WVU College of Law forum to address issues surrounding "juicing" in baseball

MORGANTOWN -- The national spotlight will once again be on the sport of baseball as a new season begins in the wake of congressional hearings surrounding the illegal use of performance enhancing drugs by several notable players.

To bring the issue to light at a local level, the West Virginia University College of Law Sports and Entertainment Law Society will host a forum to discuss the legal implications the use of steroids can have on the athletes, management and the game of baseball.

"False/Positives: The Current State of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports" will be held at 2 p.m. April 16 at the WVU Law Center's Marlyn Lugar Courtroom.

Panelists in the discussion will include Jay Reisinger, an attorney who represented Major League Baseball players Andy Pettitte and Sammy Sosa during their Congressional hearings on steroid use; Larry Silverman, vice president and general counsel for the Pittsburgh Pirates; and andre douglas pond cummings, an Associate Professor of Law at the WVU College of Law, who has represented a number of National Football League players. The panel will be moderated by Stacey Evans, president of the WVU College of Law Sports and Entertainment Law Society.

"The names of Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and Brian McNamee dominate the sports and news airwaves seemingly every day as Congress, Major League Baseball and the casual American sports fan tries desperately to come to grips with the extent that steroids and human growth hormone has effected and sullied the game of baseball" cummings said. "More broadly is the concern that performance enhancing drugs not only tilts the playing field in favor of those that 'cheat' but also places the long-term health and safety of youth, collegiate and professional athletes in jeopardy."

The WVU College of Law has previously addressed the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sports during the "Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor and Race in 21st Century Sports Law" symposium hosted by the Sports and Entertainment Law Society in October 2007. Web casts of these panel discussions can be viewed at http://law.wvu.edu/reversingfield.