Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Donald Fehr resigned from his post as in charge of baseball’s most powerful union. After the addition of Marvin Miller’s success in the negotiation of the one-sided labor contracts with the fractious group of the MLB owners, Fehr has been dragged alongside Commissioner Bud Selig in congressional hearings on steroids.

Fehr did not provide any specific reason for his decision to step down on Monday and only said that it was time to move on. In a conference call with reporters, he said “I don’t know if it’s fair to say I’ve lost my taste for it.” “It’s fair to say I’ve done it for a very long time. My conclusion is it’s better for me to see what else I can do before I’m too long in the tooth and to have some down time. … I think it will be good for everybody.”

Meanwhile, the general counsel for the union Michael Weiner, has received Fehr’s recommendation as his successor. This was however still pending for the approval of the members of the union. Gene Orza, Fehr’s longtime No.2 man seemed to be the perfect person to replace him but it is Weiner that is more likely to provide a new direction to the union. The change in leadership is targeted to take place in March 31, 2010 but this could happen sooner.

At the age of 60, Fehr started running the union in 1983 and the first two years as acting director. He assumed the position on a permanent basis last December 1985. At the span of his leadership, the average salary rose from $289,000 in 1983 to roughly $3.26 million this season. Though the union has been victorious in terms of the economic aspect, it is still thought by many to have contributed to the anything-goes, wild-west mentally of baseball by opposing random testing.

Both Fehr and Orza have been the center of public interest because the union failed to expeditiously order that samples from a confidential round of drug testing in 2003 be destroyed. But the secret list of those who tested positive for steroids in the 2003 drug testing is slowly leaking. Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa were identified as steroid users. Former Commissioner Fay Vincent expressed that Fehr protected the players at a cost of the game’s credibility.

“He was wrong to see things in terms of civil liberties for the players and not in terms of the overall interests of baseball,” Vincent said. “He always said that was your responsibility [the commissioner and the owners]. But I don’t want to harp on that as it is just one aspect of an outstanding career.”

However, Fehr said that he understands all the criticisms regarding the widespread use of steroids in baseball over the last two decades. “If we — I — had known or understood what the circumstances were a little better, then perhaps we would have moved sooner,” he said.

The union is badly bruised about the leaks from the list of 104 names who tested positive in 2003. It even sued unsuccessfully to get the list out of the hands of federal prosecutors and continues to pursue an appeal through the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Steve Mister, president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, is annoyed when he hears sports leaders point their fingers at his multibillion-dollar company for their steroid problems and said that large percentages of his company’s products are tainted. But Mister rebutted this claim and said that the study claiming 25 percent of supplements are tainted by steroids is misleading because it sampled fewer than 60 of the thousands of products on the market. The said study was conducted by HFL, a British company and was released on 2007. The study disclosed that it looked specifically for products used by athletes that were “not believed to regularly carry out banned substance screening as part of their routine quality control processes.”

The study was first posted by USA Today and The Associated Press, was included in the speech last week by Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), who urged attorneys general to use state laws to fill in gaps in what many see as last federal oversight of the supplement industry. To counter this statement, Mister said on Monday that laws are thorough while conceding enforcement could be better. According to him, there is already a Food and Drug Administration regulation that requires manufacturers to follow tougher testing practices and it will be expanded to every supplement makers with more than 20 employees.

Mister said that “there aren’t enough inspectors to do all the work.” “You get things like bad peanut butter, pistachios, spinach, and that deflects FDA resources. But the FDA has done a number of inspections and has a pretty robust inspection system in place for supplements,” he added. Though Mister admitted that his industry also has some flaws he also said that it hardly deserves the blame it has received in recent months.

He added that there are “bad actors” in his supplement industry and also called for them to be punished. But the supplement business is not dominated by people who try to break the law and ruin sports, just like many of its detractors claim.

New CEO at USA Track and Field Doug Logan also criticized the supplement industry by saying that it “has been assisting in braiding the noose” that is choking the life out of track and field. Mister however countered that “they have a problem in their industry because they have a lot of athletes who will do anything to win. When they point the finger at our industry, it’s a way to deflect criticism away from their athletes and try to put it on someone else.”

According to Tygart, the anti-doping industry wishes athletes would not depend on supplements at all but said that‘s unrealistic. USADA has hotlines that would help athletes determine the supplements which are clean and contain banned substances. There are companies like NSF International and National Centre for Drug Free Sport that test supplements and guarantee consumers that the products they purchase and take are clean.

Mister offered advice to every customer to be savvy on purchasing supplements. “Take advantage of certification programs, look for seals of approvals.” “Don’t buy products that are making claims that sound too good to be true and don’t buy products where models look pumped up on something that’s not natural,” he added.

In the latest twist in Jose Canseco’s life after baseball, there are news reports that he is planning to sue his former league and the players union. He blamed the Major League Baseball and the players’ association for being ostracized for going public with stories on the rampant use of steroid in the league. It would be a class-action lawsuit which will focus on lost wages including cases of defamation of character according to Canseco.

Canseco said in a phone interview with SI, that because he used steroids and he came out with a book, he was kicked out of the game. He also blamed the league for his failure to be inducted in the Hall of Fame and as well as other star players. “A lot of these players have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame- Mark McGwire and so forth. They’re losing salaries, because obviously when you’re inducted into the Hall of Fame, you get asked to do certain, you know, appearances and shows and so forth, which incorporates income,” he said.

With his current situation, he considers it as a major income loss. “Not even that, baseball blackballs you from their family, meaning you can’t have a future proper reference from them, a job, no managerial jobs, no coaching jobs, nothing. They completely sever you,” Canseco added.

Although Canseco appeared in the Hall of Fame ballot in 2007 but he only received 6 votes which is way below the number necessary to remain in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot in future years. On the other hand, Mark McGwire was also affected by his steroid tainted profile. He was voted in the Hall of Fame but his vote did not get him into the Hall. He only got almost 22 percent of the votes for this year’s selection but still below the 75 percent requirement. His previous nomination got the same fate.

Canseco said that as always, one individual has to make that stand. “And then I’ll obviously speak to other players and other individuals, see how far they want to go,” he added. For Canseco, players should not be stigmatized for using steroids before banning them in 2002 as agreed by players and owners. “I don’t see why people just don’t get it. I don’t understand the ignorance,” Canseco said. He said that it was allowed by the league during that time and giving punishment to players now is not fair. “Listen: It was allowed by Major League Baseball. It was endorsed by Major League Baseball. Why should the players now be reprimanded?”

Officials of the league declined to give comments on this latest action of Canseco. Executive vice president for labour relations, Rob Manfred and union’s general counsel, Michael Weiner both declined to make statements.

It is still uncertain whether the court will find some basis on Canseco’s claims.

The International Equestrian Federation is investigating a second member of its president’s family for an alleged horse doping. The governing body said that Princess Haya of Jordan will step aside from her presidential duties when it investigates the case against Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the son of her husband Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the Godolphin owner and ruler of Dubai. According to FEI, Princess Haya has specifically and formally devolved presidential authority to FEI 2nd vice president Chris Hodson from New Zealand for the case that involves Sheik Hamdan and Sheik Mohammed.

It can be recalled that the princess found herself under great scrutiny when Sheik Mohammed said that a horse he owns and rides tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic steroid- stanozolol after endurance races sanctioned by his wife’s organization. It also had traces of the banned substance guanabenz in Bahrain and after racing in Dubai in February. It shows that two of the most senior member of the emirate’s ruling family—two of racing’s highest-profile owners with several Royal Ascot runners—are under investigation for riding doped horses. The princess told The Associated Press at the time of the controversy that she fears that a “few individuals” who oppose the “increase in democracy and the fight against corruption in the FEI” will draw on the doping revelation to undermine her position.

Both men’s cases are expected to go before the seven-member tribunal of the FEI which can suspend riders from endurance races. Though refusing to comment on the specifics of the two cases under investigation, FEI spokesperson confirmed that their “rules state that the person responsible is the rider.” Sheik Mohammed has admitted he is the person responsible and instigated his own internal investigation as well as his cooperation with the FEI probe.

As a member of the International Olympic Committee, Princess Haya informed the organization about the doping cases. Endurance racing is not an Olympic discipline. Since becoming FEI president in 2006, Princess Haya campaigned to clean up equestrian’s doping and medication problems. She also publicized details when six horses failed doping tests at last year’s Beijing Games, and has commissioned IOC adviser Arne Ljungqvist to lead a review of the methods of treating horses as well as educating its riders. The report is expected in a few months.

Meanwhile, Godolphin has suffered difficulties on English tracks all year, characterized by the failure of the much-fancied Gladiatoris—then officially the world’s top-rated racehorse—in Tuesday’s Queen Anne Stakes. Godolphin said only the racing manager, Simon Crisford, could make statements but when approached at Royal Ascot, he referred all inquiries to the endurance team. Another member of the Maktoum entourage said that he would guarantee that someone from the team would make comments. No one did.

Godolphin horses are considered superstars in Dubai. All horses are well taken cared of at the stable’s state-of-the-art training facility. It has won 146 Grade 1 victories in 12 countries over the last 17 years, and the stable’s stars are considered heroes in the desert nation.

Ozzie Guillen and Lou Piniella, Chicago managers, want the names of all 104 players who tested positive in 2003, the first year of drug testing in MLB, be released. The said managers are not alone in this clamor as some players and media members also called on baseball to show the full list instead of leaking it slowly and painfully through the media. In a column at cbssports.com written by Gwen Knapp, it said that “it’s understandable that people would want the whole truth and consider it unfair for Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez to have been cited while 102 players have retained the confidentiality they were promised when they urinated into a specimen cup six years ago. But most of the people who support releasing the names simply want to be done with the scandal, and they’re willing to take a shortcut to the finish line.”

MLB has agreed to keep the said list as a secret and no matter how many names have leaked, the commissioner’s office still has to honor the deal. And if MLB could void a contractual promise of that magnitude simply on the theory that it would serve to be of the game’s best interest, then all contracts should also be voidable. It is definitely bad for the game to have teams stuck with injured or underperforming players. What the league really needs, according to the article, is to understand that the doping issue, once it burrows under the sport’s skin, defies closure.

The International Olympic Committee thought it would end all doping and steroid issues when Ben Johnson tested positive in Seoul. Johnson is a champion in the 100-meter dash during the 1998 Summer Games. And almost two decades after, the IOC was revoking the medals of Marion Jones and admits that it did not know how to re-assign some of the medals because many of her competitors were also tainted with doping.

And in 1998, French police searched the hotels of the cyclists en route of the Tour de France, following up on a border drug bust of a Belgian aide to one of the teams, whose car has performance-enhancing substances. The raid is considered by many Tour fans as prevention in further steroid-related cases as it would scare potential cheaters in the future. And after nine years, organizers of the said race would be booting the pre-race favorite because of some doping connections. Tyler Hamilton, another gold-medal-winning cyclist was handed down with 8 year suspension for doping. Also, Floyd Landis, 2006 Tour de France champion, would lose his title when he tested positive for artificial testosterone. And lastly, 1996 Tour champ Bjarne Riis confessed to using an endurance drug.

Many athletes are tempted of using chemical enhancements because of their lavish reward. But rather than extolling a testing program that still has serious limitations, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, said Knapp, wants to embrace humility. “Instead of declaring victories, he can promise vigilance. Players will take the threat of detection a lot more seriously if the game’s leaders stop trying to tie doping up into a package, into a single era that can be dumped like toxic waste at a landfill.”

Four race trainers were recently fined by their respective racing organization for violating anti-doping policies. Two trainers from Sydney, Australia and the other two were from Pennsylvania, US. The tandem trainers Lee Brothers were fined by the Racing NSW for a positive test result of a prohibited substance. The racing authority found testosterone on their gelding Nuclear Escort after he raced in the Kiama Cup at Kembla Grange last April. The brothers, Jim and Greg Lee were fined with a $15,000 by Racing NSW stewards. This is the second offense of the brothers for violating drug rules. In March, when Keepin’ the Dream raced at Rosehill, the stewards also found a prohibited substance after a post-race test. They received $10,000 fine.

The second violation came 3 days after the racing authority gave them the first sanction. It was noted by the stewards that testosterone had already been routinely administered to Nuclear Escort. George Piggins, a prominent rugby league player in South Sydney, rode the Nuclear Escort during the race. He was among those people who were invited to give testimonies during the hearing. The stable veterinarian, Peter Faehrmann and stable foreman Craig Mulholland were also invited to give testimonies. Dr. Craig Suann, the Racing NSW senior vet and Andrew Vadasz, Australian Forensic Racing Laboratory director were also present in the inquiry.

The trainers Greg Lee and Jim Lee both pleaded guilty for the charges. They admitted that they have brought a horse to a racecourse with a prohibited substance on their system.

Aside from the fine imposed on them, the stewards advised the brothers to immediately take a more active role in the authorization of treatments to horses in their care and adopt full and proper record keeping of such treatments. They were also told that maintaining drug free horses during competition were not the only responsibility of the stable veterinarian and stable foreman. The doctor was also advised to review his treatment practices especially in the use of anabolic steroids. The racing authority required him to discuss and inform the trainers of his general treatment practices.

In Pennsylvania, trainers Noel Daley and Jimmy Takter both received sanctions from Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission. These trainers used trenbolone enanthate on their race horses which were discovered in several test conducted by the commission. Steroid Trenbolone is used to increase muscle growth and appetite.

Daley’s race horses returned positive results for trenbolone in consecutive racing events in April at Pocono Downs with pacer Brokaw and at Harrah’s Chester with Trueys Legacy and trotting mare Up Front Hotsey. Daley appealed for the results but he was still given the sanction. He lost a total purse of $22,000 for those races. A fine totaling $4,000 and a 45-day suspension was also given to him by the commission.

On the other hand, Jimmy Takter was also fined $500 and the loss of purse for the Pocono Down’s race in April. His Birdsong Hanover was also tested positive for Trenbolone.