Shawne Merriman was recently found at the border between the United States and Canada with some form of steroids, probably not the best piece of news for a guy who has already been caught in violation of the NFL’s anti drug policy. While Merriman was not arrested, which is a shocker given all the trouble athletes have had crossing the border, the Buffalo Bills should feel very nervous that NFL commish Roger Goodell will suspend Merriam under the league’s personal conduct policy.

Since I live in a border town, much like Buffalo, Canada is a half an hour drive away, I am use to these kinds of stories. I remember Bob Probert getting caught at the border with some Cocaine way back in the 1980’s. These kinds of things tend to not register as big time news. Granted, I don’t know yet how big this story is going to get, but it has all the potential to be very, very bad.

Merriman of course took the classy route and addressed the incident via his twitter account. He said he was disappointed that a Buffalo writer was blowing a routine incident at the border way out of proportion. That gives us a little smoke, and we all know when we see smoke we almost always see some fire. Merriman went on to say that he had no steroids and for now he deserves the benefit of the doubt, but I got to say declarations of innocence made via twitter almost never ring true.

Even the denial alone could lead some to think that while no steroids were found, maybe some other form of illegal substance was, of course that is mere speculation. We have not heard the end of this, and I do not see anyway this ends well for Merriman.

Shawne Merriman, steroids, and the Canadian border is a post from: The Inquisitr

Borders bookstore executives tried to find a buyer for their company which includes 399 remaining stores, unfortunately no investor was willing to touch the company which helped pioneer the big box bookseller concept and now the company is requesting court approval to liquidate their stores, a move that will put them out of business by the end of September.

Borders President Mike Edwards said of the move:

“We were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing proved too strong.”

With the company’s liquidation 10,700 employees will lose their jobs, a move expected to shake up the industry, as one analyst told the Associated Press:

 ”Bookstore employees don’t just sell books, they sell the activity of reading,” and “This industry is going to slowly figure out that a lot of e-book readers still use bookstores all the time to discover what’s new before heading home to buy it for their e-reading device.”

What are your feelings about the closing of Borders?

Borders Bookstores To Liquidate After No Buyer Comes Forward is a post from: The Inquisitr

Note the liquidation signs in the background.

[reddit]

Borders expresses fiscal frustration through passive-aggressive sign is a post from: The Inquisitr

Borders bookstores will be cutting staff and closing nearly 200 stores after filing for bankruptcy.

In a statement, the company cited the economic downturn, among other factors leading up to the filing:

“It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending, our ongoing discussions with publishers and other vendor related parties, and the company’s lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor.”

The move comes after weeks of rumors suggesting the chain’s filing for bankruptcy was imminent. A spokesman for the company says bankruptcy is the best option to protect Borders’ long-term viability:

“This decisive action will give Borders the opportunity to achieve a proper infusion of capital in order to have the opportunity to have the time to reorganize in order to reposition itself to be a successful business for the long term.”

“Turnaround expert” Ken Dalto suggests the chain could merge with a seller like Barnes & Noble:

“They could be merged or bought by Barnes & Noble out of bankruptcy to create one super bookseller in the United States,” he said.

You might want to use up any Borders gift cards you’ve got hanging around, just in case.

[Detroit Free Press, CNNMoney]

Borders files for Chapter 11, 30% of stores to close is a post from: The Inquisitr

About 15,000 selections are available so far — some as cheap as $7, others as expensive as $35. They’re also available in WMA format.

The noteworthy part, though, is that you can get the full audiobook of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild for free if you download it before the end of Saturday. You do have to sign up for an account, but there’s no fee and doesn’t appear to be any real catch to it. As of now, however, the service is limited to PCs only.

Borders Launches Audiobook MP3 Store With Free Offering is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to an AP report, the new Borders online initiative will be focused on a “Web site designed to evoke the feeling of browsing at a neighborhood bookstore, down to the popular shelves of staff picks that are familiar to its customers nationwide.”

The centerpiece of the new site is called “The Magic Shelf” (yes, lame name) and includes staff picks and a semantically created “Picked For You” section of personalized recommendations based on your browsing and purchasing history.

Borders states upfront that they are not attempting to take on Amazon, and they aren’t, however the Borders brand still retains fairly strong community support. The site is fairly uncluttered and straight forward, and the range is obviously better than a Borders store, which at least in my experience has always been excellent anyway. If you’re outside of the United States however, watch out for the insanely expensive shipping charges, to the point where you’re much better off sticking to Amazon, or if you’re like me heading on down to the local real world Borders store.

Borders Returns To Web Retailing is a post from: The Inquisitr