I would like to spend this first post telling you what SportAZine is and what it will be. However, now working on the fifth draft of this post (which is actually a modified reprint from Music Manumit Lawcast), I am not sure I can do that with any more clarity that is on the “About” page. I do want to say that while I am mostly discussing Nick and me in this post, Jeff over at Geekazine.com is still important player in the project. Hell, he owns the domain name and is the admin of the WordPress site! I’m sure he will continue to contribute material as he sees fit.

Nick Clark and Doug Whitfield have started a project based on legal issues in the entertainment industry. That includes sports! Most of the content will go up at OpenSourcePlayground.Org, where we’ll discuss things like SOPA and other tech-related issues in the entertainment world, and on the Music Manumit Lawcast, where we’ll discuss issues specific to the music industry.

So, don’t expect a lot of content, but I wanted to let everyone know the site isn’t dead! Check out the other sites if you want info on other legal issues and don’t forget the other sites in the *AZine network for Geeky, Dorky and TV-related content!

Brief break from hiatus to point you to a great Radio Lab podcast on games.  Franco Harris, Baltimore Orioles, checkers, chess and more make appearances.

I also want to point out that I’m 2nd in my fantasy football league.  I won by a comfortable margin last year.  I don’t think the guy in front is my top competition, but we shall see if I have time to keep up as law school progresses.

I wrote to a friend my thoughts on Chad Ochocinco’s tryout with Sporting KC.  Read the article I link to in the previous sentence first, or you won’t know what I’m talking about.

Here’s what I wrote back to my friend, unedited:

The other thing about it is just that the lockout in general could be huge for the MLS.  Even if a an eighth of NFL fans decide to tune into the MLS (and not just 85) it’ll be fantastic for the MLS.  One of the problems MLS has is name recognition.  Messi vs. Jeff Cunningham.  Ronaldo vs. Josh Saunders.  If some of the guys that like soccer but don’t watch MLS give it the time to learn some names and become fans we’re talking about years of good the lockout could do for the MLS.  Once those eighth watch, ESPN gives it more coverage and thus more fans.I think the NFL is probably going to work it out though.  There’s too much money to be lost.  Maybe the thought of it will get people to start the MLS season so they know what’s going on in the fall.  I think that number is going to be very small, but with the MLS’ TV numbers right now even ~40,000 would be significant.

First off, I want to say that my hiatus is coming to an end…but I’m not there just quite yet. Soon I’ll be linking you to my EPL fantasy league and releasing some articles I’ve had in the docket for a while.

However, my real reason for posting today is to link to this incredible article from Open Education about student athletics. Before you cry it’s a bunch of hippies that hate sports over at Open Education, give it a read. It sounds to me like a much better deal for the athletes.  It also highlights some of the problems with graduation rate numbers that people like go on about.

It’s not likely to be implemented, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on how it might affect the NBA and NFL rules about college athletics.

I was just listening to today’s MLS Talk podcast and I had to say something about the relegation topic. This is going to be brief because I don’t have much time at the moment.

If the MLS is going to expand beyond relegation/promotion solves a lot of problems.

1) It gives teams at the bottom (and the top of the “2nd division”) something to play for at the end of the season.  Now, I think these should both be “top divisions”.  The NCAA has Division I for all sports except American football.  the MLS could do something similar. MLS Premier could be the top or MLS Championship could be the 2nd or something.  As far as TV rights go, MLS Championship would be under the same Fox Soccer/ESPN/Versus(!??!) contracts.  Did Newcastle lose it’s history when they went to the English Championship last year?  Is Leeds United still a name that carries a lot of weight in English football? YES! If the LA Galaxy gets relegated, they will still be the team of Beckham and Donovan.

2) True cup competition.  The MLS Cup as it stands can go away.  Allow the “minnows” play the big boys every year in a (Carling) League Cup each year.

3) This isn’t such a problem, as a bonus, but it allows the MLS to bump all the way up to 40 teams if they like.  Let Cincinnati and Charlotte both have teams…or Charlotte and Raleigh if it makes more sense.  There are plenty of markets out there that have a major sport (NHL in Raleigh) and then nothing else (NBA in San Antonio).  ”Everyone” can get in on this.  MLS’ market is local at the moment.  Build the league around that.  The national draw teams are going to rise out of that.  Does the local nature of English football keep Chelsea and Manchester United from being hugely interesting teams on a national basis?  No.  Not at all.

4) This solves the scheduling issue.  Everyone gets 38 regular season games.  If there aren’t that many teams, you could go the German route with 18 teams.  16 teams is how the Allsvenskan does it and I quite liked the 30-game MLS season this year.  Now, it’s a World Cup year, so that filled in the schedule a bit more, but keeping the schedule with fewer games would allow the US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League to at least maintain the minimal coverage they have now.  I suspect those competitions would become even more irrelevant if the MLS had 8 more games in the season.

The problems and how to resolve them.

1) The main problem with relegation is that “owners will not stand for it.”  First off, make the “minnows” pay the same entrance fee.  Also, allow expansion teams in the top division and relegate 4 instead of 3 (if there is the standard relegation #) and if there is more than one expansion team, up the number of relegated teams.  Perhaps expansion teams get a 3-year grace period of relegation or something.  The MLS CBA would apply to this “2nd division” as would any other MLS rules.  The MLS “2nd division” owners would have the same votes as the MLS Premier division.

2) Americans won’t understand.  Who cares? “Americans” don’t like soccer.  Stop trying to cater to a non-existent market. Maybe people like me would care a little more if I didn’t have to drive 3 hours to a game.  Maybe I’d go to local Madison matches if one day Madison United could get promoted to the USL or to the MLS or something. I am *not* proposing the USL get involved in this, I’d just making a point about local football.

What this doesn’t address is the scheduling.  Personally, I’m fine with the summer games.  The World Cup* is difficult, but until the US consistently gets past the round of 16, playing through the latter changes isn’t that big of a deal.  If it is a bigger deal, start the season earlier every 4 years. It’s not that big of a deal.  I know personally I’d probably end up watching less MLS if it was always competing with Bundesliga, UCL, La Liga, EPL, SPL, NHL, NBA and NCAA hockey/basketball.  Right now it fights those to a certain extent but during the summer it’s main competition for me is the Allsvenskan and for most Americans, it would be MLB (I’d watch more MLB – and MLS for that matter – if there weren’t so many blackouts on DirecTV).

*There’s also the Gold Cup, but my feeling is it could be played every four years the year before the Confederations Cup so that it “means something”.

The two biggest projects I had are both over now.  However, I’ve got some cleanup to do with other projects (at work, with MadLUG, with the Music Manumit Podcast, etc), so Sportazine is still on hiatus as far as the blog goes.

I do have an article on Manchester United in the works and I’d love to get something out shortly into the NHL and NBA seasons.  I’d also like to weigh in on the Liverpool situation, though that one is probably time-sensitive and I wouldn’t expect anything until after Christmas.

Lastly, I’m quite pleased with the start of St. Pauli‘s season and Malmö FF closing in on the Allsvenskan title!

Before we decided to start Sportazine, I was writing every once-in-a-while about sports. I was going through some old blog posts on my personal blog and found a short old one on college football and I thought I’d share.  If I find any others, I’ll be sure to post just for the fun of nostalgia.

If you can’t bare the thought of not hearing my brilliant analysis, no matter the topic, you can check out the podcast I do with Tom Ray, which is not going on hiatus.

Over the last few months I’ve been writing articles and looking for other contributors. We’ve had many people interested in writing, but no one has been able to follow through. I’m thus going to go on hiatus from writing and will spend my time trying to find writers for the upcoming NCAA basketball and football seasons, as well as NHL, NFL and NBA. I’ll be covering the Bungesliga, La Liga and EPL once I find people to contribute, but don’t expect me back until mid-October. If something huge comes up, I might write an article, but expect the page to be dormat for a while.

I’m sorry, but once I find more writers the posts will be more frequent and it will be better for everyone.

would have been a nice shot if not for the dude in front of me

Originally uploaded by dawhitfield

Would have been a nice shot if not for the dude in front of me.

Sverige vs. Servia

Still working on getting World Cup photos up. Nothing ever happens in my life without a story…