Player caught falsifying identity gets pay-cut, MLB status pending!

The Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Roberto Hernandez Heredia, formerly known as Fausto Carmona was arrested on Jan. 19 in the Dominican Republic outside the U.S consulate for falsifying his identity. During that process he went from being 28 to in reality being 31 and the Indians have since taken action and have restructured his contract, which is reflective of how the team feels he will now perform this season and is in response to his illegal actions that landed him in a Dominican Republic jai. Before he was busted for falsifying his identity to be more attractive to MLB teams, Heredia was 3 years younger and was becoming a more reliable pitcher for the Indians. Hernandez was set to make $7 million this year and had options for $9 million in 2013 and $12 million in 2014. The Indians still don't know if Heredia will even pitch for them this season or ever because he is still having VISA issues back in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic dropped the charges against Heredia after he completed a work program in which he met with young ball players and discouraged them from falsifying their identities and committing the same mistake he did in order to play in the U.S. He has since said he knew what he was doing was wrong but was "scared to reveal what happened" after other players were caught.



Under the terms of his new restructured contract, Heredia will make $2.5 million as a base salary in 2012 and can earn an additional $2.7 million in performance and roster bonuses. These incentives include: $200,000 when he reaches 20,23 and 26 starts and for 150, 170 and 185 innings. In addition , he'll get $250,000 for 95 days on the roster and then $250,000 for every 15 days up until 165. The team also reduced his 2013 option to $6 million. He can earn $3 million in additional bonuses as well.

Currently he is on MLB's restricted list, which is for players that have a contractual obligation to the team but for non injured reason are not currently part of the team and may not play in an MLB game. In the meantime he has been training and pitching in the Dominican Republic at the teams academy under the watchful eye of some of the Indians trainers and coaches. The team is hoping Heredia can get his legal issues straightened out in time to help the team this season

Article can be found here: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120327/SPORTS0104/203270361/1004/sports10/Monday-s-baseball-notebook--Indians-slash-pitcher%E2%80%99s-contract

Competitive Amateur Cyclist Dies, Police Investigate

This past weekend, in Bethel Connecticut, a 48 amateur cyclist died from injuries sustained during a race. The cyclist was Markus Bohler of Germany who worked as en executive for an industrial company. Almost every professional sport has some sort of organized amateur level and cycling is no different. The governing body over cycling in the United States is USA Cycling. This organization promotes, organizations, and runs many events, but the majority of races are conducted by organizations or individual race organizers that are licensed by USA Cycling. Every cyclist is required to purchase a license that allows them to race, but the license doubles for a waiver of liability. Before racing, officials ensure that all cyclists are meeting certain requirements. These include all riders wearing helmets, no loose fitting clothing, and every cyclists must have plugs in their bar ends. The fact that officials let Mr. Bohler ride, must mean that he was abiding by all necessary safety precautions. Accidents in professional and amateur cycling are very common, but serious injury resulting from the said accidents is not.

The question that arises from this incident, from a legal standpoint, is two fold. Firstly, VeloNews, which is a print and online publication of amateur and professional cycling news, reported that police are investigating the incident. In this case, police would be looking for any indication that there was criminal activity. If there was any wrongdoing, it would be negligence or even manslaughter. From the details that were released it seems that this was an ordinary crash with no major issues.

The other legal issue, my be a civil suit. If the family of the deceased feels that someone was at fault they may pursue a lawsuit. One of the main issues may be how legally binding the cycling license is. It is understandable that a sport like this is very dangerous. Even in amateur races, speeds can reach 40 miles per hour on flats and upwards of 60 miles per hour on downhills. Is this inherent danger something the riders can waive legally? Also, USA Cycling requires that riders do so many races before upgrading to a faster and better category of racing. This is something that allows for a level competition field and for rider safety. There are 5 categories with 5 being beginner and 1 being the best; Mr. Bohler was racing in a category 3/4 race. It says that he was the only one injured, but died from multiple skull fractures early Monday morning.

It is with hope, that no legal action be taken against a sport that already struggles with revenues, but if wrongdoing is found, those who were involved need to be punished. From the initial reports and reports since, it seems that this was nothing out of the ordinary, except that the end result was much more grim than normal.

The VeloNews article can be found at: http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/03/news/police-seek-details-in-fatal-connecticut-criterium-crash_209939

New Orleans Saints bounty scandal may be considered a criminal organization

In recent weeks, The NFL have said that around 22-27 New Orleans Saints defensive players, as well as an assistant coach, upheld an illegal bounty program from 2009-2011 that included payments to players for causing game-ending injuries on the opposition.

Players are said to have been paid $1,500 for “knockouts” and $1,000 for being carted off the field, and the stakes went up in the playoffs.

Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, has recently admitted to his involvement in the program and has apologized. The Saints head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis have also released a statement taking “full responsibility” for the violations within the league.

The statements made by New Orleans Saints management and coaches are making it look very probable that they engaged in improper and coercive activities. Taking a look at the NFL’s current CBA, it includes detailed rules on how clubs and coaches can be penalized for violations of safeguards. Not all facts are currently known, and the NFLPA is undertaking a full review of the circumstances surrounding these reported violations of League rules.

Currently, the New Orleans Saints franchise, its players, coaches, and former player Gregg Williams are awaiting words on penalties from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodwell. However, there may be bigger consequences for those involved in this bounty scandal. The criminal defense attorneys and a former federal prosecutor have said that if the Saints did engage in the scandal that paid players to deliberately injure the opposition, then this situation could be considered a criminal organization.

As of right now, there has been no sign of federal law enforcement activity, and it is unlikely that local law enforcement would take up the case, “given the political sensitivities of tackling a case involving the beloved Saints”. However, the local federal attorney could assign a special prosecutor to investigate the case.

Football is known to be a violent sport, and there is a certain level of consent to the violence when a player steps out on to the field; however, this consent changes when there is an intentional effort to actually injure someone rather than actually tackle him or her. “The intent element is manifested by the money payments”. As well as local federal attorney’s possibly getting involved, the individual players who believe they were hurt as part of the Saints’ efforts could also file their own civil complaints as part of the scandal.

It may be difficult to establish a criminal case here; however, the NFL has said it has tens of thousands of pages of evidence to back its argument that the program exists, so there is a possibility that the criminal law will get involved.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/03/07/nflpa-to-review-saints-bounty-program/

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/03/12/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Bounty.aspx?hl=scandal%20could%20rise%20to%20criminal%20level&sc=0

Former NFL player faces Federal charges!

Freddie Mitchell is a former NFL wide receiver, playing a pedestrian 4 years with the Philadelphia Eagles.After his NFL career he bought and owned a Bar-B-Que restaurant in Lakeland, FL.that was run by his brother Tremaine Mitchell. After a year in business he closed the restaurant after being named in a suit for failure to make payments on the business. He officially lost the restaurant in September 2009 after a court ruling. In December 2009, Mitchell was arrested for failure to pay child support and was later released on $250,000 bail. He was also arrested once for receiving a package containing 7 pounds of marijuana, which was delivered to his business. Mitchell has had a tumultuous background that has taken a turn for the worst.

Mitchell, is currently facing federal tax fraud charges for allegedly recruiting professional athletes in a scam to get false tax returns from the IRS. Chameleon Enterprises was a company owned by Mitchell and was a part of the scam named in the indictment filed by the US attorney in Orlando, FL. The indictment stated that the false tax returns were filled electronically by Russ-Walls and Walls. This firm allegedly filed the returns for refunds ranging from $170,00 - $1.9 million and even attached false documents to help support the filings.

Mitchell was working with this firm and his role was to recruit professional athletes and get them to file their tax returns with Russ-Walls. Once they had an appointment with the athlete they would proclaim to be a trained tax preparer with vast experience in working with professional athletes. Once the athlete paid a down payment, Russ-Walls would file a false tax return with the athletes information, and would give Mitchell a percentage of the false refund while keeping the rest. This firm also filed false returns for Mitchell's company, eventually claiming more than $2 million in refunds.

If these allegation hold to be true, in this case, Mitchell was both knowingly committing an illegal action (federal tax fraud) but was unethical as well by misleading former athletes, some of which he may have known personally. The indictment is based on an athlete that goes by initials of A.G, who paid Mitchell $100,000 to have his return prepared and filed. A.G was under the impression that he would receive a return for around $1.2 million, but was never notified that a return was filed on his behalf, instead Russ-Walls was to receive $600,000 and Mitchell about $280,000 from the false refund.

Ambush Marketing and the 2012 London Olympics!

Ambush marketing is a form of unfair marketing, which has been described by the companies being affected by it as ‘parasite marketing’, while those engaged in it would characterize and justify it as ‘clever marketing’. It is a form of marketing that is seen more when big world events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup occur. Basically, a company that hasn’t paid any money to be an official event sponsor get an association with that event and gets more ‘buzz’ then the actual sponsor of the event that ended up paying a large sum of money to have their name associated with the event. Although it may be hard to prove legally if a company engaged in ambush marketing tactics on purpose in order to draw attention away from the official sponsor, it is easier to classify it as a form of unethical marketing.

Ambush marketing affects the interests of official sponsors and it also causes confusion to consumers and fans when making an association towards the event. This is evident in a recent study regarding the 2012 London Olympics. According to new research recently conducted by digital agency Jam from December 1 – February 7, Nike a non-Olympic sponsor, is “dominating conversations on the internet, with 7.7% of the conversations about the Olympics associated with the brand.” On the other hand “Adidas is only pulling in 0.49% of conversations, despite a reported US$158M sponsorship deal to be the official Olympic Sponsor.” Nike has been notoriously known for its ambush marketing campaigns at these large events. They have done this by using their Nike sponsored athletes in cleverly positioned ad campaigns geared around the large events. In order to make their “Make it Count “ campaign, which is geared towards attracting interest off of Adidas for the upcoming Olympics in London, they have used Nike sponsored athletes of British heritage, such as cyclist Mark Cavendish. According to the article, Nike hasn’t broken any Olympic rules with its campaign although the campaign ‘has clearly resonated with the public as being aligned with the Olympics.

So is this a case where Nike is being clever with their ambush marketing or is Adidas simply not doing enough to generate buzz around the Olympics and their brand? According to the research while Nike was first on the list, followed by official sponsors HSBC (0.68%), Coca-Cola, and British Airways, all ahead of fifth place Adidas.

This brings us to the question of whether ambush marketing should be allowed, considering its unethical marketing nature and possible legal boundaries it can cross? Depending upon the facts and circumstances of the particular marketing campaign and depending on also whether the sports event is protected by a special law in order to host the event, it may be possible for the title sponsor being affected by ambush marketing to seek legal assistance in dealing with this. However, as the article noted, although it may be unethical Nike isn’t breaking any laws, so in this case Adidas may simply have to increase its marketing efforts in order to have the public associate their brand with the Olympics.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZZPXOzh8Ck

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1117275/Non-sponsor-Nike-brand-associated-Olympics/

Roburt Sallie, the 6'5 Guard from Memphis who was a shining star in the 2009 NCAA tournament scoring 35 points in 36 minutes by going 10 for 15 at the 3 point line has diminished his rather bright future for what he thought was larger future.  Sallie has been playing ball in Spain to chase his dream as a professional basketball player in the NBA.  Unfortunately, Sallie was cut from his team in early December after testing positive for doping.  

According to the FIBA rules and regulations, players are selected at random to complete a drug screening, before the test they are to list all types of medications, vitamins, foreign substances that they put into their bodies. On November 18, his team won the ENIAC Knet & Rioja, 83-75, with 5 points in his 20 minutes of play. After a celebratory party Sallie was randomly chosen to take a drug test.  Prior to Sallie's testing he listed he had been taking multi-vitamins, and a male enhancement pill - but he was unsure of the name.  As a result Sallie was cut from the team for not following the anti-doping policy and taking "Extenze". 
Sallie did an interview with Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com to straighten out what must be a really hard situation for him. Sallie said he did not take penis enlargement pills, as the team claimed, but rather sexual potency pills. He was drug-tested in November, and as part of it, he was asked about anything he might have taken. Sallie said he wrote down that he took "a male enhancement pill," saying "it's something I've tried, it's my personal business, and I'm proud to say I did it." 

Professional Cycling Sees More Woes

In the matter of 3 days two of professional cycling's greats, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, received court decisions that effect both of their careers. As many may remember, Alberto Contador was the overall winner of the 2010 Tour de France. This was the third time the rider had won the Tour, and many revered him as the next great cycling legend. After the Tour de France ended he received news that he had tested positive for clenbuterol (a muscle building stimulant). He had, and still does maintain, that he had ingested this chemical from tainted meat. While farmers do use this chemical to fatten livestock, there is not concrete evidence that this would show up in a drug test if the meat was raised and eaten in Europe. 

The Spanish Cycling Federation heard his case first, and cleared him of any wrongdoing. Contador returned to cycling and went on to win the Giro de Italia in 2011 and finish 5^th in the Tour de France. The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) then appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) claiming that he should receive a full ban. A full ban in cycling is a two year ban and a requirement that an athlete must forfeit any races competed in during the time in question.

This week the CAS ruled with WADA and the UCI claiming that Contador was guilty of doping. This is the statement they released:

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decision in the arbitration between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) & the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador & the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC): the CAS has partially upheld the appeals filed by WADA and the UCI and has found Alberto Contador guilty of a doping offence.

“As a consequence, Alberto Contador is sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility starting retroactively on 25 January 2011, minus the period of the provisional suspension served in 2010-2011 (5 months and 19 days). The suspension should therefore come to an end on 5 August 2012.”

Contador can and most likely will return to racing at the end of this summer, but may always have an asterisk next to his name like so many already have because of performance enhancing drugs.

In a similar case, Lance Armstrong was being investigated by federal prosecutor for the use of performance enhancing drugs in the late 1990's and early 2000's. This investigation was sparked when a former Tour winner, Floyd Landis, claimed that Armstrong "masterminded" the use of PED's on the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team. This statement came after Landis was stripped of his tour title for doping.

In addition, last summer, Armstrong's former teammate, Tyler Hamilton, went on 60 minutes and told his side of the story:

Although no criminal charges will stem from this investigation, the U.S. Anti Doping Agency stated that they will continue to investigate the sport of cycling to eliminate these issues.

No matter what each court decision stated about either rider, the true test of an athlete's credibility is revealed in the court of the public. They dismissed charges against Lance, but does that mean everyone thinks he is innocent? And when Contador returns to racing and wins a race, many people out there will say that he must be doping again. These issues in sport also raise the question of whether or not we should be spending tax payer money to investigate these issues? Fifty years from now when these athletes are almost forgotten, their records and achievements will always be tainted with the issues they had with the legal system.