When HS athletes are charge with serious crimes: Should they be allowed to continue to play?
The focus on the 9 Wayne Hills (NJ) HS football players brings up an age-old debate about whether athletes who are charged with serious crimes should be immediately suspended from all extracurricular activites (including state playoff games), or whether they should be allowed to continue with their affairs until they have their day in court. … Read more
A Parent’s Worst Nightmare: Protecting your kid from a sexual predator
Of all the sports parenting shows I’ve done over the years, today’s show was by far the most sobering. I had recalled reading a terrifying cover story in Sports Illustrated that ran way back in Sept, 1999, about how pedophiles from all over the country had become fully engaged in coaching young kids in youth … Read more
Colleges Recruiting is One Thing…But HS Coaches Recruiting Other HS Players?
The story out of upstate New York was both bizarre and stunning. It would seem to be yet another case of coaches who want to win at any cost. As my guest John O’Brien of the Syracuse Post-Standard related the details this AM on my show, as a result of some ongoing investigation by the … Read more
New Anti-Bullying Law in New Jersey Puts Greater Pressure on Coaches, Athletic Directors
On September 1st, the nation’s toughest anti-bullying law went into effect in the state of New Jersey. In short, coaches, teachers, and administrators in all public schools in New Jersey are now legally bound to not only report any bullying incident they see in school, but they are also obligated to make sure that all … Read more
Case of Patch (18-Year-Old Killed by Ball Hit Off Aluminum Bat) vs. Louisville Slugger Affirmed by Montana Supreme Court
By Steve Kallas On July 25, 2003, 18-year-old Brandon Patch was pitching in an American Legion game in Montana when a ball hit off a Louisville Slugger aluminum bat hit him in the head. Brandon Patch would die a few hours later. After attempting (unsuccessfully) to get a law passed banning the use of aluminum … Read more
The “Lunacy Tax”
By Doug Abrams Last week’s column discussed how adults’ abuse of officials can endanger player safety, particularly in collision and contact sports. In youth leagues and high school programs alike, abuse dished out by parents and coaches leads officials to quit in droves, leaving some games to less seasoned replacements who might not yet be … Read more
Why Moving the Age of Legal Body Checking to Bantam Hockey is a Good Idea
By Doug Abrams The winds of change are blowing again in youth hockey. USA Hockey, the national governing body for ice hockey in the United States, currently bans body checking in the mite and squirt divisions, which enroll players under the age of 11. Next month, the organization’s board of directors will decide whether to … Read more
Would More Criminal Prosecutions Deter Assaults on Youth Sports Officials?
By Doug Abrams In last week’s column, I criticized the nationwide trend to enact statutes that criminalize assaults on youth sports officials. I said that the real problem is not a lack of new statutes to specifically protect officials, but a lack of will to enforce existing general-application statutes against these assaults. I said that … Read more
Why Statutes Criminalizing Assaults on Sports Officials Are a Bad Idea
By Doug Abrams This is my first weekly column on Rick Wolff’s blog. Each column will discuss a youth sports topic or recent news item because children benefit when parents and coaches, the adults most influential in their athletic lives, exchange ideas with one another verbally or in writing. I look forward to comments and … Read more
Can Top D-I Football Programs Win Without Criminals on Their Roster?
As you could tell from my interview with Jeff Benedict of Sports Illustrated this past Sunday, I was thoroughly impressed with the research he did on the number of “student-athletes” in the top 25 college football programs in the country. In short, he found that almost every ranked team had football players who had serious criminal … Read more
"The Sports Edge"
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
Doug Abrams
