheless, state investigators have focused their efforts on those six lifeguards and whether they shirked their responsibilities. A 9-year-old boy reportedly told two of the lifeguards that he saw Joseph sink in what officials have called "murky and cloudy" water, and the lifeguards are accused of not following rules requiring them to immediately clear the pool, call 911 and, if necessary, get in the water and search. “He did tell two lifeguards," Danyelle Hunt, the boy's mother, told the Boston Herald. "One said she was on break and had to leave, and the other told him they were going to do a pool check. But he told me they never did.”
"I think the whole set of facts is something we find disturbing," State Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Edward M. Lambert Jr. told Herald reporter Richard Weir earlier this week. The DCR runs the pool, and Lambert said he was checking records to determine if the lifeguards were properly certified and why the pool was allowed to open with such murky water. DCR spokeswoman Catherine Williams added on Tuesday that no date has been set for reopening the Fall River pool or for the release of the agency’s findings. The six lifeguards on duty June 26 have not returned to work or been reassigned.
Radford claims there are two other forensic reasons why Joseph's body was not discovered sooner. "Since it was in chlorinated water, decomposition was delayed, and the water masked the smell of bodily decay," he wrote. "Furthermore, the body was not at the surface where it would be seen, but instead at the bottom of the pool. Drowning victims often sink immediately upon death and do not float to the surface until decomposition begins, as happened in this case. So why didn't anyone see Joseph at the bottom of the pool? The answer is that the pool water was cloudy, and had been since the facility opened on June 25. Tests conducted at the pool revealed that the visibility was less than four feet. The Veteran's Memorial Pool is 12 feet at the deep end, and that's apparently where Joseph was last seen and drowned."
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9:52 AM
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Friday, July 01, 2011
Jury Finds UCFAA Negligent in Ereck Plancher's Death
The University of Central Florida Athletics Association has today been ruled negligent in the 2008 death of football player Ereck Plancher, with the jury awarding Plancher’s parents $10 million.
The jury determined that the association was negligent and failed to do everything possible to save Plancher's life, but found no "clear and convincing evidence" that UCFAA was liable for gross negligence, thus sparing the association punitive damages. This latter finding, a UCF spokesman told the Orlando Sentinel, could well be the basis of the school’s promised appeal.
Plancher, who was 19 years old, collapsed and died following offseason conditioning drills at the UCF football complex on March 18, 2008. Orange County medical examiner Joshua Stephany and three experts hired by the Plancher family’s attorneys testified Plancher died from complications of sickle cell trait. However, three experts hired by the UCFAA testified that Plancher died from an undiagnosed heart condition and could not have been saved regardless of when athletic trainers intervened.
Plancher family attorney Steve Yerrid confirmed to the Sentinel that the Planchers turned down a settlement offer, and that UCFAA is responsible for the family's court costs, estimated to be $1.5 million. The UCF board of trustees submitted a motion seeking to bill the Plancher family $900,000 for its legal fees after the Planchers withdrew their claim with prejudice against the main university as the trial was about to begin.
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Marquette AD Resignation Latest Assault Fallout
Steve Cottingham, who was ultimately responsible for the handling of separate sexual assault allegations involving Marquette University student-athletes, has resigned as the school’s athletic director.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the athletes were not charged with a crime, but the university was criticized by law enforcement officials for not following proper procedures in investigating the two cases, which occurred within the past nine months. The athletes were disciplined and the coaching staff reprimanded, though the men’s sports team involved was never made public.
Cottingham joined Marquette’s Office of the General Counsel in 1995, became an associate senior vice president of the Catholic university, then took over for longtime athletic director Bill Cords in January 2007 — first on an interim basis and later permanently. He championed the establishment of men’s and women’s lacrosse programs, and negotiated deals with men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams and with Milwaukee’s Bradley Center, the privately owned home of Marquette men’s basketball.
“Although recent events involving a few student-athletes have certainly been a disappointment to me, I leave Marquette with positive feelings and confidence in its future,” Cottingham stated in his resignation letter.
Mike Broeker has been named Marquette’s interim athletic director. Both Broeker and Williams fielded questions following the resignation. Said Williams, “Anytime there is sexual assault or sexual violence or anything of a sensitive nature, I think it’s unacceptable as a human. And it’s unacceptable as a husband, as a father. I believe it’s unacceptable as an employee of Marquette.”
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8:36 AM
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Baylor Offers Hot Independence Day Season Ticket Deal
Monday’s predicted high temperature in Waco, Texas, is 103 degrees, and that equates to a hot deal for Baylor University football fans.
Next week, Baylor is offering 2011 football season tickets at a price matching Waco’s high temperature on July 4th. Even if that price ultimately tops $103, buyers taking advantage of the Independence Day promotion will save nearly 30 percent off the cost of a typical season ticket. Not bad, considering the Bears are coming off their first bowl appearance in 17 years and are scheduled to face Texas Christian, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma at Floyd Casey Stadium this season.
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