Congress Asks Justice Department to Investigate Tejada

I'm not baffled either. Clemens, Bonds, McGwire, etc. got away with it. They didn't get punished. They haven't even admitted what they did.

Merriman did get punished, and he admitted it. Sure, it might have been a weak suspension, but at least he paid some sort of consequence, and he has been forced to stop.

Also, you can look at Pettitte who admitted his use and apologized. Nobody is vilifying him much anymore.

 

Correct if I'm misinformed, but former Senator Mitchell used taxpayer dollars to conduct this investigation, as well as Federal resources (whose salaries are funded by you and I). If it wasn't funded by Congress's budget, OK--but where did the money come from? If I covered it, I'm equally and unilaterally pissed; I don't care what corner of the budget they took it from.

Fix our ****ty schools and the SSA, for cryin' out loud.

 

I agree with you but they did do it so now it's worth talking about

 

Also signed,

William Jefferson Clinton
43rd President of the United States of America

Lying under oath it's no big deal after all if a President can do it then, why can't Tejada or any one else!

 

Oh, I'm not trying to stop folks from discussing it on the board. But they need to stop spending tax money on these investigations immediately and let MLB to spend its own money cleaning its own ****house.

 

His suspension would be the equivalent of 40 games in MLB. What is the current penalty in baseball?

 

The Mitchell Report was funded by MLB. He had cooperation, i.e. he got to talk to McNamee/Radomski, from people who were part of an ongoing federal investigation, and apparently had access to some of the evidence & agents involved. The 2 are separate.

This current congressional circus, however, is a good target for your ire.

 

I agree, but if they are going to do it then go all the way and MAKE them fix it

 

Completely misunderstood that. Thanks!

 

I respectfully disagree with this; baseball is a private enterprise. We already have state and federal crime agencies to deal with illegal drug use, regardless of whether MLB chooses internally to penalize its employees. If there is proof that Tejada, or Andy, or Rocket, or Palmeiro, or anyone broke the law, then the authorities that already exist for this need to take action. Investing congress's time and funding on it is stupid, and Congress interfering with a private business goes past the line IMO.

Make baseball have drug testing like every other business does; that's fine. Make baseball conform to any of the other labor standards that already in place, that's fine. But interfering any further seems to be inappropriately invading the private sector, as well as wasting my money. And who's to say Congress will get it right? They've royally screwed up everything else they've touched for at least the last 20 years.

Back away from baseball, you congressional political disconnected-from-real-life morons.

 

Positive steroid test: 1st, 50 games. 2nd, 100 games. 3rd, lifetime ban.

"Failure to comply" with program: 1st, 15 to 25-days. 2nd, 25 to 50-days. 3rd, 50 to 75-days. 4th, at least a one year suspension.

Positive test for a prohibited substance: 1at, 15 to 30-days. 2nd, 30 to 90-days. 3rd, one year suspension. 4th, two year suspension

 

The thing that gives them some power over baseball as opposed to the other sports is the antitrust exemption.

 

Only place I've seen this covered so far: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=munson_lester&id=3198162

Tejada can expect a federal grand jury to begin to investigate the statements he made to FBI agents. It'll begin quickly and it'll either be in Baltimore (where he made the statements to the FBI) or in Washington, D.C. (where the Palmeiro investigation began). The possible charge is known in the federal system as a "1001," and it is serious. Even though Tejada was not sworn in to tell the truth to the agents who questioned him, he was obligated to give truthful answers. If federal prosecutors in Baltimore conclude that he lied to the agents, they will ask for an indictment. It's the same charge Martha Stewart faced; and in her case, it resulted in five months in a federal penitentiary.

 

As others have said - the fact that the players defrauded the game, and arguably their fans, and profited financially and personally from this fraud and effectively went unpunished for years is qualitatively different. I can't think of a single similar case in the NFL. Bill Romanowski? He's not exactly a revered figure or lauded by anybody. I suppose you could argue that Lawrence Taylor profited from drug use, but I don't think he would tell you that, given his recent history and his repeated legal troubles.

 

I think, when this all shakes out, that it will end up being a cloud that hangs over tejadas head this season...and if he can deal with that and produce, he will be fine.

if he has to do time...itll be in the offseason....i cant see him being suspended if he never failed a test

 

According to an investigative report posted on the Charlotte Observer's Web site on Sunday, a number of Carolina Panthers used a vast quantity and tremendous variety of performance-enhancing drugs during the team's 2004 Super Bowl season.

Move along, nothing to see here.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2563563

 

I remember this...and it was completely ignored. Seriously, if the same thing happened in baseball Congress would investigate and half of the media would be telling us how they should have their league pennant stripped away.

 

What irks me is that now that the ***** is really hitting the fan, congress has no problems going after the players, but they were very nice to Bud Selig (even though they coudln't say his name right) and are obviously ignoring the owners all together. Who made the most money during the steroid era?

 

except that football had a steroid policy and a very prominent panther had already been suspended for steroids.

you're ignoring that baseball ignored steroids

 

No, i'm not ignoring it at all. I recognize that's the case...but that was the owners and the league. I'm talking about the villification of the athletes themselves.

Again...if it were discovered that the exact same story reported about the Panthers happened to the Rockies last season, the outcry would be huge in comparison.