John Snyder's Errant Thoughts

Wiki Law

I have discovered a new and exciting hobby.  Wikipedia is doing a major law project, soliciting volunteers to add their expertise.  I have added significant content regarding the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Hopefully it won't take away from my ability to write my blog, which has been pretty dormant lately.  In any event, I will be continuing my legal work on Wiki.  It should be pretty fun.

Annoying Confirmation Notices

Julie just brought to my attention that whenever people post comments, they get back an annoying email confirming their post.  I have now fixed that, so I will no longer be unwittingly spamming you whenever you post!

UFC 67

I am so ready for UFC 67, tomorrow night.  Finally, the UFC gets its act together and broadcasts its fights in HDTV.  Now we can see the blood and bruising in the exquisite 1080-I clarity.  Now if I can get my hands on a PS3, my life will be complete.

Black history month, Biden style

Well, my man Joe Biden, who I've actually considered rooting for in this presidential campaign, opened Black history month with this little description of Barack Obama: “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”  Nice.

Obama was asked to comment, and he said that he wasn't offended.  Why would he be?  Shouldn't all the other black guys who consider themselves articulate, bright, clean, and nice-looking be the ones who were offended?

In any event, I think I'm going to stop with my little fantasy of the Democrats doing something smart and nominating someone, like Biden, who is actually a serious thinker in terms of foreign policy.  (And no, Hillary fans, being the most bloodthirsty Democrat when it comes to America's biggest foreign-policy blunder in history does not make you a serious foreign-policy thinker.  Nor does having a husband who gets blowjobs from unauthorized sources make you an expert on Osama bin Laden.)  The Democrats are going to nominate Hillary or Obama, either of whom will get slaughtered in the general election.  Hello President Giuliani!  Gay pride parade followed by mass executions.  Rock on!

This isn't the first time that Biden developed brain lock on the campaign trail.  He probably would have been president already if he hadn't lied and said that his ancestors were coal miners.  I guess the story was that Biden grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and more or less assumed that someone, somewhere in the past, had mined coal.

While no Bidens ever mined coal, this particular Biden has a real knack for digging himself into holes.  And for slipping on banana peels that came from 30,000 pounds of bananas.  If you haven't lived in Scranton, you probably don't get that reference!

Ted Johnson

The New York Times has a sad story about Ted Johnson today.  According to the story, Johnson, the former middle linebacker for the New England Patriots, now suffers from Alzheimer's disease as a result of multiple concussions he sustained starting in August 2002.  The first concussion occurred in a preseason game against the Giants.  Shortly thereafter, in practice, Coach Belichick essentially forced Johnson to practice with full contact in order to "find out if you can play."  After that, mini-concussions became commonplace for Johnson, and the result has been devastating for Johnson's health and for his personal life.

Although Johnson has paid a huge price for his football career, he says that he's not contemplating a lawsuit against the Patriots or the NFL.  Given the situation, I wouldn't blame him one bit if he did sue the New England Patriots.  However, because the negligence occurred in August 2002, and because Massachusetts has a three-year statute of limitations for such actions, unless he could show that the statute should be tolled on the basis of the discovery rule (the concept that the statute doesn't start running until you find out about the injury) or some related concept, Johnson is probably out of luck in any event.

This is been a bad three weeks for the Patriots.  First they got criticized for taunting the San Diego Chargers after that game.  Then they blew a 21-3 lead against the Colts.  Then Coach Belichick got subpoenaed in a divorce proceeding involving a woman to whom he sent FedEx packages stuffed with cash.  And now, on a much more serious note, this story becomes national news.

For almost a decade now, the Patriots has been the model sports franchise, at least in the public perception.  Bob Kraft has been the model owner.  Bill Belichick has been the model coach.  The Patriots' players have been the epitome of class.  Has this all been just an illusion, a PR coup?  Or is it another example of the media building something up only to tear it down?

Regarding the Johnson situation, one thing that keeps coming back to mind is the time when Tedy Bruschi came back after suffering a stroke.  Kraft was asked whether he would make Bruschi sign a waiver.  Kraft said "no, that's not the way we do things around here."  He got a lot of credit for being a humane owner in a league full of mercenaries.  It will be interesting to see what Kraft does about the situation.