One Yankee Fan's Thoughts On A-Rod
Yes, I know A-Rod has really become A-Fraud or A-Roid or whatever. As a Yankee fan, I was never “attached” to him like I was to Paul O’Neill, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera or even Derek Jeter. When Andy Pettitte’s name came out in the Mitchell Report, I thought his apology was self-serving and a bit too late for my taste.
I can’t say that it surprises me that A-Rod’s name came out as someone who failed a drug test, but then again, no one’s name would surprise me at this point. I do recall being stunned that a player on the Mariners and who was so awful failed a drug test. I mean – he was so awful and he was taking “performance enhancers”! He was more of a laughing stock than anything. MLB, the Players Union, owners, media, etc. all screwed this one up and now we, the fans, are paying. There is blame all around on this.
Be clear – I don’t feel sorry for A-Rod. I’ll support my team, which means supporting him. A-Rod has his hundreds of millions of dollars but will now be stuck with the label of ‘cheater’ which will make his once-inevitable candidacy for the Baseball Hall of Fame seem “not-so-much”. If he did cheat, he gets what he deserves and now has something else to add to the litany of things to tell his psychiatrist.
But there is another issue here, which is being overlooked and I think it is even more important as a fan of baseball. I’m glad he didn’t handle his mistake like Roger Clemens did through vehement denials, or like Rafael Palmeiro did by saying “someone told him it was a B12 shot.” At least A-Rod is dealing with it “head on” on some level, although I question whether we will ever know all of the facts. It's sad that someone admitting to their own bad judgment is now considered a "nice-to-have" as opposed to "being expected". And I'm glad he spared us the cliché that “I only used it once… blah, blah, blah…”
If I was a player, there would be no way I would ever agree to any kind of drug testing controls because basically it has been demonstrated time and time again that the results cannot be safeguarded until the process has worked itself through. Yeah, cheats deserve to be out’ed but if this part of the process is compromised, what is to say that other parts of the drug testing process are not being compromised (i.e., the collection and analysis of the samples themselves). As a fan, I am concerned that getting the sport clean has just taken a huge step back because of the suspect nature in which this information has been leaked. And if I am one of those remaining 100+ players who tested positive…. who knows when my time will come for my “announcement”?
Whoever gave A-Rod’s name to Selena Roberts (who did great work for the NYT before moving to SI) didn’t really want to clean-up baseball. If that person did, all 104 names would have appeared in her article. Clearly the source had a score to settle with A-Rod and/or the Yankees, and decided to go for broke. In this case, those results were never to become public unless a judge unsealed them. Someone most likely violated a few laws by being Ms. Roberts’ source and they should go to jail. End of story.
And for all of you folks criticizing the Yankees for this, remember that you don’t know who else is on that list of 100+ players who tested positive in 2003. And for once, I agree with Curt Schilling. Publish all of the names and be done with it. The list has already been compromised.
I can’t say that it surprises me that A-Rod’s name came out as someone who failed a drug test, but then again, no one’s name would surprise me at this point. I do recall being stunned that a player on the Mariners and who was so awful failed a drug test. I mean – he was so awful and he was taking “performance enhancers”! He was more of a laughing stock than anything. MLB, the Players Union, owners, media, etc. all screwed this one up and now we, the fans, are paying. There is blame all around on this.
Be clear – I don’t feel sorry for A-Rod. I’ll support my team, which means supporting him. A-Rod has his hundreds of millions of dollars but will now be stuck with the label of ‘cheater’ which will make his once-inevitable candidacy for the Baseball Hall of Fame seem “not-so-much”. If he did cheat, he gets what he deserves and now has something else to add to the litany of things to tell his psychiatrist.
But there is another issue here, which is being overlooked and I think it is even more important as a fan of baseball. I’m glad he didn’t handle his mistake like Roger Clemens did through vehement denials, or like Rafael Palmeiro did by saying “someone told him it was a B12 shot.” At least A-Rod is dealing with it “head on” on some level, although I question whether we will ever know all of the facts. It's sad that someone admitting to their own bad judgment is now considered a "nice-to-have" as opposed to "being expected". And I'm glad he spared us the cliché that “I only used it once… blah, blah, blah…”
If I was a player, there would be no way I would ever agree to any kind of drug testing controls because basically it has been demonstrated time and time again that the results cannot be safeguarded until the process has worked itself through. Yeah, cheats deserve to be out’ed but if this part of the process is compromised, what is to say that other parts of the drug testing process are not being compromised (i.e., the collection and analysis of the samples themselves). As a fan, I am concerned that getting the sport clean has just taken a huge step back because of the suspect nature in which this information has been leaked. And if I am one of those remaining 100+ players who tested positive…. who knows when my time will come for my “announcement”?
Whoever gave A-Rod’s name to Selena Roberts (who did great work for the NYT before moving to SI) didn’t really want to clean-up baseball. If that person did, all 104 names would have appeared in her article. Clearly the source had a score to settle with A-Rod and/or the Yankees, and decided to go for broke. In this case, those results were never to become public unless a judge unsealed them. Someone most likely violated a few laws by being Ms. Roberts’ source and they should go to jail. End of story.
And for all of you folks criticizing the Yankees for this, remember that you don’t know who else is on that list of 100+ players who tested positive in 2003. And for once, I agree with Curt Schilling. Publish all of the names and be done with it. The list has already been compromised.