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(Ralph Nader and the sports reform project League of Fans sent a letter to NBA star LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers asking him to advocate for more responsible marketing practices to help minimize the risk of obesity in children in his anticipated endorsement contracts with McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. The letter follows.)

Testimony of Ralph Nader
Before the Committees on Finance and Revenue, and Economic Development
District of Columbia City Council
November 28, 2005

Members of the Joint Committees, thank you for giving me the opportunity to present testimony. I would ask that my testimony be made part of the official record of this hearing.

Last year in the District, a mobilized citizenry emerged to challenge a proposal by Mayor Williams and the DC Council that would have subordinated the life necessities of District residents to a private, for-profit, monopoly entertainment corporation. District residents were heavily opposed, by an over two-to-one margin, to a publicly-subsidized stadium for Major League Baseball. Voters ended the representation on the Council of all three incumbent members up for re-election who supported spending tax dollars on a stadium, and replaced them with three who campaigned against it.

When: Washington Nationals’ Opening Day, Thursday, April 14 at 6:00 pm.
Where: RFK Stadium, Main Entrance on East Capitol St., SE

The “Millions for Stadiums, Peanuts for Schools” rally will send the message that a city flush with revenue, and spending at least $581 million on a new stadium, should not cut the DC Public School’s capital budget by 44 percent over the next two years as proposed in Mayor Anthony Williams’ budget. The FY 2006 budget includes no additional funding for athletic programs in DC Public Schools.

Council of the District of Columbia

Dear Councilmembers:

Where is the DC Council oversight on this runaway stadium gravy train? The recent maneuver to introduce as “technical” three amendments to last year’s rush-job stadium bill, and to block all other amendments, is the latest example of a Council which has fallen to its knees. As reported by the Washington Post on October 18, 2005 regarding the utilities tax amendment, “Wall Street wants a guarantee in the legislation that the utilities tax will bring in at least $12 million a year, enough to cover the ballpark debt service.” This amendment is a substantive change and anything but technical.

Jeffrey Lurie
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Philadelphia Eagles

Paul Tagliabue
Commissioner
National Football League

Dear Messrs. Lurie and Tagliabue,

I am writing to urge you to rescind the misguided suspension and planned inactive designation of Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens. If the Eagles management declines to remedy its mistake, Commissioner Tagliabue, you should intervene to overturn the team’s decision, which dishonors this country’s traditional respect for free speech and cheats fans of an opportunity to see arguably the best receiver in football. Let him play.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts Jr. continue, League of Fans would like to note Roberts’ record on Title IX (a law League of Fans supports and has fought to protect) and consider the possible implications if he were confirmed to a lifetime seat.

(Ralph Nader and the sports reform project League of Fans sent a letter to federal health and safety officials arguing that their agencies “have been collectively deficient in research, preservation of data, recommendations and overall recognition of the public health magnitude of sports injuries.”

Enclosed with the letter are recommendations urging the establishment of a task force to formulate sports injury policy and implement “a pro-active national program regarding health and safety in sports, at all levels and age groups, with the goal of minimizing the risk of injury to participants in informal and organized sports, recreation and exercise.” The letter and recommendations follow.)

The Honorable Anthony A. Williams
Mayor, District of Columbia

Dear Mayor Williams:

On Sunday, June 26, the Washington Post featured the Eastern Senior High School baseball team in a moving story that, once again, demonstrated your penchant for peculiar priorities. While assembling the Eastern players for a political photo op at RFK Stadium in March, you promised to attend their first game. A nice gesture, indeed, and one that would have meant so much to these youngsters. But as the Post’s David Nakamura reported, not only did you fail to show for Eastern’s first game, but you never even bothered to attend any of their games. How quickly they were forgotten. You do attend often, however, the Nationals games, in part, to show your commitment to the half-billion-dollar stadium giveaway to Major League Baseball.

By Dave Zirin (on why he wrote “What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States”)

In High School, I was a 5′ 10″ inch center for the fearsome Friends Seminary Quakers in New York City. It wasn’t pretty, but I lived for it and didn’t care if the opposing center could spit on my head. I just loved sports. My walls were shrines to Magic Johnson, Lawrence Taylor, and Keith Hernandez. Every stat, every record, and every rule existed only to be memorized. Weekends were for playing ball until sunset.

League of Fans

Bad Sports
– Robin Hood in Reverse: Supreme Court Decides Private Use is “Public Use” in Eminent Domain Case