15 points behind Mediterranean neighbor Nice, the surprise leaders who re | Forum

In an unprecedented foray into college sports, the National Labor Relations Board general counsel has declared that Northwestern University must eliminate unlawful rules governing football players and allow them greater freedom to express themselves. Hydro Flask Clearance . The ruling, which referred to players as employees, found that they must be freely allowed to post on social media, discuss issues of their health and safety, and speak with the media.The new rules could apply to the football programs at the 16 other private universities that play in the FBS, including schools such as Notre Dame, Stanford and Baylor -- but not public universities. As the nations top labor agency, the NLRB governs relations between private employers and their employees, so it has no power over public schools. Its findings on Northwestern became public on Friday.The ruling does not have force of law on the private schools, but if anyone raised a complaint, the result would likely be similar to the Northwestern case. Coaches and administrators there are no longer able to ban players from posting on social media -- as some high-profile programs have done -- or even regulate what they say. And whereas Northwestern once barred players from talking to any media not approved by the school, it is no longer allowed to do so.In addition to granting players greater freedoms, the NLRB ruling will offer athletes a clear path to bring their issues before an independent agency outside of the organizations that have historically governed college athletics -- the universities, the conferences and the NCAA.So while this ruling did not address compensation for athletes, someone could now file a charge with the NLRB asserting that failing to pay players constitutes an unfair labor practice. After all, if the NLRB -- which is led by a five-person board and a general counsel, all appointed by the president -- declared that close monitoring of social media is an unfair labor practice, it is an open question how it would view failure to pay players. Until now, the issue has been contested only in antitrust courts.The action against Northwestern came in a highly unusual proceeding. It stemmed from a charge filed in August 2015 against the school by David Rosenfeld, an activist labor lawyer with the firm of Weinberg Roger & Rosenfeld in Alameda, California, and echoed the 2014 attempt by Northwestern players to form a union. Rosenfeld alleged that Northwestern was guilty of unfair labor practices in its treatment of football players.Rosenfeld, who had no previous connection with Northwestern, relied on a provision of American labor law that allows anyone, anywhere, to bring unfair treatment of employees to the attention of the NLRB for remedial action. By the same token, if someone were to challenge the NCAAs compensation rules, it would not need to be a player -- it could be anyone.In response to Rosenfelds charge, the NLRB issued an advice memorandum late last month that described the Northwestern team rules as unlawfully overbroad. The memorandum was made public last week after ESPN.com filed a freedom of information request for the material.The jumping off point for Rosenfelds filing was a decision in 2014 by the NLRB Regional Administrator in Chicago, Peter Ohr, that Northwestern players were employees. Northwestern vigorously disputed the idea at the time and appealed Ohrs decision to the five members of the NLRB.During the course of the appeal, most of the private universities that would be affected joined Northwesterns effort. They succeeded in obtaining a ruling from the NLRB board members that the agency would not enter into the world of college sports. The board said it did not make sense for the NLRB to take jurisdiction over a potential Northwestern players union since it was the only private school in the Big Ten. It would be chaos, the board reasoned, if Northwestern was governed by the NLRB and the other schools were governed by the laws of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska.But even as the NLRB refused to take jurisdiction over the situation, Ohrs decision that the players were employees remained untouched and in effect. In the memorandum made public last week, an associate general counsel of the NLRB stated in a footnote that he assume(d) that Northwesterns scholarship football players are statutory employees.Northwestern, in a written statement from vice president for university relations Alan K. Cubbage to ESPN.com, stated that the school disputes the General Counsels assumption that Northwesterns athletes are employees and asserted that they are students, first and foremost.In his charge of unfair treatment of employees, Rosenfeld cited the Northwestern team handbook that was a critical exhibit in the 2014 hearing. The handbook includes rules governing the daily lives of the players and makes clear that they would be closely supervised by coaches.I obtained the handbook from the NLRB with a Freedom of Information Act request and located the provisions that were unfair labor practices, Rosenfeld told ESPN.com.The provisions cited by Rosenfeld and found to be unlawful included coaches monitoring of players social media use and bans on discussion of any aspects of the team ... with anyone, discussing individual grievances with fellow team members or third parties, including lawyers and union representatives, and all contacts with the media unless they were arranged by the athletic communications office.During the course of the just concluded NLRB proceedings, Northwestern agreed to modify or to eliminate the rules in question. The universitys changes and its notice to team members of the new policies resulted in the NLRB dismissing the charge without further hearings or actions. The initial filings by Rosenfeld and Northwestern have not yet been made public.Under the rule that the NLRB found to be unlawful, Northwestern coaches and even the university police could regularly monitor social media postings made by football players. Former team captain and quarterback Kain Colter, the leader of the players union effort, testified in the NLRB hearing in Chicago early in 2014 that when he posted a photo of himself in Oakley sunglasses that were a gift at a celebrity golf outing, an assistant coach texted him within 10 minutes of the posting that he must remove it. The coach was concerned that the selfie might be construed as an endorsement of Oakley products.Under the modification offered by Northwestern, the new social media rule provides that postings can be seen by Northwestern personnel and cautions against posting full or partial nudity (of yourself or another) sex, racial or sexual epithets, underage drinking, drugs, weapons or firearms, hazing, harassment, or unlawful activity.A previous handbook rule on communications told players that they must never discuss any aspects of the team with anyone. Emphasizing the confidentiality of players physical conditions and planned team strategies, the rule stated, The team is a family and what takes place on the field, in meetings, or in the locker room stays within this family.The new rule is limited to a ban on discussion of individual medical conditions and allows players to discuss on a no-name basis -- owing to HIPAA, they cannot refer to another player by name -- any vital health and safety issues impacting themselves, their teammates, and fellow collegiate football players.Rules governing Northwesterns student-athlete grievance process -- called the Student-Athlete Rights and Responsibilities (Dispute Resolution Procedure) in the handbook -- were also deemed unlawful and Northwestern has completely eliminated the procedures. The rules had stated that any grievance concerning personal rights and relationships within the team must begin with an appeal to the teams director of football operations (Cody Cejda), further appeals to Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald and the athletic director, and ultimately a review by Northwestern President Morton O. Schapiro.The universitys elimination of its procedures for player grievances was based on the NLRBs finding that the rule prohibited discussions with fellow players and third parties concerning workplace grievances.Another handbook rule told Northwestern players that they should never agree to an interview (with the media) unless the interview has been arranged by the athletic communications office, and that the players must be positive when talking about your teammates, coaches and team. Responding to the NLRBs conclusions that the rule was an infringement on player freedoms, Northwestern abandoned the rule, rewriting it to provide that players may directly speak with members of the media if (they) choose to do so.In its revised handbook, the school suggested to players that, in interviews, they should share credit for your success by talking about the contributions of your teammates and use their names. Players were also admonished to remember that every great running back needs a good offensive line and talking about the great work of others shows you have confidence in your own role and the value of your own contributions, so youre not afraid of letting someone else have their moment of glory, too.Editors note: This story has been updated for clarity.? Discount Hydro Flask . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. Discount Hydro Flask Cheap . Self was acquired from the Buffalo Bandits in a trade for Alex Hill midway through last season, and made his debut in Rochester on March 16, 2013. http://www.discounthydroflaskcheap.com/ . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. PARIS -- Frank McCourts plans to bring Marseille back to the top of French and European soccer could be undermined by local criminals.Winger Florian Thauvin became the latest victim of the southern citys notorious thieves this week, suffering a vicious attack near his home in a chic neighborhood of the port city.Thauvin was attacked and strangled by two men on motorbikes who crashed into his car before they tried to steal his luxury watch. The Newcastle loanee managed to flee the scene and escaped uninjured but the incident highlighted once again the violence to which players are regularly exposed in a city with a long history of organized crime.According to the LEquipe newspaper, at least 12 players and officials from the club have been victims of robberies or thefts since 2011, a poor record slowing down Marseilles development because it makes it difficult to attract top-quality players.Five years ago, midfielder Lucho Gonzalez was robbed of his luxury car and credit cards by armed men who broke into his house, while then-Marseille president Jean-Claude Dassier had his house robbed during a Champions League game abroad. The same year, defender Vitorino Hilton was attacked in his home and hit on the head while armed men held his family hostage. He left the club soon after.It creates a very unpleasant climate, Dassier said in an interview with LEquipe. It does help building a serene and calm atmosphere in the changing room.The assault on Thauvin was the first reported on a Marseille player since McCourts arrival at the former French champions. Cheap Hydro Flask Free Shipping. But it followed another incident in August involving former Marseille sports director Gunter Jacob, who was reportedly robbed of his car and computer while asleep at his rented villa. Jacob left the club three months after he was hired, replaced by Andoni Zubizarreta.McCourt, the former owner of baseballs Los Angeles Dodgers, bought the club last month and has pledged to restore Marseilles battered image. The club is the only French outfit to have won the Champions League, beating AC Milan in 1993. It has won the French title nine times but not since 2010, and has fallen way behind rival Paris Saint-Germain since it was bought by Qatari investors five years ago.But with the winter transfer window looming, taking PSG off its perch will be a tall order if the club fails to build a competitive squad because of the citys lack of attraction, in spite of McCourts vow to invest 200 million euros over four years as part of his project to rebuild the club. For now, Marseille is languishing in 12th place in the French league, 15 points behind Mediterranean neighbor Nice, the surprise leaders who recruited Mario Balotelli and Dante.---This story has been corrected to show that the incident involving Gunter Jacob happened in August, not last year. ' ' '