New Sports Illustrated column: Rethinking Congressional investigation into Roger Clemens

I have a new SI.com column that addresses 5 popular myths or at least exaggerations that have emerged since Roger Clemens testified before Congress in February 2008. Here's an excerpt:

Myth 3: The hearing cost millions of tax dollars.

Truth: Contrary to popular belief, Congress did not expend unusually high resources investigating Clemens or, for that matter, HGH, B-12 and other substances. In fact, the costs associated with the two February 2008 hearings were comparable with most 110th Congress hearings, some of which also concerned "nonessential" topics but nonetheless failed to attract the same level of media scrutiny and public scorn.

According to people involved in the February 2008 hearings, no outside staff or attorneys were hired and most of the work entailed receiving and distributing statements from health experts. Clemens and Andy Pettitte were also interviewed, under oath, by staff members and their statements were recorded and transcribed. The staff did not incur any travel expenses in conducting the interviews. Clemens also visited several members of Congress in their offices for short conversations.

To read the rest, click here.

Daftar Klasemen Liga Italia Serie-A Pekan-36

Juventus hanya mampu bermain imbang 1-1 dengan Lecce, sedangkan Milan mampu menundukkan Atalanta dengan skor 2-0, dengan hasil ini maka selisih poin antara Juve dan Milan terpaut satu poin. Dengan sisa dua pertandingan lagi, perebutan gelar juara kian seru.

Berikut daftar klasemen sementara liga italia serie-A pekan ke-36:

Klasemen Serie A

No	Team	M	M	S	K	SG	N
1	JUVENTUS	36	21	15	0	63-19	78
2	AC MILAN	36	23	8	5	70-28	77
3	NAPOLI	36	15	13	8	64-43	58
4	UDINESE	36	16	10	10	48-35	58
5	LAZIO	36	16	8	12	51-46	56
6	INTERNAZIONALE	36	16	7	13	53-50	55
7	AS ROMA	36	15	7	14	55-50	52
8	PARMA	36	13	11	12	51-53	50
9	BOLOGNA	36	12	12	12	39-42	48
10	CATANIA	36	11	14	11	45-48	47
11	ATALANTA	35	13	13	9	40-36	46
12	CHIEVO	36	11	12	13	30-41	45
13	SIENA	36	11	11	14	44-41	44
14	CAGLIARI	36	10	12	14	37-44	42
15	PALERMO	36	11	9	16	48-56	42
16	FIORENTINA	36	10	12	14	36-43	42
17	GENOA	36	10	9	17	48-67	39
18	LECCE	36	8	12	16	40-54	36
19	NOVARA	36	6	11	19	31-63	29
20	CESENA	36	4	10	22	22-54	22

Daftar Klasemen Liga Inggris 2011/12 Pekan-36

Liga Ingris sudah memasuki pekan ke-36, pada pertandingan dini hari tadi, Newcastle mampu menundukkan Chelsea di Stamford Bridge dengan skor 0-2. Sedangkan Tottenham berhasil mengalahkan Bolton dengan skor 1-4. Dengan hasil ini maka poin Tottenham dan Newcastle sama, dan selisih satu poin dengan peringkat ke-3, Arsenal.

Berikut daftar klasemen liga inggris pekan ke-36:

Klasemen Premier League

No	Team	M	M	S	K	SG	N
1	MAN. CITY	36	26	5	5	88-27	83
2	MAN. UNITED	36	26	5	5	86-33	83
3	ARSENAL	36	20	6	10	68-44	66
4	TOTTENHAM	36	19	8	9	63-40	65
5	NEWCASTLE	36	19	8	9	55-46	65
6	CHELSEA	36	17	10	9	62-41	61
7	EVERTON	36	14	10	12	47-39	52
8	LIVERPOOL	36	13	10	13	43-38	49
9	FULHAM	36	13	10	13	46-48	49
10	WEST BROM	36	13	7	16	41-47	46
11	SUNDERLAND	36	11	12	13	44-43	45
12	SWANSEA	36	11	11	14	43-49	44
13	NORWICH CITY	36	11	10	15	47-63	43
14	STOKE CITY	36	11	11	14	34-50	44
15	ASTON VILLA	36	7	16	13	36-50	37
16	WIGAN ATHLETIC	36	9	10	17	38-60	37
17	QUEENS PARK RANGERS	36	9	7	20	40-63	34
18	BOLTON	36	10	4	22	42-73	34
19	BLACKBURN	36	8	7	21	47-75	31
20	WOLVERHAMPTON	36	5	9	22	38-79	24

Junior Seau and head injuries

Former NFL great Junior Seau died today of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. If that is what it turns out to be, expect this to become another high-profile exhibit in the ongoing debate about football and head injuries (much like the suicide last year of former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson). Curious to see if Seau had agreed to have his brain examined as part of the study at BU's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy Brain Bank and, if so, what they find.

Update: Josh Levin at Slate has similar thoughts.

One More Update: This, unfortunately, gives me a chance to link to NFL Concussion Litigation, a blog started by a 3L at UMKC Law School that has been tracking the various lawsuits that have been, and are being, filed against the NFL by former players.

Norton Center to Open Friday

One year seven months and two days later, The much anticipated opening of the Hank Norton Center is at hand. This state of the art facility will open Friday amid much fanfare as the college takes off the wraps on what is expected to be an athletics building unequaled by few on the Division III level.

Named in honor of former coach and athletic director Hank Norton, this freshly completed structure will serve all field sports at Ferrum College. 

Please see the link below for more information:

Hank Norton Center Opening

Commentary on Billy Hunter

Brishen Rogers (Temple Law), guesting at Concurring Opinions, has an interesting commentary on the recent allegations of misconduct by NBAPA Executive Director Billy Hunter, particularly as to what these allegations tell us about labor law generally and the unique nature of players' unions.

Tanking, Incentives, and the NBA Draft

Several years ago, Mike McCannanalyzed tanking on the Sports Law Blog (see posts here and here). More recently, ESPN’s TrueHoop blog had astring of posts devoted to tanking in the NBA. ESPN’s coverage included a discussion of emerging research by Adam Gold,a PhD student at the University of Missouri and President of Winning Unlimited,LLC.

Issues involving tanking overlapconsiderably with my own inquiry into competitive integrity andgambling-related corruption (more on that topic later this year), so I havefollowed the research line closely. Withthe close of the NBA’s regular season last week and non-playoff teams in thelottery set, Adam agreed to provide a guest post outlining a numberof important issues germane to incentive-based tanking that may occur late(early?) in the NBA season.

Adam’s guest post is below:

Mathematical elimination can be used as a mechanism to determine draftorder and maintain competitive balance in professional sports leagues. The worst teams are awarded the most games toearn the top draft picks. Teams areranked based on functions of winning. Here are a few key points from the 2011-2012 NBA regular season.

(1) The Charlotte Bobcats’ streak of 23 losses to end the regularseason 7-59 compromises the integrity of the NBA (and all professional sportsleagues that use reverse order drafts generally). There is an inherent incentive for teams tointentionally handicap themselves and limit improvement throughout theseason. Fans are asked to support ateam’s attempt to manipulate the NBA’s draft lottery. Inequities triggered by incentives to losethreaten the accuracy in identifying which team is the worst.

(2) The New Orleans Hornets and Washington Wizards could have ended theregular season playing for the first overall selection. The Washington Wizards could clinch the firstoverall pick if they beat the Miami Heat and if the Houston Rockets beat the Hornets. Games among the worst teams could have beenplayed with an intensity that parallels playoff atmospheres.

(3) In a desperate attempt to keep Anthony Davis out of their division,the Miami Heat play superstars LeBron James and Dwayne Wade in the final gameof the season in Washington. Miami’s dreamof a dynasty is threatened by the possibility that their division rival earnsthe first overall draft pick. The Heat reconsider the risk of entering theplayoffs with injuries and fatigue against allowing Washington a better chanceto get the top prospect.

Teams can be ranked based on functions of winning that give the worstteams the best chance at the best draft picks. Methods based on mathematical elimination shift the entertainment fromthe lottery towards games featuring the worst teams in the league. Supporting fan interest in their favoriteteams is more important than the attempt to award the first pick to the worstteam. Using my methodology, draft orderin the NBA for this year would be a function of the following:

A detailed video discussion of mathematical elimination draft ordersfor the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL, as presented at the 2012 MIT Sloan SportsAnalytics Conference, is available here. In the coming months, I will disseminate periodic updates via Twitterand can be followed at @WinUnlimited.