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Athletes were involved as customers in an illicit steroid distribution network that led authorities to raid two Orlando pharmacies and arrest four company officials, a New York prosecutor said.

Customers include Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr., according to the Times Union of Albany, which first disclosed the investigation, citing unidentified sources. Matthews would not answer specific questions about the story Wednesday. Matthews said he didn't know why is name was reportedly on the client list, adding, "That's what we're working on, trying to find out. I will address it at appropriate time."

The Times Union said investigators found evidence that testosterone and other performance-enhancing drugs may have been fraudulently prescribed over the Internet to current and former Major League Baseball and NFL players, college athletes, high school coaches, a former Mr. Olympia champion and another top contender in the bodybuilding competition.

http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/73369864.jpg Facebook.com is a website that every college student knows about and many of their elders don't. Athletic administrators are becoming more familiar with it and many don't like what they see.

For those of you not familiar, students who join the site get personal pages on which they can post pictures and personal information such as cell phone numbers and class schedules.

One year ago, at the beginning of my senior season, Loyola University Chicago went as far as to forbid its athletes to belong. "That would be like banning rock 'n' roll in the '50s," Facebook director of marketing Melanie Deitch told USA Today. Almost two-thirds of the nation's college students have accounts, the company says.

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A Corpus Christi Pee-Wee football coach who charged and knocked down a game referee is blaming the 18-year-old ref for the attack.

Witnesses said the coach, Robert Watson was angry at the ref for ordering him off the field for cursing -- as well as at his 5- and 6-year-old players for not blocking. Watson's team, the Titans, was trailing the 49ers 12-6 with 10 seconds left in the Pee-Wee league's championship game when the incident happened.

Police Captain John Houston said the coach had been warned several times about cursing on the sidelines before his ejection. Houston said the referee was left briefly unconscious by the attack but is otherwise alright.

In the face of increasing amounts of abuse such as this from players, coaches and fans, many officials are leaving the profession. But there are steps you can take to help keep them around.

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A new rule that says players must be at least one year removed from high school before entering the NBA is "the worst thing that's happened to college basketball since I've been coaching," says Texas Tech coach Bob Knight. Instituted last year by the NBA, the rule means exceptionally talented players must wait at least a year rather than jumping to the pros from high school.

Many coaches have said the rule helps the college game, because it lets schools showcase the players for at least one season and improve their program. But Knight, the winningest NCAA men's coach of all time (886 victories), explained why he dislikes the rule.

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A father bounded into a youth wrestling match, picked up his son's winning opponent and launched him out of the ring, an episode caught on a home video. After tossing the 11-year-old boy into the air Sunday, the angry father headed toward the cameraman, the father of the airborne boy.

"I was just wrestling, then the guy throws me," the boy, Nick Nasenbeny of suburban Aurora, told WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

Ray Hoffman, the father in the video and a part-time wrestling coach, told the television station he regrets his behavior and feels embarrassed. He said his son's shoulder was injured. Hoffman also said he will no longer be allowed to coach.

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For the Summer Olympics in 2004, the International Olympic Committee barred competitors from writing firsthand accounts for news and other Web sites. The IOC's rationale for the restrictions is that athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists ??? and that the interests of broadcast rightsholders and accredited media come first. Participants in the games could respond to written questions from reporters or participate in online chat sessions, but they may not post journals or online diaries, blogs in Internet parlance, until the Games were over.

However, Olympic athletes may be allowed to blog for the first time at the 2008 Beijing Games. The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday it is considering whether to let athletes post personal diaries on the Internet ??? so long as the Olympic village isn't turned into a "Big Brother" reality TV show.

The IOC athletes' commission discussed the matter with the policy-making executive board Wednesday and expressed support "in principle" for blogging, but said more time was needed to study the issue. It proposed that athletes be allowed to blog, on condition they receive no payment, post their entries as a personal "diary or journal" and do not use photos, video or audio obtained at the games.

"Athlete blogs bring a more modern perspective to the global appreciation of the games, particularly for a younger audience, and enhance the universality of the games," the press group said.

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As reported by the Associated Press: Eddie Feigner, the hard-throwing softball showman who barnstormed for more than 50 years with his "*The King and His Court*" four-man team, died Friday. He was 81.

Feigner, the former Marine known for his trademark crewcut and bulging right arm, died in Huntsville, Ala., from a respiratory ailment related to dementia, wife Anne Marie Feigner said Friday night. A stroke in 2000 -- a day after he threw out the first pitch before the women's softball competition in the Sydney Olympics -- ended his playing career at age 75. He left the team for medical reasons last summer and lived in Trenton, Tenn., for the last several years until recently moving to Huntsville.

With a fastball once clocked at 104 mph, Feigner threw 930 no-hitters and 238 perfect games and struck out 141,517 batters while playing more than 10,000 games. He was inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Feigner not only pitched from the standard mound, 46 feet from home plate, but also from second base, behind his back, on his knees, between his legs, from center field and blindfolded. In a nationally televised exhibition against major-leaguers at Dodger Stadium in 1964, he struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew, Roberto Clemente and Brooks Robinson in order.

http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/73252797.jpgSecond half goals from Jimmy Conrad and Landon Donovan gave the United States a 2-0 victory over Mexico last night in an international friendly match.

However, emotions flared late, with Mexico's Rafael Marquez and U.S. forward Eddie Johnson exchanging shoves. Mexican goalkeeper, Oswaldo Sanchez, attempted to slide tackle Landon Donovan after he scored his goal. After the final whistle blew, the Mexicans strode off the field without shaking the U.S. players' hands or exchanging jerseys, as is customary.

"The sportsmanship -- it would be nice if you guys reporters and the Mexican press talked about it, because it's really poor," Donovan said. "When we lose to them there, we shake their hands and say, 'Good job.' There's none of that reciprocally, and it's kind of disappointing."

The traditional value of sportsmanship is being challenged from
all sides: professional, college, high school, and even in youth sports. There are some who say sportsmanship is becoming a lost art and that unless we remind ourselves of the essentials of sportsmanship it will gradually fade as other values have done in our society.

In the midst of all this, it seems doubly important that we recommit ourselves to guiding our youth by reminding them what sportsmanship is all about. Help the effort by rewarding them for showing good sportsmanship and showing, by our example, that sportsmanship is still alive and valued in youth sports today.

(Photo provided by Getty Images, taken by Stephen Dunn)