All Star Game boycott sought to protest Arizona law

The only Latino in the Senate urged Major League Baseball players on Monday to boycott the 2011 All-Star game in Arizona to protest the state’s tough new immigration law.”The Arizona law is offensive to Hispanics and all Americans because it codifies racial profiling into law by requiring police to question anyone who appears to be in the country illegally,” New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez wrote Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Menendez, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is the only Latino in the 100-member chamber. In his letter, he noted more than 1 in 4 players are Latinos.Signed into law last month by Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer, the law requires state and local police, after making “lawful contact,” to check the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect is in the country illegally.The measure has prompted a number of calls for boycotts of businesses in the state, amid charges that it is unconstitutional and a mandate for racial profiling.

Representative Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat, and some Latino organizations have called upon MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to move the All-Star game, which is scheduled to be played in July 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona’s state capital. A Major League Baseball spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.Calls for a sporting boycott of Arizona began soon after Brewer signed the bill into law on April 23. A group of protesters turned out to picket the Diamondbacks, the state’s Major League baseball team, at a game in Chicago.

The new law has reignited calls for Congress to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, and Menendez joined two fellow Senate Democrats last month in unveiling a “draft” plan.But lawmakers from both parties appear reluctant to tackle the emotional issue months before November’s congressional elections.

‘HUMILIATION AND HARASSMENT’

Almost two-thirds of Arizona voters and a majority of voters nationwide support the law, which backers say is needed to curb violence and crime stemming from illegal immigration in the Mexico border state.

In late April, Brewer signed changes to the law that she said made it “crystal clear” racial profiling was illegal. However, a recent poll of Hispanic voters in Arizona found that 85 percent felt that Latinos who are legal immigrants or U.S. citizens were likely to be stopped or questioned by police.In his letter, Menendez wrote that Latino players come to the United States legally “and should not be subjected to the humiliation and harassment that (the new law) would inflict” on them during their visit to the state for the All-Star game.”Imagine if your players and their families were subjected to interrogation by law enforcement, simply because they look a certain way,” the senator added.

Menendez said, “the Arizona law is an embarrassment to our country and a call to action to our communities to stand up against injustice.””For these reasons, I ask that you consider boycotting the All-Star Game in Arizona until SB1070 (the new law) is repealed, or the League decides to move the game to an alternate location,” Menendez wrote.(Reuters)

Major League Baseball to take any kind of strong stance on Arizona's controversial new immigration law

Don’t expect Major League Baseball to take any kind of strong stance on Arizona’s controversial new immigration law  if baseball ever gets around to commenting on it at all.Commissioner Bud Selig can’t go around shaking his fist and making threats to take the 2011 All-Star Game out of Phoenix, for instance, when he’s got his other hand in Arizonans’ pockets fishing for money for the Cubs’ new spring-training facility.

Selig may have no choice but to bite his lip and remain conspicuously silent on the subject.But standing idly by while others fight the battle on this wrong-headed law is reprehensible for an industry with so much potentially at stake, an industry more deeply invested in Arizona than any other professional sports league and with more Spanish-speaking, foreign-born players than any other league — not even counting the hundreds of minor-leaguers who fit that description.The Cubs alone have 13 players on their 40-man roster who were born in Latin American countries and another 104 among the minor-leaguers listed in the media guide.The battleground already reached the Cubs’ doorstep last weekend when protesters of the law demonstrated outside Wrigley Field when the Cubs played the Arizona Diamondbacks.The law requires police to question, with reasonable cause, people they suspect of being in the country illegally.

Even proponents all but admit the law is unnecessary considering it mirrors existing federal laws, which seems to make its only purpose to create enough of an onus and pressure on local cops to assure heavier doses of racial profiling and harassment (requisite anti-discrimination, window-dressing language aside).President Obama, lawmakers from other parts of the country and the major-league players union are among those who publicly oppose the law, which is being challenged in the courts.

Plenty of strong opinions

Within baseball, players such as San Diego Padres star Adrian Gonzalez, who was born in San Diego and spent some of his childhood in Tijuana, have been especially vocal in their opposition. Gonzalez called the law ”immoral” and called for baseball to boycott Arizona spring training if the law still is on the books next February.He and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen both have said they’d boycott the 2011 All-Star game if selected to participate.Some of the Cubs’ Latin players were less strident or unwilling to talk publicly about it.

But Venezuelan-born pitcher Carlos Silva, who now lives in Minnesota, said he has thought a lot about how it might impact him and other Latin players. ”It’s kind of tough for us,” he said, ”especially for me — I look like a Mexican. I’m going to get stopped a lot of times.”He said he joked with his wife that she shouldn’t be surprised if he calls her from Mexico.This isn’t baseball’s law. And many say it’s not baseball’s place to get involved. But it could become baseball’s problem.

Said former Cub Cesar Izturis: ”Now they’re going to go after everybody, not just the people behind the wall. Now they’re going to come out on the street. What if you’re walking on the street with your family and kids? They’re going to go after you.”

Proponents of the law have said those kinds of fears are unfounded. And maybe they’re right.But those kinds of fears are real. And the first time this new law produces a publicized wrongful detention of a citizen, they’re going to grow.And there’s enough history of bigotry and profiling in this country to justify the fears.

In addition, the Phoenix and Maricopa County authorities have a reputation for being among the more aggressive in the West, if not the U.S.Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who already has been heavily criticized for his aggressive enforcement of immigration laws, is regionally famous for his road-side chain gangs of county inmates and calls himself ”America’s toughest sheriff.”This is the place where drunk drivers get sentenced to a tent city. And a place where police practice an unwritten policy of DUI-stop quotas.

A friend from Chicago who hasn’t had a drink in more than 10 years tells the story of being pulled over one night during spring training for ”weaving in your lane.” After eventually convincing the cop he was sober and persistently challenging the notion he’d done anything worthy of being stopped, the cop finally admitted he was required to stop a certain number of drivers every shift.Bottom line: It’s an MLB issue How does Bud Selig think this new immigration law is going to play out in the hands of these local authorities? And why wouldn’t guys like Silva or Izturis be concerned?

It’s not about whether they’re legal or if they’ll have documents to prove it. It’s about the potential for being singled out because of what they look or sound like, for being hassled disproportionately, for being afforded a different set of civil rights.For instance, does anybody think Canadian Ryan Dempster will face the same scrutiny?While Selig may be fumbling to keep his eyes, ears and mouth covered while keeping one hand free to dig for Arizona taxpayer money, believe this: This law is a baseball issue.Possibly baseball’s problem.And the longer he pretends it doesn’t concern him, the worse he and the game look.

bad behavior of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback' Ben Roethlisberger resulted Wednesday in a six-game suspension by the NFL

bad behavior of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback’ Ben Roethlisberger resulted Wednesday in a six-game suspension by the NFL and reportedly has triggered what once would have been unthinkable: The Steelers are testing the market to trade him.According to an ESPN report, Pittsburgh has been contacting teams selecting in the top 10 of this year’s draft, which begins at 4:30 p.m. PDT Thursday, to gauge interest in the two-time Super Bowl winner. By Wednesday afternoon, the network reported the Steelers had talked to St. Louis, San Francisco, Oakland, Jacksonville, Seattle and Cleveland. The 49ers are the only club without a top-10 pick (13 and 17).In a conference call with reporters, Steelers President Art Rooney II was vague on the subject but didn’t deny his team was shopping the quarterback, who last month was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student in Georgia but will not face charges.

“As we’ve said before, we really can’t answer questions about trades, particularly this time of year,” Rooney said. “We go into every draft with the idea that we’re going to do anything we’ve got to do to make our team a better football team. We just have to stick with that and not discuss trades in advance.”What’s clear is the league and the Steelers have all but run out of patience with Roethlisberger, who last year faced similar accusations by a woman in Nevada. That case also did not bring criminal charges. Since then, reports have swirled that there’s a pattern of bad off-field behavior by the quarterback who once was among the NFL’s most popular players.Roethlisberger will be suspended without pay for six games — losing $2.8 million in salary — for violating the league’s personal-conduct policy, and he must undergo a “comprehensive behavioral evaluation by medical professionals,” the NFL said.

There is some flexibility to the suspension. It could be reduced to four games for good behavior after that behavioral evaluation has taken place, but Roethlisberger cannot attend any Steelers offseason activity until he completes the evaluation process.

“We’re trying to affect behavior here,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has a reputation for disciplining players who run afoul of league policies. “We’re trying to make people understand their responsibility, live up to that standard, avoid making mistakes and use good judgment.”We’re trying to have early intervention so that we can avoid people having criminal activity, deal with the issues and try to get them straightened out so they can lead productive lives. And if they can be great NFL players, terrific.”Rooney said the Steelers support Goodell’s decision and that the club was willing to suspend Roethlisberger if the league did not.

“We do have high standards here,” Rooney said. “But by the same token, we understand that we’re in the people business and people make mistakes. And when they do, we have to follow the procedures.”So far, there’s no indication Roethlisberger plans to appeal the suspension. Rooney was part of the phone call Wednesday when Goodell informed Roethlisberger of the suspension.”His intent here is to follow the program the commissioner sets out,” Rooney said. “It’s our hope and our expectation that that’s what he’s going to do.”