The BALCO Scandal

OK - there seems to be some outrage that the "Feds" have over-reached themselves by getting a warrant and seizing all the 2003 MLB drug test results. Some people like Doug Pappas seem to think that this is evidence of John Ashcroft out to steal our precious bodily fluids (sorry Doug I couldn't resist slipping a Dr. Strangelove reference in there). David Pinto thinks it may be some Machiavellian move by the players union.

I simply view it as cops doing their jobs.

The other night while flipping through the channels - I happened upon a Law & Order episode. A gay man had been murdered and the night he died the victim had been in a gay bar. Detective Lennie Briscoe and his sidekick went to the gay bar to inquire about a suspect who also was in the bar that night. The owner of the bar did not want to cooperate when Briscoe started asking about the suspect. In particular Briscoe wanted the suspect's address off the credit card receipts from the bar. Again - the bar owner was not inclined to be helpful.

Finally, Briscoe said something like, "You can either be reasonable now or I can get a warrant for all of the credit card receipts and we can go through each and every one. Oh and by the way - you'll probably have to shut down while we go through the receipts."

The bar owner suddenly became cooperative.

In the BALCO case - the Feds went to the players union and said, "Be reasonable - hand over the test results of the players who appeared in front of the BALCO grand jury. That's all we want."

The players union refused - so the "Feds" went and got a warrant for all of the tests (ie all the credit card receipts). The cops in my eyes were just doing their jobs. It was the players union that was being unreasonable and normally in Law & Order when someone is unreasonable like that it is because they have something to hide.

Now I don't get worked up when people take shots at Ashcroft or President Bush but I'll be damned if I sit idly by when the police tactics of Detective Lennie Briscoe are called into question.