One benefit of taking a Sports Law class is you learn a lot about your classmates. This week I made contact with a former Seton Hall University baseball player who has former unrepresented teammates playing pro ball. I am in the process of getting the players’ contact information. I also made contact with a kid whose father played in the N.H.L. Hopefully these contacts will prove beneficial in the future and the players will join the Dynasty family and become successful. It will also prove that I can do what it takes to succeed in this industry, because you never know where contacts such as these will lead.

One major benefit that I hope to achieve from my time with Dynasty is the ability to network with people in the industry. Coming from a smaller area in central Pennsylvania, it is not the same as living in L.A. or N.Y.C. However, thanks to the many social networking tools available, I hope that I am able to develop relationships with as many people in the sports industry as humanly possible. Contacts will be a huge tool as I move toward graduation and landing that first job.

This week I began compiling lists of contact information for Nippon Professional Baseball (the Japanese Professional League). I am working with some other interns to gather this information. Each of us has a different Asian league. The list will help our baseball agents when they look to place clients in these leagues. The list may be tougher than I thought, as the official team sites do not have much English content. Since it is impossible to learn the Japanese language in a few days, I will probably do some creative researching and see if I can find the information elsewhere. My school week is basically over by Wednesday, so I anticipate getting the bulk of this work done in the next couple days.

In a non-sports agent related task, I also contacted a few people within the ABA Forum on Entertainment and Sports Law to try and help Darren promote UF’s Sports Law Symposium. I am also working on compiling a list of the different law schools which are hosting sports law symposiums this year.

So far its been an eventful and rewarding two weeks as an intern with Dynasty. I hope as the semester moves on I can continue taking on projects and increase my role.

Recently I again applied for an internship with Dynasty and was lucky enough to land a spot as an intern this spring. Darren asked if I would begin posting once a week regarding my experience with Dynasty much like Scott Deady’s Rookie Duties. This is my first installment.

This week I was given many tasks to take on for the semester. I started out by making Google Alerts for all of Dynasty’s clients. This way, whenever they are in the news, I can get the information sent right to my Inbox. This will keep me informed and updated so that I can better contribute to Dynasty. I also begin each day by catching SportsCenter and reading Yahoo! Sports to stay up to date on the latest sports news and stories.

My first major task consisted of taking a list of baseball prospects that Darren had compiled after attending the PerfectGame National Underclassman Showcase and finding as much contact information for the players that I could find. I had 25 players to find. This seemed like an easy enough task. However, it is harder than you think to find this information on the Internet. At first, www.whitepages.com proved very helpful. However, for some, it required much more creative avenues. The best luck I had was to friend many prospects on Facebook and then ask them for the information. Most prospects were helpful, with only one or two asking as to what I was doing and why. After I explained my purpose, all were very helpful. I have a few players left before I am finished. I have a deadline of this Sunday. Should be no problem.

In addition to this task, I am beginning to look into ways to find sponsors for this blog and marketing opportunities for clients.

One similar task that Darren asked me to take on was to find ways to promote the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Sports Law Symposium that is taking place Friday, January 29th. There is a great schedule lined up with some very prominent speakers. The topic this year is collective bargaining. My first way to promote the symposium is to tell all readers to check out this link. Also check out Darren’s previous post regarding the symposium.

Stay tuned throughout the rest of the Spring as I provide weekly posts as to what I am doing as an intern for Dynasty. If anyone has a comments as to how I should direct my posts, feel free to let me know.

I am proud to announce the signing of my first former Florida Gator client.  His name is Adrian Moss.  Moss was a part of the 2006 Florida Gators National Championship Basketball Team.  He is a fantastic defender and quite known for his ability to draw the charge.  At 6′8, his true position is power forward.

Since earning a National Championship, Adrian has gone overseas to play professional basketball.  Thus far, he has played in top leagues in Denmark, Spain, and Germany (where he is currently under contract).  In 2007, Adrian was invited to and played in the Danish League All-Star Game.  That year, he also averaged 26.1 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.

Adrian has shown year-in and year-out that he is one of the best players overseas, but for some unknown reason, his current team has not been giving him the minutes he deserves.  He production has gone down this year, but that has nothing to say about his skill.  Adrian has hired Dynasty to find him a team that will value his talent and give him the opportunity to bring additional wins to that organization.  We are already hard at work to find the right fit.

As a graduate of the University of Florida and current third year law student at UF’s Levin College of Law, I have heard quite a bit about Tank Black.  In fact, he was a topic of discussion in my Sports Law Seminar class this semester.  In my field of work, he is most known for stealing money from clients and illegally paying money to college players to induce them to sign with his company.  What I did not know was that he was also accused of money-laundering and securities fraud.  Quite a list for someone who was representing 1st round draft picks in the NFL.

So how did this all happen?  Pick up Tanked! The Tank Black Story.  The book was written by Tank Black, so be sure to expect a very biased opinion of what went down prior to his booking.  There is also quite a bit of gloating, but if you can get past all of that, the book is a great read.  It opens up a world of information that had been locked up behind bars with Mr. Black since July 2000, when he was handcuffed in the back of a police car.

The first half of the book is dedicated to his days growing up as a short black kid from eastern Tennessee.  It talks about his athleticism and his home life where he would understand the business of selling moonshine to survive.  When professional football did not work out for him, Tank picked up coaching, and eventually became a big time assistant coach at the University of South Carolina.  The second half of the book is where I thought the story really picked up.  He was very open about discussing relationships with his clients after he had become a sports agent.  There are interesting pieces about Andre “Bad Moon” Rison, Sterling Sharpe, Vince Carter (and his controlling mother), Rae Carruth, and much more.  And then there is the sad story of Cash 4 Titles, where Tank really screwed up a lot of his athletes’ investments.

I made a note to come back to page 219 (total of 317 pages) when I was going to prepare this post.  On that page, Tank is very honest about his foray into going to strip clubs with his clients.  But there was one particular line on that page that wrapped up the entire book.  Tank wrote, “If you put yourself into life’s forbidden fast lane shit will happen.”  How true is that?

Another page that I marked was page 262.  This one I will open up for discussion.  Tank wrote, “One fact that will always be true, almost all agents give and loan players things of value because that is the nature of the business.  Any top agent who claims to never have given a player or loaned a player something is simply not being honest.”  He wrote that in reference to giving/loaning something to college players, which is illegal and against NCAA rules.  Is he right?

There are few names of sports agents that someone not familiar with the sports agent industry will recognize.  Among them are the fictional Jerry McGuire, Drew Rosenhaus, Scott Boras, and Tank Black.  Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Tanked! The Tank Black Story.  If you have never heard of him, it is a must that you learn up real quick.  If you think you already know the story behind his problems, you owe it to yourself to hear it from his side.

I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Guys like Albert Elias give me hope.  Albert also went to a school with one of the biggest athletic programs in the nation.  In fact, his school is an SEC rival of my own.  He completed his undergraduate degree at LSU and also went to law school.  Since graduating, Elias has used his connection to LSU to his favor.  He and his company, Elias Sports Management, currently represent 11 NFL active players who are from his alma mater.  Jarvis Green is probably his most popular client.

Now, if only Tim Tebow were reading this post…

(Albert and his client, Herman Johnson, are pictured below)

What: Mr. Sarmiento will be discussing careers in baseball, his rise to the top of the MLB and his advice on how all UF students can break into the world of professional baseball.

When: Monday, February 16, 2009, 4 p.m.

Where: Florida Gym Room 210 (just East of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium)

Cost: Free

Who: Former NFL League Executive Dick Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell just got done completing a 36-year NFL career in 2006. He served in several public relations capacities with the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1970’s before heading to New York and a 29-year stay in the League Headquarters located in New York. He retired as NFL Senior Director of Broadcasting. Maxwell has worked 33 Super Bowls and numerous Pro Bowls. He currently is retained by the NFL as a National Game Representative, working about 20 nationally-televised games a season.

What: Speech about Mr. Maxwell’s experience in the NFL, the future of the sports industry and the best way to get your foot in the door of professional football in the NFL.

When: Monday, January 26th, 2009, 4 p.m.

Where: Florida Gym Room 210 (just East of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium)

Cost: Free

The instructions for writing the piece are as follows:

• Length should be 750 to 1,500 words.
• Write in the third person, not first or second (no I, you, or we, except in quotes).
• Avoid the passive tense.
• Use clear, straightforward English.
• Spell out acronyms or abbreviations the first time you use them.
• Every effort must be made to assure that news content is accurate, free from bias and in context, and that all sides are presented fairly.
• All bylined submissions should be accompanied by an author’s biography of no more than 75 words.

Go to Holt’s website and contact him if you wish to receive more information about what he is looking for.  See you at the symposium!

Not only were myself and Dynasty featured in the paper, but I have to truly thank David Cumming, who painted an amazing picture of what Dynasty and I embody.  He found the YOUNG MONEY article and contacted me on Tuesday to set up the interview, which took place late afternoon yesterday.  In a short turnaround time, he was able to write the piece, which I cannot wait to look back to many years down the line.  One of my goals with Dynasty is to create a strong foundation of clients in the state of Florida, but more specifically, UF.  Hopefully, this article in the Alligator is a start at getting our name out to the university that I love.