Summary

Reversing Field invites students, professionals, and enthusiasts of sport – whether law, management and marketing, or the game itself – to explore the legal issues and regulations surrounding collegiate and professional athletics in the United States. This theoretical and methodological interrogation of sports law openly addresses race, labor, gender, and the commercialization of sports, while offering solutions to the disruptions that threaten its very foundation during an era of increased media scrutiny and consumerism. In over thirty chapters, academics, practitioners, and critics vigorously confront and debate matters such as the Arms Race, gender bias, racism, the Rooney Rule, and steroid use, offering new thought and resolution to the vexing legal issues that confront sports in the 21^st century.

Watch the 2007 Symposium that inspired this book.

Contents

• Foreword, John Carlos
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction, Stacey B. Evans
• The Interconnectivity of Sports to Commercialization, Labor, and Race, John W. Fisher II
• Part I: Commercialization: The Recruiting and Selling of the Modern Athlete
  • Overview, andré douglas pond cummings
  • More Lightning and Less Thunder: The Challenge for NCAA Athletics, Bernard Franklin
  • The Value and Perils of Intercollegiate Athletics: A Presidential Perspective, David C. Hardesty, Jr.
  • Exploring the Commercialized Arms Race Metaphor, Alfred Dennis Mathewson
  • Describing Racism as Asymmetrical Market Imperfections, or How to Determine Whether the NBA Dress Code is Racist, Andre L. Smith
  • Athletes as Television Celebrities: Why We Watch; How They Benefit; Must They Be Responsible?, Sherri Burr
• Part II: Labor: How the Athlete Changes the Economic Playing Field
  • Overview, Anne Marie Lofaso
  • A. Balls or Strikes: Are Economic Weapons Finding the Zone?
    • Introduction, Jeffrey M. Hirsch
    • The 1994–’95 Baseball Strike and National Labor Relations Board: To the Precipice and Back Again, William B. Gould IV
    • 1994 Baseball Players’ Strike: A Case Study in Labor’s Use of its Most Effective Economic Weapon, Dennis P. Walsh
    • The State of Sports Law and Policy: Views from a Labor Law Professor, William B. Gould IV
  • B. False/Positives: Debating the Merits of Drug Testing
    • Introduction, Anne Marie Lofaso
    • The Temptation of Performance-Enhancing Drugs, andré douglas pond cummings
    • Performance-Enhancing Drugs and How They Affect Today’s Athlete: Views from a Medical, Doctor Julian Bailes
    • From Barry Bonds to USADA: Protecting the Interests of “Drug-Free” Athletes, Timothy Davis
    • Challenging the Premise of Steroid Testing in Sports, Wm. David Cornwell, Sr.
• Part III: Finding Equal Footing: Gender Issues in Sports
  • Overview: Progress Riddled with Disappointment, Anne Marie Lofaso
  • The Invisible Pregnant Athlete and the Promise of Title IX, Deborah L. Brake
  • Title IX Backlash and Intercollegiate Athletics, Barbara Osborne
  • Reflections of a Former Athlete as a Young Woman: Growing Up Under Title IX, Anne Marie Lofaso
  • Girls Can Play, Too: Has the Lack of Female Leadership in NCAA Athletics Become an Afterthought?, Bethany Swaton
• Part IV: Race Issues in Sports
  • Overview: A Troubling History but a Bright Future, andré douglas pond cummings
  • Race in Sports: The Continuing Dilemma, Leonard J. Elmore
  • A. Racing From the Past: Exposing Racism in Today’s Collegiate Athletics
    • Introduction, andré douglas pond cummings
    • The Legacy of Brown: Commodification of the African American Student-Athlete?, Dana D. Brooks and Ronald Althouse
    • Using Social Psychology to Evaluate Race and Law in Sports, Michael A. McCann
    • From the Inside Looking Out: Racism in Men’s Collegiate Coaching, Marlon LeBlanc
    • Progress Realized? The Continuing American Indian Mascot Quandary, andré douglas pond cummings
  • B. Professional Equality: The Rooney Rule
    • Introduction, Todd J. Clark
    • Minorities Are Separate and Unequal: A Look at the Minority Hiring Practices in Collegiate and Professional Athletics, Floyd Keith
    • The Changing Landscape of African Americans in Sports, Kenneth L. Shropshire
    • The Critical Role of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, Cyrus Mehri
    • The Fritz Pollard Alliance, the Rooney Rule, and the Quest to “Level the Playing Field” in the National Football League, N. Jeremi Duru
    • Pushing Weight, andré douglas pond cummings

Author

andré douglas pond cummings is Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law. cummings holds a JD from Howard University School of Law.

Anne Marie Lofaso is Associate Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law. She holds a JD from University of Pennsylvania Law School, an AB from Harvard University, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.

With a foreword by Dr. John Carlos

Contributors: Ronald Althouse, Dr. Julian Bailes, Deborah Brake, Dana D. Brooks, Sherri Burr, John Carlos, Todd J. Clark, John Carlos, David Cornwell, andré douglas pond cummings, Timothy Davis, N. Jeremi Duru, Leonard J. Elmore, Stacey B. Evans, John Fisher, Bernard Franklin, William B. Gould IV, David C. Hardesty Jr., Jeffrey Hirsch, Floyd Keith, Marlon LeBlanc, Anne Marie Lofaso, Alfred Mathewson, Michael McCann, Cyrus Mehri, Barbara Osborne, Andre L. Smith, Bethany Swaton, Kenneth Shropshire, Dennis Walsh.

Reviews

“[This book] is a welcomed reservoir of information for reference by scholars, students, practitioners, jurists, and others in the field of sports law.”
James McCurdy, Gonzaga University School of Law

“Outstanding . . . . [will] contribute to the debate considerably.”
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Florida Coastal School of Law

Vidcast

Interviews

Intervierw with andré douglas pond cummings

Intervierw with Anne Marie Lofaso