Category Archives: Sports

General sports articles that range from teams to drug testing to amateur sports.

The New Jim Crow: Updated with Keon Mangun’s Sentence

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UPDATE: As you read this, know that the court has now sentenced Keon Mangun to 134 months in prison. The people who killed Miranda got one year. It is the New Jim Crow!

In her book “The New Jim Crow,” Michele Alexander argues that the War on Drugs has created a new racial undercaste comprised predominately of black and Latino men. Harsh mandatory drug sentences and legal discrimination against felons are the tools, according to Ms. Alexander, for the perpetuation of racial control. Finding a black urban drug dealer guilty of third degree murder where others, equally accountable for the fatal overdose of a rural drug abuser, receive lesser sentences, is an example of what Ms. Alexander is taking about, as pointed out in a recent Minnesota case.

A Morrison County jury recently found Keon Mangun guilty of third-degree murder. Mangun, a North Minneapolis drug peddler, allegedly sold heroin to a guy who sold it to another person who gave it to a woman who overdosed and died. The woman was Miranda Gosiak, a 19 year old living in Little Falls, MN. When she died, she was 100 miles from Mangun who never visited Little Falls or anywhere else in Morrison County, and never sold drugs to Gosiak. Nevertheless, the jury found Mangun was the proximate cause of Gosiak’s untimely death. He faces 11 years in prison.

According to a report of this tragedy by Paul Walsh, Mangun sold heroin to Christian Dahl, who along with Brandon Bedford had traveled to North Minneapolis to buy drugs. Dahl and Bedford then trafficked the drugs to Little Falls where they and Tanya Ashley “partied” with Gosiak for two days before she died..

According to Walsh, Dahl was the chief witness against Mangun. In exchange for his testimony, Dahl was allowed to plead to possession and received a sentence of one year in jail plus 20 years of probation. Bedford was charged with third-degree murder, but is currently a fugitive. Ashley was allowed to plead to possession and is already free. So far the only person facing significant jail time is Mangun, the man least connected to Gosiak.

So how does this fit into the New Jim Crow? It fits when you take into consideration that the prosecution saved the harshest treatment for the only black individual involved. It fits when you take into account that Mangun was tried and convicted by a jury from a county that is 97.7% white; a county that he never visited and had no connection with. If Mangun is guilty of third degree murder then surely so are Dahl, Ashley, and Bedford. Yet the Morrison County prosecutor thought it just to go after Mangun for murder, while showing leniency to people far more proximate to Miranda Gosiak’s tragic death.

Heroin use leads to tragedies, and all efforts to end its abuse are laudable. Yet the perpetuation of old Jim Crow by putting new gloss on Minnesota’s third-degree murder statute is not a legitimate way to fight rural drug abuse. Minnesota must develop a response to its heroin epidemic, but it must be equitable and just for all Minnesotans.The Minnesota Court of Appeals will hear this case. Hopefully the court will read Ms. Alexander’s book beforehand.
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David Martin and Clark Griffith provide assistance to black men who have felonies on their records to complete probation and find employment.

Prime Time Sports, Second Day.

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The first panel Dave Andrews, Commissioner of the American Hockey League, Steve Angel, NBA official, George Daniel of the Lacrosse League, Brian McKenna of the ECHL, and ToOm Wright of Mixed Martial Arts.
Each discsussed their leagues. Of note is Angel saying that officials do make mistakes, and that rule are vague and subject to interpretation. They follow trends and examine each play. (Hard to do, I would think.) Blown calls that impact outcome of the game, are tweeted! Says people on fan panels are very poor at picking block/charge fouls. 80% think their team is right.

Tom Wright now talks about league transparency and officiating.

everyone concerend about in park attendance and fan experience. This is the big issue for these guys as most fans are not hockey fans, says, McKenna. The enhanced fan experience is the big issue.

Brian Burke, Never give away tickets and discounts must not be at a level that offends regular customers. Also, “teams should not market their individual players, they should market the team as a whole; leagues can market stars.” There is wisdom here. Burke is one of my favorite executuves, smart, decisive.

All agree ticket prices are issue, but people pay. Try to get people into seats by puck drop. try to get fans engaged to make noise. (I hate the artificial “Make Noise” notice on the big board.) But also need to give fans VIP access to media in the arena.

Need to keep in park attendance relevant and we will discuss this in the next panel.

Burke and Pistore pick up trash in arenas. Smart move. By the way, I always picked up bottle caps to keep fans from slipping on them!!!

Social Media Panel, Joe Ross says that people are addicted to phones. Expect to have information immediately. Player trade, for example. Dr. Petouhoff says that need to monetize in-park social media and improve in park experience. MORE Need wireless in stadium because people want to use phnes in the park. Won’t go to game if phone doesn’t work.

McCauley says attendance means dollars from social media. Social media puts people in seats hence more revenue. Live in game hash tags etc. a media show to augment the fan experience.

Maychak says everyone needs to tweet etc. All exec tweet etc and are connected.
Social media allows tracking behavior and then benefitting the appropriate behavior.

Students won’t go to games without being able to facebook!!!! Must be able to track social media to get full benefit.

Monetize social media. ROI, awareness/interest/considerataion/purchase/loyalty/advocacy/referrals–repeated own customer data and behavioral data. Drives sales concessions/merchandise.

Need to have content aggregated in one place! How do you do this, I might ask. The young crowd is texting not Facebookincug etc. Create VIP club on social media, give them points for proper behavior. Send coupon for concessions sales. How about that.
customer data. If 1% of baseball fans participate, $80,000,000 increase in revenue.

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Brian Burke, If we don’t curse when we speak, players don’t take it seriously.

Prime Time Sports Conference: Fifth Update

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I am at the Prime TIme Sports Law and Marketing Conference in Toronto. I will blog during this two period on high lights of the conference.

First Panel, Doug Boies, Indianapolis Speedway, Tim Leiweke, Brian Burke, Calgary Flames, Chris Lencheski, Comcast, Bruce Popko, Buffalo Bills.

What is consistent here is the need to constantly improve the inpark experience to make attendance relevant in the age of HD tv.

They all speak of media as the driver and that is the way they intend to get to young users.

All speakers are now dealing with the need to deal properly with the media. Essentially, media people need to be tolerated and also need to “remember some papers are only of value to people who own a puppy or a parakeet.”

Last major topic was on marketing and the advice is to market something else than winning, as winning will not happen enough. Focus on fun etc.

Now Gary Bettman is being interviewed. Says league recovered very fast and after lockout.

Teams need deal with real problems and make changes even if that means short term labor pain. Now they have a good system and ten year deal. Nothing works unless you have the right system.

Revenues will grow by $1,000,000,000 òver the next three years.

The program I participated in was on drug use. I said that drug use can be traced to 776BC in Greece where herbs and other stimulants were used along with eating gonads and hearts. I then went through the years with the evolution of doping. From the Greeks to Lance Armstrong

Steve Fehr said baseball player’s association did not catch on to the extent and danger of steroids until late and should have embraced it sooner.

Sara Moore on marketing the Grey Cup/ Says need to go to the grass roots to get people to play football. continuum of interest from non-fans to most rabid fans.

Now we move to advanced analytics moderated by Dr. Dana Sinclair who says data used today is ridiculous:
From the speakers, Kevin Abrams, Kevin Chevaldayoff, Patrick Morris, Dave Nonis, Alex Rucker. Abrams says scouts make most decisions in football. Intelligence counts and they do research into character. Cheveldayoiff Hockey still split on analytics, still in infancy. Says he looks at data and finds new things that help analyze. Looks for unseen factors. This guy may get it!! Says no one variable looks for multipletrends.

Morris says NHL is really into data. Corsi, Fenwick, names? Time on ice. This is an agent, I would think.

Dave Nonis GM Maple Leaf. You stats, not sure they are valid. But thinks something there of value. Gets stuff regularly. Gets poluted stats. Not generated by person who uses standard to determine blocked shot for example. hard stats are time on ice shots etc. Still prefers to see player.

Alex Rucker cameras allows for total analysis of everthing that happens on the court. Analytics only one part of the story. Character, intellect, mental toughness cited as important, if not most important feature. How do you analyze that?

Anton Thun says that analytics is only codification of scouting data. Same thing, he says.

Jack Morris Should be in the Hall Of Fame

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Jack Morris was a great, dominate, and very competitive pitcher. He won 254 games and lost 186. He pitched 3,824 innings and struck out 2478. Furthermore, Morris pitched at a time when he expected to pitch the whole game, therefore he had to manage his performance to allow him to do this. If he pitched today, he would only pitch six innings and his WHIP would be better.

Murray Chass has a very good discussion of this issue here that you should read.
I admired Morris for his competitiveness as shown in his ten inning victory in game seven in 1991. It was the best pitched game I have seen and it shows that he was a true Alpha player, who leads teams and beats others when it has to be done. He is deserving of this recognition.

Minneapolis: Clearing Skies at 5:00pm

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This photo shows clearing skies in Minneapolis after a cloudy week. Clearing usually means colder, so hang on folks.

Why Orchestras and Football Teams Are In the Same Business

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Professional orchestras and sports teams are remarkably similar in their business operations and in labor relations. Orchestra management and sports management are in the same business, the difference being whether the players are holding a bat or a bassoon. In both industries,management scouts and hires talented players to perform difficult feats in such a compelling way that people pay for tickets to their events and fill concert halls and stadiums. In both industries,labor problems have caused enormous disruptions such as the one that has closed Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis for the last year. Just as the first baseball union formed the Players’ League and tried to play its own schedule, the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra have formed the Minnesota Orchestra Musicians to produce their own concerts. The “Players’ League” failed as the baseball players lacked capital and had the tendency to overpay themselves. The Minnesota Orchestra Musicians are following a similar path now and will learn about orchestra management’s importance.

Professional athletes and musicians start their careers early in life, either playing in Little League or in a school band. They both practice their skills the prescribed 10,000 hours to perfect the art.As they improve, they begin to stand out from their peers and are given privileges, receive adulation, and develop commensurate egos. Both players compete in countless try outs, are recruited, and attend special schools, The Eastman School and Julliard are the same as LSU and Alabama in this respect. Star at either and play later as a professional.

Players in both “sports” survive a rigorous elimination process where they are promoted over peers and then find themselves in the “Big Leagues.” They note the full audiences and regale in the applause. They understand that all of this is due to their unique talent, especially when they are the featured soloist playing Bach’s “Toccata & Fugue,” or quarterback starring in the Super Bowl. The audience is not cheering the Board of Directors are they? This sense of self leads to monumental labor conflicts which is the history of professional sports. The National Football League has adopted a salary cap/revenue sharing plan that lends itself to the orchestra setting, and should be applied to the Minnesota Orchestra.

The NFL system is based on a revenue metric and a percentage of revenue to be paid to the players. For the orchestra, the union and management would agree on the revenue attributable to the musicians–from tickets sold for orchestra events, sales of DVD’s and other media, to t-shirts,and then agree on the percentage payable to the players, and different percentages can be paid from tickets and DVD’s. The allocation between the players can also be part of the agreement.Most of the elements of this plan are already in place. It is a matter of agreeing to the concept and then sitting down and working out the details.

I have been involved in labor relations for decades and recognize that this is the time for bold action by the orchestra board. Such bold action by the NFL created the balanced plan that benefits owners, players, and fans of that sport. By adopting such a plan, the Orchestra can look forward to long term labor peace and we concert goers can enjoy the wonderful music they create.

Minneapolis Mayoral Election; Vote For Your Favorite Three

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Today is election day for Mayor of Minneapolis and there are thirty-five candidates and the system to be used to elect one of them is called Ranked Choice. This means you are asked to vote for your top three candidates, and that is why there are thirty-five candidates. Of course, a very small fee and simple candidate registration system also helped.  For more information from the newspaper look here.

Ranked Choice voting works like this. You vote for your top three candidates, or just one, if you wish. Then when no candidate has 50% plus one of the vote, the votes for the least popular candidate are thrown out and the second place candidate is advanced and the total taken again. That means if you vote for Alpha as your first choice, and Alpha is the least vote getter, then your vote for Beta in second place becomes your first choice. This process repeats until there is one candidate with the 50% plus one. This process is all computer generated so we will see who wins.

Remember that this is the state that prides itself on no voter fraud but where in 2008 a candidate’s supporters found 300 ballots in the trunk of a car, and then found a couple hundred in a living room and kept finding lost ballots until their candidate won. No one ever asked, like a judge, just how these ballots got in the car. How wonderful that all of those lost ballots were found so the people who cast those ballots would not be disenfranchished! This is the state where the Secretary of State just put up a web based voter registration system. This is so people in Uzbekistan can register to vote in Minnesota. How terrific! Remember, making a person show indentification before registration or voting is merely an effort to supress the vote!! No doubt, limiting the vote to residents and citizens does supress the vote.

The Best Autumn Color is Here

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This tree in front of my house is an Autumn Blaze Maple. It is a combination of the better features of the silver and red maples and was named Urban Tree of the Year in 2003.   The neighborhood was hit hard by Dutch Elm disease over the last decades and has lost a lot of the huge elms that formed a canopy over the streets.  Now a mix of trees, some reaching maturity, form a mosaic of autumn color to contrast with the uni-colored elm coloration which is mainly yellow.  The move to mixed diciduous trees has some benefits, but I do miss the cathedral like canopy of 100 year old elms.
Unfortunately, many areas planted Ash trees that are now being attacked by Emerald Ash Borer. That did not occur in my Lowry Hill neighborhood in Minneapolis, thankfully. Here is a photo of the street with the Autumn Blaze in the middle.

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The snow will fly soon, and an entirely different aesthetic will occur that is beautiful in its own way.

Bart Giamatti’s “The Green Fields of the Mind,” After a Fenway Victory (Link Fixed)

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Former Yale President and Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti was a baseball fan. His writings reflect that and in this excerpted piece, you can get a feel for the man’s baseball passion.

                                                                 “The Green Fields of the Mind “

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone.

Somehow, the summer seemed to slip by faster this time. Maybe it wasn’t this summer, but all the summers that, in this my fortieth summer, slipped by so fast. There comes a time when every summer will have something of autumn about it. Whatever the reason, it seemed to me that I was investing more and more in baseball, making the game do more of the work that keeps time fat and slow and lazy. I was counting on the game’s deep patterns, three strikes, three outs, three times three innings, and its deepest impulse, to go out and back, to leave and to return home, to set the order of the day and to organize the daylight. I wrote a few things this last summer, this summer that did not last, nothing grand but some things, and yet that work was just camouflage. The real activity was done with the radio–not the all-seeing, all-falsifying television–and was the playing of the game in the only place it will last, the enclosed green field of the mind. There, in that warm, bright place, what the old poet called Mutability does not so quickly come. . . .(The entire article can be found “Here.  I had dinner with Giamatti before he became Commissioner and he told me about his writing. When he was Commissioner,  he said “No one would publish this stuff, (including Yale University)  until I became Commissioner and now everyone wants to.”

During dinner, I recall we discussed baseball and our shared favorite song, “Amazing Grace” and replayed our shared favorite movie, “The Third Man.”  Dessert was shared chocolate fondue. It was a wonderful evening. 

This is a maple in front of my house. The Orange color is a combination of silver maple and blaze maple genetics.

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