Pump Up the Juice

As if economists don't have a bad enough rap already -- this goose egg wastes space in the NYTimes defending MLB's slowpoke approach to the steroids issue. A couple Andrew Zibalist 's points are too easy points to blast:

An F.B.I. special agent, Greg Stejskal, told the news media last month that he had notified Major League Baseball about 10 years ago that steroid use was a developing problem. Indeed, it was probably around 10 years ago that some people in baseball became aware that anabolic steroids were being used by some players. At the time, many anabolic steroids were illegal if purchased without a prescription.
But as baseball became more aware of this as a growing issue, the commissioner's office did, in fact, act.
In 1998, Selig convened a group at his Milwaukee office, including team physicians, trainers and outside medical experts, and they decided to begin an investigation and to gather as much information about steroid use and its effects as possible.

So, three years after the FBI notified MLB, they "acted" by convening a group and "deciding" to begin an investigation that would entail gathering as much information about steroid use and its effects as possible. Now that's what I call action.

In June 2001, Major League Baseball published a pamphlet in English and in Spanish and distributed it to major league and minor league players. It laid out in considerable detail the known effects of various classes of performance-enhancing drugs. It also hired a new medical staff to advise it on drug policy.

Three years later, they distribute a pamphlet? Wow, hard core "action" there.

Andrew, the entire article and defense you provide is, simply put, insulting to our intelligence. What a crock.