On last night's the "Last Word," FSN's Jim Rome
examined the role of agents in sports and said, "That seamy
side of the business, what the problem is, how we solve it
and where we go from here." Rome's guests included agents
Drew Rosenhaus and Jerome Stanley and S.I. investigative
reporter Don Yaeger. Yaeger talked on how today's pro
athletes are trusting and agents take advantage of this
trust: "If there's a group out there that is more ripe for
the picking for unscrupulous associates, the only group I
can think of that's more ripe than pro athletes might be
lottery winners in trailer parks." In looking into how the
leagues regulate agents, Stanley commented, "If we had an
agents association, guys like Tank Black and to a lesser
degree, guys like you, Mr. Rosenhaus, probably wouldn't
continue to operate in this business." Rosenhaus and
Stanley then sparred over Stanley's alleged payments to
former UCLA basketball player JaRon Rush and allegations
that Rosenhaus has used clients for leverage with other
clients, with Rosenhaus saying Stanley's got "no clients,
he's a joke." When discussing how today's agents pay
players and use runners to make those payments, Rosenhaus
said, "I've never had a runner, ... I've never paid guys.
... It amazes [me] that you do see agents that do it because
you can go to jail for it. I'm stunned that a guy like
Jerome [Stanley] would try and do stuff like that. He's
going to wind up in jail. Jerome, get ready to start
wearing pinstripes" ("Last Word," FSN, 6/22).
