baseball

As the leaves start to fall and tailgaters fire up their grills, the eternal question of whether or not college athletes should be paid has returned to the forefront of barroom banter.

Old arguments and justifications have worn thin — and fans are no longer fooled.

It’s almost baseball season, which means it’s time for anti-tobacco extremists to start grabbing easy headlines. One especially zealous state lawmaker wants to ban smokeless tobacco by players and fans in all California ballparks (here). It’s all based on smoke and mirrors, as illustrated in a woefully inaccurate recent BBC story on smokeless tobacco and baseball.

America’s great pastime may represent America in a negative light, proving that whether on the field or on the streets, inequality is rampant. How is it fair that players who…