Dr. Lynn Lashbrook

We are witnessing a lot of rhetoric with the upcoming CBA’s for the NFL, and NBA coming up for expiration. Sides are jockeying for position, trying to make a case that, woe is me, we’re going to suffer if we give in.

We seem to be on the verge of a greedy war where the real losers could be the fans.

If any one of these negotiations ends with a lock out or strike I believe the fan outcry might be more substantial than previous times. Looking back at MLB’s 1994-95 strike or the NHL’s 2004-05 lockout should serve a lesson. Apparently, both leagues have figured it out as the NHL recently extended its CBA, and MLB seems to be keeping its labor peace in tact since the strike.

In this economic downturn, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Great Depression, fans will be less tolerant of the bickering between billionaire owners and millionaire players. People are having a hard time putting food on the table. Bickering sports personalities should strike them as pety. Throw in the non-stop news coverage that now sees blogs and social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and they will be able galvanize a strategic boycott on many fronts.

In football many will use college football as a singular focus as a statement, with some ignoring the NFL when the boycott ends. In an odd twist, it is likely television that could play a huge role in whether there is an NFL lockout next year. Like I said… the poor billionaire owners.

If you think I am overreacting about the potential grass roots backlash to the NFL, one need only look no further than the Tea Party movement. Let’s see how that plays out in November!

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Nick Saban sure knows how to grab a headline. Commenting last week on the proliferation of rouge agents that are willing to get coaches and athletic programs in hot water with the NCAA by funneling money to NFL eligible players, Saban said, “Agents that do this, I hate to say this, but how are they any better than a pimp? I have no respect for people who do that to young people, none.”

Pressure needs to come from the NFLPA on the agents by threatening decertification, and using outside “marketers”, such as Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels in the Reggie Bush case, to get around that issue, laws should be enacted in States that currently don’t have the Uniform Athlete Agents Act. The UAAA puts fines in place for those that try to pass themselves off as representing players without certification.

But, simply put, the NCAA really holds all of the cards in preventing the agent from performing illegal acts which can affect a player’s eligibility.  What you are seeing now with the likes of Reggie Bush is coaches are scared to lose their star players before the start of the season through suspension.

In the past, the NCAA efforts were always after the season was completed and the player and/or coaches have moved on to the pro level. At that stage, once out of the prevue of the NCAA, these individuals have continually denied any wrong doing, and have, in most cases, skirted penalties, leaving the university programs to take the hit (at least Reggie Bush has to give up his Heisman!).

This concerted effort to catch the agent or “marketer” before the season resonates throughout college football.  As a friend of the NCAA for over 40 years (coach, academic advisor, compliance officer, athletic director, and agent), I love all the attention the industry is receiving right now.  When I became an agent 17 years ago, many of my colleagues were skeptical of my motives to join an industry which has a reputation of being a little shady. As the cliché goes, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. I can assure you there are some very ethical agents in the industry but I do feel we need more. I have always said you cannot legislate integrity but you can attract people with ethical foundation, teach them the NCAA rules and how to illuminate their ethical compass.

Shining light on the problems will help clean up the industry and provide painful consequences to coaches and alumni for the loss of eligibility of their star players, which will eventually get the stakeholders of college football to assist the NCAA in preventing these violations from occurring.

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For decades, most Athletic Directors came from coaching backgrounds. The fraternity of college athletics was a closed shop where who you knew was more important than what you know.

The challenges of leading a multi-million dollar operation that is directing the collegiate sports programs at an institution requires more than just a letter jacket and coaching record, it requires a diligence to monitor programs that are under constant pressure of seeing NCAA rules violations, while making sure that boosters and fans are happy with the bottom line: a winning record.

College athletics is the front porch of a university; the institution’s most visible front. The AD is responsible for making sure that the porch is swept clean every day, providing a shining example that reflects well on the university. In some cases, a weak AD allows the dirt to be swept under the rug where often times, the rug is pulled out from under him or her as the dirt surfaces through the media.

While Pat Haden certainly wore a letterman’s jacket, when he left USC and eventually, the NFL, he became a successful businessman.

“We want to compete ferociously and win in every sport, but we want to do it ethically and within the rules,” said Haden, a former Rhodes Scholar who became a venture capitalist after an NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams. “We’re going to have a culture of compliance around here. Every meeting is going to start with the No. 1 item as compliance. … We’re going to try to be perfect. When we make mistakes, we’re going to fess up, and we’re going to try to do better next time.”

In this case, I believe Haden meets the qualifications as a bright and successful business person, that also has a football background, and in that order!. Yes, the letter jacket helps in the beginning but as in all jobs one has to take the jacket off and deal with sweeping daily that front porch

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Don’t laugh when I say that it’s time for the Cavaliers to go the route of other sports teams and embrace their home state, not just the city they reside in. With the loss of LeBron James and the PR nightmare created by owner Dan Gilbert, it is time for the Cleveland Cavaliers to reinvent themselves.

If Denver can call their hockey and baseball teams Colorado and Phoenix can call their football team Arizona why couldn’t Cavaliers call their NBA team “Ohio”?

And, I’m not done there!

As an old college AD, I would even take it a step further and announce that the Cavaliers roster will always maintain a 75% roster of Ohio natives or alums of any school in the state of Ohio.  What a recruiting coup for the nearly 100 institutions in Ohio. Before you begin laughing again about my idea you should note that Gilbert purchased Northcentral University (NCU) in 2008, a for-profit online university.

Simply put The Cleveland Cavaliers need to seriously consider a new approach! The Ohio Cavaliers has a nice ring to it and the idea could help the cash register ring!

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Growing up in Kansas City, team was the Athletics.  When they moved to Oakland, MLB granted us a new franchise and from there, the Kansas City Royals became the new team I put my allegiance to. Through the Royals,  I became a huge fan of George Brett and even named my son Brett after him.  I get the passion of having a player stay with the same team for his entire career and I admire it.  I also remember the days before Curt Flood, Andy Messersmith, Dave McNally the Seitz ruling when players were not allowed free agency.

With his announcement on ESPN, what LeBron James did was exercise his constitutional rights to the pursuit of happiness.  Now, there are no guarantees that his move will bring happiness or success but it is his choice and it was the intent of the Curt Flood, and eventually MLB’s Reserve Clause was lifted through the efforts of Messersmith and McNalley many years ago.

More importantly, the way LeBron marketed “The Decision” was brilliant and a slam dunk for the NBA! With 300 million following basketball in China one could say the decision could be labeled “Made In China” And we are talking more than jerseys.

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“We need to maintain a proper balance in our life by allocating the time we have. There are occasions where saying no is the best time management practice there is.” – Catherine Pulsifer, from We Never Seem to Have Enough Time

As an NFL agent for the past 17 years I understand the importance of growing your clientele while serving your clients’ draft preparation and contract negotiations. There was a point where I represented 20 NFL clients at one time, and with that it became obvious that when I was out recruiting next year’s prospects to grow my list of clientele I was in conflict; growing my clients individually through daily mentoring with the balance of increasing my stable of clients.

Every time I read about an off-the-field incident, such as Michael Vick’s latest birthday party episode, I always ask where was his agent when the client was planning an activity with so many flags? The answer likely to be found in the agent doing contract negotiations or recruiting prospects for the upcoming season.

Each SMWW Agent Advisor is expected to focus on mentoring and monitoring each of his or her clients. There are no guarantees this concept always works and problems off-the-field with clients will never occur. Seminars are important, but one-on-one mentoring has more potential. No agency is too big to fail!

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I have to say, it seems by nearly every measure our SMWW conference at the NHL Draft in Los Angeles was a success. More significantly, there were 10 hockey draft hopefuls from the State of California, which is a huge barometer for the potential growth of the sport of hockey in all parts of the world.

The challenge for hockey is the cost of equipment and the price of ice time. Growing the sport comes with dollar signs attached to it at the amateur level. But that being said there are so many passionate people in hockey who want to see the sport grow, it seems to have a real chance, especially after NHL appears to be finally climbing out from the effects of the 2004-05 work stoppage.

The success of the growth of soccer in the United States should serve as an inspiration to those in hockey. As a side note, one panelist at our SMWW conference reminded us how global warming has melted some ice on ponds in Canada and more and more kids are choosing soccer because of the low cost to entry and the availability of fields. What does this all mean for SMWW? We love all sports all over the world and we are well equipped to provide the leadership for globalization of sports!

Nike has put the Sole of the shoe around the world and SMWW is providing the Soul!

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Don’t laugh. Really. I get why soccer can’t introduce instant replay. I get that even the best referees and umpires in the world of sport will miss calls on occasion. But when it comes to soccer (or futbol to be technically correct) why can’t officials introduce a review of game film to determine if a player displayed a flagrant form of diving/flopping/kissing the ground?

In the NFL they review film the day after and determine if any fines should be handed down on violent hits, umpires in MLB, and referees in the NBA review film, as well. I feel diving (the “flop”) is getting worse in soccer. FIFA should consider issuing a Blue Card for flagrant and obvious dive. In issuing the Blur Card it would allow for penalty of a Red Card or at least a half of the next match. Like I said, don’t laugh! A little technology can go a long way to protect the integrity of the game. At this point, diving will continue to be an unwanted part of the game. Add in the penalty for the action, and I can assure you that flopping will become nil,

I love the game; I hate the flopping.

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I’ve got the FIFA World Cup fever, and you should too. For a guy who grew up with baseball and did not want his son play soccer I must admit I am hooked on the most popular sport worldwide. Yes, like baseball I want to see instant replay in the sport, but more importantly, I wish MLB would allow players to shake hands with the opposing team after the game. How come kids always line-up and say, “Good game” in Little League, but in the big leagues, the players act like Little Leaguers?

As for exchanging jerseys with opponents, such as they do in futbol, that might be a serious problem for many baseball players, particularly on HDTV (thank goodness David Wells has retired)!  After all, ratings are important in any sport and every sport should strive for the same level of popularity of soccer around the world without giving their shirt off their back.

If you’re not watching the World Cup, you’re missing something special. Soccer has some of the best athletes in the world. Why the U.S. doesn’t see this is a mystery to me.

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Recently I wrote a blog post about How the NCAA needs to get in line with online education (see NCAA Needs To Get In Line For Online If They Want To Improve Graduation Rates of Student Athletes).

Since writing that article I have attended two conventions, one being the North American Society of Sport Management (nassm.org). And while I share with my colleagues the SMWW Curriculum online, I found most traditional professors, in general, were not enthusiastic about the evolution of online education.  Since I have been a professor for over 40 years I definitely related to their anxiety, but only to a point.

The following week, I attended the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (nfoura.org) convention. I have a close relationship with the organization as I served as its President in 1985.  During the convention the hot topic was the discussion around Conference realignment in colligate sports. Most of my colleagues were concerned about the student- athlete and those schools in the Midwest who would be relegated to a lesser status.  But when I suggested the potential of online education as a solution to any potential  expanded conference travel, and the pressures to improve the status academic progress record (APR) by the NCAA or lose scholarship, there was a tremendous reception to the topic.

Since I have worn both hats (academic advisor and professor) it was refreshing to see academic advisors so dedicated to solutions where big time sports does not mean low graduation rates.  I admit online education is not the be-all-end-all for improved graduation rates, but I will tell you the further the student travels the more important the access to information online via the computer. It is, and no pun intended, “virtually” a no brainer!

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