As the baseball pennant races start to take shape, as the NBA playoffs start progressing to its interesting stages, as the horse racing world prepares for the final leg of the Triple Crown, as the auto racing fans sets their sights on Indianapolis, and as we still do not miss hockey (even though this would be the time of the year that the Stanley Cup Playoffs would start getting interesting as well as the time the Blues would be on the golf course), a surf the Internet this week revealed some incredible things. Some items caused a double take.

So friends, this piece is titled simply: “Say What?”--Because we can’t believe what’s out there.

Case Study #1: St. Louis Rams’ Leonard Little to appeal his speeding conviction and probation. According to the May 20, 2005 Associated Press story: “Little -- acquitted last month of felony drunken driving -- plans to appeal a related misdemeanor speeding conviction and the resulting sentence of two years of probation. Little's attorneys notified authorities this week of their plan to appeal, including the probation requirement that Little not consume alcohol. A St. Louis County jury convicted Little of driving his 2003 Mercedes at 78 mph in a 55-mph zone on westbound Interstate 64 in Ladue on April 24, 2004. The drunken-driving allegation was a felony because Little had pleaded guilty in 1999 to manslaughter in a fatal crash. During last month's sentencing, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Emmett O'Brien rejected a prosecutor's request that Little get 30 days of "shock time" in jail. But O'Brien emphasized that the 30-year-old athlete may not consume alcohol as a condition of his probation, and that if he does he'll get six months in jail. Ladue police officer Gregory Stork alleged that Little flunked three field sobriety tests. But at trial, defense attorney Scott Rosenblum said Stork didn't follow proper procedures in administering the tests. Little refused to take a breath analysis test at the Ladue police station.”

Say What? For the record, I don’t know how fast Leonard Little was driving on Highway 40 at approximately 4:00 AM on April 24, 2004. I also don’t know how sober or how drunk Leonard Little was when the Ladue Police pulled over his 2003 Mercedes at approximately 4:00 AM on April 24, 2004. Yes, I do know this is the greatest country on earth and all Americans are entitled to certain rights and privileges. And yes, I’m aware Leonard Little is entitled to every available option under the law. However whether Little, the Rams, or his high-priced salary legal team know it, he is by many perceived as a bad guy. Little remains a lightning rod and the Rams are also by association. Little earned this image by his actions on a Monday night in October 1998 (that included some incredibly insensitive on-the-record (and public record) remarks to police).

There is no argument here that Leonard Little and his high-priced gang-of-lawyers have every right to appeal this court decision. But, since his reputation and that of his employer’s image continues to be damaged by his past sins, perhaps the All Pro Defensive End should do something unique to address the issue. Here’s a suggestion: how about abiding by the judge’s order of staying clean of alcohol for the prescribed 2-year period? THEN: after the period expires, go to the court to appeal the decision. This would send a message to everyone in St. Louis and beyond that Little truly wants to do the right thing, change his image and send a message. .

Actually this suggestion shouldn’t be all that difficult. Why? Because Leonard Little said so. Just listen to his words. Little publicly stated in writing he would stop his drinking ways. Let’s go back to the archives to the April 9 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch softball-tossing Page One Leonard Little infomercial/mea culpa. " But I doubt if I ever touch any alcohol at all again," Little said in that Jim Thomas piece. "It's not worth it. It's not worth my family. It's not worth my career. ... I've had plenty of time to think about it. And it's not worth it. So it's best for me not to do it at all, than to do it and get myself in another jam." Little says he rarely drinks alcohol. "Probably once a month," he said. "A lot of guys go out and they ask me to go out. I always stay home. I don't put myself in that environment too often. I'm always at home, usually watching TV. That's my best hobby - watching TV. This whole ordeal has made me so much stronger than I was before. People can say anything about me, and it doesn't bother me at all. I know deep down in my heart what type of person I am."”

So what’s the problem if Little actually believes this? Why appeal this verdict if he is truly sincere? But this newest challenge from Little’s lawyers only provides more ammunition to his detractors and more fodder to the argument that as long as you are a Pro-Bowl caliber player in that rich and arrogant cartel better known as the National Football League, you are bulletproof. Meanwhile, the Rams (who are probably much too busy with completing their “Dome Improvement” list to area taxpayers and issuing emails inviting then denying media personnel access to Rams Park) are nowhere to be found to comment on this newest legal twist. Stay tuned.






Case Study #2: the National Basketball Association and the NBA Players’ Association have broken off talks regarding a new collective bargaining agreement. According to the Associated Press: “Union director Billy Hunter didn't see things as too bleak to salvage, while commissioner David Stern said the union should expect to see changes in the owners' next offer when the sides meet again -- whenever that may be. "This is just a bump in the road," Hunter said. "We're going to get a deal. Sooner or later, we'll come back to the table." The league's collective bargaining agreement expires June 30. "I'm not confident, because we're confounded as to how we can make a deal at this point," Stern said. "I'm concerned that there will be a lockout. We were negotiating. We thought we had a deal, or close to a deal, and then it was pulled off the table," Stern said. "Every day that we don't make a deal, damage will occur and the changes in our offer will be apparent down the road."”

Say What? Frequent visitors to this space might recall that last fall, I offered commentary called “Dumb and Dumber”. The story outlined and described the current status of the National Hockey League and its failed negotiations with the NHL Players Association. Still, I might have to pull back that title and issue a sequel Dumb & Dumber award to the NBA and its players association if a lockout actually does occur.

Can’t these guys see what is happening to the NHL? Can’t they hear the jokes about the NHL? Don’t they realize the millions of free and cable television dollars that will be lost if there is a lockout? Don’t they know that with no hockey, there is more discretionary spending money for fans? And isn’t it safe to conclude that a significant portion of those discretionary NHL dollars have landed in NBA coffers, based on a 10% rise in league attendance? Don’t they remember the pain inflicted seven years ago during their last work stoppage?

Nevertheless the NBA is on the doorstep of throwing this all away with a labor dispute. No one wins a work stoppage in professional sports: ask the NHL and ask Major League Baseball. The image is tarnished. Plus, on the heels of an exciting playoff series and with success in mid-size NBA markets such as Miami, Phoenix and San Antonio, the League has an opportunity to expand a product that is on the upswing. If a lockout does occur, we’ll see just how many of their fans will still proudly proclaim, “They Love This Game”. Again, Stay tuned.

Case Study #3: on May 18 the Real Commissioner of Major League Baseball Donald Fehr informed Congressional lawmakers that collective bargaining is the appropriate manner to address employment issues.  “Even matters as controversial and politically volatile as random suspicion-less employee drug testing,” Fehr said. He continued that the legislation, if enacted, might call for an unconstitutional government-mandated search without probable cause, which would violate the Fourth Amendment. "Our task was to design a program that would seek to rid our game of steroids. The evidence so far, and I emphasize so far, suggests that program is working," the Real Commissioner responded to the legislators. "That doesn't mean you don't discuss and consider potential changes as they arise, but it doesn't make what we have now irrelevant either."

Say What? Fehr had to know he was talking to Congress: not to Commissioner-in-Name Bud Selig. Heck, even Selig himself has figured this one out: although he may just win the John Kerry award for flip-flopping. The Commissioner-in-Name has recently experienced an epiphany. Suddenly and without warning Selig now agrees with our legislators. He now has no problem throwing the book at first and/or second time offenders. With this posturing, Selig has now deflected all the attention to Fehr: who believes drug testing is best, dealt with in collective bargaining. Right now, Selig has painted Fehr and the Union as obstructionists.

Apparently Selig’s strategy is working. To illustrate the House Government Reform Committee's #2 Republican, Connecticut's Christopher Shays, was enthusiastic about the Commissioner in Name’s suggestions. "This is a major improvement, and now it's up to the players' union to step up to the plate and make this happen," Shays said. "They say that 97 percent of players want a stricter policy, so I'm hopeful we'll see a policy with some real teeth. We need to send the message that illegal drugs and sports don't mix. "The Committee Chairman agreed.  "(Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia’s) primary goal all along has been to encourage a little more self-policing. Kudos to the commissioner," said Dave Marin, spokesperson for Davis.

Meanwhile Fehr is facing a bit of culture shock. He is used to talking tough, getting the final word and winning debates. This issue is no longer simply a bargaining chip for the next collective bargaining agreement. Now Fehr is being challenged: this time by Congress and they are not impressed or intimidated by him or the Union. "I never heard the players association say, 'We don't want government involvement,' when the facilities were being built," said Representative Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican, "It seems to me there are two standards. You're saying give us the money but don't watch what we do." Murphy then looked Fehr straight in the eye asked him a direct question: “Do you give your kids five chances if they experiment with illegal drugs?”

We have suggested in this space that if any one party or entity can single-handedly and most effectively address Baseball’s steroid/drug enhancement issue it’s the Major League Players’ Association. They still hold the balance of power in the game. They can put a policy in place quickly. All the majority of the union membership has to do is instruct Fehr to issue a directive with strong enforceable penalties. All the majority of members have to do instruct Fehr to work with, not obstruct, Congress. I don’t know how many Major Leaguers are using or have used supplements. However I know it’s not 100% and I know it’s not 0%. Still, I am waiting for a veteran player, tired of being labeled guilty by association and who has earned enough money in his career and who will not to be influenced by the Union, to be tested and disclose the results on national TV. Then, once the verdict is in, challenge all of his fraternity brothers in Baseball to do the same thing. Forget American Idol, the Simple Life and the Apprentice. That would be the ultimate in reality television programming.

It’s all in your court Commissioner Fehr. Stay tuned.

On an issue, Bud Selig has actually out-maneuvered Donald Fehr in the court of public opinion.

Say What?