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It's happening across the pond...sports agents in England are coming under fire for 'friend'-ing young athletes via social networking accounts.

Sports agents are trolling social networking sites, where relationship building takes place, and making connections with athletes they see as having a promising future.

A day of scouting can turn into a 'friend'-ing which can turn into a contract.

If this practice were aimed solely at adult free agent athletes perhaps the sports agents would receive a better public reception.

However, the sports agents are targeting 16 year-olds and athletes under contract - a behavior that has caused parental uproar and may be illegal.

I am still very much afraid of 'The Right Stuff' drink mix. It's been sitting on the counter for some time now. I think I'll have to be in an adventurous spirit to toss one of the vials in with one of my other stronger flavored drink mixes.

I don't feel up for a run tonight. I did my long-run of 12 miles on Saturday and then did a short 40 minute bike ride on Sunday. Tonight...I'm going to bed early...

As I ramp up for the ING NYC Marathon in November I have a race day primer - the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon.

Here are some more tips on strengthening your passwords - a follow up posting to Join the party, get password protection (Part I).

The three main keys to protection your digital accounts are:

• password expiration
• password reuse
• password complexity

Create different passwords for each of your accounts.

Use the organization’s name somewhere in the password. This is a helpful way to remember your password and still get a strong password variation.

Examples:

Facebook: cheezburgerface88
LinkedIn: cheezburgerlink88
Myspace: cheezburgerspace88

After launching Never Run Alone - Social Media and Online Reputation Management - I feel the need to address the topic of email and social network account security.

This is particularly relevant for individuals already participating in the online party that is social networking.

I am not an expert on online account security, however I think it's important to pass on some of the  information which I learned by following the discussions and articles written on numerous tech-news sites. One of these tips may help save you from a lot of hassle and frustration in the long run.