Smokin in Atlanta
 

I wonder if anyone told 'Sheed that the Gold Club is closed?

Smokin in Atlanta
 

Big contracts, but good players. And at least guys who will get to play the whole game and not have to watch from the locker room.

NCAA Hoops pool
 

Anyone interested in joining the LawTalkers NCAA Hoops bracket contest, see here.

(Cross-posted for anyone who doesn't read the FB but reads this.)

No Limit Holdem
 

I played in a couple of satellite tables for the Friday tournement at Bellagio this week. Really fun. Alas neither Mr Man nor I qualified, but we did pretty well for our first time playing with real poker players (some of them were quite good)... I did not play any dollar limit holdem however, as I've spent more time learning the no limit tournament style of play.

I'm afraid we are still hooked.

No Limit Holdem
 

That's great, keep at it. The more I read and play, the more I realize how bad a player I am.

Professional Sports Statistics
 

Does anyone know if the NFLPA, MLBPA, etc actually have any rights to their statistics? I know that the NFLPA has threatened many websites for using their stats and images for fantasy football purposes, but the only case law (in Florida) suggests that websites can't use their images, but doesn't mention statistics. Anyone?

Professional Sports Statistics
 

I think they are limited to images and player names. The stats are compiled and bought from organizations like Stats, Inc. and SABR. Besides, they are in the public domain... Anybody can compile them on their own.

FYI, my fantasy baseball league can't use Barry Bonds' name this year because he is not in the MLBPA and thus they can't license his name... What a jerk.

Professional Sports Statistics
 

They should just use a fantasy name then, like Harry Honds, or "Roid Rager" though that might not be specific enough.

Professional Sports Statistics
 

So, if I were to start up a fantasy site, I could use stats but not names? Apparently only 12 of the 200 online leagues are actually licensed by the NFLPA. The NFLPA usually sends cease and desist letters to non-licensed sites, but has only gone to court with Gridiron.com, which was using images as well. I believe the court ordered Gridiron to stop using the images, but didn't comment on the names.

Professional Sports Statistics
 

What is this, law school? The general rule is that databases that simply aggregate data in a fashion that does not constitute a unique expression (like a phone book or a list of baseball stats) is not protectable under the seminal Feist decision by the Supreme Court. So that's good. However, there is a prominant case arising out of the Seventh Circuit, ProCD v. somebody that held that the content of a database can be protected by contract, and that contract can be in the form of a shinkwrap (and presumably, clickwrap) license. So that's bad.

As to likenesses, the use for commercial purposes of a person's likeness is more or less prohibited in just about every state. If the circumstances are right, one can even shoehorn in a Federal Lanham Act Sec 47 (15 USC 1125) claim based on false endorsement or false advertising. There might be some question here as to whether the use is a commercial exploitation or a fair use for news reporting; I'd probably draw the line where it would be okay to show an action photo of whomever had a really good day today (with permission from the photographer, of course), but not necessarily stock photos of the players on the stat sheets. Although there is case law to support even the second use, for example, the case where the New Kids on the Block sued USA Today (don't remember the exact caption).

The real question is whether one is willing to roll the dice. If you are found out, you will be sued, and the cost of defense ($500k-$1500k) will exceed the settlement offer (maybe $several hundred K), which will still be large enough to hurt most small e-businesses.

Standard legal advice over the internet disclaimers apply, even though we are (supposedly) all attorneys here: IAAL, BIANYL, ask counsel familiar with your local jursidiction, etc.

Professional Sports Statistics
 

Well, I killed that discussion.

So, any predictions for the 2004 World Series?

I'm thinking Boston and Chicago, if both can hold together their pitching staffs.

Of course, I have to root for the hometown Orioles, who in any other year would have a chance at taking the ALEast, but look to come in third at best. Of course, if they - like the Cubs last year -suddenly pull a couple of great young pitchers out of their ass, they might be interesting.

Professional Sports Statistics
 

Not sure yet, but the bad karma is already rearing its head against the Cubs... Prior's currently out until mid-May.

I'm thinking Boston or NY, probably Boston, against somebody other than the Cubs, probably Philly, but it's really early yet. Maybe Houston or St. Louis.

Professional Sports Statistics
 

Agree. W/out Prior*, the Cubs are no longer the NL favorite. Houston has both the arms and the bats.

*that injury isn't going away any time soon.

I'll pick Boston.

WPT
 

cover story in Dallas' weekly rag this week about Clonie Gowen, winner of WPT's Ladies' Night show - http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues...l/1/index.html

WPT
 

In somewhat related news, finally got set up at TruePoker and downloaded the software. One question, how do you reload your play money? Starting with 1000 seems kind of low. Do you have to blow through that first?