Mammoth Blog

There were more than a few fans of the sport that were left scratching their heads when a rematch between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson was announced as the headliner for UFC 103.

According to Franklin, the bout makes more sense than initially meets the eye.Hendo Rich

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Franklin for an exclusive interview which was featured in Extreme Fighter Magazine, and the former UFC champ made it quite clear that he still felt as if he had some serious unfinished business with Henderson left over from there back and forth brawl in January of 2009.

When asked whether or not he believed he had done enough to be awarded with the decision in his UFC 93 headlining bout with Hendo, Franklin wore his heart on his sleeve, "I do believe that I did. It's difficult for me to accept losing a fight when really, I never ended up getting hit flush at any point in that fight where I was like "Wow", not even when we were on the ground. The only time that he mounted any kind of damage on the ground was midway through the first round when he had me against the cage, but still, nothing really landed. Even when he had me against the cage, he couldn't land a punch to my head so he had to resort to kneeing me in the back of the leg, and I stood up from there. From that point on, I just don't feel that offensively he did a whole lot in that fight, and I did.

"I was very effective on the feet if you look at the punch stats. I don't think that the judges took the amount of body shots and body kicks I was landing into consideration. At the end of the fight there was more damage inflicted on him than there was on me. He was able to take me down a couple times, but I was able to get back up. Even when I didn't get back up he wasn't able to advance out of my guard or improve position.

"The only damage he really did to me was from the headbutts and the eye poke."

Even when the conversation turned to other topics, the bad taste left in his mouth from the controversial loss at the hands of Henderson had a way of spilling over.

It truly seemed like Franklin had a desire to fight Henderson for the second time more than anyone he had ever wanted to face before.

"The first fight with Anderson is a good example, and this will tie in; In the first fight with Anderson I had some things going on in my life and I wasn't really zeroed in on that fight the way I should be, and with a fighter like Anderson, that's not going to work," explained Rich when asked whether or not he would like to avenge his loss to Lyoto Machida in the future. "So after the first fight there was a desire to fight him again, but the second time he just legitimately beat me. Well, he legitimately beat me both times, but even if I wanted to fabricate some excuse, I just couldn't. The same thing goes for Lyoto. He's a great fighter, and he beat me. I can put my head down on my pillow at night and say, 'These are the fights that I've lost.' If I don't fight them again I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

"However, you take a fight like the Henderson loss, where I really, truly feel like I won that fight, then that's the one that I would definitely like to fight again."

As we all know, Franklin has recently been granted his wish. Now it's up to him what he does with it.

One thing is for certain though, Rich will have redemption on his mind when he climbs into the Octagon this September. source>>>

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The FramesDirect.com affiliate program offers commissions to website owners who place FramesDirect.com advertisements on their sites. Website owners are then compensated with a percentage of any resulting sales. The dollar amount and number of sales are tracked through TrackAssure affiliate software. The FramesDirect.com affiliate program, in addition to being available through TrackAssure, is also available through the Commission Junction affiliate network, the PepperJam affiliate network, and the LinkConnector affiliate network.

FramesDirect.com's affiliate program offers affiliate publishers a commission of 8% per referred sale. Affiliates are paid monthly by check when commissions reach $50 or more. AffiliateTraction provides many promotional options for affiliates, including banners, text links, coupons, and data feeds. The FramesDirect.com affiliate marketing program is promoted directly by AffiliateTraction to affiliate publishers, who can contact AffiliateTraction for support through phone or email 5 days a week.

Haggas explained one of the benefits of a professionally managed program, "We know all too well the hassle of a multi-network approach. While multiple networks are essential to a successful program, the paperwork and contracts can be a headache. AffiliateTraction has seven different departments all working to optimize our program, so we can focus our energy into other areas."

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To learn more about AffiliateTraction's services, visit: http://affiliatetraction.com/ source>>>

Many affiliate managers subscribe to the Pareto Principle (80-20 rule) when it comes to affiliates, where 80 percent of transactions come from 20 percent of affiliates.

I was thinking about the number of affiliate programs I active promote, as opposed to those where I have an open account.

I'm one of the 4 percenters that actively promote 21-30 affiliate programs.

How many affiliate programs do you actively promote?

To all of the affiliate managers out there that accept that a minority of your affiliates are active, have you actually ever done anything to activate and retain your affiliates?

This data point and more are in the 2009 edition of the Affiliate Summit AffStat Report - get your free copy at http://affstat.com/.
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Of course Michael Vick should be reinstated to the NFL. Whether that comes immediately or after a suspension is up to the commissioner. Roger Goodell's mission to scrub the league's image should not pre-empt Vick's right to rally from a crime for which he has paid deeply.

Besides, it is the NFL we're talking about. Character doesn't exactly live here. It pretty much rents by the week.

If Goodell wants to add a month of games to Vick's 23-month federal sentence on a dogfighting conviction, fair enough. Imagine the PR blowback if Vick is starting for somebody's team on opening day. Plus, the last time Vick talked to the commissioner, he barked a few lies about not being involved. He also lied to his former employer, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank.

Goodell wants to sense genuine remorse from Vick. He wants to see that Vick has changed. That's a purely subjective call. You have to think Vick is sorry he lost many, many millions of dollars in salary and endorsements. He's sorry he's bankrupt. He's sorry about losing his reputation and two years of his prime. As for remorse regarding the savagery he practiced on dogs? Who knows?

If Goodell senses a lack of remorse, does he give Vick eight games off instead of four? Does he give him a year? What's the shelf life for lack of remorse?
FIND MORE STORIES IN: National Football League | Atlanta Falcons | Peyton Manning | Tom Brady | Michael Vick | Roger Goodell | Ben Roethlisberger | Arthur Blank | James Harrison | Boomer Esiason | The Longest Yard

Has Vick changed? He spent 18 months in the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan. Leavenworth doesn't have tennis courts or a spa. That could change a man. One way or another.

The point is, Vick has done what was mandated. That is really the only point. The NFL is not in business to set conduct standards or determine levels of morality, any more than Hollywood is. The NFL is entertainment. Vick was a very good entertainer. He should be allowed to make money at it. If he can still do that at the highest level, he should be given the chance. Case closed.

The bigger question is: Can he?

And who will give him the chance?

He's 29. He has missed two seasons. I don't know if they reprise "The Longest Yard" in Leavenworth. Maybe they do, but James Harrison doesn't play there. "Nobody has any idea what kind of shape he's in," Boomer Esiason said Tuesday.

Vick the player was dynamic and wildly entertaining. He was not a great quarterback, even at the top of his game. He didn't complete enough passes (53.8% for his six-year career) and his touchdown passes-to-interceptions ratio (71 to 52 ) wasn't good. He fumbled 55 times and lost 46 of them.

Compare that to the Peyton Manning/Tom Brady gold standard. Manning's career completion percentage is 64.4; Brady's is 63. Manning has thrown about twice as many TD passes as interceptions, 333 to 165. Brady is even better: 197-86. Ben Roethlisberger has completed 62.4% of his throws.

Vick was a running quarterback in a league that likes its QBs mobile, but pocketed. In 2006, when Vick ran for 1,039 yards and passed for 2,474, the Falcons ranked 25th in points scored and finished 7-9.

"Michael Vick is arguably greatest athlete ever to play the position," Esiason said. "(But) he's not a championship quarterback, because the game is meant to be played the way Tom Brady and Peyton Manning play it."

Vick's game is spontaneity. The NFL doesn't work that way.

That said, Vick needs to be allowed a chance. Some team will throw him a lifeline. It will be a team with a forgiving fanbase and an owner not bothered by public perception. It will be a team whose coach has some job security and is creative enough to maximize Vick's unique skills.

"He's going to be polarizing, wherever he goes," Esiason said. "Ownership will be hammered for signing the guy. You could look at 32 teams and see four or five willing to give him a chance."

Esiason's Ouija board says Washington, Oakland, maybe Jacksonville. After that, it's anyone's guess. Just like Vick's future in the NFL. The only certainty is Vick should be allowed to spin the wheel. source>>>

at horse racing tracks being legalized.

Both plans are being pitched as saviors to the Rust Belt state's ailing economy - the slots plan by raising $933 million for state coffers and salvaging the state's once proud horse racing industry; the prospective casino plan by promising 34,000 new jobs in Ohio's struggling urban centers.

The two plans also are alike in another way: Both are backed by big gambling interests that will spend millions ahead of November's vote fighting for their side.

Charlie Luken, chairman of the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee pledged an "aggressive fight" Tuesday to educate Ohioans about the benefits the four gambling palaces could bring.

The committee is a joint effort of Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming Inc. and Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Among the committee's promises are "first-class casinos" in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo; $11 billion in economic impact within the first five years; $651 million in casino tax revenue for counties, cities and school districts; and $200 million in upfront fees paid to the state for work force development and job training.

The leading voice against the issue is likely to be MTR Gaming Group Inc., which has among its properties Mountaineer Casino & Resort in Chester, W.Va., and the Scioto Downs horse track in Columbus, where some of the new slot machines will go. Cleveland casino developer Jeffrey Jacobs, whose family once owned the Cleveland Indians, is the chairman of Mountaineer's board.

During a July 3 hearing on the controversial slots plan, which places up to 2,500 video lottery terminals at each of seven Ohio horse tracks, MTR CEO Robert Griffin said his company planned to spend between $6 million and $8 million to defeat the casino plan.

The slots proposal, championed by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland as a way to balance the budget, was nearly derailed when Republican lawmakers gleaned from tracks that they were unlikely to continue with slots investments until the fate of the casino amendment is known.

The executive order Strickland eventually signed removed a provision that would have guaranteed refunds to tracks for their initial investments if the casino issue passed.

While gambling titans battle out the casino amendment's fate, it remains to be seen whether victory for one form of gambling - slots - this summer will soften Ohio voters' attitudes toward another form - casinos - this fall.

Even in desperate economic times, the conservative Ohio Roundtable and anti-gambling church leaders say they are certain the casino issue will again fail. They have successfully fought back expanded gambling proposals for two decades, most recently last fall.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner certified the casino issue for the ballot Tuesday, saying the committee had 452,956 valid signatures among the 850,000 it submitted. That surpassed the 402,000 necessary to qualify for a place on the November ballot.

But Brunner's office has simultaneously launched an investigation into the propriety of the petition effort, following complaints by opponents that the issue was being misrepresented, that names of the dead appeared on some petitions, and that felons had been enlisted to collect names.

MTR, meanwhile, filed suit late Friday with the Ohio Supreme Court challenging the validity of the casino backers' petition on similar grounds. Under a new, expedited hearing schedule, Brunner must file a response by Friday and MTR must lay out its case by Friday, with Brunner's office required to make its final reply by Tuesday.

If MTR succeeds, it would not be the first time that clashing gambling interests canceled out each other's efforts in Ohio. Penn National spent $36 million last fall to defeat a ballot measure proposing a $600 million casino resort in Clinton County in southwest Ohio, which was backed by Lake Entertainment. source>>>

It's National Poker Week and poker players are descending on Congress in an effort to convince lawmakers to once again legalize online poker.

With scores of meetings scheduled this week with Congressional staffs, the Poker Players Alliance, a gambling trade association, is pushing Congress to scuttle its 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prohibits financial institutions from taking online payments for gambling. The poker players alliance also is campaigning for poker -- which it calls a game of skill -- to be exempted from the Act.

The Act has been widely criticized for being unenforceable, possibly unconstitutional, and unworkable, but its presence complicates the online gambling landscape.

The Poker Players Alliance, whose chairman is former U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), is supporting legislation sponsored by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), who favors regulating online gambling rather than outlawing it. Frank is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The alliance is hosting a poker tournament Tuesday with the proceeds to go to the USO and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The trade group, which is supported by a Canadian online gambling operation, has been working to explain to Congressional staff members how online gambling can be regulated.

The poker players group is also asking that several million dollars of winnings that are due to online poker players be paid. The federal government recently froze more than $30 million in poker players' accounts.

The majority of online poker players hail from the United States, while most of the gambling sites are hosted by sites outside the country, usually in the United Kingdom. source>>>

- With Mississippi's state-licensed casinos taking in $47.6 million, or 20 percent less in June compared to the same month last year, experts say the recession may have caught up with the state's casino industry.

Although casino revenue has fallen, Mississippi has not experienced the long-term double-digit monthly percentage declines seen in Nevada and New Jersey.

Mississippi's casino winnings from January to April dropped 7.9 percent this year to $872.8 million from $947.8 million in 2008. And in May, casino winnings declined by just $11.4 million, or 4.9 percent, compared to May 2008.

New Jersey, the second largest casino market, saw winnings fall 13.6 percent in June compared with a year ago -- the second-best month this year in percentage decline. And in Nevada, the nation's top casino market, revenue for the fiscal year is down 13.7 percent.

Casino revenue, or "win," is the net amount of money won from gamblers. It is not profit.

The gross earnings figure represents casino revenue only -- separate from hotel, restaurant or bar revenues generated by the resorts.

Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said he tracks the numbers for Nevada and New Jersey and he knew Mississippi, the third largest gambling market, would not be immune to the large monthly declines for long.

"Considering today's economy, this is not shocking," Gregory said Tuesday about June's figures from by the Mississippi State Tax Commission. "It just caught up with us here in Mississippi. You can just look throughout the country and see double-digit decreases."

Mississippi's state-licensed casinos won less money from gamblers in June than during any month since the reopening of coast casinos since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Figures show the state's 30 casinos won $189.7 million last month compared to revenue of $237.3 million in June 2008. It was the worst June since 2003.

The figures were the worst monthly showing since December 2005 when Gulf Coast casinos began reopening after Katrina slammed into Mississippi in August of that year. The casinos won $145.7 million that month.

Jacob Oberman, a casino consultant for Las Vegas-based CB Richard Ellis, said regional, drive-to markets have fared better during the recession than major gambling destinations that draw from a wider radius of people.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast is considered one of three major gambling destinations and Oberman said to some degree it will experience the same problems seen in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Casino revenue dropped by 28 percent on Gulf Coast in June.

"It's not as big of deal to drive 20 minutes and go to a casino and go home and spend $50," Oberman said, referring to the regional markets. "It is a much bigger deal to spend on a plane ticket, the hotel, plus restaurants and gambling. So if you take those three markets, they are a little bit behind the eight ball."

One positive note, Gregory said, is that traffic at Mississippi casinos has not fallen. People are just spending less money, he said.

"I think the penny slots are getting more play than the dollar slots these days. People are just watching what they are spending," Gregory said. "Instead of staying three or four days, they're staying two days. Instead of putting $100 in the slots, they are putting $50 in the slots," he said.

Oberman said the lack of available home equity loans and lines of credit have hurt people's discretionary funds and casinos located in struggling housing markets are suffering.

"If you look at Florida, some of the markets that the Gulf Coast draws from, their home markets have really dropped off dramatically. If you look at Tallahassee and Jacksonville, they're down pretty dramatically," Oberman said. "That's going to curb people's spending." source>>>

OK, I know. Football season is around the corner, but this is North Carolina where basketball is king, except on high school Friday nights. Be that as it may, let's spend a moment considering the changes set to take start when UNC and Duke, etc., kickoff the 2009-10 basketball season.

The two major ones, I believe, are overdue.

The first is what is being called the no-charge rule underneath the basket, which is already the rule of the road in the NBA. The change will prohibit a secondary defender from just standing around under the basket in hopes of taking a charge.

Under the new rule, so-called "help" defenders must establish position outside the area between the backboard and front of the rim to draw a charge. More on this change in a moment.

The other rule change alters what happens when a fouled played is hurt. In the past, a coach could replace the injured player with anyone on his roster. Now, the opposing coach picks one of the four remaining players on the court.

I like that rule because it prevents a player who hits less than half his foul shots from faking an injury down the stretch to allow an 80 percent shooter to step to the line. Tell me that has never happened. Right.

Now back to the no-charge rule.

It's about time. I get tired - and I'm sure a lot of college basketball fans do, too - watching some player sliding in at the last second to try to take a charge from a player making an offense move to the basket.

Play some defense, please. Or get out of the way.

During the recent East Coast Invitational team basketball camp at the Jacksonville Commons Recreation Center, I talked with Shawn Williams, who was overseeing the officials at the four-day camp. He officiates junior college games as well as women's college games.

The no-charge rule was designed to reduce the amount of contact under the basket, a concern expressed by coaches that led to the change. While that likely will occur, the change will only make life more difficult for officials since there is no line on the court to determine the no-charge area.

" Without a line underneath, I think that's going to put more of burden on officials to try to watch the paint area and judging whether, from the lead position, if he's underneath the basket," Williams said. "Then if he's underneath the basket we've got to determine that's a block, automatic. Whereas years past we judged charge-block by chest-to-chest contact no matter where on the court.

"So it's going to be a major change. Now not only do I have make one of the toughest calls in basketball, but I got to decide where he's standing at on the court, which changes the whole philosophy of that whole call."

Williams, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native who lives in Sanford, said officials won't have to change where they stand on the court because of the rule change. But, he added, it is sure to "add to more controversy" between the officials and coaches.

"Now that just gives the coaches another tool. Not only do they think that call is missed most of the time, now they're going to say he was underneath the basket. And that's also a judgment because there are no lines on the court," Williams said.

If the rule remains in years to come, Williams predicted that "eventually" a line will be painted on the court, which he would welcome - as, no doubt, his fellow officials would as well.

"It would take the question mark out of it. In this game there's lines for everything. Out of bounds, 3-points, coach's box," he said. "But there is no line to say whether he is or isn't underneath."

Regardless, Williams doesn't see the rule changing the game that much.

"I don't think it's going to have any impact. I really don't. The calls of the game I don't think are going to change much," he said. "I think what's it going to do is make the coaches tell that young man he must get out and play some defense. You can't just stand there no longer. You've got to play some defense."

He also predicted the demise of the 2-3 zone, which makes one wonder how Syracuse will play defense under coach Jim Boeheim.

"I see the zone, 2-3, going away because that's pretty much what the big man did, he just turned and got hit. Now he turns and gets hit, it's a block," he said. "So it's no longer going to be an advantage for him to be in a 2-3 and not move and play defense." source>>>

Even though the NBA's precious rule in question probably will survive the latest challenge, most of the talent evaluators who support it have come down with a serious case of the heebie-jeebies.

"Any time you get Congress involved, anything can happen," said one scout currently employed by an NBA team. "Oh, I still know who the best high school players are, but if that rule wasn't in place, I'd be packing my bags for Vegas right now."

Ah, Vegas ... where hundreds of club teams (including mine) will descend upon the three sneaker-company-sponsored tournaments that serve as this week's one-city meat market for the discerning stares of college coaches. Back in the good, ol' days before Commissioner David Stern and his players' union (unwittingly?) turned college basketball into a one-and-done free-for-all, NBA scouts often were obliged to witness high school hotshots in person.

But thanks to objections filed by a Tennessee congressman, the league's age-restriction rule (must be 19 and one year removed from home room) has, once again, become a national hoop debate.

In case you hadn't noticed, prom-fresh high school players have been banned from entering the NBA Draft -- without first spending a year in college or Europe -- since 2005. It should be mentioned that since then, the college basketball landscape has been pock-marked by players entering college against their ultimate NBA wishes, often blowing off classes during the second semester of their freshman year to prepare for the draft.

The one-and-done format has graced us with a test-taking controversy involving Derrick Rose and an alleged-cash-oriented scandal co-starring O.J. Mayo. I actually heard a basketball-specializing big thinker inform his TV audience that the development of Rose and Mayo is an argument FOR the age restriction. That's just beautiful.

If O.J. Mayo hadn't spent a year in college, Tim Floyd might still be USC's coach. (Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)

Ironically, the (ahem) concerned media members -- whose love of college basketball's tournament often fuels their fiery, on-the-record criticisms of anyone daring to play professionally without working for at least a year in the NCAA -- aren't exactly enjoying the compromising nature of this one-and-done perk.

For years, I've argued that teenagers with NBA-caliber talent should be allowed to enter the draft right out of high school -- and not just because preps-to-pros happens in other sports, or because you can go to war at the same age or because ruling against it often inspires a worthy race-related debate.

I'm also against making NBA-level prospects attend college for at least one year because doing so takes away a few scholarships from kids who actually may want an education.

I'm against it because -- oh, my high-school coaching peers will just love this -- the best place to prepare for playing in the NBA is the NBA. Believe it.

An interesting witness on this subject was Mike Dunleavy Jr., who -- after spending appreciable time in the Duke basketball genius-in-training program -- seemed a bit miffed at himself for not leaving earlier.

What's the reasoning?

Well, based on NCAA workout restrictions and most coaches game-planning themselves to death during the season to survive in a brutally fluid job market, players have less school-year time than you could imagine to eliminate individual weaknesses.

In college, you're an investment in a coach's ability to win games. That's just fine; it shouldn't be his job to prepare you for an NBA career. Doing so within the context of winning games can make recruiting a lot easier for the college coach, but he has more than your bank account to worry about.

Yeah, with an 82-game schedule, NBA coaches have very little time to teach and refine team concepts, but actual time spent on improving skill work -- especially for young players -- can be relatively enormous. You are an investment for the pro team; it's their business to make sure you can make plays.

Even without a college stint, LeBron and Kobe are pretty good basketball players. (David Liam Kyle / Getty Images)

For the record, how many centers and power forwards arrive in the NBA with a clue about how to play on the post?

Cue the scout: "Almost none."

OK, so you can practice more drop-spins or squeeze off more turn-out jumpers with an NBA player-development guy than you can with the No. 3 assistant at State U. But doesn't the college experience accelerate the off-court maturity of anyone wise enough to enroll?

Let's slow this one down a bit. You ... can become mature ... more quickly ... while attending college. Sure, there are knuckleheads who went to the league right out of high school, but please note that Rasheed Wallace and Ron Artest attended college.

In my experience, attending college only postponed the need to demonstrate a whisper of maturity.

Anyway, I also reject the notion that for every Dwight Howard, you have a Leon Smith or Korleone Young. I'm not arguing that every player who entered the draft was wise to do so. But if the prospect in question isn't Kobe or LeBron or KG or T-Mac or Dwight Howard or Amare or Monta Elli or Al Jefferson or Rashard Lewis or Josh Smith ... don't draft him.

The scout referenced earlier admitted that identifying the great player at age 17 or 18 is easier said than done. I don't doubt it. I also don't doubt that adding a year or two to the evaluation process might -- in theory -- make for more sound hiring practices. But have we really been treated to more informed drafting since 2005?

Less than a month after going second in the 2009 draft, serial collegian Hasheem Thabeet has several NBA talent sharpies shaking their heads. (More on that later this week.)

And before you continue trotting out more busters like Leon Smith, it should be pointed out that many who since have disappeared lacked the academic profile to even qualify for college.

Since Kevin Garnett kick-started the trend back in 1995, 38 high schoolers have hopped into the draft; 14 are -- or have been -- star-caliber players. And if you're truly embracing the notion that Kobe or LeBron still would have been just dandy (or better) with one year under Coach K, please tell me where they might be after a catastrophic injury during that freshman season.

It's true that there are more opportunities to be injured in an NBA season; but first-round picks receive guaranteed millions. Anyone can return to school and pay for an education after destroying a knee in pro basketball. But you have just one opportunity to make seven figures at age 18.

By the way, if you're prepared to suggest that skipping college to pursue a professional sports career is an inappropriate referendum on the importance of education to minority youth, please point that finger at the hundreds of kids skipping college to pursue careers in music and acting.

I agree that club basketball and sneaker-company infiltration have helped diminish the skill refinement of the American player.

But I also believe the preps-to-pros critics -- who generally embrace the development model used for European prospects -- should remember that Ricky Rubio has been playing professionally since he was 14. source>>>

A class-action antitrust lawsuit on behalf of former college men's basketball and football players was filed at 4:30 p.m. ET Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeking unspecified damages from the NCAA and Collegiate Licensing Company for the use of players' images and likenesses in video content, photographs and other memorabilia.

Ed O'Bannon, who starred on the UCLA basketball team that won the 1995 NCAA tournament, is the only named plaintiff thus far but lead attorney Michael Hausfeld said he expects the lawsuit will expand to include hundreds, if not thousands, of former Division I basketball and Football Bowl Subdivision players. Attorney Jon T. King confirmed the suit was filed.

"Essentially, the case seeks to correct a major imbalance between the NCAA, its institutions, former student-athletes and the commercial market," Hausfeld said.

NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said in an e-mail the association will defer comment on the lawsuit since officials haven't had a chance to review it. "However," Christianson wrote, "the NCAA categorically denies any infringement on former or current student-athlete likeness rights."

This is the second class action lawsuit filed recently against the NCAA and Collegiate Licensing. Former Arizona State and Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller has a class action lawsuit pending against those groups as well as their video game partner, EA Sports, for unspecified damages for using player likenesses in video games. It's filed in the same San Francisco court as O'Bannon's class-action suit.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: George W. Bush | San Francisco | Al Gore | National Collegiate Athletic Association | Arizona State University | Adidas | Reebok | NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship | EA Sports | Smith College | Andrew Zimbalist | Friedrich Schiller | Ed O'Bannon

Former Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart is suing EA Sports in a New Jersey court for using his likeness without permission.

EA Sports is named as a co-conspirator in O'Bannon's suit along with NCAA member schools and conferences. O'Bannon's suit wants the NCAA and Collegiate Licensing to provide accounting of the revenue generated by their commercial ventures. Additionally, the suit asks the court to create a constructive trust for players.

"We put in our time to become better student-athletes, and when you're done playing, you move on," O'Bannon, the 1995 national college player of the year, said in a telephone interview. "At the same time, once you leave your university, one would think your likeness belongs to you."

The suit claims the NCAA's conduct is "blatantly anticompetitive and exclusionary, as it wipes out in total the future ownership interests of former student-athletes in their own images -- rights that all other members of society enjoy -- even long after student-athletes have ceased attending a university."

Forms that athletes are required to sign when entering college, which allow the NCAA or third parties to use the athletes' name or picture to promote NCAA events, are a point of contention in the lawsuit. The suit alleges the consent forms deprive former student-athletes of earning rights and requests an injunction to force the NCAA to stop using them.

Commercial success

Commercialism is a touchy subject for the NCAA. The association, a non-profit, is dependent on commercial endeavors but critics argue that athletes are exploited and the definition of amateurism is distorted when players' images and their likenesses are marketed and sold in what has become a multi-billion dollar industry.

"College sport is a business and a free market system for everyone except the athletes," Richard Southall, director of the College Sport Research Institute at the University of North Carolina, said in an interview last week on the rights of past and present student-athletes. "I'm not criticizing it, but there's ample evidence of the commercial nature of college sport."

That commercial aspect increasingly is under scrutiny, coinciding with the rapid growth of digital technology that continually delivers new products. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think all this money would be generated based on what I did 15 years ago," O'Bannon said.

His lawsuit lists DVDs from UCLA's championship run in the '95 NCAA tournament that are on sale on the NCAA On Demand online store and promoted with references to O'Bannon's standout performances (he was named the Final Four's most outstanding player).

The suit also alleges O'Bannon's likeness is used in the EA Sports NCAA Basketball 09 Classic Teams video game. "Ask yourself a question," Hausfeld said. "How can the NCAA continue licensing the use of those images after a student-athlete (has left) a university?"

More and more, that question is being asked by former players, lawyers and scholars. "The notion that the NCAA can profit from selling likenesses in video games is silliness," said Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist. "The NCAA and video game companies are treating the rest of us like we're 2-year-olds."

To compensate former players, O'Bannon's lawsuit suggests revenue sharing modeled after group licensing deals in professional sports. An alternative, the suit says, could be the creation of funds for health insurance, additional educational or vocational training or pension plans for former student-athletes.

Vaccaro's role

O'Bannon said he does not expect to receive large sums of money if he wins the case. After playing two years in the NBA and later overseas, he settled in Nevada and makes a comfortable living by working in sales and marketing for a car dealership.

"This isn't really about the money," he said. "This is about going after what's right. It's almost like, 'How dare they put us out there and not compensate us?'"

He said he had been bothered by the NCAA's recent business ventures that included his image and likeness but had not considered suing until he was approached by former shoe company executive Sonny Vaccaro and Vaccaro's wife and business partner, Pam.

"It's so cool the Vaccaros are behind this and really want to help us out," O'Bannon said. "They are pathfinders."

Vaccaro was once a controversial figure for commercializing youth basketball by outfitting scores of players in athletic apparel while searching for the next superstar to endorse the company for which he worked, whether it was Nike, Adidas or Reebok.

He now considers himself an advocate for players' rights and has been railing against the NCAA's strict parameters on amateurism that he says strips players of rightful earning power. In part through speeches he made on the university lecture circuit, Vaccaro said he got the attention of Hausfeld's high-powered Washington, D.C.-based firm. In legal circles, Hausfeld is a well-known antitrust lawyer on a global scale.

Attorney William Isaacson is co-counsel in the case and is from the prominent firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner, which represented former Vice President Al Gore against George W. Bush in 2000 when the Presidential election was too close to call and ultimately decided by the Supreme Court in favor of Bush.

Vaccaro is serving as an unpaid consultant in this case.

"Questions will finally be answered," Vaccaro said. "I need these people -- the NCAA -- to explain how they can rule over (athletes) and nobody questions them."

Depicting the act of swearing an oath in court, Vaccaro said: "They're going to have to put their left hand down and right hand up. They're going to have to answer to thousands of kids." source>>>

College football doesn't begin its regular season until the beginning of September, but diehard fans of the sport know that it officially begins every July with the release of the NCAA football video game from EA Sports.

The game is so anticipated year after year that Gamestop on Greenville Boulevard held a special midnight opening just so avid gamers could get their hands on NCAA Football '10 as early as possible.

Festivities kicked off at 10 p.m. on July 13 for the event, which included $1 pizza slices from Phat Philly's, college football trivia contests, a chance to play the highly sought after game a little early and even autographs from a dozen or so members of the East Carolina football team.

But is such hoopla over NCAA Football '10 really worth it?

Since the move to next-generation consoles such as the PS3 and Xbox 360 around four years ago, the title failed each passing season to add anything significant in terms of presentation and game play, until last year that is.

In the '09 version of the game, an online dynasty was finally added to the NCAA formula that enabled gamers and up to 11 friends to play up to 60 seasons while recruiting head-to-head and shooting for the ultimate prize of the BCS National Championship.

While online dynasty returns for another round in this year's game, the real story is not one, but two new game modes that push '10 into the conversation of perhaps being the best football game ever made.

Road to Glory takes the place of the now-defunct Road to the Heisman mode, but all the key ingredients that made the former great are still there. In the mode, the user creates a player and takes him from his playoff run as a high school senior all the way up until the conclusion of a successful four-year college campaign.

The biggest revamp of this mode is the addition of ESPN sideline reporter, Erin Andrews, and cameo call-in spots from Kirk Herbstreit. Both Andrews and Herbstreit comment on major milestones and accomplishments through the use of highlights, photographs and statistics.

While Road to the Heisman more or less made one use their imagination when playing throughout a college campaign, Road to Glory leaves less to the mind and more to the presentation aspect -- definitely a major upgrade.

Also new in this year's version of the game is the "Season Showdown" mode, which in a nutshell is a mode that allows a user to take his or her favorite team during the real-life 2009 college football season and play against that week's opponent, either against the CPU or an online user, and earn points to take their team to the top.

A key complaint in the next-gen versions of the game has always been that FCS teams (formerly I-AA) don't appear in the game.

Thanks to the new EA Sports Teambuilder, users can take to the Web to design their favorite team whether it is an FCS, historical or even a high school squad.

Teambuilder is very in depth and not only allows you to create the team, but the logos, colors and even the stadium that goes along with each.

As far as game play goes, '10 doesn't really tinker too much with what was already a good product. Strategic play calling has been added to the mix while game planning allows users to dictate the pace of play by lobbying for an aggressive, balanced or conservative style.

Overall, EA Sports has taken one of its most prestigious game franchises and almost completely overhauled it for the first time in years, from a presentation aspect right down to the onscreen graphics.

It would have been easy for EA to mess around with the game play, a la the '05 version of the game, but this time around, the company doesn't mess with what didn't need fixing.

EA addressed the issues that needed fixing or upgrading and in the end, it's simply, in my opinion, the best football simulation ever released.

That is until Madden '10 drops in August. source>>>

Rascal Flatts is the first country act to offer an iTunes pass for fans to receive downloads of previously unreleased music, such as live concert recordings ("I'm Movin' On," "Mayberry," "Bless the Broken Road"), studio rehearsals ("What Hurts the Most," "Take Me There," "Here Comes Goodbye") and unreleased demos. The first songs were made available on Tuesday (July 21), and additional titles will become available every Tuesday through Sept. 1. A total of 28 recordings are scheduled for release on iTunes this summer. source>>>

Radney Foster celebrated his 50th birthday with a concert at the Exit/In on Monday night (July 20) in Nashville. Foster performed for more than two hours, bringing up several friends and admirers. Dierks Bentley joined him for "Until It's Gone" and "Sweet and Wild," while Darius Rucker sang on "Angel Flight" and "Raining on Sunday." Other guest performers included Jessi Alexander, George Ducas, Julien Foster (Radney's 18-year-old son), Vince Gill, Georgia Middleman, Lee Roy Parnell, Jon Randall and the Randy Rogers Band, as well as a 16-piece gospel choir. Foster and his Foster & Lloyd partner, Bill Lloyd, capped the night with their No. 1 hit, "Crazy Over You." Foster will release a new album, Revival, on Sept. 1. source>>>

A permanent restraining order was issued Tuesday afternoon (July 21) against a Nashville-area woman who has been stalking singer-songwriter Gary Allan. Police in Hendersonville, Tenn., arrested Katherine Walker on May 4 on charges of stalking Allan and burglarizing and vandalizing his home. Tuesday's session in chancery court in Gallatin, Tenn., lasted approximately three hours and included testimony from Allan, three of his band members, his tour manager and a representative of his management company. Walker, who represented herself, insisted that Allan had repeatedly called her, sometimes as many as 10 times a day. In court, Allan denied the allegation, telling her, "You scare me. I've never talked to you. I've never read your e-mails." source>>>