BORAS AT IT AGAIN It seems as if MLB superagent Scott Boras has once again been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. That he more or less has been attempting to "steal" a major client from yet another fellow agent. It was recently reported by an ESPN writer that someone representing Boras had made several (as many as ten) phone calls to a top prospect in order to get that player to switch over to Boras. If so, he needs to be more sternly reprimanded by MLB officials than merely what's tantamount to no more than a minor slap on the wrist. Such a blatant and unethical disregard for the rules and a pure lack of respect for a fellow agent is absolutely ridiculous and should not be tolerated by MLB. Is such conduct by a high profile and successful agent as Boras due to him needing the money ? Such a scenario could hardly be the case, he's made many millions already. It's more probable that he needs to feed a huge ego in an attempt to "hog" as many top clients as he can in order to proclaim himself, "king of the hill". Dave Burkey
RBI or RBI's ? I don't know about anyone else, but I am fed up with hearing these schmos on the radio, and TV, whether it be an in-progress broadcast of a major league baseball game, or on ESPN radio, continually refering to RBI's (Runs Batted In ; more than one ; many) as RBI.It sounds stupid, plain and simple, and it's bad English. Enough to make old grade school English teachers roll over in their collective graves ! For example. When Travis Hafner of the Cleveland Indians belts yet another of his record-setting grand slams, he is credited with 4 RBI's, not 4 RBI. Now, if you are going to say the words, "runs batted in", you say, Hafner had 4 runs batted in, or Hafner had 4 RBI's. Check your AP (Associated Press) style books folks. It's as if these ESPN geeks, some of them anyhow, are trying to rewrite history. Well, it ain't happen'in ! Dave Burkey
The Beginning.... This is my first post and I'm not at all sure I know what I'm doing. I wrote for Mark Conrad on www.sportslawnews.com back in 2001, and also for a Cleveland Browns online publication in 2000-02, originally called BrownsTNG, which later became www.berniesinsiders.com. It has since changed names yet a 3rd time. I loved writing for both sites and realized at that time that I wanted a future career involving sports law and economics. My long-term goal is to have a "Sports/Talent" agency in the future, possibly even to include some video production involving such things as shooting commercial spots. By the way, Mark Conrad, who is a professor at Fordham in New York City, has a new text out, "The Business Of Sports". You can check it out on the first page of his website. Dave Burkey
