It is with a good deal of frustration that I once again must provide commentary on Alex Rodriguez. I usually try to avoid professing my direct opinion (and using pronouns for that matter) but honestly, A-Rod has now fully descended into the dreaded Bonds Zone.
Is there a bigger joke or punch line in all of sports than A-Rod? I honestly don't think so. He is a lying, cheating, disgrace to the game, and if — by some miracle — Bud Selig sprouts a set of balls, Rodriguez should be banned from the game for life. Obviously the chances of this are slim to none, but the situation has gotten to the point where it is an outright embarrassment to baseball that this pathetic excuse for a human being remains on a Major League roster. That being vented, lets get on to the latest episode in A-Rod's personal soap opera of disgrace.
A new book by Selena Roberts on Rodriguez has been leaked to the press. Of course, there are new steroid revelations. A-Rod took steroids in high school and with the Yankees, and partook in his consumption with fellow miscreant, former Yankee "pitcher" Kevin Brown. To anyone who has a basic knowledge of steroids and of those who take them, these new facts shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
Steroids are all over America's high schools and colleges. They have been for some time. In the high school setting, 'roids are about as easy to obtain as a bag of weed, and anyone who "dabbled" in their younger days knows that means they are readily available, sometimes easier to score for the under aged youth than alcohol.
The fact that the press — and presumably some of the public — bought into the bullshit A-Rod was spewing at his press conference, is more a commentary on how uninformed the sports world is on the topic, rather than the acting job A-Rod put on.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
You need to throw out all steroid-using, prostitute-loving players or none of them. Everyone on the list of 100-plus who failed the test should be outed.
And heaven forbid anyone in the media be fair to anyone they don't like, but shouldn't we have a name of a player he tipped off before we convict him? I am not saying he didn't do it, but even cheaters are innocent until proven guilty
2 - Tony
Yeah I usually agree with you concerning most people with the steroids, and I think I mentioned that. But consider if an NFL player had the list of indiscretions that A-Rod does including stepping out with the same hooker and hooker service as Elliot Spitzer. Goodell would bring the hammer down.
Also, this is the first time I've heard about a player regularly pitch tipping. In my opinion, that is worse than the steroids
3 - Mongo
A-Roid shouldn't have been using steroids and he'll be forever tarnished for that. However I am dubious about the pitch-tipping thing being a regular occurrence.
4 - Aaron Whitehead
There are references to pitch-tipping throughout baseball history. Catchers will give a guy the pitch so he can hit a milestone, or push his average over .300, etc. Pitchers will throw "gimme" pitches to hitters under certain situations. A-Rod may have done this more often than most, but it isn't new. Read "Ball Four."
Banning him for baseball? For what? Being an asshole? That's not enough. The pitch-tipping is bad, and a suspension is in order (if there's actually, you know, proof of it), but a lifetime ban is preposterous.
5 - steve
what did pete rose do that was so damn bad? he didnt hurt the game and look at what was done to him. might as well do away with the hall of fame theres not much truth in it anymore.
6 - Tony
I've read Ball Four and I know it happened at certain times like, as you said, milestones. That being said, there is a big difference between Bill Freehan telling Mantle what was coming from McLain for his 500th home run (Denny loves to tell that story), and A-Rod doing it on a regular basis to pad his stats.
What does this guy have to do to be punished? I can name a long list of players who saw severe penalties because of cocaine use. Signing autographs in a casino is enough to get you banned from baseball for life. And yet A-Rod can run around with hookers, shoot steroids, lie about it, and tip pitches and nothing happens.
I didn't say he should be banned solely because he tipped pitches. It's a cumulative effect of everything. A-Rod is far worse than Pete Rose. His cheating (steroids specifically) affected far more games than the 1919 White Sox (although admittedly no World Series). When you put together the steroids and the pitch tipping you've basically got a guy who has tried to cheat the game in nearly every way possible. What's next? A corked bat?
I guess that's the difference between the legislation of the NFL and the MLB. The NFL works hard (sometimes overly so) to stamp out embarrassing behavior like players running around with hookers, especially when those action make the headlines -- some Vikings out there know what I'm talking about. Baseball, on the other hand, continues to just look the other way.
What more do people need? Players all over baseball have testified to his career-long steroid use. Elliot Spitzer's hooker named him publicly as a client of her's and the brothel she operated out of. And now the author of this book apparently has solid enough evidence that he regularly tips pitches that she's willing to risk a law suit by releasing the information publicly. Maybe if A-Rod murders someone people will recognize what a detriment this guy is to the health of the game.
7 - Tony
I see where there was some confusion in my premise that he should be banned because of the cumulative affect of everything. This was written with perhaps a little too much anger, and is a little more "blogish" than is usually my style of articulation. I'm just really sick of watching this smug prick piss on the game.
8 - El Bicho
"Baseball, on the other hand, continues to just look the other way."
You know why? Because you continue to just look the other way and keep coming back to it. If it's really so bad, why do you keep watching him and the team he plays for? You are part of the problem.
9 - Jet Gardner
No problem Glen, thanks my friend.
10 - Tony
I'm forced to watch him because he plays for the team I root for. Trust me, I would prefer that A-Rod wasn't a Yankee. But on that same token, I'm not going to let him ruin the team and the sport that I love for me. Nor will I allow Bud Selig to do the same. Baseball is bigger than both of those idiots.
11 - ElCuqui
If you ban A-Rod for stuff he did in the past when he was not a yankee you will have to ban the entire league. Regarding the NFL, you are aware that many of the players in the NFL hall of fame have admitted to taking steroids at some point in their career. Furthermore, the NFL is not all that otherwise look at Michael Vicks, he was doing his dog crime for years and got caught recently. Now if you look at the NFL players and compare them to baseball players you have a bunch of criminals in the NFL, a lot of football players have some criminal background. You people a riding the waves of the media who has picked A-Rod as their next Bonds. Nobody can prove the pitch tipping bs. And it has happened before, furthermore, it is not illegal in baseball. The HS charge is totally bogus, this is a friend of a friend in High School. The HGH charge is the fault of MLB because it doesn't do blood test. The hooker charge well you will have to ban most athletes because A-Rod is not the only one. Remember that good old Babe Ruth liked them too and he is in the Hall of Fame. Baseball is a business, like any other.
12 - Tony
Concerning the high school allegations, steroids with Kevin Brown while with the Yankees, and the pitch tipping; if you don't believe that you're debating with Selena Roberts' sources and book. You're also basically asserting that the book is just one big conspiracy to disparage A-Rod. Given his past actions that seems highly unlikely.
Yes Babe Ruth did like hookers. And Ty Cobb shot a man. It's the 21st century now and social standards are a bit different.
The NFL hasn't done a lot to address past steroid indiscretions because it's a lot harder to quantify the effects that a roided lineman had on a game. Less personal situations and personal statistics.
You cited a few instances where the NFL hasn't issued lifetime bans, granted, but my comparison was to show that, given what is known about A-Rod, including a failed drug test, he would have received SOME punishment from Goodel. He's received none from Bud.
13 - Aaron Whitehead
The main reason A-Rod hasn't faced punishment is that there's no, you know, actual PROOF that he did most of this stuff. If you're going to discipline someone, you have to have more than Selena Roberts' sources backing you up. The NFL players' union is a joke compared to the MLB, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm not the biggest fan of the MLBPA, but what they have done is made sure that you have to have some sort of proof beyond speculation to discipline someone. A-Rod's steroids allegations don't have 1/100th the legitimate, legal proof facing Bonds or Clemens. I'm not saying he DIDN'T do it, I'm just saying that there should be some regard for the rules. You can't ban A-Rod for steroid use until he fails a test under the current testing system, and even then it's just 50 games.
I don't like A-Rod any more than you do. But I really don't think he's "pissing on the game" any more than dozens of others, or hundreds of others in years past. And yes, times may change, but they will NEVER change enough for A-Rod to compare to Ty Cobb or any of the other legitimately evil people in Cooperstown. Morality has to deal with practicality at some level.
14 - Tony
I didn't compare him to Ty Cobb. Someone justified his illegal use of prostitution by saying Babe Ruth did it and I used the Cobb example to shows times have changed.
The rules may state that he isn't punished because he hasn't failed and drug tests recently but the rules need to be changed.
Why is it that if someone gambles they are automatically banned for life but if they take out hookers, shoot steroids, and lie about it to the mlb nothing happens? Is gambling that much worse than artificially enhancing your body to win games a break records?
Pacman Jones is a good example in the NFL. He was suspended for drinking. Drinking isn't illegal but under the NFL conduct policy he broke a rule laid down for him by the commissioner.
If you don't think A-Rod is pissing on the game than you have to respect for the game's history. For the next 10 years or so he's going to disparage every record he comes across. Isn't it bad enough the we no longer have the single season home run record to get excited about? One steroid freak already blasted that mark out of a natural human's reach. Most likely the all time record too....unless A-Rod and his chemicals do Bonds one better.
In the same way the league set a precedent by throwing out the Black Sox even though they were aquitted in court, baseball needs to use A-Rod as an example to deter future players from using this stuff.
Do you really think the bullshit new drug testing system is going to do anything? Let's put aside the fact that you can walk into any cigarette shop and buy Ready Clean to hold the toxins in your bladder when you piss (if you don't think it works google the name with the NFL). It is so easy to stay ahead of the testing, especially with no test for HGH. So what is to stop these guys? No retro-active testing, no penalties for things you've done in the past, no code of conduct policy. It's a joke.
15 - Tony
Also -- and I wished I had included more of this in the article -- he participated in illegal poker games which is also a violation of the law and MLB rules.
So he gambles, screws hookers, and takes steroids.
16 - El Bicho
give it a rest, man. a poker game at your friend's house is illegal.
your anti-A-rod hatred is making you come off slightly delusional. How is sex with a prostitute detrimental to the integrity of the game equal to gambling, or at all? What if he was with these women in parts of Nevada where it's legal? Would that be okay with you then?
Unless you stop watching and rooting for the Yankees while A-Rod is on the team all your belly aching rings hollow and reveals you to be a phony.
17 - Tony
Yeah, you're right. I should stop watching the a team I've liked for 20 years because of one player. That makes a ton of sense.
And how can one be a phony in the case of not liking something or someone unless they really do like that entity which is obviously not the case with me? I'm not proclaiming myself to be anything therefor how can I not be that which I have not proclaimed? Again, makes a ton of sense.
A-Rod is a bum, and he and the rest of the cheating pieces of garbage who just had to sick needles in their asses should be thrown out of the game. Period.
18 - Tony
Anti-Arod hatred would mean I had hatred for things anti-Arod.....by the way.
19 - Aaron Whitehead
Baseball has draconian gambling rules because they won't admit that they're trying to solve a problem that hasn't really existed for 50+ years. You can't use one absurd set of rules to justify another.
And a) you can't punish people for things that weren't illegal when they did them, and b) people can only be held liable under the system of punishment that existed at the time. The concept of ex post facto is central to the entire American justice system.
How can you say that I have no respect for the game's history? Or do you mean that I have no respect for the game's stats, which are just numbers? It just seems to me that you're hopelessly idealizing the past, which was full of greenies and God knows what else, and would have been full of steroids had they been available (or so many former players have said).
Numbers are numbers. Records are records. Baseball is a game played by humans, who always have and always will cheat. The idea that selfish, cheating players who don't care about the team didn't exist before 1988 is a fantasty concocted by sportswriters.
There's a banner at the ballpark in Cincinnati that says "1919 World Champions." So long as that banner stays up, I'll be interested in the game on the field more than the people who play it. That's not being amoral, it's being realistic. Cheaters should be punished and face penalties, but I have neither the knowledge or the authority to judge who is and is not or a pox on the game.