July 20th update

Best Driver Ever?

• Like all professional race car drivers, Jimmie Johnson drives really fast for a living. But the difference between Johnson and every other driver is that Johnson drives so well and so fast that he has won NASCAR’s championship a record breaking 5-times in a row (and is currently off to a good start for #6). Born in El Cajon California, Johnson got his start by racing motorcycles in high school. In 2002, he began racing in the Winston Cup Series (since changed in name to the Nextel Cup and then Sprint Cup) for the Hendricks Motorsport team.
• In 2006 Johnson won his first Nascar championship. He also became the first driver in Nascar history to win at least 3 races in each of his first 5 years. But did he stop there? No, in fact you have to go back to the previous year, 2005, to find the last time he didn't win Nascar's points championship. In 2008 he became only the second driver (after racing legend Cale Yarborough) to win 3 consecutive championships.
• Johnson is not a one-trick pony. Along with racing in the Sprint Car series, he also races in the Nationwide series (seemingly unfair to those drivers as the Nationwide series is intended to be a proving ground for inexperienced drivers), and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where he races muscled up pickup trucks instead of stock cars.


1st Amendment Issues Complicate NFL Lockout

• Do companies have the right to fire sponsors based on comments they make in the media, either traditional or social? That's the issue that Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is asking after he lost a major apparel sponsorship and is suing Champion, claiming they violated his rights to express his opinion
• The opinions he expressed were very controversial tweets after the killing of Osama Bin Laden. We at Sportico will not take a side on Mendenhall’s right to say what he did, but it caused a major firestorm with the Steelers franchise openly admonishing Mendenhall.
• The suit, filed in a North Carolina court, seems to be a lost cause as Champion’s contract included a “Morals Clause” that basically gives them an out if Mendenhall were to do something they judged as harmful to the brand. The case is likely to act as a precedent for many future cases as social media becomes more and more of an integral part of our society.