Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts said franchise career home run leader Sammy Sosa needs to "put everything on the table" in regard to performance enhancing drug use during his playing days if he is to ever be welcomed back by the team.
"Players from that era owe us a little bit of honesty," Ricketts said Saturday during the team's annual fan convention. "The only way to turn that page is to put everything on the table."
The Cubs invited a couple dozen former players to the fan convention, but Sosa wasn't one of them.
Sosa played 13 years for the Cubs, hitting 545 home runs, including 3 years of 60 or more. He never officially tested positive for steroids.
He hasn't been invited back with the team in any official capacity since he retired after the 2007 season. Ricketts has been ambiguous in the past about what Sosa needs to do to be welcomed back, but on Saturday, he finally explained his feelings on the topic.
"I think we have to be sympathetic to that era ... but the players owe us some honesty too," Ricketts said in response to a fan's question during a panel discussion with ownership.
Don't cross Chucky
NFL fans have a pretty good idea about how intense new Oakland Raiders Coach Jon Gruden can be. Former NFL great Jerry Rice, who played four years with the Raiders, wants to make sure that the players on his current team fully understand what they're getting into.
As Carl Steward of the Bay Area News Group reported, Rice didn't shy away from the fact that the infamous "Chucky" is going to come out, while also citing that the players are either going to buy in or not be a part of it.
"I hope these players are ready, because they're going to get Chucky," he said. "They're going to get him, and how they deal with that could tell the whole story. But Chucky's going to come out. And either you buy in or you're not going to be part of it."
Rice wasn't the only one either, as former Raiders great Charles Woodson echoed a similar sentiment about buying in or seeing yourself out the door, per Steward.
"If you don't respond, you've gotta go," he said. "That's going to be the bottom line. I don't think Gruden's going to come in here favoring or babying anybody. He's going to try to hit the ground running, and if you're not ready to jump on that train, there'll be another team for you or something else to do. it's got to be all in or nothing."
Based on these comments, Raiders players should likely come in ready to work or expect to be on the way out more than likely.
There's zero reason to believe that Gruden has changed his coaching style during his time away from the sidelines, so it likely means the same scowl and outspoken coach from the past will still be present.
Shot put accident
A referee at a track and field competition in the Czech capital of Prague was killed when a shot put hit him in the chest.
The Czech athletics federation said the accident occurred during an indoor youth competition in Prague on Saturday. The victim was identified as Pavel Zeman, an experienced referee and long-term athletics official.
The rest of the competition was canceled. The federation offered condolences to the relatives of the victim and police are investigating the matter.
QUIZ
How many major league home runs did Sammy Sosa finish his career with?
609
Sports on 01/15/2018