Tim Ellsworth

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) When former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell released his report Dec. 13, he identified 89 Major League Baseball players as users of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Included on that list are a few players who are professing Christians — most notably Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts and Paul Byrd, among others.

That men of faith would be present in the Mitchell Report didn’t come as a surprise to Rick Horton, former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher and St. Louis area director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Read the rest of my story at BP Sports.

Also, be sure to check out what Joshua Cooley and Brad Locke had to say about the Mitchell Report.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Britney Spears’ mom Lynne has written a book on parenting to be published by Thomas Nelson. The book’s release will be delayed, however, after the news that her 16-year-old daughter Jamie-Lynn is pregnant.

Lynne Spears on parenting? Talk about a waste of ink and paper. What’s next? Paris Hilton on self-control? Bill Belichick on integrity? Charlie Weis on nutrition? Albert Mohler on baseball?

Maybe there’s still hope for my book on nuclear engineering. Time to give Thomas Nelson a call.

Hat tip: geno

If you’re looking for your big break in writing, maybe this craigslist ad is it.

But don’t pursue it if you’re not really interested, because the person who posted the ad wants cereus replies only.

Hat tip: geno

Pete Rose says steroid users are making a mockery of the game of baseball.

Good grief. That’s like me accusing j razz of being too opinionated.

Appalachian State claims third straight national title
Union athletes bring Christmas cheer to abused children
MC ties school 3-pointer record in win
LC’s Skluzacek earns Player of the Week honors
Joshua Cooley: Fallen heroes and broken trust
Brad Locke: The cure-all

Interesting column by Jayson Stark about Andy Pettitte and HGH.

It’s getting more and more obvious to those who pay attention that HGH developed a reputation among athletes as some kind of miracle quick-healing potion. Do a little research. That theme comes up over and over.

We hear medical authorities tell us, just about daily, that that’s a myth. But it’s a myth that became part of the sporting culture. So clearly, it was that panicky desire to heal faster, to “get back on the field,” that fueled the HGH use of hundreds of athletes.

“I’m willing to say that in the case of just about every guy who used HGH,” one longtime baseball man told us recently, “it can almost always be traced to some kind of injury.”

So let’s ask you again: Is that “cheating”? Discuss.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Gov. Corzine yesterday signed into law a measure to abolish the state’s death penalty, putting New Jersey into the vanguard of the fight against capital punishment.

With Corzine’s signature, New Jersey became the first state to remove the death penalty from the books since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976. Corzine said yesterday he saw a moral duty to end “state-endorsed killing.”

The Democratic governor said the death penalty amounted to an “endorsement of violence,” and as such it only “begets violence.”

Tim Challies interacts with some of Albert Mohler’s thoughts on public schools in Mohler’s forthcoming book, “Culture Shift.”

If schools truly are “prime battlegrounds for cultural conflicts,” as Dr. Mohler states, why would we purposely remove ourselves from them? Why would we give up and retreat from this battleground? If this is where the hearts and minds of generations of citizens will be formed, why would we take no interest in it? If we retreat, we lose our voice.

What do you think about Tim’s conclusions?

We have decided to home school our son next year for kindergarten. We’ll see how it goes, and then evaluate whether to continue doing so the following year.

As expected, the Mitchell Report has created a buzz in the sports world after it identified 86 players who were accused of being users of performance-enhancing drugs.

For those who consider themselves to be diehard baseball fans, George Mitchell’s report hardly comes as a shock. In fact, in all likelihood, those 86 players are just a small sampling of the dopers infecting Major League Baseball.

Some will say that baseball is now at a crossroads when it comes to protecting the game’s integrity. But unfortunately, they would be wrong. Baseball is already about 18 stops past protecting the game’s integrity, and most people have known that for a long time.

Statistics compiled over the past decade are an inflated sham. World Series outcomes have been altered. Record books have been forever changed, and honest record-holders have been cheated.

So now the sport is no longer in the position of protecting the game’s integrity. What baseball has to do now is restore its integrity. To do that, here’s what needs to happen going forward:

1. Bud Selig needs to be fired.

This is so obvious it hardly needs to be mentioned. The rampant steroid use in baseball happened on his watch as commissioner, and he turned a blind eye to it. He liked the game’s popularity, and he liked the eye-popping offense, so he conveniently managed to ignore what was happening in every clubhouse in baseball.

There’s certainly enough blame to go around, to be shared by owners, trainers, players and other team officials alike, but Selig has failed the game so miserably that he needs to go. It’s time to find a commissioner in the spirit of Kennesaw Mountain Landis with the courage to stand up and do the right thing.

2. Cheaters need to be disciplined more harshly.

Hand out lifetime suspensions for those who have been confirmed as users of performance-enhancing drugs. It won’t take many lifetime bans for players to get the idea that if they juice up, they’re going to be shipped out permanently.

3. Erase the statistics of the users.

The names of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and every other confirmed user should be forever wiped from the record books, as if they’d never played the game.

Harsh? Maybe so. But not nearly as harsh as the damage they’ve done to their predecessors who played the sport with a fire in their belly, and not a needle in their butt.

4. Test more extensively.

Do it randomly. Do it unannounced. Do it to everyone. Do it repeatedly.

If players want the privilege of playing baseball for a living, they’ll know that heavy drug testing comes with it. If they don’t like that, then they can go to medical school, or business school, or hairdressing school, or whatever. If they want to do steroids, then they can try out for professional wrestling.

The answers to the steroid issue in baseball are not elusive. It is not a hopeless task to clean up the game. All it takes is a leader with the guts to do what’s necessary, and owners who will support him in that endeavor.

The St. Louis Cardinals have traded Jim Edmonds to San Diego for prospect David Freese, a third baseman.

It’s the end of Edmonds’ eight-year tenure patrolling center field for the Cardinals, and what an eight years it was. Walt Jocketty stole Edmonds from the Angels prior to the 2000 season, and Edmonds became a key part of a team that made the playoffs in six of his eight years in St. Louis.

I probably can’t count how many times I jumped off my couch and yelled after watching Edmonds make some spectacular catch in the outfield. He was a defensive wizard, and in my book is certainly one of the best defensive center fielders of all time. We previously have discussed Edmonds’ Hall of Fame credentials.

He’s obviously on the downside of his career, and I’m happy that the Cardinals were able to get something in exchange for him. Jocketty was ill-advised to sign him to a two-year contract before last season. I’m not sure Jim has much left in the tank, but I wish him well in San Diego. I’ll always recall with fondness his time in St. Louis.

You knew it was coming. In fact, I know you’ve probably been anxiously awaiting it.

Without further ado, I present to you: “O Holy Night.”

Albert Mohler writes about Richard Dawkins’ admission that he likes singing Christmas carols.

We can only wonder which Christmas carols are Richard Dawkins’ favorites. The sight of an avowed atheist joining in the Christmas chorus is a bit hard to imagine. At the same time, there is something comforting about the idea that even the world’s most famous atheist will move his lips to the songs that celebrate Christ’s birth. Perhaps those words will move from his lips to his head and his heart. We should pray that it might be so.

Have a good weekend.