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NEW YORK -- The odds are against Alex Rodriguez in federal court as he tries to overturn his season-long drug suspension. cheap nfl jerseys . For the past five decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has set narrow grounds for judges to consider when evaluating lawsuits to overturn arbitration decisions. That position was reaffirmed in 2001 when it ruled against Steve Garvey in his suit against the Major League Baseball Players Association stemming from the collusion cases of the 1980s. "I dont think he has very much of a chance," said Stanford Law School professor emeritus William B. Gould IV, the former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. "There are many cases that are appealed from arbitration awards, but the case law at the Supreme Court level makes success very much a long shot." The Joint Drug Agreement between Major League Baseball and the players association gives the sports three-person arbitration panel -- the independent arbitrator plus one representative of management and the union -- jurisdiction to review discipline resulting from violations. The union filed a grievance after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig suspended Rodriguez for 211 games last August, and arbitrator Fredric Horowitz presided over 12 days of hearings last fall and cut the penalty Saturday to 162 games plus the 2014 post-season. Rodriguez is expected to sue under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, also known as Taft-Hartley, which allows actions for violations of collective bargaining agreements. "There are very specific and narrow grounds for overturning an arbitration award," said Jeffrey Kessler, a partner at Winston & Strawn who has represented players and unions in many sports. "Either there has to be a showing of partiality by the arbitrator, or there has to be a showing that there as a manifest disregard of some settled legal principle, or there has to be a fundamental denial of whats called arbitral due process -- the procedures were completely defective -- or it could be in a collective bargaining context a decision thats contrary to what we call the essence of the CBA. So basically there are four targets and they have to hit one of them, and theyre not easy." Garvey had sought about $3 million from the $280 million settlement in the collusion cases. While the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Garvey and overturned the decision by arbitrator Thomas Roberts, the Supreme Court reversed. "Established law ordinarily precludes a court from resolving the merits of the parties dispute on the basis of its own factual determinations, no matter how erroneous the arbitrators decision," the court wrote in an 8-1 decision. Rodriguezs lawyers are expected to request a preliminary injunction and attempt to depose Selig -- Horowitz refused to compel Selig to testify at the arbitration, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing. MLB may attempt to quash a subpoena and force a judge to rule. "Theres a good arbitrator there, and Im sure he was very careful to pay attention to the record," said George Nicolau, baseballs arbitrator from 1986-95. "No court is ready to overturn that, I think, based on longstanding decisions." The Supreme Court ruled in 1960 that "the refusal of courts to review the merits of an arbitration award is the proper approach to arbitration under collective bargaining agreements. The federal policy of settling labour disputes by arbitration would be undermined if courts had the final say on the merits of the awards." In that case, United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel and Car Corp., Justice Stephen O. Douglas wrote "an arbitrator is confined to interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreement; he does not sit to dispense his own brand of industrial justice." That case was cited by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1976 when it refused a request by MLB to vacate the decision by arbitrator Peter Seitz overturning baseballs reserve clause in the Andy Messersmith-Dave McNally case. cheap jerseys from china . Lin, 23, played collegiately at Harvard and was an undrafted free agent signing of the Golden State Warriors in 2010. As a rookie, often playing in garbage time, Lin appeared in 29 games, averaging fewer than 10 minutes, scoring 2. cheap jerseys . The former central defender calmly nodded it down and quietly went about celebrating a win with his staff. For a man who has had a lot on his shoulders this season, it was an appropriate moment. BEAVER CREEK, Colo. -- Lindsey Vonn knows it was just some youthful exuberance when teenager Mikaela Shiffrin playfully announced she was dreaming of winning five gold medals at the next Winter Olympics. Vonn certainly appreciates such a lofty goal by Shiffrin, who captured the slalom title at the Sochi Games last month. A light-hearted warning, though. "Im going to compete in the 2018 Olympics," Vonn said with a laugh. "So shes going to have tough competition in the speed events." With four years down the road in mind, Vonn is taking it slow with her surgically repaired right knee. She said she doesnt anticipate a return to racing until early December. The four-time overall World Cup champion had her ACL fixed for a second time in January, sidelining her for Sochi. As it turned out, there was "quite a bit of meniscus damage" in the knee and thats caused her to push back her time frame. Vonn hopes to train on snow by October and be racing in Lake Louise, Alberta, two months later, on a hill where shes always done well. But thats all tentative. No sense rushing back to racing, no matter how antsy shes growing to step back into the starting gate. "If I have to push the date back when I start, so be it," Vonn told The Associated Press on Saturday. "To ensure the next four years go smoothly, I have to give this meniscus some time to heal." In between rehabilitation sessions, the 29-year-old Vonn is finding plenty of other things to occupy her time. Shes sneaking in some fly fishing with her dog, Leo, starting a new foundation and having coffee with skiing great Annemarie Moser-Proell, whose record Vonn is chasing. Vonn remains three wins from matching the World Cup record of 62 race victories by Moser-Proell. "She wants me to break her record," Vonn said. "You dont see that. I think shes a really, really nice person and I really enjoyed spending time with her." Vonn ventured around Beaver Creek on Saturday to support "Ski Girls Rock," a program that focuses on empowering girls through skiing. She met with the kids, signed autographs, posed for pictures and then called a brief timeout to sit on an outdoor couch near a fire pit to rest her knee and film a video. She put an ice bag on the knee as she settled iinto the couch. nfl jerseys china. "The knee is coming along nicely," she said. "Its obviously a slow process, but Im making progress every day, so thats good." Vonn has already decided shes not even going to try to walk every hole as she trails boyfriend Tiger Woods around at the Masters next month -- provided, of course, Woods even plays, given his ailing back. "Well see how far I make it," Vonn said. "With my meniscus the way it is, its not great to be on my feet all the time." Vonn tore two ligaments in her right knee during a high-speed crash at the world championships in February 2013. She then re-injured her surgically repaired ACL in a crash during training last November. Vonn tried to rehab the knee in time for Sochi, but sprained her MCL racing a downhill in France on Dec. 21. Even though it was difficult not competing in Sochi, Vonn said she caught nearly all of the races. However, her computer crashed just before the second run of the womens slalom. She missed quite a recovery from Shiffrin, who overcame a major mistake to win gold. "Mikaela is skiing incredible," Vonn said. "With her slalom, shes in a league of her own right now." Very soon, Shiffrin will be stepping into Vonns domain -- the speed events. Shiffrin recently squeezed in some super-G training at Beaver Creek on Raptor, the race hill for the world championships next February. She may just ski a few speed events next season. "Ideally, I would race my first super-G with all these girls at the world champions at Beaver Creek and win," said Shiffrin, who was thrown a welcome-home party by Vail on Friday. "Thats my mindset, where Im going to come out of the wood-work and be like, Ive never raced against you girls and Im starting bib 60 and Im going to beat you all. Thats not really possible. But well see how it goes." While Shiffrin is emerging as the next big thing, some of Vonns good friends on the circuit -- like Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany -- are calling it a career. "Its going to be weird to not have them there," Vonn said. "Im just really itching to get back to racing. I want to race. "Thats the only frustration I have in my life right now, which is not bad. It means things are pretty good." ' ' ' |
