A-Rod took steroids?!?!?!?! I’m filing in this in my No Sh*t cabinet. This was one of the most prolific hitters in the most prolific performance enhancing drug eras in sports history, why would anyone think he (or most other players for that matter who never seemed to be hurt and put up astronomical numbers year after year) weren’t on steroids. As much as it sucks that all these players were using during the 90′s and early 00′s, it happened. We shouldn’t give them a free pass, but the rampant use of PED’s is hopefully behind us. I almost feel bad for the guy, as he seems like a fragile person, but then I read quotes like these (via Jamey Newberg’s,
Newberg Report) and I don’t feel so bad anymore:
From A-Rod’s infamous April 2004 ESPN The Magazine article, written shortly after he’d engineered his way out of Texas and to New York:
“I hit rock bottom in the middle of the [2003] season. I remember driving home with my wife, Cynthia, after a game and telling her, ‘I just don’t see the light. Where is the light? What am I in this for?’ I would have never gone to Texas if they had told me, ‘Alex, it’s going to be you and 24 kids.’ Never.”
I believe we might be seeing him hit rock bottom a few years later, and at the beginning of the season. No telling when the testing was done in 2003, but a negative test could have weighed just as heavily on him as playing with 24 kids…
“There is a difference between image and reputation. Image is nice; reputation is developed over an entire career. Reputation is what I’m searching for.”
Now is where we really will find out what kind of reputation you deserve, Alex. Come out and admit what you did. Turn your cell phone back on and admit to the public that you were wrong. Tell us you did it so you could stay on the field for your team. Tell us you did it because you wanted to be out there everyday putting up numbers for the fans. Tell us you did it because you were weak in mind and body. But tell us that you did it. Tell us that you are sorry, sorry to the fans, the kids, to those who watched you, and we will forgive you, Alex. Go to the locker room today and just ask Andy Pettite. Baseball fans are more than happy to forgive mistakes, but they will never forgive dishonesty. If you even think to hide under a rock, or blame others for your current misfortune, or slither your way around this issue like Roger Clemens, or Barry Bonds, or Mark McGwire did, we will come after you like dogs. All of us. So if you are seeking reputation over image, and you stick by your words, then put your image aside. Accept the wrongs you have done with dignity, class, and most importantly, like the role model you have become, and your reputation will not be as tarnished as your image.
And finally:
“I’ve had kind of a weird ability that the more chaotic things are around me, the better I play. My comfort level is probably in the eye in the storm, perhaps.”
Well, the storm is here Alex. Let’s see how comfortable you are when Spring Training starts…
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