MLN: Why did the IOC kick baseball out of the Olympics?

Pound:“I would say the behavior of MLB in relation to drug use was certainly an important factor in the IOC's decision to take baseball off the Olympic program. Even though it's governed by a separate federation and not by MLB itself. The message that baseball was sending was such that I think the majority of the IOC members said: 'Hey, they are going to behave like this, we don't need them in the Olympics'.

MLN: In wake of the Mitchell report, do you believe that Bud Selig and the owners are serious about cleaning up the game or do you think this is still a PR stunt without much backbone?

Pound:“I think it's too soon to tell frankly. It's clear that the Congress thinks it's too soon to tell because they are determined to go ahead with some hearings and try to get some understanding of what both the owners and Players' Association intend to do with this.”

MLN: MLB says that their minor league testing program is the best in professional sports because they don't have to deal with the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Are you familiar with the current setup they have in the minor leagues?

Pound:“ I am not familiar with all the details of it. I certainly know there is a program in the minor leagues that is much more robust than the one in the major leagues. The important thing to look at here is the fact that MLB is prepared to push around the minor leagues, [but] it’s not willing to do the same thing [to] themselves. To blame this on a collective bargaining agreement is disingenuousness. They bargained their way into it. They could have bargained their way out of it if they wanted to.”

MLN: Are the lower number of drug busts in the minors an indication that the MLB policy is working?

Pound:“Not necessarily. No. You have to look at how the policy is administered. How the testing is done, what is being tested for, when the tests occur, whether there really is no advance notice and a whole bunch of other things like that. You can design testing programs that really test around the problem, sort of like they were doing in cycling. Lots of tests, we got so few positives that’s a sign there’s no doping in cycling. Hockey does the same thing.”

MLN: We have been told by a minor league player that they were permitted to leave the clubhouse if they had to work on the field. Is that a loophole to accurate testing?

Pound:“Yes, for sure. Any kind of a really good testing system has a chaperone process from the moment you are selected. You are not left alone. There’s too much opportunity for manipulation.”

MLN: Do you think that a first time suspension of 50 games is tough enough?

Pound:“A (steroid) program of that nature can give you benefits for four or five years. It’s almost an investment [for a player] to get that unfair advantage if your only risk is fifty games."

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