Roy Tarpley, a sometimes famous, sometime infamous, former Dallas Maverick has sued the NBA claiming that his permanent ban from basketball was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He says that his drug and alcohol addictions are disabilities - "substantially limiting at least one of his major life activities". I'm not sure which major life activity was limited. Possibilities are basketball, partying, and opposite sex relationships -- all of which were allegedly affected by what he now calls a disability. Most people back in the mid-80s just called it "stupid", but that's a vocabulary argument I will save for another day.
What makes me wonder here is whether athletes and Hollywood types are going to take over our legal system, so that the only cases that will not be referred to mediation or arbitration or dismissed are those that are titillating enough to catch the public's interest - much like the National Enquirer catches your eye at the grocery store. Before dismissing this as preposterous, ask how many civil cases that you have read about are really anything other than cases like Tarpley's. My number would fit on one hand.
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