Friday 25 March 2005

Bonds Now Denies He Ever Played Major League Baseball
Say Media Confusing Him With Another; Considers Lawsuit To Stop Harassment

San Francisco Giants star slugger Barry Bonds now claims that he has never played Major League Baseball and that the media's harassment is overlooking that they must be confusing him with another person.

This follows a testy interview on Monday, when Bonds, at first, hinted at retirement and then went into a tirade blaming the media for causing his injury and unfairly associating him with illegal steroid use. In a recent development, a former girlfriend of Bonds, Kimberly Bell of San Jose, Calif., has testified that Bonds told her, as early as 2000, that he was on steroids.

Bond is currently recoveing from a second knee operation, that will keep him for staring the season, and could, potentially, sideline him for the entire year. Bonds is chasing the homerun record of Hank Aaron and would likely, early in the campaign, surpass Babe Ruth to stand in second place.

As media approached Bonds yesterday, Bonds waived his hands, to stay away. But with cameras rolling and microphones turned on, Bonds shoke his head and started talking, to no one in particular.

"Man, you guys got the wrong person … I don't know what you're talking about - playing baseball? … I've never played baseball in my life …You got the wrong guy and, if you keep talking about me this way, I'll have to call my lawyer … Baseball, give me a break … You guy's got the wrong guy … It's not me, whoever you are talking about … Better go back and check your sources …"

Team and league officials denied comment on the reports. A lawyer from Major League Baseball's office in New York was dispatched to Scottsdale, Ariz., the site of the Giants training camp, to meet with team officials and Bonds.

An unconfirmed report indicates that after the press conference, Bonds even denied his name was Barry Bonds.


Avaya Faces Class Action Suit
Parties Charge Can't Fit Office In Autos

Misleading and deceptive advertising charges have lead to a class-action lawsuit being filed against the Avaya, Inc. The plantiffs seek for an end to the practice and unspecified damages.

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the Fortune 500, and is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol telephony systems and communications software applications and services

The case began after Joel Harrington, of Skokie, Ill. viewed the Avaya television commercial depicting a man working in his office, with a full staff, in his automobile, even warning the co-wokers of a bump in the road coming ahead.

Harrington was impressed with what he saw and immediately thought about applying the same to his small business.

After purchasing over $200,000 of Avaya products and services, Mr. Harrington soon found that he could not fit the equipment, or his staff of six in his 1998 Ford Tarus.

"We tried a number of different configurations", a beleagured Harrington stated at a news conference announcing the suit. "Just the equipment alone took up a great deal of space. Doug, our Purchasing manager was complete cramped and couldn't perform his duties".

Harrington was additionally stressed as the changes also meant the end of the carpool he and his co-workers shared. A number of the other auto's in the carpool were too small to accommodate any of the equipment and there was also the amount of time it took to transfer the equipment between the different automobiles and reset the office.

For a period of time, all of Harrington's employess used their own automobiles, and with distributing the necessary equipnment - and even purchasing additional items - they were able to conduct their business but, as Harrington stated in his suit, "it defeated the desired result, as depicted by Avaya, of a functioning, thriving business working in unison".

Harrington, through websites and chatrooms, soon discovered he was not alone. Thousands of others, who purchasd Avaya products, have had similar expereriences.

One party in San Diego, hitched a trailer to his auto to accommodate his office by was cited as being a commerical vehicle and fined. Another, a manufacturer in Richmond, VA had the additional expense of having his automobile fitted with costly filters so as to be in complaince with federal and EPA standards.

Avaya, based in Basking Ridge, NJ, offered no comment, indicating they have not seen the lawsuit. As of yesterday, their Legal Department was traveling on Route 75, somewhere near Kentucky.