Jewish World Review March 13, 2003 / 9 Adar II, 5763

Evan Weiner

JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


In sports, 'free' is usually expensive


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Whenever you see the word free attached to anything in sports, like in free agency and free speech, there is always a cost.

David Wells will never be a role model, yet he wins games and as long as he wins games he will be making millions as a professional athlete. He does what he is paid to do, perform so all of this hysteria surrounding Wells' book is just that hysteria. And all the hype will just sell books.,

Wells has been fined $100,000 for saying that baseball players have human traits. He drinks, players take steroids, players are womanizers. So much for Wells First Amendment rights, although he probably has some sort of morality clause in his contract that he can't defame the Yankees and baseball.

And by the way, Bud Selig wants to chat with Wells about his book.

Baseball never changes. Thirty three years ago, then commissioner Bowie Kuhn did the same with ex-Yankee Jim Bouton because he wanted Bouton to take back what he wrote in "Ball Four," that baseball players are human, not role models.

"Ball Four" became one of the most influential books of the 20th Century

Appreciate this writer's work? Why not sign-up for JWR's daily update. It's free. Just click here.




JWR contributor Evan Weiner is a radio commentator on "The Business of Sports" for Westwood One's Metro Networks. He is being presented with the United States Sports Academy's Distinguished Service Award for 2003. Comment on this column by clicking here.

Up

03/11/03: War on sports?
03/10/03: Sen. McCain, here's one more sports issue to take up
03/07/03: Playing the $tadium game --- and $coring
03/06/03: NBA should study history before wa$ting tax payer re$ource$
03/05/03: Baseball may no longer be very, very good to Ruppert Murdoch
03/04/03: At Augusta, the real fun and games will not be on the course
02/28/03: Will sports world soon be awaken to war realities?
02/27/03: Is baseball just a game like every other, after all?
02/26/03: He wasn't a player, manager or an owner, but he belongs in Cooperstown
02/25/03: States lining up to protect "college athletes' rights'"?
02/24/03: Why Gov. Ed Rendell is more important to the Pittsburgh Penguins' future than its owner
02/21/03: Tyson is living proof that both Mencken and Barnum were both right and Warhol was wrong
02/20/03: An endless season
02/19/03: The bills have come due
02/18/03: The world may be falling apart ... but American baseball teams are more popular than ever overseas
02/14/03: Adding jocks to the state's payrolls
02/13/03: How can the financially struggling Cablevision bail out another NHL franchise?
02/12/03: Selig is undermining sports franchises
02/11/03: Politicians and business leaders want to join a business that admits it's failing financially
02/10/03: Hold the pols responsible for rate hikes!
02/07/03: Judge a team's future by journalist's job?
02/05/03: College Sports and priorities
02/04/03: While corporate America parties, one wonders about the world's largest communications company and its future
02/03/03: High schooler picked the wrong $port to excel at
01/31/03: Gaming and games
01/30/03: The NHL's game plan
01/29/03: The moral guardians of basketball need some schooling themselves
01/24/03: America's excuse for a party
01/22/03: Turning San Diego into an armed camp
01/22/03: Will San Diego lose on Sunday --- even if it wins?

© 2003, Evan Weiner