MLB bans an over the counter product such as Ephedra, but players get a slap on the wrist for steroid use. The financial penalties against offenders is a joke because it is pocket change to them. The steroid users are abusing their health for short term gratification. What is the point of making milions if you are not going to live long enough to enjoy it?

I know that Marge Schott was a nut, but she was the only thing that was of interest as far as the Reds are concerned. May the crazy broad rest in peace.

NY Post had a Spring Training section in yesterday's paper that listed all of the FL locations and info on the MLB training camps. Road trip anyone?

One other thing I forgot to mention. If you want a laugh, go to MLB.com and Yankees.com and play Where's the Steroid Headline? They're there, but ya really gotta look for 'em.

Hey Paul, How about a fantasy baseball preview?

Maybe I can do something like a fantasy preview. I'll have to start collecting good links.

Lately, the news have been filled with Olympic athletes being banned and having medals stripped for testing positive for exotic and (formerly) esoteric performance-enhancing drugs. The Olympic Committee ensures that its athletes know how seriously it takes an anti-doping stance by the swift and severe penalties it imposes: For the first violation- 2 year suspension. For the second violation- lifetime suspension.
The 2004 Prohibited List of drugs (http://www.wada-ama.org/docs/web/standards_harmonization/code/list_standard_2004.pdf)
is extensive and seemingly as comprehensive as it can be. There is no confusion about what is allowed and what isn't.

Why is it that so many international sports organizations/federations/committees have agreed to abide by this list, and the anti-doping code....and yet our own 'national' sports organizations allow for their players to continue playing even after repeated positive testing of performance enhancing drugs? Why don't we even pretend to care that our "major league" athletes are not required to abide by the same standards as our Olympic athletes?

Does being a professional athlete (as opposed to the Olympic amateur) mean that standards are lax and inconsequential?

Apparently so.

**
As for Marge Schott- it's always tough to be the only woman in the man's club- and you have to admire her grit, if nothing else.

And check out SI's cover story about the top 5 pitching staffs in MLB...Guess who is number one and it isn't the Yankees!?! Cubs are first- FIRST I TELL YA- and the Yankees a lowly fourth (behind the Red Sox, I might add). HA!

I don't understand what the big deal is about steroids... so what. For one thing, I don't see too many people dying from using them (and don't say Lyle Alzado... he died from brain cancer and steroids are used to treat brain cancer). In todays age of medication as the answer for everything this fits right in. After a workout in which the idea is to tear muscle fibers, why would you not want to do whatever you could to aid in their rebuilding and growth? We're not talking about back-alley injections.... or seedy drug deals... we're talking about professional athletes who pay people like trainers and nutritionists and whatever else six figure salaries to do nothing but monitor their bodies and maximize their potential. I think the dangers are WAY overblown and I also challenge anyone who takes steroids to hit a curveball. I don't care how big you are, or how strong... if you can't hit a slider you're shit out of luck in MLB... you still have to have the skill... quick wrists, quick reflexes, hand eye coordination I couldn't even dream of. These guys became professional baseball players because they can play the game, not because they got an edge from steroids. And if they do want an edge, what's wrong with that? It's a very competitive profession... a lot of money at stake, a lot of attention and pressure... if you don't perform you don't make the money, you don't last long, you're replaced in a heartbeat by the guy that can. Let's say you were a graphic designer, and someone gave you a pill they said would allow you to concentrate better and be more creative, you wouldn't take it?

Basically I don't care what they do... I care how they play the game. And to tell someone they can't do something because you think it's bad for them? Let them decide what's good or bad for them.... that's the kind of thinking that has us wasting billions of dollars a year on a completely pointless "War on Drugs", give it a rest.

Babe Ruth's accomplishments are looking better all of the time.