US Government and Professional Sports

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randomguy0187

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I’m not quite sure if this belongs in this forum exactly (or has been discussed before), but could someone explain why Congress spends time on Major League Baseball and the whole steroids thing when they could (and in my opinion, should) be using that time on social justice issues and serving the needs (no, gossip about who’s on steroids is not a need in my opinion) of the American people? It’s something I’ve been confused about every time I check sports news for my favorite teams’ scores :mad:
 
Are you saying that Congress is wasting time and taxpayer money? Well, they have a long a storied tradition to uphold, don’t they?
 
Quite true 😛 but you’d think they’d at least do “work” that sounds like something they should be doing, right? sigh
 
randomguy0187 said:
I’m not quite sure if this belongs in this forum exactly (or has been discussed before), but could someone explain why Congress spends time on Major League Baseball and the whole steroids thing when they could (and in my opinion, should) be using that time on social justice issues and serving the needs (no, gossip about who’s on steroids is not a need in my opinion) of the American people? It’s something I’ve been confused about every time I check sports news for my favorite teams’ scores :mad:
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MLB is considered a large multi-state business that takes a lot of money from the public that believes MLB to be operating “above board”. The Constitution grants Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce and there are allegations that MLB, again a large multi-state business, is involved, at least on a player-level, in rampant drug abuse.
IMHO it is right that Congress take some time to see if there are institutional problems with MLB since they use so much of the public’s money for their private enterprise.
 
Jennifer123 said:
MLB is considered a large multi-state business that takes a lot of money from the public that believes MLB to be operating “above board”. The Constitution grants Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce and there are allegations that MLB, again a large multi-state business, is involved, at least on a player-level, in rampant drug abuse.
IMHO it is right that Congress take some time to see if there are institutional problems with MLB since they use so much of the public’s money for their private enterprise.
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Wow, that’s honestly the first time I’ve heard a logical reason for it 🙂 thanks! :tiphat:
 
Jennifer123 said:
MLB is considered a large multi-state business that takes a lot of money from the public that believes MLB to be operating “above board”. The Constitution grants Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce and there are allegations that MLB, again a large multi-state business, is involved, at least on a player-level, in rampant drug abuse.
IMHO it is right that Congress take some time to see if there are institutional problems with MLB since they use so much of the public’s money for their private enterprise.
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Not only that, but as I understand it MLB has been granted special exmeptions to anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws. So Congress tends to keep a pretty big eye on them.
 
On top of that, Congress protects its own interests. Case in point–gambling. There is legal gambling and illegal gambling. The difference? Taxes. The legal gambling organizations pay taxes (and lots of them) and the illegal ones don’t. In order to protect the interests of the casinos, Congress prosecutes illegal gambling rings. Same with drugs. Originally, they were controlled due to taxes (i.e. Harrison Tax Act of '37). Basically, sports is the same deal. There is alot of money in the sports business and the government wants a piece of the action–kinda like the mob. The more corruption, the less spectators, the less revenue for everyone. On a more upbeat note, the fact that sports “professionals” are public figures means some people look to them as rolemodels. Basically, cheaters don’t make for good rolemodels. The government (which isn’t necessarily filled with good rolemodels itself) wants to make an example of those who are corrupting an otherwise legitimate enterprise. Just my thoughts, but feel free to disagree…

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius:cool:
 
Also a conducting a hearing on major sports gets one a lot of media coverage in an election year. 😉
 
Joe_Kelley said:
Also a conducting a hearing on major sports gets one a lot of media coverage in an election year. 😉
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As a matter I think the MLB should investigate Congress. 😃 I’m a bit torn, I think it’s a bit much for Congress to be getting involved, on the other hand the use of steroids in general by professionals along with the large amount of money in the money, at least so long as it’s perceived, tends to encourage it’s use for younger people. I think I’ll just conclude, that for Congress to investigate is good, but I assume chances are they’ll do it in away that is not good.
 
Sport & drugs = a bad thing !!!
Money talks ??? 😦

Salute & Cheers from a NON BELIEVER:
– Laurent LUG (.@…), january 18, 2008
 
There have been some really informative comments, thank you all 🙂
I do have another question in response to the interstate commerce/multi-state business thing: (you’ll have to excuse my ignorance of the details of our government’s structure) why specifically Congress? Is there no regulatory body under our government that this could fall under? I understand that the Federal Trade Commission has a Bureau of Consumer Protection, which seems like it could be relevant. Of course, I haven’t really followed the proceedings since the beginning, so I don’t know the official reasoning behind Congress launching this investigation. Is there someone out there who can enlighten us? :hmmm:
 
randomguy0187 said:
There have been some really informative comments, thank you all 🙂
I do have another question in response to the interstate commerce/multi-state business thing: (you’ll have to excuse my ignorance of the details of our government’s structure) why specifically Congress? Is there no regulatory body under our government that this could fall under? I understand that the Federal Trade Commission has a Bureau of Consumer Protection, which seems like it could be relevant. Of course, I haven’t really followed the proceedings since the beginning, so I don’t know the official reasoning behind Congress launching this investigation. Is there someone out there who can enlighten us? :hmmm:
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I thinkCongressional action was required to waive the monopoly/antitrust laws for professional sports. What Congress giveth; Congress can take away - so sports are quite responsive to Congress.
 
I’ve gotten so disgusted by the whole thing that I don’t care if they take HGH’s or steroids or not. I’m not sure it helps their actual performance that much. No amount of that stuff can enable you to hit a curveball better. Maybe farther, but not make contact more often. They’re ruining their bodies, but then they know that, and are willing to chance it, I guess. Just like smokers and drinkers and over-eaters.
 
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