The Associated Press today has reported that a minor league player has been suspended 50 games for using steroids.

According to the report, Brandon Brown tested positive for Stanozolol, a synthetic anabolic steroid. Brown is currently a free agent, and his 50-game ban will begin when (and if) he signs with a new team. He is one of 18 minor league athletes who have been suspended just this year following drug tests.

Brown had most recently played third and second base for the Class A minor league Savannah Sand Gnats, a team which is affiliated with the New York Mets. According to Baseball Reference, Brown hit .222 with 34 RBIs in his last season with the Sand Gnats.

Campbell’s athletic talents started while he was in high school when he got involved in track (as well as swimming). During high school, Campbell secured a place in the 1952 Olympics for the decathlon event. During the 1952 Olympics, Campbell did not win; however, he did come pretty close with a silver medal. Four years later in the 1956 Olympics, Campbell achieved victory by winning the gold medal for the decathlon event. This made Campbell the first African-American winner for the decathlon.

In 1957, a year after his success, Campbell was drafted for the Cleveland Browns football team, later playing for the Montreal Alouettes until he retired from football in 1964.

Earlier this year, Campbell was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame (his home state).

On Friday, November 2nd, 2012, Milt Campbell died at the age of 78. His long-time partner Linda Rusch reported to the Associated Press that Campbell had been fighting prostate cancer for quite a long time.

Various fans of Campbell’s talent in the Twitterverse have been posting their respects:

Follow @IamSammyE

Samantha Enaw
@IamSammyE

on a sad note,RIP Milt Campbell. Thanks for all the future olympians!

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3 hours ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

Follow @MedhinAdam

Medhin Adam
@MedhinAdam

Milt Campbell, the first African American Olympic medalist in the decathelon is a true a hero. He deserves more recognition than he recieved

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4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @CCapozzoli

Charlie Capozzoli
@CCapozzoli

My prayers for Milt Campbell who died, a black Olympian Gold Medalists 1956, and my roommate in !952 when traveling in Finland. Loved him!

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3 hours ago via Mobile Web · powered by @socialditto

Steward started his boxing career at a young age when he started to frequent the Brewster Recreation Center in Detroit, Michigan. As an amateur boxer, Steward earned 94 wins and only 3 losses out of the 97 fights during his career.

Later in Steward’s life, he moved into the coaching scene, and started to coach at the well-known (by boxers) Kronk Gym. During Steward’s coaching career, he trained many a large number of amateur American boxers, including the notable professional boxer Thomas Hearns. Along with coaching, Steward also became a regular boxing commentator for televised boxing games on the popular cable network HBO.

Earlier this year, Steward had to put his coaching career on hold, due to contracting a serious illness called diverticulitis, a condition that develops when pouches (diverticula) form in the wall of the colon and/or part of the large intestine (source: WebMD). On Thursday afternoon (October 25th, 2012), Emanuel Steward passed away due to this condition, and was 68 years old.

Many fans of Steward have left their condolences via Twitter:

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Esteban Maldonado
@Maldoned

Just found out about emanuel steward. Boxing world will miss him tremendously #Legend

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5 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

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Mr.Neal
@Mrneal0216

Emanuel Steward you will be missed.Your love for the sports was like no other. #Boxing

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11 minutes ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto

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Adam Benz
@Adam360Benz

R.I.P Emanuel Steward. The sport of Boxing just loss a great trainer & a knowledgeable commentator.

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14 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

In 1948, Haller (from Ausberg, Germany) started to play football professionally, and in 1962, he was one of the first Germans (during the East Germany / West Germany division) to play in Italy in the World Cup..

During the 1996 World Cup, Haller was one of the players responsible for Italy’s lead in the game; however, England won the title 4-2 of the 1966 World Cup championship (source: ESPN).

In 1973, Haller left Italy and returned to Ausberg, Germany, where he joined FC Ausberg, which was a merged team of his original football team prior to his departure to Italy. Haller then later retired from playing in 1979; however, Haller stayed within the football world by coaching various amateur-level clubs.

Unfortunately, on October 11th, 2012, Helmut Haller died after suffering various illnesses, such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Haller was 73 years old at the time of his death.

There are many tweets being posted (like the tweet below) suggesting that those in support of Haller wear black arm bands in remembrance of his legacy. Will you be wearing yours? Let us know in the comments!

Follow @waffleviaconlon

Owen Conlon
@waffleviaconlon

Germany will be wearing black armbands tonight following the death of Helmut Haller, who scored the first goal in the 1966 World Cup final.

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6 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Many other tweets are floating around Twitter sending their condolences to this well-known German World Cup star:

Follow @Graeme_Macphers

Graeme Macpherson
@Graeme_Macphers

RIP Helmut Haller, the man who inadvertently gave us one of the funniest moments ever in football. http://t.co/Z4VpBtil

Follow @cathcartboy

Cathcart Boy
@cathcartboy

@Graeme_Macphers Helmut Haller was a wonderful football player,with Beckenbauer the two of the 4-2-4 W Germany employed in 1966.

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4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @AgenturINCOM

R. Hinken
@AgenturINCOM

Helmut Haller ist tot. Ich war einst ein Fan. Habe sogar noch ein Autogramm von ihm.

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1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @stepheadley

Stephen Headley
@stepheadley

The great Helmut Haller of Germany Juventus & Bologna died. Scored opening goal in 66 WCF. appeared in WC’s Tremendous player. RIP

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23 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

A French engineer and designer by the name of Luc Fusaro created a pair of running shoes with a 3D printer as part of his final project for a masters degree at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College of London. What makes these shoes so special beyond them being made by a 3D printer? Fusaro claims that these shoes can increase an athlete’s performance by 3.5 percent. It may seem small, but that’s a huge advantage in the world of competitive athletics.

So how did Fusaro do it? He says that the current model of creating custom shoes for athletes only benefits the best of the best with mass production shoes that use standard technologies that have been in place for years. Fusaro’s method scans the athlete’s foot and cuts out a shoe that’s perfect for them.

Unfortunately, the shoe isn’t perfect just yet. Fusaro says that he is currently in the process of fine tuning the shoe for maximum comfort and flexibility. The current shoe’s upper end is still too stiff to offer any real competitive advantage.

Regardless, this is another huge win for 3D printers. They open up a new avenue for all kinds of innovations in every field imaginable. You’re already aware of how 3D printers might soon be able to create organs for patients awaiting transplants, but they are also helping shake up the traditional model of buying special products at ridiculous prices. With 3D printers, you just have to buy the printer and the material to make these things yourself. We really might see a future where one downloads cars, boats, toys and everything else to make them at home.

These athletes could face trouble with the UK’s Office of Fair Trading, who warn about deceptive advertising on Twitter. Celebrities must make it clear if they are being paid by a company if they do endorsements on the site.

Diver Tom Daley is one who has used his Twitter account to endorse the Cooper Mini, Tweeting “My amazing parallel park into the smallest space ever,” complete with a picture of his Mini. He often tweets about Adidas.

Gold Medalist Rebecca Adlington wrote “Oh, my, received some amazing Elizabeth Arden products today! Very needed as the chlorine is killing my skin at the minute.”

Others have joined in the race for endorsement deals. Diver Tonia Couch, gymanst Louis Smith, hurdler Perri Shakes-Drayton, and track cyclist Dani King have all tweeted about BMW.

Synchronized swimmer Jenna Randall, tweets daily about her sponsors

The Office of Fair Trading wants to see a list of sponsors on these athletes Twitter pages, so when people see a Tweet about a product, they know they are getting paid to do so. A spokesman for the office said to DailyMail: “Online advertising and marketing practices that do not disclose they include paid for promotions are deceptive under trading laws.”

For many of these athletes, there fame may be short lived. They are cashing in on the one chance they have at the London 2012 Olympics. I say, let them. It’s not everyday the Olympics come to your home country. The last Olympics in the UK was London 1948, most of these athlete’s parents weren’t even born yet.

But after what must have been a terrible night, Kyle Williams is seeing the nasty side of social media as some 49er fans have taken to Twitter to send him nasty messages and even some threats of physical violence.

Check out some of the tweets:

Many of the threats have been deleted – probably a smart idea.

Athletes (and any public figures, really) have to navigate Twitter and other social media carefully – from both sides. We’ve seen plenty of instances of athletes getting in trouble for controversial tweets, but that’s not all they must worry about. Twitter is an open service that allows public access to your account. And people can be vicious, especially when protected by the certain level of anonymity and lack of interaction that Twitter provides.

And of course, sports fans are simply f*cking crazy sometimes.

But if you want to restore your faith in humanity, just a little bit, check out tweet directed @ Kyle Williams in the past hour or so. Once news of the unsavory tweets began to break, users flooded his account with positive messages.

I’m just happy for Billy Cundiff that he’s not on Twitter.

The Olympics are a big production to pull off, and it takes quite a bit of help from unpaid volunteers. This year, organizers are actively recruiting 70,000 of these volunteers (or Games Makers, according to the committee) to help.

According to Reuters, these volunteers are being told to be careful with their social media use. Olympic officials are concerned about these volunteers giving away “breaking news about athletes or disclos[ing] the location of politicians and celebrities.”

So if you’re working at the Olympics this summer and snap a photo with Michael Phelps or David Cameron, be careful about sharing it on Facebook.

A spokesperson for the Games had this to say:

We understand that many of our Games Makers (volunteers) will want to use social media to share their exciting experiences at London 2012 with their friends and family.

As is standard in most organizations, we have provided some practical guidelines to give basic advice on interacting in a social media environment with the aim of protecting the interests of our workforce and operation.

Last summer, the International Olympic Committee issued their “Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants and other accredited persons.” These guidelines actually encourage social media use, but limit the type of postings to “first-person, diary-type format.”

The guidelines also allow for photos and even videos to be uploaded to social sites. Participants and “accredited persons” are clearly barred from “reporting on competition or commenting on the activites of other participants or accredited persons, or disclosing any information which is confidential or private.”

Another issue the the Olympic Committee appears to be concerned with is advertising.

Participants and other accredited persons are not permitted to promote any brand, product or service within a posting, blog or tweet or otherwise on any social media platforms or on any websites. Participants and other accredited persons must not enter into any exclusive commercial agreement with any company with respect to their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on any websites, unless they have obtained the prior written approval of their relevant NOC.

Apparently, these social media guidelines are also going to apply to the 70K + volunteers at the 2012 Games.

The Games are set to kick off July 27th and run until August 12th.

Or Kenny Britt’s F*ck you, Roger Goodell on Facebook…or Santonio Holmes telling followers to go kill themselves on Twitter…

I’ll stop, as that could go on for a while. The point is, professional sports organizations have attempted to reign in the social media activity by instituting polices that a.) usually black out certain times as “social media free” and b.) spell out generic quality guidelines that keep athletes from saying things that reflect poorly upon the league.

Whether or not you agree with the social media restrictions, you have to admit that the league has an interest in doing so.

It appears the the NHL has become the latest major sports organization to institute one of these social media policies.

According to a release on NHL.com, the new policy will bar players and “operations staff” from posting during a certain window surrounding games. It also makes the same generic claims that we’ve seen before about holding players responsible for their communications, even when on their own time.

From the release –

The policy, the NHL Social Media Policy for League and Club Personnel, governs both players and hockey operations staff and is designed to promote the value of social media as a tool for communication with fans. It also highlights issues surrounding social media, as well as limits the use of social media by players and hockey operations staff on game days.

As per the new policy, there is a total “blackout period” on the use of social media on game days, which for players begins two hours prior to opening face-off and is not lifted until players have finished their post-game media obligations. The suggested blackout period for hockey operations staff is longer, beginning at 11 a.m. on game days.

Also, the new policy makes it clear that players and club personnel will be be held responsible for their social communications in the same manner in which they are held responsible for other forms of public communications. As a result, discipline is possible for any social media statements that have or are designed to have an effect prejudicial to the welfare of the League, the game of hockey or a member club, or are publicly critical of officiating staff.

A couple of players have put their opinion out on Twitter –

The new NHL policy went into effect last night.

The NFL’s social media policy, which was implemented in 2009, is pretty similar to this new NHL policy. Players, coaches and staff are not allowed to tweet or Facebook post within 90 minutes of kickoff or until post-game interviews are complete.

NBA’s social media policy shortens the pre-game window to 45 minutes and includes halftime as a banned period. It allows for individual teams to make their own determinations involving additional guidelines.

Not only will Olympics athletes be allowed to use Twitter during the London games next year, but the committee is actively encouraging the practice. Here’s what the IOC has to say in their social media, blogging and internet guidelines for 2012:

The IOC actively encourages and supports athletes and other accredited persons at the Olympic Games to take part in ‘social media’ and to post, blog and tweet their experiences. Such activity must respect the Olympic Charter and must comply with the following. Broadly speaking, the IOC wants people to share their experiences through social media. As a general rule, the IOC encourages all social media and blogging activity at the Olympic Games as long as it is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes.

Athletes are also being warned that any content deemed vulgar or inappropriate could lead to actions as serious as the removal of Olympic accreditation (I’m looking at you, Phelps). This would basically kick them out of the games.

The committee also outlines a specific format that they want all blogging and tweeting activity to take – autobiographical. They want the athletes’ tweets to comment on their personal experience at the games, not report on the games in general, as say a journalist would do.

However, any such postings, blogs or tweets should be in a first-person, diary- type format and should not be in the role of a journalist – i.e. they must not report on competition or comment on the activities of other participants or accredited persons, or disclose any information which is confidential or private in relation to any other person or organization. A tweet is regarded in this respect as a short blog and the same guidelines are in effect, again, in first-person, diary-type format.

As far as media updates to social networks? The IOC is now allowing photos to be shared. Videos can also be shared, but only if they are taken outside the actual venues. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, photos and videos were strictly prohibited from being uploaded to social media sites and blogs – for copyright reasons.

So it would seem that the IOC believes that the games can benefit from their athletes interacting with fans via social media. Although the IOC is being a little restrictive on the content, it still shows that they are embracing the new technology, especially Twitter.

The debate surrounding athletes and Twitter use continues to rage. On one hand, some feel like Twitter is a great way for athletes to communicate with fans. They feel that there shouldn’t be restrictions put on the athletes by the commissioners of various sports organizations. On the flip side, people cite the foul-ups of people like Larry Johnson and Rashard Mendenhall to make the point that Twitter should be restricted.

This weekend on ESPN radio in Chicago, NFL QB Donovan McNabb let the world know his feelings about the popular microblogging site – he’s no fan.

First of all, I’m not a fan of Twitter. Nothing against their program or what they have, but as an athlete I think you need to get off twitter. All these social networks of you tweeting about you watching a game when you want to be playing in it, but you’re mad you’re not playing in it, so you’re gonna criticize someone that’s playing in it. I don’t believe that that’s the right deal. That’s not professional by any means and you know we are all in a fraternity, so if you see a guy who’s struggling this isn’t the time to jump on him or kick him while he’s down because that same guy will come against you and kinda blast your team out the water, so I think for an athlete to be ‘twittering’ is the wrong move. It’s one of those things to leave to the fans and let them comment on certain things, but athletes need to get off Twitter.

If we can look past the fact that McNabb sounds like an old man railing against them crazy kids and their hippity hoppity and their World Wide Compuserves, he does make one interesting point. Tweeting out your feelings about team performance can do damage to the “fraternity” that he describes. But to say that “athletes” need to get off Twitter is quite the blanket statement.

Although the NFL and NBA have had rules about Twitter in place for years now, other sports organizations have taken a different stance on the issue. Last month, UFC president Dana White announced that he would be giving bonuses based on how many Twitter followers his fighters amassed. He also announced prizes for the “most creative” tweeters.

What do you think about athletes and Twitter? Let us know in the comments.