Free Republic

The sports world needs to take illegal steroid use serious. Sports officials are again on Capitol Hill since sports are not taking the problem seriously. The ill effects of steroid use can be fatal. Unfortunately, athletes are being pressured to use steroids to remain competitive. Senator John McCain has sponsored the "Clean Sports Act," which is companion to a House Bill presented by Tom Davis. Both call for a 2 year suspension for first time offenders of steroid use and a lifetime ban for a second offense. It's time to put these measures into law before more athletes destroy themselves...

NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball players made new proposals Saturday on the key issues of revenue sharing and a luxury tax, and owners immediately slammed them as moves backward. ``We could not have been more disappointed in the proposal we received,'' said Rob Manfred, the owners' chief labor lawyer. ``This is raw regressive bargaining.'' Six days before the union's Aug. 30 strike deadline, the sides appear to be on a collision course for baseball's ninth work stoppage since 1972. There was no immediate response from the union. Manfred accused players of backtracking on increased revenue sharing. The union proposed Saturday...

Baseball's "Labour Trouble": Overdraft at the Memory Bank? by Jeff Kallman A rather splendid New York Yankee pitcher, Ed Lopat, grew up to become a rather splendid Minnesota Twins scout. It would have been rather more splendid if only his employer at the time hadn't been the bottom-feeding Kansas City Athletics. Scouting a wiry Cuban outfielder, Lopat was singularly unimpressed. "This kid," he reported to the Athletics, "will never hit in the big leagues."Until that kid's knees betrayed him about a decade later, a Rookie of the Year award, three American League batting championships, one American League pennant, and a...

Bud Selig's buddiesEven good writers are doing bad stories on the issues behind the looming baseball strike. Why is the media peddling the owners' line? - - - - - - - - - - - -By Allen BarraJuly 18, 2002  | I've been covering sports business -- which by definition means mostly baseball business -- for 22 years now. There have been times when I've been amused, surprised, peeved and angered by the coverage of labor problems in the sports press, but 2002 is the first time I've ever felt disgusted. A collective insanity seems to have spread into nearly...

Filed at 8:08 p.m. ET ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- The executive board of the baseball players' union failed to set a strike date Monday but will ask major leaguers for the authority to call the sport's ninth work stoppage since 1972. Members of the union's executive board, meeting on the day before the All-Star game, left a hotel near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport saying they will go back to their teammates. Philadelphia outfielder Doug Glanville said that because of the uncertain position, it was wise to ``prepare for the worst.'' After the expiration of the previous labor deal Nov. 7,...