FREEMAN WINS DALY LAWSUIT

We stray a bit off topic to share some good news relating to our friend Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com, whose columns routinely focus on the NFL and who has written two excellent football books that were advertised on this site, Bloody Sundays and Jim Brown: The Fierce Life Of An American Hero. Mike previously worked for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, and he wrote a column nearly four years ago about golfer John Daly. Daly didn’t like some of the things that Freeman said. So Daly sued him. Last week, Daly’s case stepped on a rake in the sand trap. Judge Hugh Carithers of the Circuit Court of Duval County, Florida pitched the entire thing. Freeman briefly addresses the situation right here, and his item includes a link to the ruling. The details get a bit esoteric; the bottom line is that any factual assertions to which Daly objected were sufficiently accurate to avoid liability, and any opinions expressed by Freeman were protected by the First Amendment. So congratulations, Mike. You’ve had this cloud hanging over your head for a long time, and you deserve to celebrate. Just don’t do anything John Daly wouldn’t do. In our opinion, that particular list of activities probably isn’t very long.