Category Archives: ALDLAND

Window Shopping: Pigs in the Pen

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It’s July, which means it’s time for MLB teams to sort out their trade-deadline strategy. While fans distract themselves with All-Star festivities, general managers are preparing to execute player transactions in attempts to load up for a playoff run or, in acceptance of their near-term fates as noncontenders, build for the future.

In this context, the Detroit Tigers find themselves in a bit of a bind. After a very strong start, they’ve slid back to a .500 record and have been entrenched in the middle of the AL Central, never too far out of first place, but never really within striking distance. Would a first-place finish from this position be unprecedented? Hardly. Can they claim a fifth-consecutive division title without making a significant trade this summer? Almost certainly not. The Tigers’ record is not a product of underperforming their potential; instead, it likely is a reasonably accurate reflection of this team’s collective ability to date, warts, lower-body injuries, and all.

There is no question that the Tigers should be buyers this month, however thin their wallet may be with currency in the form of desirable prospects. I can’t say with any certainty whom Detroit should acquire this month– starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Cole Hamels are the most valuable targets on the market, but the sellers’ prices may be too rich for the blood of the Tigers’ farm system– but I do agree with the prevailing preference for bolstering the pitching rotation. Shane Greene‘s floor proved too low to allow the team to continue to wait to see how high his ceiling might go, Alfredo Simon’s regressed to the very average levels we should have expected out of him as a starter, and, with appearances in just four games in 2015, Justin Verlander’s projected resurgence isn’t happening. The return of game-calling extraordinaire Alex Avila to his precarious post behind the plate can’t fix that many holes, and neither, I suspect, can J.D. Martinez‘s unsustainable home-run rate. Detroit needs to find another starter.

The trade-deadline attention on the pitching rotation represents a shift of attention away from their bullpen, the conventionally identified leading source of all of the Tigers’ problems. Continue reading →

What does Adam Schefter’s publication of Jason Pierre-Paul’s medical records mean for the future of athlete health information?

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In the context of yesterday’s Jason Pierre-Paul fireworks/amputation news, my latest post for TechGraphs asks whether the increasing use of wearable sports technology could have negative consequences for athletes, and, further, whether athletes may be effectively powerless to avoid those consequences.

The full post is available here.

The Redskins and The Slants: How an Asian American band name case may affect the Redskins trademark (via The Volokh Conspiracy)

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A federal district court today upheld the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s cancellation of the Redskins mark. A federal statute bars registrations of marks that “may disparage … persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute”; the district court agreed that the Redskins fell within this prohibition. This decision doesn’t bar the Redskins from using their name, but it does reduce their ability to use trademark law to stop various infringing Redskins gear.
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The analysis strikes me as unpersuasive: I don’t think that historically trademarks have been used to “communicate[] messages from the [government].” I don’t think “the publicly closely associates [trademarks] with the [government].” And while the government does have and does exercise some control over which trademarks are allowed, I don’t think that this itself can suffice to justify viewpoint discrimination, since in all viewpoint-discriminatory programs (including ones the Court has condemned), the whole dispute was about the fact that the government was trying to exercise control about what speech is allowed.

Instead, it seems to me that trademark law is much closer to the programs in which viewpoint discrimination is forbidden . . . . The special government-provided benefits given to trademark owners — or copyright owners — are similarly private speech, despite the government involvement, and the government shouldn’t selectively deny those benefits to speakers who have certain views. … Read More

(via The Volokh Conspiracy)

Yes Jam

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Last Sunday, Chris Squire, best known as the bass player for the band Yes, lost his battle with leukemia. Although the band underwent periods of lineup changes, you have never heard Yes without Squire, in part because of the value of his prominent playing style, and in part because of his controlling legal interest in the band’s name. As we prepare to honor the birth of a nation stateside, in memory of Squire, we take a moment to turn our ears back to England, to which we are forever tied:

US defeats Germany to advance to World Cup finals

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Last night in Montreal, the United States defeated Germany 2-0 to advance to the finals of the 2015 World Cup, which will take place on Sunday and pit the Americans against either England or Japan. Behind goalie Hope Solo and a staunch defensive back line, the team is riding a 513-minute shutout streak, and last night’s win makes the United States the first country to reach four Women’s World Cup finals.

I enjoyed watching the (second half of the) game last night, and I realized I probably enjoy watching the women’s team better than the men’s national team (the only other soccer-watching I do).

Pros:

  • The women seem tougher than their male counterparts. Result? Less flopping. Get that garbage outta here.
  • The USWNT is more successful against its competition than the USMNT. Result? More winning. Americans love a winner, and I’m no exception.

Con:

  • Smaller fan base, for whatever reason. Result? Less exciting viewing atmosphere. Watching every U.S. Men’s World Cup game last year was a broadly public, electrically focused experience. Here’s hoping folks come out to support the women this weekend.

In light of the fact that the number of soccer games I’ve watched in the last two years is in the single digits, further comment would overburden my limited experience with the sport. Instead, I’ll just be keeping an eye on Japan and England’s match tonight and rooting for an American victory on Sunday.

Willie Horton Can Change the World (via Sports on Earth)

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Horton_cbo69kqg_715cb9noStill, nothing showed Horton’s character more than that July weekend in 1967, when rioting began on a Saturday night in Detroit. The Tigers hosted the New York Yankees for a doubleheader the following afternoon, and Horton stood in left field studying his teammates, the visitors, the fans and something beyond the grandstands at Tiger Stadium.

“I kept seeing black smoke in the distance, and I thought it was just a fire somewhere,” Horton said, and he was correct. It was carnage from the second of what would be five days of rioting that would take 43 lives and wound more than 1,000 other people. When the second game ended, Horton discovered in the clubhouse what was happening. “I was sitting there, getting ready to take a shower,” Horton said, “and then I got to thinking. I just said to myself, ‘Man, I’ve got to go.'” … Read More

(via Sports on Earth)

The Phillies have given up, finally

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Back in February, before the 2015 MLB season started, I wrote that the projected-to-be-terrible Philadelphia Phillies should just give up and put themselves out to pasture. They did not immediately heed my advice. Nearly four months later, the team found itself with a 22-44 record, the worst in all of baseball. Cue the terminal sequence: Continue reading →