So, A-Rod's name surfaced in a report by Sports Illustrated this weekend saying that he was one of 104 players who tested positive for steroids a few years ago. I have mixed feelings on the subject, and I'm not really sure where I stand.
Now, I don't mean that I have mixed feelings on steroids. I think that they, along with the cheaters who used them to gain an edge, have ruined the sport and royally fucked up it's history, record books, and the way the average American looks at the sport. I just have some mixed feelings on the whole A-Rod situation. I'm still trying to sort through them.
Now, for reasons I can't even comprehend, I almost feel sorry for Alex Rodriguez. I catch myself buying the shit he's spewing out of his mouth to Peter Gammons. I believed him back when he told Katie Couric he never took roids. I just find myself sort of understanding the reasons why he started to take them, if he indeed started taking them in 2001 after signing the contract with Texas. I mean, you just signed a 10 year, $250+ million deal, and you feel like you have to prove your worth to everyone out there who doubts you're worth that mega deal. That still doesn't make it right.
I'm pissed at Alex Rodriguez. He was the "savior of the sport." He was going to be the clean guy who takes the homerun record back from Balco Barry. He was the face of the game. Instead, he's the new face of the Steroid Era. With this coming out now, I find myself having serious doubts about anybody who played from the mid-late 90's through 2004 or so being clean. I mean, if the poster boy for playing the game the "right way" was playing it the "wrong way," then who is playing it the right way? Is anybody? We're never going to know. And maybe I don't want to know.
So, Mr. Rodriguez, it looks like we've got about the same chances of ever getting in to Cooperstown, without having to pay admission, of course.
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