Ya know, it's weird, this is one of the few times I've agreed wholeheartedly with the PU.

Random drug-testing is WRONG, plain and simple. It is saying "prove you're innocent". It goes against everything this country stands for.

If Selig wanted to impose a policy of "given probable cause to suspect a player is using drugs, to then impose a drug test", that's one thing (and, given the public statements from the PU in front of Congress about it, they'd pretty much have to go along with that). But forcing people to randomly prove their innocence is just wrong.

It *is* wrong, and the worst part is that as professional sports do it, more "normal" people in other industries seem more likely to submit to the same treatment.

If there's going to be drug testing (and, sadly, I think there probably is), the union should get out ahead of it and renegotiate it into the CBA in exchange for real revenue sharing or something similar. Extract some consessions from the owners.

I think people are missing why this is so troubling:

1) If Selig *really* thinks that he can invoke the Best Interests clause to extinguish a collective bargaining agreement, then he will poison the well between owners and players for years to come. Can't get a salary cap (or the one you want) into the CBA? Just invoke the Best Interests clause!

I happen to know a little about federal labor laws, and I'm sure that Selig's lawyers (and Don Fehr) know a lot more than me. Legally, this has *no* chance of surviving judicial review.

So that leads us to Possibility 2: Selig knows it'll never hold up, but is leaking his "machinations" to make himself look like the good guy to the public and the people they vote for. Which makes this a deeply cynical and dishonest act.

Tim

Testing in sports for performance enhancement drugs is unrelated to drug testing used in industries to control individual's private lives. Drug testing is fairly standard in many industries these days. And the issues relating to MLB clearly make it easy for citizens working in different industries to distinguish between and need not serve any precedent. And seriously, what more precedent could baseball set that the NFL, virtually all amateur sports, and even the minor leagues haven't set? Random testing for steroids or other performance enhancement drugs (within reason of course) is not wrong in my opinion, but necessary. But the terms should be negotiated between the players and owners and owners should be prepared for concessions (and fans should expect them).

This ESPN subscription link happens to be free. Maybe part of a teaser to encourage people to subscribe

I don't think a strike would result, but if it did it would be a boon for owners. Public support would be completely with the owners for the first time in my memory. It would be public relations suicide for the union.

I thought the Buster Olney piece was excellent.

Seamus: random drug testing is a violation of the unreasonable search and seizure amendment of the Constitution.

The only time if would be a public relations disaster is if the fans of the game are such sheep that they cannot read ANY of the CBA themselves.

IF you do you see that we have random testing this season as a result of the testing that occured last year (more than 5% were positive). IF a player tests positive he is referred to a committe that sets up a treatment program for him,

HERE is the part most people seem to miss

As part of that program the player can be randomly tested and each positive test would count as a violation. So player X is tested and found in violation gets treatment and random testing. Later in the season he tests positive again and that is the second violation. In the case of a player in a modality the number of tests and the chance for possible positives increases massively. It is not as some have said simply a matter of avoiding one test or a pair of tests. The media also has wrongly reported that the players KNEW when the test would be last season. Again if you read the CBA they did not. The tests were unannounced they were just not random. That means they tested everyone all at once not a few here and a few there, it does not mean that the players knew when the tests were. Don Fehr pointed this out in his Hearing tesitmony.

I have heard no one talk about either of these things and have read stories reporting wrongheaded info all spring. The thing I hate about this issue is that fans are judging the system without really knowing how it works on the basis of inaccurate info provided by idiots like Jay Mariotti. This is true even though all this info is clearly in the CBA which anyone can read at Doug Pappas web site. (Attachment 18 covers it.) There is also a for cause testing provision, which means that if there is cause to suspect a player of using he can be tested at random as well. Any player who fails a test to me seems to give cause for another test dont you think? So we already have the mechanisms in place to handle this and all Selig is trying to do is win media friends and make the union look bad. I hate to break it too him but there is NO WAY IN HELL Bud can do anything the union does not agree too.

Michael