In honor of the baseball playoffs, I offer this story, as it appeared in May, 2008. In the early 1940’s, Norman Corwin was nearly as well known as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and much admired. Author Ray Bradbury calls Corwin, “…the greatest director, the greatest writer and the greatest producer in the history of radio.  His brilliant dramas, fantasies, and documentaries...

It’s not easy to do the right thing when everybody’s making money but you.  That’s why ’50s Manhattan College basketball star Junius Kellogg stood out in more ways than one. In the superb 1998 HBO documentary, City Dump: The Story of the 1951 Basketball Scandal, broadcaster Al McGuire remembers, “You didn’t even have $15 for laundry in those days.  You had no scratch,...

“It’s wrong, man… I feel tremendous hurt behind what happened… I should’ve took the initiative to stop it all… I didn’t step up. I wasn’t a leader.” That was former Atlanta Falcons football star Michael Vick on 60 Minutes apologizing for participating in a dog fighting operation on his property. “There is not a day that goes by that I...

I’m gone a few short weeks hiking the Appalachian Trail and what do I come home to?  Well, here’s the CliffsNotes version. Manny’s Back!  Manny Ramirez, the “vacationing” Dodger slugger returned to the lineup following a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a banned substance.  He went 1 for 6 with a walk against the San Diego Padres in his first two...

Manny Ramirez is gone, suspended for 50 regular season games, but should he be allowed to play in this year’s All-Star Game? Ramirez’s suspension ends July 3. The All-Star Game is played on July 14th. Legally, Ramirez is eligible to play. Ethically? New York Times ethicist, Randy Cohen writes “There are potent arguments against the use of these substances [steroids], invoking respect for the...

On Monday, February 10, 2009, Alex Rodriquez’s life changed forever. The highest-paid player in baseball, called the greatest player in the modern game, also called Mr. Clean by some, because he was never directly tied to drug use, finally came clean (after reporter Selena Roberts broke the news in Sports Illustrated) when he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs and lying about...

Dominic DiMaggio, an all-star center-fielder for the Boston Red Sox during the Ted Williams era, died last Friday at his home in Massachusetts. Working on my book, What Do You Stand For? I had a chance to talk with Dominic on three occasions.  Although his response did not make it in the final version of the book, I’m including it here because...

In May 2000, I wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times (Excuses are not Ethics) about basketball coach Bobby Knight’s infamous throat-grabbing of one of his own Indiana players. After the incident, University President Myles Brand said, “I had never seen him before contrite and apologetic… I think the ethical approach is to give him one last chance.” That “last chance” lasted...

Q:  “If your name was not revealed in the [Sports Illustrated] report, would you have come out on your own volition?” A-Rod: “I haven’t thought about that much.” Q:  “Do you consider what you did [using steroids] cheating?” A-Rod:  “That’s not for me to determine. I’m here to say that I’m sorry.” Q:  “Do you feel like your home run record...

Who does it hurt? That’s the question that needs to be answered when examining the issue of athletes lying about the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. It’s a question that warrants meaningful examination by anyone who owns a team or sponsors an athletic event in which the public expects that athletes are not only giving it their physical...