“I have never used steroids. Period.” – Rafael Palmeiro “As long as I live, I will deny it.” – Lance Armstrong “Never knowingly did I take performance enhancing drugs.” – Marion Jones “I would never do anything to break the rules.” – Tom Brady, Jan. 22, 2015 “I don’t have, really any reaction [to a report finding: ‘it is more...

Character Counts! is the name of the character education program established by The Josephson Institute of Ethics utilized by schools and communities nationwide. While character in professional athletes can appear to be lacking, more organizations are waking up to the reality that reputation matters, and if a player has behavior issues it reflects directly on the organization for which they...

What could be better? You’re at the ballpark of your team. A beeee-u-tiful Spring day. You’re on your 4th dog with beverage of your choice. “Take me out to the ballgame,” National Anthem, then PLAY BALL! Ever wonder what it might be like to have the stadium all to yourself? No one getting up every five minutes for another beer....

Having dinner at my favorite local restaurant recently, I’m scanning the menu when a server recognizes me as a fellow Boston fan. She approaches the table and shouts, “Go Patriots!” She then remembers what I do and quickly adds, “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!” Completely nonplussed, I ask, “Hear about what?” “The deflated balls,” she says. “I don’t...

While everybody is posting their own end-of-the-year list, here’s my selection of ethical stand-outs. Mike Carey – Carey is the first African-American to referee the Super Bowl and has been honored as one of the best in the game in 2008. While honesty and fairness are critical to his job, so is respect. So, in 2006 Carey quietly requested that...

What’s disturbing about Lance Armstrong is not just that he used banned drugs to unfairly compete. What’s disturbing is how effortlessly, how compulsively he lied, and how ruthless he became in protecting that lie. And, in a sense, we were all complicit. “There are these two, completely opposite narratives,” Armstrong tells documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney. “The only person who can...

Watching the end-of-the-season games between the Sox of Boston and the Bronx Bombers, the TV cameras would frequently cut-away from the action to catch a glimpse of Yankee Captain Derek Jeter. The 40-year-old Jeter has amassed enough stats to easily make Baseball’s Hall of Fame on the first ballot. According to Baseball Reference, a website devoted to tracking stats of...

What’s your reputation worth? That’s the question Minnesota Vikings principal owner Zygi Wilf needs to ask himself. It’s also a question that every league owner needs to seriously consider in the face of public criticism concerning the escalation of players who have moved beyond thoughtless conduct to criminal behavior. After benching Adrian Peterson for just one game stemming from charges...

Are you ready Are you ready Are you ready, ready Are you ready for some football? – Hank Williams, Jr. I don’t ever remember a time when football wasn’t King. Yes, there’s always been baseball (love it), basketball, hockey, and golf to a lesser extent, but football has always reigned supreme in the hearts of most Americans. In the past,...

Two football stories made the news yesterday, but the focus on one all but buried the other. Let’s begin with the obvious. By now, most people have seen the video circulated by celebrity news web site TMZ that shows what happened inside the elevator between Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Rice and then-fiancé-now wife Janay. Frankly, after watching it, Rice is lucky...