This has absolutely nothing to do with any sport, let alone college
hockey, but is interesting in light of how fiery we got this season:
 
From the Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/27/94:
 
(heavily edited by me)
__________
ARCHAEOLOGIST WINS DEFAMATION SUIT OVER MATERIAL PUT
OUT ON INTERNET
 
A former faculty member at the U. of Western Australia has been
awarded damages after claiming he was defamed in material
circulated on the Internet.
 
It is the first case in Australia - and possibly the world - in which
a judgment has been brought against someone for what they said
on the global web of computer networks.
 
David Rindos, an American archaeologist who lost his job at UWA
last year, was awarded $40,000 by Western Australia's supreme
court...(snip)...the award is equal to $28,000 in U.S. dollars.
 
________
 
The longish article details the defamatory remarks, etc., but
makes no mention of any legal implications the precedent may have
in the U.S. Since Net posts can be read all over the world, I
wonder if Rindos (or future claimants) could collect damages from
courts in other countries?  This wasn't something we talked about
in T. Bart Carter's Communication Law class...
 
Anyway, something to think about, the next time any of us
(myself included) wants to accuse a coach of running a dirty
program. I would hope most coaches are heartier, more
thick-skinned sorts than academics, but one never knows.
 
Greg