NOTES: In Atlanta, Mark Schlabach wrote a Sports Cover
Story Sunday under the header, "NFL Image Taking Losses:
With Several Players Charged In Recent High-Profile Criminal
Cases, Pro Football Is Seeking Answers" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 3/19)....In N.Y., Harvey Araton wrote on
Rockies P Pedro Astacio, who is scheduled to pitch on
Opening Day despite facing domestic violence charges for
allegedly "hitting his estranged and pregnant" wife in
August. MLB Exec Dir of PR Richard Levin, on MLB taking any
action against Astacio: "Normally, when a crime is part of
it, we let the criminal procedure take place without
interfering. Then we may or may not take action." Araton
wrote that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's "aggressiveness"
with Braves P John Rocker and his "silence" on Astacio
"opens a window into baseball's soul. ... The double
standards are as depressing as the way we react to them, and
report them" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/19)....BUSINESS WEEK's Petti
Fong writes that Canada "still seems somewhat naive about
the price it must pay to keep its beloved" NHL teams. Fong:
"If Canada really wants to prevent more clubs from migrating
to receptive cities in the U.S., it needs to acknowledge
that it is part of a system -- however flawed -- in which
municipalities go to extraordinary lengths to lure and keep
major-league franchises" (BUSINESS WEEK, 3/27 issue).
