What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

[PdiddyPop]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

I think it is quite right though, as this is a "private" business who should be allowed to police their own actions IAW the law of the land.

Yet they have proved they can't.

[PdiddyPop]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

I think it is quite right though, as this is a "private" business who should be allowed to police their own actions IAW the law of the land.

Yet they have proved they can't.

[Jistic]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Yet they have proved they can't.

Exactly, and there's the rub.

[Jistic]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Yet they have proved they can't.

Exactly, and there's the rub.

[Mr. Bee]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Yet they have proved they can't.

And that is a concern of theirs, because... why? Its not a safety or security sensitive organization. Its a bunch of guys playing a game.

File criminal drug charges against individuals, or leave them alone. The policing of criminal activity by the league as a whole should be of absolutely no concern to the government.

[Mr. Bee]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Yet they have proved they can't.

And that is a concern of theirs, because... why? Its not a safety or security sensitive organization. Its a bunch of guys playing a game.

File criminal drug charges against individuals, or leave them alone. The policing of criminal activity by the league as a whole should be of absolutely no concern to the government.

[Stu]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

And that is a concern of theirs, because... why? Its not a safety or security sensitive organization. Its a bunch of guys playing a game.

File criminal drug charges against individuals, or leave them alone. The policing of criminal activity by the league as a whole should be of absolutely no concern to the government.

This is the answer Congress gave to MLB,taken from a letter by Committee chair Tom Davis to MLB's lawyer. Whether or not this justification is believable is another story.

http://reform.house.gov/GovReform/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=7209

Contrary to your letter, whether and how baseball chooses to police itself raises important federal policy issues. Steroid use among teenagers – especially aspiring teenage athletes – is a large and growing problem. More than 500,000 high school students have tried steroids, nearly triple the number just ten years ago.[9] The National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan looked at steroid use in teens and concluded that nearly 20 percent of eighth graders, nearly 30 of tenth graders, and more than 40 percent of twelfth graders surveyed in 2004 reported that steroids were "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain.[10]

Many of these youth follow baseball and seek to emulate their heroes, potentially contributing to this serious public health problem. Moreover, the reports of the extensive use of federal controlled substances within Major League Baseball raise issues about the adequacy of federal drug laws and the effectiveness of federal enforcement efforts.

[Stu]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

And that is a concern of theirs, because... why? Its not a safety or security sensitive organization. Its a bunch of guys playing a game.

File criminal drug charges against individuals, or leave them alone. The policing of criminal activity by the league as a whole should be of absolutely no concern to the government.

This is the answer Congress gave to MLB,taken from a letter by Committee chair Tom Davis to MLB's lawyer. Whether or not this justification is believable is another story.

http://reform.house.gov/GovReform/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=7209

Contrary to your letter, whether and how baseball chooses to police itself raises important federal policy issues. Steroid use among teenagers – especially aspiring teenage athletes – is a large and growing problem. More than 500,000 high school students have tried steroids, nearly triple the number just ten years ago.[9] The National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan looked at steroid use in teens and concluded that nearly 20 percent of eighth graders, nearly 30 of tenth graders, and more than 40 percent of twelfth graders surveyed in 2004 reported that steroids were "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain.[10]

Many of these youth follow baseball and seek to emulate their heroes, potentially contributing to this serious public health problem. Moreover, the reports of the extensive use of federal controlled substances within Major League Baseball raise issues about the adequacy of federal drug laws and the effectiveness of federal enforcement efforts.

[SPTO]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Here's my take:

Congress SHOULDN'T have to police MLB on this matter but sadly they have to because MLB has shown they can't handle this situation at all. I've read and heard rumours that the government wants all the major pro sports to be subjected to a universal drug testing policy. That seems like a fair and responsible thing to do IMO. The way things are set up for MLB is like a drunk policing the amount of beer he drinks. It'll never work.

To those saying MLB has no connection to government then you are mistaken. MLB is the only sports league and business enterprise (to my knowledge) that still has protection via the Anti-Trust Exemption. If things are as bad as it seems and MLB isn't willing to address the issue in a way that will solve this problem then the Anti-Trust Exemption should be and will be taken away from them.

I saw Bud Selig on TV saying that going after players from the recent past or players today who took steroids before the rather anemic steroid testing plan was implemented this year is not a constructive thing to do. He went so far as to imply that everything in the past should be swept under the rug and that we should live in the present. That sounds very much to me like incompetancy and fear from the Commish as this situation could really blow up in MLB's face.

If this congressional oversight leads to Buddy boy getting booted from the Commisioner's chair then i'd be overjoyed.

[SPTO]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Here's my take:

Congress SHOULDN'T have to police MLB on this matter but sadly they have to because MLB has shown they can't handle this situation at all. I've read and heard rumours that the government wants all the major pro sports to be subjected to a universal drug testing policy. That seems like a fair and responsible thing to do IMO. The way things are set up for MLB is like a drunk policing the amount of beer he drinks. It'll never work.

To those saying MLB has no connection to government then you are mistaken. MLB is the only sports league and business enterprise (to my knowledge) that still has protection via the Anti-Trust Exemption. If things are as bad as it seems and MLB isn't willing to address the issue in a way that will solve this problem then the Anti-Trust Exemption should be and will be taken away from them.

I saw Bud Selig on TV saying that going after players from the recent past or players today who took steroids before the rather anemic steroid testing plan was implemented this year is not a constructive thing to do. He went so far as to imply that everything in the past should be swept under the rug and that we should live in the present. That sounds very much to me like incompetancy and fear from the Commish as this situation could really blow up in MLB's face.

If this congressional oversight leads to Buddy boy getting booted from the Commisioner's chair then i'd be overjoyed.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Someone has to step in, Cause that jerk/bum/Idiot Selig doesn't know anything he doing, he needs to quit, and quit real soon. He's just bad for baseball. It's all starts with him Imo.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Someone has to step in, Cause that jerk/bum/Idiot Selig doesn't know anything he doing, he needs to quit, and quit real soon. He's just bad for baseball. It's all starts with him Imo.

[Grandmaster1]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

If this is what it takes for the problem to get solved,then I'm all for it.

[Grandmaster1]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

If this is what it takes for the problem to get solved,then I'm all for it.

[blackceasar]

Re: What is your take on the Congress and MLB?

Last time I checked Pro Sports teams were not owned by the government. Sure someone can say "what about tax paers who take a 1 cent tax hike for a new stadium".. Well on that note people who live in these citys vote on it. Its just as much for them as the team. If they dont want it, they vote no so I dont think the government really applies there.

Congress and the rest of Washington needs to stay out of pro sports. Pro Sports is as buiness just like any other business. Congress needs to be worrying about John Wayne Junior sitting in the white house going on his holy "slay the non christian evil doers" crusades. And I dont care if Steriods are a drug or not. THEY ARE LEGAL. They are against the rules in Baseball but by LAW for you and me they are legal. So tecnically no laws are being broken so congress (which is our LAW making body) needs to butt out. Letting the government step in will set unfounded presidence and next thing you know they wont stop with Pro Sports. People need to wake up, right now we have an administration with a president who feels if you aint white you aint right, if you aint christian youre gonna be wishin, and if your name is Mohammed, Akbarh you are probable a terrorist. If Bush had his way we would all be christians, there would be no HBO, and your kids would be forced to pray in school. Im sorry I dont want that.

Congress wanting to stick thier nose in baseball just goes to show you how out of whack thier priorities are. We have a failing education system, the economy stinks, the budget that Clinton Balanced is shot to hell, our deficit is at an all time high, we have homless people, etc. There are so many other things congress could be doing ( you know, the crap we ELECTED them to work on) rather than fixing some damn sport just because its not like it used to be when they were a kid back in 1944 on a sunday afternoon with a hot dog and a 10 cent soda watching the game with goole ole Paw.

I honestly think the government needs to take care of whats wrong here first before going out anywhere else and trying to bomb people who dont share our same views. If there is at least ONE homless person out there thats still homeless by the time congress gets thier dirty hands into baseball, well thats just a damn shame.