NHL players steered to line pockets of David Suzuki Gold Standard carbon offsets

• The meanest, nastiest people in the world are pushing this scam or have duped others into doing so.
• Top Green Guilt shakedown artist Robert Redford said in 2003, "We have to go to sports."

NHL player funds have been directed to a 'climate change advisory fund' advocated by David Suzuki ("Canada's Al Gore") located in Switzerland, enmeshed with the UN (international racketeers), and traded on a stock exchange." (ie is used for gambling as all stock markets are).

• "The NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge

"NHL players like Andrew Ference and Jarome Iginla are serious about global warming and they're doing some real about it."

• (If you're reading this, I assume you know man-made global warming does not exist and is a global fraud wasting billions of dollars. sm)

• (continuing, DavidSuzuki.org): "We've helped players to calculate their total carbon emissions for the regular season - which turns out to be about 10 tonnes per player.

• So far, 523 players have taken the challenge!

To become carbon neutral, NHL players are purchasing Gold Standard offsets

• exclusively.

These are the highest quality offsets in the world. The Gold Standard is supported by environmental organizations around the world, and it ensures that each purchase has a measurable benefit for the climate. David Suzuki and NHL players challenge YOU to go carbon neutral!"

• 'GOLD STANDARD' IS TRADED ON A STOCK EXCHANGE AND DOES NOT ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE CLIMATE.

"Gold Standard's First Exchange-Traded Carbon Transaction Completed on Climex

Santa Clara, CA - May 8, 2008 - APX, Inc., the leading infrastructure provider for environmental and energy markets, today announced the first Gold Standard exchange-traded carbon offset transaction was completed on Climex, a

• leading carbon spot and auction exchange.

• In the transaction, Rabobank purchased Gold Standard Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs) from Tricorona.

APX serves as the registry provider and administrator of The Gold Standard Registry™. The APX platform allows participants to originate, track, manage and retire carbon commodities. Climex, an environmental commodities and energy contracting exchange, recently launched a continuous

• electronic trading platform for VERs, which is now linked to the Gold Standard Registry.

The APX registry system makes it possible to transfer VERs in a quick, transparent and reliable way from one owner to the next in a transaction."...

• Professional sports celebrities add sheen to the sale of GREEN GUILT. This enables crooks around the world to line their pockets with millions off the backs of honest people.

MLB is a major supporter of global warming schemes.

• Canadian Maurice Strong has advanced this scheme for many years and is on the board of CCX the only firm in the US that trades 'carbon credits':

CCX is the only firm in the U.S. that claims to

• trade carbon credits.

CCX owes its existence in part to the Joyce Foundation, the Chicago-based liberal foundation ....On the CCX board of directors

• is the ubiquitous Maurice Strong,

a Canadian industrialist and diplomat who,

• since the 1970s, has helped create an international policy agenda

for the environmentalist movement. Strong has described himself as “a socialist in ideology, a capitalist in methodology.”

• His former job titles include “senior advisor” to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,

• “senior advisor” to World Bank President James Wolfensohn and

• board member of the United Nations Foundation, a creation of Ted Turner.

The 78-year-old Strong is very close to Gore."...

• How NHL Players were conned by a system unprovable, unaccountable, and crime infested: "Their contributions to the carbon challenge will go towards
• a bio-mass outfit in India, a micro-hydro system in Indonesia and a wind-farm in Madagascar."...Right. ed.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Kenny Lofton: 2 toughest pitchers were Rivera and Leiter

(2/27/09): "I had a chance to talk to former Cleveland Indian Kenny Lofton late last week. I asked him

• what pitchers were the toughest in his career. His answers:

• Mariano Rivera and Al Leiter."

• Lofton v Rivera regular season, 11PA

• Lofton v Rivera playoffs, 4 PA

• Lofton v Leiter regular season, 29PA

• Lofton v Leiter playoffs, 5 PA

from Evening with Sabs blog

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Nothing is more right than a radio with baseball on it--Daugherty, Cincinnati.com

"The first pitch was at 1:05 p.m. from Port Charlotte, on the west coast of Florida. First game of the year. I wanted to hear it. I slipped the transmission into "D" and myself into "N." As I drove, I powered down the window, just enough. It was 56 degrees. Life can be good, if we let it.

• "We'll be back with the action and the lineups on a beautiful day for baseball on the Florida Suncoast ..."
• Marty Brennaman said on the radio, beginning his 36th season of calling Reds games. Baseball in February is purely a state of mind, and I wanted a hunk of that state. I got off Interstate 275 at Route 50, and headed east, vaguely.

Nothing is more essentially right than a radio with baseball on it.

• It's not complex and, as such, it is welcome: back porch, stars, cold beer perspiring. Or as was the case Wednesday, car aimlessly pointed east. "Wild headin,' " Van Morrison would call it. "Whereabouts unknown."

Marty, Cowboy and Thom, cruising the river of time, welcome visitors, extended-stay guests. The Reds are family.

• The radio guys offer six months of family reunion. Every year. Starting now.

"If you're ready now, the starting lineups for today. First for the visiting Reds, leading off and play- ing center field, Willy Taveras ..."

• If we're ready? Of course we're ready. Who wouldn't be?

Tuesday, I dressed in layers and cursed the gods of weather and fate. Wednesday, I power down the window and wink at the world. Baseball is back. Better days to come.

• This is the day I miss Nuxie the most. He was a little kid in the booth on this day. It was his Christmas. Ballgame today! Joe Nuxhall's voice sounded like better days ahead. Life without him is diminished. But we still have Marty and Jeff Brantley, a latter-day Joe.

• We still have spring, when hope is an industry.

"A ballclub, we both agree, that has the potential to be better than the one we saw last year," Marty says to Brantley, who agrees. I'm on 50 East, passing through Owensville and Monterey and VeraCruz. The wind through the open window mingles with the baseball on the radio, a psyche-soothing combination that is strawberries in wintertime.

Brennaman told me Monday that, 36 years into it, he still starts every spring wondering if he still has it, the unique ability to call a game honestly while also engaging his listeners.

• It's an intimate act, calling a baseball game, involving trust, respect and appreciation.

• We take our baseball broadcasters personally here, as personally as we take the Reds.

Each year at this time, the Hall of Famer Brennaman will climb to his perch behind home plate, gaze at the little jewel of a Florida ballpark below him and regard the microphone with slight terror. He needn't worry.

"The lineup today," Brennaman says to Brantley, "you could almost make a case this is close to the lineup we'll see on Opening Day."

• The game unfolds. The Solara motors east, away from everything but the wonder of the day and the call of the game. Brantley marvels at Edinson Volquez's changeup. Brennaman wonders what effect the World Baseball Classic will have on the Reds who will leave Sunday to take part. Brantley ponders the speed at the top of the Cincinnati lineup, and the opportunity it offers Joey Votto to drive in runs. Brennaman notes the tiki bar in left field. And so on. And so on.

I am intrigued by 33-year-old Jacque Jones, a guy whose once-bright career has found the ditch.

• No game validates the Glory of the Second Chance the way baseball does.

I think Jones can be this year's Jerry Hairston Jr. Jones got his eyes fixed this offseason, then went to Mexico, where he hit .314 for a month of winter ball.

• "I went down there and just started enjoying the game again," Jones told Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.

• Yes. I rolled on Route 50, toward Hillsboro, Blanchester, deeper into the country. I started enjoying the game again.

"Willy Taveras will lead it off," Brennaman announced. "Left-hander Carlos Hernandez for the Rays. The first pitch is way inside, and this game is under way."

• "And," Brennaman might have added,

• "not a minute too soon."" via Radio Daily News, 'A Great Day to Surf the (radio) Waves'

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Difficulty of getting Mets players to talk to media cited by Francesa

Mike Francesa on WFAN broadcasting from Mets spring training in Pt. St. Lucie the past 2 days discusses David Wright declining to be interviewed today. Mets PR guy was unable to convince Wright to come on with Francesa, who believes Wright is peeved at his criticism of him last year.

• He goes on to say there's an overall problem with the Mets clubhouse after regular season games getting enough players to talk to the media. (Marty Noble noted this also). One reason Francesa sees is English is not the first language of many Mets players and they're just not comfortable speaking to the media in English.

Of the guys that speak English well enough, they're not interested in gabbing, case in point Delgado. Mike says this is why Billy Wagner who happens to be fluent in English ends up in the spotlight which isn't what you want for a relief pitcher.

• Says the Mets do not want pitchers and relief pitchers being on radio now or after games all the time. (I don't blame the players for not wanting to walk into a baited trap, but team owners should just assign various players to talk so it isn't the same ones all the time. This situation isn't going to get better until the beat writer system thins out a little more due to the economy, is my guess).

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Casey Stern greets XM 175 listeners

He was named for Casey Stengel. I've heard him say he's a Met fan.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Tampa Tea Party this Friday 2/27, Orlando Tea Party, 3/21, others

Inspired by Rick Santelli's recent words on CNBC, the 'Tea Parties' have begun:

• Tampa Tea Party will take place in Tampa from Noon til 1PM, Friday Feb 27th, at the Federal Courthouse.

• Orlando Tea Party, 3/21/09, Lake Eola, 12N-2P, all welcome

• NewAmericanTeaParty.com featuring a variety of tea parties including,

• Tea Parties Near You

  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
  • Fayetteville, North Carolina
  • Houston, Texas
  • Kansas City, Kansas
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Washington, D.C.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Newsday plans to charge for web content

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - "Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper, a move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend toward free Web readership.

• Newsday, which covers the New York suburb of Long Island, was bought by Cablevision in a $650 million deal last May that was widely criticized on Wall Street as a puzzling move into a troubled newspaper market.

Cablevision had to write down Newsday's value by $402 million on Thursday, pushing its fourth-quarter results to a loss, as U.S. print advertising sales and circulation have dropped with more readers seeking free news on the Web....

• "Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed," he said on a conference call with analysts.

• "We plan to end the distribution of free Web content," he added."...via Poynter.org/Romenesko

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Rocky Mountain News to publish last edition Friday

• "Colorado's oldest newspaper will publish its final edition Friday.

The Rocky Mountain News, less than two months away from its 150th anniversary, will be closed after a search for a buyer proved unsuccessful, the E.W. Scripps Co. announced today.

• "Today the Rocky Mountain News, long the leading voice in Denver, becomes a victim of changing times in our industry and huge economic challenges," Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, said in a prepared statement. ...

The Rocky has been in a joint operating agreement with The Denver Post since 2001. The arrangement approved by the U.S. Justice Department allowed the papers to share all business services, from advertising to printing, in order to preserve two editorial voices in the community."....via Poynter.org/Romenesko

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Old Detroit Tiger stadium could benefit from earmark in $410 billion bill in congress

"A $410 billion spending bill pending in Congress includes $3.8 million to help redevelop the remaining section of old Tiger Stadium.

• Democratic Michigan Sen. Carl Levin included the earmark in the bill, which was approved by the House on Wednesday.
• The Senate is expected to consider the spending plan next week.

Much of the historic Detroit ballpark was demolished last year, but a section extending from dugout to dugout was left standing. The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy is seeking to restore the stadium as a commercial and educational space and working ballfield.

• The group has until Sunday to show it can provide an estimated $27 million to pay for the project.

• The conservancy is counting on a federal grant to provide some of those funds." AP story

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Cal Ripken compared with Obama in wealth of media genuflection--Human Events

(Human Events, Ann Coulter): "The Cal Ripken President:" "As Obama prepared to deliver his address to Congress on Tuesday, the Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner, Fox News' Bret Baier and Charles Krauthammer all gushed that history was being made as the first African-American president appeared before Congress.

• Even Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom I suppose I should note was the first Indian-American to give the Republican response to a president's speech, began with an encomium to the first black president. (Wasn't Bobby great in "Slumdog Millionaire"?)

Are we going to have to hear about this for the next four years?

• Obama is becoming the Cal Ripken Jr. of presidents, making history
• every time he suits up for a game.

Recently, Obama also became the first African-American president to order a ham sandwich late at night from the White House kitchen! That's going to get old pretty quick.

• But as long as the nation is obsessed with historic milestones, is no one going to remark on what a great country it is where a mentally retarded woman can become speaker of the house?

Obama spent more than twice as much time in his historic speech genuflecting to the teachers' unions than talking about terrorism, Iraq or Afghanistan. So it was historic only in the sense that Obama is the first African-American president, but was the same old Democratic claptrap in every other respect. After claiming that the disastrous stimulus bill would create or save 3.5 million jobs -- "more than 90 percent" in the private sector -- Obama then enumerated a long list of exclusively government jobs that would be "saved."

• He was suspiciously verbose about saving the jobs of public schoolteachers. Because nothing says "economic stimulus" better than saving the jobs of lethargic incompetents who kick off at 2 p.m. every day and get summers off. Actually, that's not fair: Some teachers spend long hours after school having sex with their students.

As with the Clintons, Obama so earnestly believes in public school education that he sends his girls to ... an expensive private school. He demands that taxpayers support the very public schoolteachers he won't trust with his own children.

• And yet the stimulus bill expressly prohibits money earmarked for "education" to be spent on financial aid at private or parochial schools. Private schools might use it for some nefarious purpose like actually teaching their students, rather than indoctrinating them in anti-American propaganda.

The stimulus bill includes about $100 billion to education. By "education," Democrats don't mean anything a normal person would think of as education, such as learning how to talk good. "Education" means creating lots of useless bureaucratic jobs, mostly in Washington, having nothing to do with teaching."...via Lucianne.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

NY Times CBS News Poll: DEREK JETER MOST POPULAR PLAYER IN US

Headline was about Arod but fine print is more fun wherein the Jeter news lies:

• "The most popular baseball player today is Rodriguez’s teammate Derek Jeter, who was volunteered by 12 percent of fans as their favorite." (CBS news article discussing NY Times/CBS News poll).

Fun with media polls--which they take using their own criteria then try to make certain results into NEWS. (ie A tried and true method.). Both articles about this poll had a headline saying there was little public support for Arod (in the poll that was persons reached on random phone calls 429 of whom said they were baseball fans). Along with all the Arod questions, they asked who their favorite player was, and more people identified Derek Jeter than anyone else. But--that item did not make the headline.

• CBS News mentioned the Jeter item in their story, but the NY Times did not.

The CBS version has a link to the questions asked.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Lance wins tix to today's Yankee-Blue Jays game

On WWBA in Tampa this morning they announced the 6th caller would win a pair of tickets to today's exhibition opener in Dunedin, Yankees-Blue Jays, winner must come to studio to pick up tickets. Caller 'Lance' was the winner of the 4th row seats.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

How to throw a knuckleball

ap chart

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Baseball on HD-3 FM radio

"WCBS Newsradio 880, the Flagship Station of the New York Yankee Radio Network since 2002 has coverage of the coming season, starting Saturday, February 28 at 1:15PM. Ten Spring Training games and the entire 2009 season will be broadcast on WCBS-AM 880

• in addition to being simulcast on the FM dial at WCBS-FM HD-3." from Radio Daily News

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Obama cheerleader on WFAN with Mike Francesa

Carl Jeffers, described as a political analyst, on WFAN because Mike says Obama has an 'important' speech tonight. That in itself is a matter of opinion if one keeps up with the news. While allowing some notes of caution, Jeffers is an Obama lover and uses most opportunities to marvel at how smart or skillful the guy is (although we were not allowed to see any of his school records), that 'government is the answer,' and directs the conversation into areas that deflect attention from the real problem. No one read the $1 trillion stimulus bill that was recently passed. That would be a firing offense anywhere else but government. This country does not need another media guy (Jeffers) selling White House spin. While Obama has been elected, they seem perplexed that this is not yet a totalitarian dictatorship. As far as a sports talk show host conducting a news interview, Francesa has always seemed as interested in news as he is in sports and is able to carry it off under the circumstances. Addendum: Carl Jeffers has been on with Mike before, most recently on 11/4/08, and was on with Imus when he was at WFAN.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Blue Jays-Most Underrated Grapefruit League ballpark

4. "The most underrated Grapefruit League ballpark. It's Knology Park in Dunedin, the Toronto Blue Jays' camp just north of Clearwater. Still quaint after renovations, rarely overcrowded, plenty of Canadian beer."

• From Charleston Post and Courier article by Gene Sapakoff, 2/27/08, "Ten Reasons to bite into Grapefruit ."

(A Tampa radio station just ran an ad for the Blue Jays preseason opener this Wednesday hosting the Yankees and said tickets are still available).

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Yankees shoot pool today at billiards hall (M. Rivera wins)

UPDATE: MARIANO RIVERA WINS BOTH 8-BALL GAMES, one with Phil Coke, 1 with Andy Pettitte, per LoHud Yankee blog by Peter Abraham.

• ('A game's eye is a game's eye.')

photos via NYYfans.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

WBC games added to US spring training schedules

2009 World Baseball Classic spring training appearances beginning March 3.

• World Baseball Classic spring training venues:

ARIZONA				FLORIDA
National Team	Host Club	Location		National Team	Host Club	Location
Australia	Mariners	Peoria, AZ		Canada	Blue Jays	Dunedin, FL
Mexico	Diamondbacks	Tucson, AZ		Dominican Republic	Marlins	Jupiter, FL
South Africa	Athletics	Phoenix, AZ		Italy	Mets	Port St. Lucie, FL
Asia Qualifier*	Giants	Scottsdale, AZ		Netherlands	Pirates	Bradenton, FL
Asia Qualifier*	Padres	Peoria, AZ		Panama	Astros	Kissimmee, FL
				Puerto Rico	Red Sox	Fort Meyers, FL
				USA	Phillies	Clearwater, FL
				Venezuela	Tigers	Lakeland, FL

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Town elders of Spring training locales now enmeshed with MLB teams

Sports Business Journal: "Towns in both states (Florida and Arizona) are requiring teams to play more games at their ballparks than in years past

• and are requiring reimbursement for lost games.

• Clauses seek more night games to drive food and beverage revenue for all sides.

But perhaps the biggest change is that leases are beginning to look more like partnerships than landlord-tenant covenants.

• Cities are no longer content with an ad page in the spring training media guide and a yearly junket to the big league ballpark. Now there is more engagement.

• Two Lee County (Fla.) staff members traveled last year with the Red Sox to the team’s season-opening games in Japan
• as part of a joint marketing effort.

County officials said the trip more than paid for itself when several groups from Japan came to the Fort Myers area last summer specifically because of meeting with the county-team contingent.

• The spring homes are getting more visibility on the big league teams’ broadcasts, as well.

“I spend more time marketing in Dallas and Kansas City than I do in Arizona,” said (town official) Coronado, who oversaw Surprise’s title sponsorship of a

• weekly talk show segment on the Rangers’ flagship radio station in Dallas."...

The article says there will be more spring training games due to visiting WBC practice squads.

• Breakdown of Cactus League revenues

• Breakdown of Grapefruit League revenues

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

California Greens' faulty data on Cap & Trade has broken the state and will bring down the rest of the US

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was all smiles in 2006 when he signed into law the toughest anti-global-warming regulations of any state. Mr. Schwarzenegger and his green supporters boasted that the regulations would steer California into a prosperous era of green jobs, renewable energy, and technological leadership.

• Instead, since 2007 -- in anticipation of the new mandates --

• California has led the nation in job losses.

The regulations created a cap-and-trade system,

• similar to proposed federal global-warming measures, by limiting the CO2 that utilities, trucking companies and other businesses can emit,

• and imposed steep new taxes on companies that exceed the caps. Since energy is an input in everything that's produced, this will raise the cost of production inside California's borders.

Now, as the Golden State prepares to implement this regulatory scheme, employers are howling. It's become clear to nearly everyone that the plan's backers have underestimated its negative impact and exaggerated the benefits. "We've been sold a false bill of goods," is how Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello, who has been the GOP's point man on environmental issues in the legislature, put it to me.

The environmental plan was built on the notion that imposing some $23 billion of new taxes and fees on households

• (through higher electricity bills)

and employers will cost the economy nothing, while also reducing greenhouse gases.

• Almost no one believes that anymore except for the five members of the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

• This is the state's air-quality regulator, which voted unanimously in December to stick with the cap-and-trade system despite the recession.

CARB justified its go-ahead by issuing what almost all experts agree is

• a rigged study on the economic impact of the cap-and-trade system.

The study concludes that the plan "will not only significantly reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions, but will also have a net positive effect on California's economic growth through 2020."

This finding elicited a chorus of hallelujahs from environmental groups. The state finally discovered a do-good policy that pays for itself. Californians can still scurry around in their cars, heat up their Jacuzzis, and help save the planet. But there was a problem. The CARB had commissioned five economists from around the country to critique this study. They panned it.

Harvard's Robert Stavins, chairman of the federal Environmental Protection Agency's economic advisory committee under Bill Clinton, told me that "None of us knew who the other reviewers were,

• but we all came up with almost the same conclusion. The report was severely flawed and systematically underestimated costs."

Another reviewer, UCLA Prof. Matthew E. Kahn, a supporter of the new regulations, criticized the "free lunch" aspect of the report. "The net dollar costs of each of these regulations is likely to be much larger than is reported," he concluded. Mr. Stavins points out that if these regulations are a net boon for businesses and the economy, "why would you need to impose regulations like cap and trade?"

• The Sacramento Bee, which has editorialized in support of the new regulations, was aghast at CARB's twisted science.

We have to "be candid about the real costs of the transition," a cautionary editorial advised. "Energy prices will rise, and major capital investment will be needed in public transit and new transmission lines. Industries that are energy intensive will move elsewhere."

The green lobby has lectured us for years that global warming is all about the sanctity of science. Those who question the "scientific consensus" on catastrophic atmospheric changes

• are belittled as "deniers."

• Now, in assessing the costs, the greens readily cook the books and throw good science out the window.

"To most of the most strident supporters of this legislation," says Mr. Niello,

• "the economic costs don't really matter anyway, because

• we are supposedly facing an environmental apocalypse."

• Mr. Schwarzenegger fits into that camp.

He recently declared: "I recommend very strongly that we move forward . . . . You will always have people saying this will lose jobs."

Meanwhile, the state is losing jobs, a lot of them. California's unemployment rate hit 9.3% in December, up from 4.9% in December 2006. There are now 1.5 million Californians out of work. The state has the fourth-highest housing foreclosure rate in the nation, has lost more businesses than any state in recent years, and is facing a $40 billion deficit.

• With cap and trade firmly in place, the economic situation is only likely to get worse.

Other states are plundering the Golden State's industries by convincing businesses to pick up stakes and move out before the cap-and-trade earthquake hits.

• Governors and Washington politicians who want to reduce their "carbon footprint,"

but are worried about the more immediate crises of cascading unemployment, unbalanced budgets, and the housing-market collapse, would be wise not to follow California's lead. Green policies have a tendency to push states into the red." 1/31/09, "California's 'Green Jobs' Experiment Isn't Going Well"

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

How a game gets to be an MLB spring training game on XM radio

How a spring training game gets to be on XM radio (or Sirius XM radio) is explained by poster CTguy on XMFan.com. Having not seen anything official on the topic and wondering about it myself, I thought his explanation made sense: (2009 Schedule)

• "XM carries "selected" spring training games beginning on the first day of the Grapefruit and Cactus league seasons (2/25/09).

The criteria for airing on XM in years past have been:

• 1) The game must be carried live on terrestrial radio by one of the participating teams. That means no "webcast only" games (The Blue Jays and Brewers occasionally do that.) and no games that will be aired later in the day by the team's flagship station (The Dodgers occasionally do that.).

• 2) No split-squad games. This means any game in which either team is fielding a split squad. The rule is ironclad; XM once refused to carry a Red Sox-Yankees Grapefruit League game because the Yankees had another squad playing elsewhere that day.

• 3) Weekend schedules, especially on Saturdays, can be subject to bandwidth issues. Regular-season sports have priority -- a lot of NHL, NBA and college basketball on a given day means less exhibition baseball."

CT guy adds in another post: "Don't forget. Most teams don't broadcast all spring training games.

• Some put games on their mlb.com websites only;
• those games are off limits to XM"

BWBuddy adds about a Reds game sked for this Wednesday, 2/25:

• "WLW is advertising that they are carrying the Reds-Rays game on 2/25. Since XM is not, hopefully it will be carried on WLW XM 173 - at least that's the way it was last year."

Another poster notes it's best to stay tuned as these types of events are subject to change. Finally,

• "Heck, about this time of year I would even get excited listening to live play by play of a bench coach hitting fungo's to infielders!"

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Selig knew about 2002 Cubs ticket scam--NY Post

Phil Mushnick notes the Cubs got away with a ticket scalping scheme in 2002

• "...on (Bud) Selig's watch and with his tacit approval.

The Cubs took tickets to many of its most attractive games,

• including interleague games vs. the Yankees, and,

• without providing them for sale to the public,

delivered them to a new company, Wrigley Field Premium Ticket Services, which then scalped the tickets.

• When angry word from fans reached MLB, MLB did absolutely nothing.

In fact, given that most MLB teams now engage in some form of ticket extortion, it seems

• the Cubs' scam might have been used for inspiration.

Incidentally, the fellow who answered for the Cubs' "creative ticket marketing," was its exec. VP of business operations, a fellow named McGuire, Mark McGuire. Really."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

CC Sabathia has a Twitter page

Feb. 20 entry:

1. "Lots of fans coming out to watch us. It's different then what I'm used to and it's very cool!" 9:23 AM Feb 20th from web. via NYYFans.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

'Foreclosure Five,' 5 states costing whole country

"The beneficiaries of (Obama's) taxpayer charity will be highly concentrated in just five states -

• California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Michigan.

That is not because the subsidized homeowners are poor (Californians with $700,000 mortgages are not poor), but because

• they took on too much debt, often by refinancing in risky ways to "cash out" thousands more than the original loan.

• Nearly all subprime loans were for refinancing,
• not buying a home."

chart from NY Post. via Lucianne.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

In Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame, Mo moves up to #3 all time for closers

Closers

"We end with closers, the poor souls of fantasy baseball who are cursed at by fantasy owners more than all other players combined.

• With 6.1 FBHOF Points last year, the great Mariano Rivera passes Trevor Hoffman into 3^rd place.

• Rivera’s 2008 was his 2^nd best fantasy season – 39 Saves, 1.40 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 77 K.

Hoffman and Billy Wagner improved their scores ever so slightly while Joe Nathan (4.1 Pts) reaches the Top-10, a 6 slot improvement

• This link will take you to the complete list of the Top-25 Fantasy Era players by position."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Son of Yankee hotshot Felix Lopez had steroids charge in 2002

• Please note, this is an old story that was naturally going to be picked up by the newspapers because it involves people of power and privilege. The extent to which, if any, the son is involved with the organization today is the main surviving point of interest for those who care about the Yankees. The owners are free to do as they wish, of course. ed., 6/20/10

Felix Lopez Jr. is everywhere in Yankeeland these days having married Mr. Steinbrenner's daughter Jessica in 2004. Newsday reports today that in 2002, before he was involved with the Steinbrenner family or the Yankees, his son Felix Lopez III was arrested after a raid on his apartment:

• "Felix M. Lopez III, the son of George Steinbrenner's son-in-law Felix M. Lopez Jr., was charged with trafficking illegal steroids in 2002", (from a later report it sounds like this charge was reduced, ed) "a first-degree felony that was punishable by up to life in prison. Lopez III, 30, cut a plea deal in which he received three years of probation for pleading guilty to possession with intent, which is a second-degree felony, according to Hillsborough County Court records.

• In an interview with Newsday Friday, the Yankees senior vice president said he stands by his son. But he said his son will never work for the Yankees because of his past and the negative perception it would create. "Sometimes kids make mistakes," Lopez Jr. said."...

Felix Lopez is a bully and a boor in muddled Yankee leadership.

• Update: The NY Post has more on this showing dysfunction and
• lack of leadership in the Yankee organization, letting this creep hang around.

(NY Post): "Felix Lopez III, who in recent weeks has been spotted at the Yankees' minor league facility in Tampa working out in official team sweats, served 19 months of probation after pleading guilty to reduced charges in 2003....

• Cops kicked in the door to his apartment after he signed for a package containing a shipment of GBL, which is chemically related to the date-rape drug GHB,...

Lopez, records say, failed to answer a door knock by cops, who apprehended him at gunpoint after breaking into his residence. Inside the apartment, police found multiple vials of anabolic steroids, a shotgun, paperwork referring to the chemical used to make the club-drug Ecstasy, as well as between one and five kilograms of GBL....

• But that top charge was reduced to a lesser drug felony of possession with intent to distribute. He pleaded guilty to that, and to the possession charge related to the steroids, and received a sentence of 36 months of probation which was later reduced at his request to 19 months.

• Lopez also was arrested on a battery charge in 2005 after allegedly punching his estranged girlfriend, who soon after claimed he called her and co-workers and threatened to release salacious videos of her.

That case later was dropped. Earlier this year, Lopez was accused of allegedly kiting a check of more than $2,000 to a contractor, but that case also was later dropped when the parties agreed to resolve the case civilly.

• Earlier this week, a source told The Post that Lopez had been acquired as a strength trainer for the Yankees minor league facility, which his father, Felix Lopez Jr., oversees.

Lopez Jr. is married to Jessica Steinbrenner, the younger daughter of the Yankees principal owner.

• But Lopez III, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, and Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for George Steinbrenner, all denied that the younger Lopez had been, or was going to ever be, hired by the Yankees.

"I have not," Lopez III said, when asked if he had been hired. "I'm not a hire ... I wish.

"No, it's always best to let family just do kind of their own thing. I don't work for the complex at all, no W-2, no paychecks, nothing."

• Lopez III did confirm he has visited the minor league complex, noting that his dad works there.

The Post's questions about Lopez's criminal record caught a number of highly placed Yankees sources by surprise, as they were completely unaware of that aspect of his history."

• AND: "Felix Manuel Lopez III was seen by reporters working as a trainer with players
• at the Yankees minor league complex this month,
• performing tasks such as putting down cones for running drills in the outfield." (item at end of article)

***This is just one example of many who try to take advantage of what appears to be a porous organization. ed.

• A commenter to this post writes as follows in May or June, 2010 (attached):

• "Concerned"

"Allow me to clarify what was written here out of context in order for "Susan" to make a name for herself. If you actually take a deeper look at what happened to Felix Lopez III, you will see how this blog is inaccurate. Yes Mr Lopez was arrested, but you make it out as if he was a dealer. He had different types of steroids, but each was only sufficient for a single person. The only reason he was arrested, was because he ordered it online and law enforcment was building a case against the internet provider operating in the States. The only reason it was considered trafficking, was because technically the order crossed state lines. He never sold or distributed any substances to anyone. As for the GBL that you like to place in the same category as GHB(the date rape drug), it's just that. Related and not the same. GBL was sold legally for years at GNC and other supplement stores right before his arrest. It is known by bodybuilders and athletes to help with the release of natural Human Growth Hormone. In order to get close to having the same effects as GHB, one would have to drink nearly a full cup and there is no way of masking the substance by mixing with a drink. Hardly a substance you could use to date rape anyone. You have to understand that he was also a baseball player and was just trying to recover from injuries to return to the game. He was like so many that are admitting to taking it, however they get away with no repercussions and Mr Lopez becomes an easy target for people trying to combing steroids and baseball. Especially because of his relationship with the Yankees. Shame on all of you."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Seekers of 'hate radio' find Tom Joyner Morning Show nationwide!

This morning I heard Tom Joyner say millions listen to his radio show nationwide. That's good if one seeks 'hate radio.' My post yesterday referenced the show in Tampa on WTMP 1150 AM, but the show airs in many markets including Washington DC on WMMJ FM Majic 102.3 FM.

• The new attorney general of the US recently criticized American citizens for not socializing with other races enough and that we are cowards.

Mr. Holder might want to give a listen to his Washington, DC outlet for a reality check.

• Based on what I heard on the Tom Joyner show, which I posted here,

• hate speech against whites is being stoked as a normal course of events

• to millions across America.

Now is that brave or cowardly?

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

SPRING TRAINING MLB GAMES ON SIRIUS XM radio

UPDATE 2012 GAMES: 2012 MLB Spring Training games and channels on XM radio (scroll down)

• ====================

• Update: 2011 preseason games and channels 3/7-3/11/11

UPDATE: 2011 MLB preseason games and channels on XM, 2/25-3/4 Scroll down to 2011

• --------------------------------------------------

• Update: 2010 schedule spring training games on XM radio

*LATEST SCHEDULE OF SPRING TRAINING GAMES ON XM

• 2009 Preseason games on XM radio-lists XM channels but not Sirius. Don't know if Sirius will be added.

• 2/25/2009 Nationals @ Astros 1:05PMET XM 176
• Phillies @ Pirates 1:05PMET XM 180
• Athletics @ Brewers 3:05PMET XM 179
• Dodgers @ Cubs 3:05PMET XM 178
• Diamondbacks @ Rockies 3:10PMET XM 177

• 2/26/2009 Marlins @ Mets 1:10PMET XM 176
• Brewers @ Cubs 3:05PMET XM 177
• Rangers @ Royals 3:05PMET XM 178

• 2/27/2009 Orioles @ Marlins 1:05PMET XM 176
• Yankees @ Twins 1:05PMET XM 178
• Cardinals @ Mets 1:10PMET XM 177
• Dodgers @ Mariners 3:05PMET XM 179

• 2/28/2009 Pirates @ Astros 1:05PMET XM 178
• Nationals @ Cardinals 1:05PMET XM 176
• Twins @ Yankees 1:15PMET XM 177

• 3/1/2009 Yankees @ Reds 1:05PMET XM 176
• Red Sox @ Twins 1:05PMET XM 178
• Blue Jays @ Rays 1:05PMET XM 177

Game times and broadcast schedule are subject to change." Thanks to XMFan.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Tino and Bernie take the field

Top Teixeira and Tino at spring training, 2/19/09, getty. Bottom, Bernie Williams today, ap

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Kirk Radomski on XM 175 with Rob Dibble and Jody Mac

Radomski does another excellent job explaining what's going on (as he did in his WFAN interview recently). Main points:

• HGH is not a performance enhancer. In fact it slows you down in the first few weeks. It's only a healer. By itself it won't make you stronger. It doesn't have any positive effect til at least 6 weeks and more likely several months.

• He only gave players small quantities at a time, didn't trust players to know how to use it. For example, weight lifters take the substance in much greater quantities over shorter time period.

• The solution to no current HGH test: have players all give samples that will be frozen til such time as there is a test. Radomski thinks this will work.

• In all this the players' union has been most lax and ineffective in handling the players. Had they handled business correctly for the players, there would have been no Mitchell report nor the mishandled 2003 tests (which are still in litigation I believe). Said he's been in a union,
• and if his union bungled things as badly as Fehr and Orza, someone in the union would be
• lying dead in a ditch.

Re: Selena Roberts, Radomski says her co-author Dave Epstein called him last May or June (2008) to ask questions. Radomski: "Based on what he was asking, I knew it had to come from a player." I won't name names, could have made a lot of money naming names but have refused to do so.

• Players mistake is they trusted too many people, starting with the union, which he says needs to be thrown out and started over. But says some players have egos too big to figure they're doing something wrong.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Commenter wishes Boss would fire someone for old times' sake...

Commenter to story on George Steinbrenner at Yankee Spring Training today:

• "Comments

• oh oh oh!

hailtothelion on Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:11 am

I want to see Steinbrenner fire someone...for old times sake! He doesn't have too many years left - fire Cashman, no wait, fire Don Zimmer, no no no, hire Gary Sheffield and THEN fire him!

• This is going to be awesome."... from SportingNews.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Looking for 'hate radio?' Try WTMP AM 1150 in Tampa

Tom Joyner's morning show sounded comprised of 2 male and 1 female host. Listening today on WTMP AM 1150 between 6:10-6:30AM I heard approximately the following:

• Male voice: Did you hear what some Republican governors are doing? It was on a Black news website. Some of these Republicans don't want to accept money from President Obama's stimulus bill. What 'HATE'. They say 'we don't want no Negro money, we don't want no Negro money. Hate. Hate.'

• Other voices agreeing this is terrible.

• Voice: Yes, these Republican governors are from South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi.....

• Female voice: 'AND...AND.....AND......SARAH....PALIN.... OF ALASKA!!!!'

• Everyone reacts: HA HA HA HA , wow, yea, ha ha ha

• Voice: Yeah....'IN OVERALLLS'....(unintelligible)...hee hee hee

• Voice: WHAT 'HATE'....THEY SAY 'NO NEGRO MONEY FOR US....HEE HEE HEE.'

The show takes a caller on the topic:

• Caller: These people are 'EVIL'....

• Female voice in studio: You all 'call these governors' and tell them they should accept the stimulus money...

(I didn't hear any of the hosts say they had read the 1200 page plan). sm

• Article referencing doubt about the stimulus plan. This may or may not be the article referenced on the show.

WTMP AM&FM website

• 9/15/07 St. Pete Times article about changes at Tama Broadcasting
• 1/30/09, Tampa Bay Business Journal article about recent Tama executive action

The black community is aided and abetted by media elite in deciding whom to hate. The journalism trade website Poynter.org hosts a popular column by Jim Romenesko who as part of the media intelligentsia didn't lose a second imagining a despicable, unfounded comparison to Sarah Palin on 10/7/08. Alongside his column was this picture....of George Wallace. .... Who needs words with images like this? sm

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Jones Beach sometime in the 1950's

• Me, Jeff, Mom and Bob at Jones Beach.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Budweiser's new deal for radio: we pay later, take it or leave it

"Anheuser-Busch is now dictating a new payment policy for their Budweiser radio commercials.

• 120 days.

That's four months after the spots have run -- assuming the client decides to pay the stations "on time" -- if you can call net 120 days on time.

• Radio stations just have until the end of this month to protest the new terms or they become automatic.

• Of course, for the stations that opt out, don't expect any Budweiser business.

Anheuser-Busch's new owners, the Belgian/Brazilian mega firm Anheuser-Busch InBev is dictating the new rules."...Jerry Del Colliano via Radio Daily News

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Yankee beat writer, regular on Yankee radio, assures Red Sox blog, 'I'm not even a Yankees fan'

• From yankeeshater.com blog, post, 4/8/08, 4/9/08

"Daily News beat writer swings back

• "Turns out that the New York Daily News’ Mark Feinsand (NY Yankees beat writer) didn’t think much of the most-recent post on YankeesHater.com, and he dropped us a line to say so. In fairness to Mr. Feinsand, we are running the full text of his email here:

(Feinsand): “A friend of mine in Boston (I went to BU and still have some pals up in that area) sent me a link to your site. If you’re going to rip me (and I don’t mind if you do .. at least you’re reading/listening), at least get your facts straight. The Daily News 5th Inning has been around for several years, and the beat writer at the paper has always been the person to join the broadcasters in the booth. It is not new this year, so to say I have been rewarded is just factually incorrect.

• Also, the broadcast is not on the YES Network. It’s radio. And it’s not even the first year I’ve done it.
• I was on with them all of last year, too.

My presence there has nothing to do with my Cy Young vote (and by the way, I was not only far from the only writer not to put Beckett first, but I wasn’t even the only one to leave him off my ballot).

• I’m not even a Yankees fan, otherwise I would have found a way to get Wang on the ballot (he didn’t deserve it either).

As I told the Boston Globe last November, I would have listed Beckett first had I been able to submit my ballot on November 1, but it was due October 1. Oh well.

Enjoy the season. Good luck to your Sox. In case you missed it, I picked them to win the AL East this season.

-Mark Feinsand”

[Editor’s note: I have to say, I am impressed with Mr. Feinsand’s response. Well-written. Cordial. Factual. With all those nice traits, how the %&*$# did you leave Beckett off the Cy Young ballot last year? At any rate, thanks for the response. For better or worse, lots of us NJ/NY-based YH’ers are reading and listening, Mark. And if you “miss the mark” again, you can be damn sure that we’ll call you out first!

• By the way, the best part of your email was when you indicated that

• you weren’t a Yankee fan. Ah, some common ground. Think we’ll have to send you a cap, on the house.

• After all, if you ain’t with ‘em, you’re usually against ‘em!]"

posted april 9, 2008*****

• YankeesHater.com's April 2nd post referencing the NY Daily News 5th inning sponsorship of Yankee baseball on WCBS radio in which Feinsand appeared with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.
• YankeesHater.com mistakenly assumed Feinsand was a Yankee fan. That prompted Feinsand's reply in which he said
• he is not a Yankee fan:

  "He’s back.

  Mark Feinsand, the New York Daily News writer who left Boston ace Josh Beckett off of his Cy Young ballot last season, has been rewarded by the Yankees for his clueless act. The Yankees are now referring to the fifth inning of their radio broadcast as the “Daily News Fifth“, a honor seemingly bestowed on the Big Apple rag as a result of their ability to pay the Steinbrenner clan an undisclosed amount of cold, hard cash. The Daily News, in turn, has selected Feinsand as its representative to take up space in the

• Yankees’ broadcast booth during said fifth inning. Yankees’ broadcaster John Sterling was forced to play in the corporate sandbox with Feinsand

during tonight’s home game against the Blue Jays. During his stint on the mike, Feinsand offered deep, can’t-get-it-anywhere-else insight like “spring training stats don’t matter” and “I think the Yankees will find a way to get to the playoffs, like they did last year” (thanks).

Furthermore, Feinsand’s voice sounded like he came off a month-long chain smoking binge. There’s a reason why writers write and commentators speak. Feinsand should spend more time with the stat guys at Elias, getting coached on what a Cy Young winner really looks like, and less time playing Sportscaster Hero on the YES network."

April 02nd 2008 Posted to Rants" ************************

• *The NY Daily News Yankee beat writer is there first and foremost to do the bidding of the newspaper's owner, a vanity publisher who made his fortune as head of Boston Properties.* But the writer/reporter's celebrity is due to his name being associated with the Yankees. His picture is in the paper every day.
• Fans assume such a person has the same interests as they do, eg, here's our buddy so and so he'll tell us about our team. It is of extreme value for a fan to know that a person who has
• made a living trading on the Yankee name for several years is clearly not a fan of the team. (Which in this case has long been obvious to me since his days working for Bud Selig at MLB.com).
• The Red Sox blogger was so happy at that news he said it was the best part of the beat writer's email to him.

Anyone can say they're objective. A person who buys a newspaper for the purpose of being influential isn't a good candidate for claiming objectivity. sm

• *Reference: Publishers Always Influence Editorial--Shafer, Slate, 7/9/09

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Chimp rooted for Mets when Valentine was manager, later changed to Yankees--NY Post

(NY Post): "The chimp liked watering flowers, wine, expensive steak, brushing his teeth and even watching baseball games on TV. Neighbors also said he liked to pretend to drive his owners' cars - including a pink Cadillac convertible.

Travis also fed hay to the horses near his house in a rural part of Stamford.

• He briefly rooted for the Mets when Stamford native Bobby Valentine was the manager,

• but later changed his allegiance to the Yankees, his owner said.

"He loves baseball. He likes anything with action," Herold said in a 2003 interview."...'Havoc as Chimp goes Ape,' via Rush Limbaugh radio show

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

ESPN bosses told Joe Morgan to mute concerns about increased power hitting--Zirin

Zirin, 7/17/07, NPR: "Increased offense and media buzz meant increased money. In 1995, with the sport on life support, the owners sold their broadcast rights for 565 million bucks, which represented a major loss. In 2001, they sold the playoff rights alone for $2 billion.

• Balls were flying over the fence at a record, ungodly pace. It was far more pervasive than the wildly promoted Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run chase in 1998... Slap hitters were hitting twenty homers. Twenty-home-run guys were up to thirty.

As Joe Morgan said, "I would be broadcasting a game and there would be players hitting balls in a way that they had no business hitting them."

• Morgan was told by his bosses at ESPN
• not to raise any concerns about this fact.

Morgan's unease about the "cheapening of the home run" was rooted in reality. But it would be wildly ignorant to accept the conventional wisdom put forward

• by everyone from the sports media to the U.S. Congress to the baseball moralists that steroids are the reason or even most of the reason for the 1990's power boom. It doesn't even come close to telling the whole story. It's an argument born of hysteria.

The owners actually had a multipronged strategy to make Major League Baseball more like beer-league softball—and it was subtle as a blowtorch.

• As veteran baseball writer Bob Klapisch said, "Somewhere someone decided that baseball needed more runs. It was made at a very fundamental level.
• And little by little, step by step, this became the new reality. There has been too much to write it off as coincidence."

People call this a conspiracy theory, but baseball has a proud history of conspiracies. For six decades, without ever putting the idea to paper, owners kept out African-American players. In the 1980s, they colluded to keep down salaries and deny players the right of free agency, costing players, according to an arbitrator's ruling, millions of dollars.

• This is what these guys do. They sit in a room and make unaccountable decisions....

Sources of the Boom

The new parks are "fan-friendly"—unless your kid happens to go to a school whose shrinking budget paid for these monuments (ballfields built with public funds) to corporate greed. They are, in any case, long-ballfriendly with shorter fences.

• It doesn't take George Will to tell us that shorter fences mean more home runs.

Then there are the balls and bats themselves.

• Countless baseball insiders believe that the ball is now wound tighter than it was twenty years ago.

• As for the bats, as recently as fifteen years ago, players used untreated ash bats.
• Now the bats are maple and lacquered. That means the ball goes farther.Add on the impact of technology: players now go into the clubhouse after every at-bat to look at videotapes and study and correct their swing immediately in a way previous generations could not have dreamed of doing. They even have video iPods with which they can analyze their latest swing as soon as they step down into the dugout.
• Next we have the incredible shrinking strike zone. The area where a pitched ball can be called a strike has shrunk, in the words of pitcher Greg Maddux, to "the size of a postage stamp."

The owners consciously engineered this trend, and when umpires refused to assent to a microscopic, uniform strike zone,

• Major League Baseball crushed their union and

installed machines to monitor their abilities. The smaller strike zone means that pitchers have to hit very precise spots to get a strike. That means batters can target those areas for upper-cut home run swings.

• Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer said,

• "The loss of the high strike has changed the game
• more than any pill."...

But an equally big reason that power numbers are up is that the game finally shed its nineteenth-century view of strength conditioning.... For example, it has been the conventional wisdom for most of baseball's history that lifting weights would destroy your swing, causing the muscles to bunch up....

• Many teams even had a practice of fining or suspending players if they were caught pumping iron. Now weight lifting is a part of every team's regimen as they have realized—to the shock of the old-timers—that being stronger means you can hit the ball farther.

All of these factors are independent of illegal steroids. I made this case last winter on a radio show and a writer for Sports Illustrated asked me if I also believed in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus....But the best proof is that in 2006, the off-season saw intensive testing and far fewer positive results, while home run numbers this year were up. Before he was injured, Albert Pujols was on pace for eighty-four home runs....

• Well Then, Why Use Them? Sports are a lottery ticket out of poverty. The gap between success and failure is razor thin, but the practical difference is astronomical. A minor league player makes on average about $1,200 a month while an even marginal MLB player can make $500,000 a year.

Poverty marks the background of most pro athletes, but in baseball this tendency is particularly extreme...Teams fund multimillion-dollar "baseball academies" to develop talent on the cheap. But it bears repeating that, for every star like Pedro Martinez

• or Miguel Tejada,

there are thousands of Dominican players cast aside.

And the Dominican Republic is attractive to major league execs for more reasons than its sunny beaches and never-ending supply of prospects.

• Steroids are legal in the D.R. Top prospects can find ways to supplement their skill with a no-risk supply.
• But those not in the top tier often take cheaper animal steroids. Minor leaguer Lino Ortiz took this route, went into shock, and died.

This is billionaires telling people from desperately poor backgrounds to do what they say or have fun in the cane fields. Sure they're free not to juice. They are also free to go back to the ghetto or back to the island."...

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon