Alex Rodriguez - My Take

"On February 7, 2009, Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for two anabolic steroids, testosterone and Primobolan, during his 2003 season playing shortstop for the Texas Rangers, the same season in which he captured his first American League Most Valuable Player award, broke 300 career home runs (hitting 47 runs that year), and earned one of his ten Silver Slugger Awards. The information had been part of a government-sealed report detailing 104 major league players who tested positive for performance enhancers during a 2003 survey test, which was conducted by Major League Baseball to see whether a mandatory drug testing program might be necessary. At the time, there was no penalty or punishment for a positive test. Because more than 5% of the samples taken from players in 2003 came back positive, mandatory testing of major league baseball players began in 2004, with penalties for violations." (Wikipedia.com)

I'll admit it.  I've never been a fan of A-Rod.  He seems like a giant waste of cash to me.  Here's a guy making more money for playing one *game* than I will ever see over the span of one year, unless I get incredibly lucky and win the lottery... then again, you have to play the lottery to win, so I guess that's out.  Yet what about his performance?  Sure, he hits the ball well, he fields OK, but has he ever won a championship?  There's been tons of talk since he got to New York about how A-Rod just seems to choke when it comes to the playoffs, and the stats that have been shown support that pretty well.

But on to the more important subject matter... I definitely don't believe A-Rod is giving us the whole story in his interview with Peter Gammons.  When asked if his usage spanned the 2001-2003 season, he replies (I don't have the direct quotes here in front of me) "That would be pretty accurate, yes".  Pretty accurate?  Can you make it 100% correct for us, then?  Did you start sooner?  Later?  What about when you stopped?

Also, when confronted about the drugs he was alleged to be using in the Mitchell report, you notice that A-Rod never specificly states "Yes, I used this" or "No, I didn't use this".  Now, obviously, we understand from the allegations and his confession that Alex has used *something* over those years.  However, he repeatedly states that he "has yet to see the results of the tests", and believes that as an accused user that he has a right to see them.  I totally agree, and I'm sure everyone is curious to see the results... but I believe that A-Rod is using this as a cover.  From his reaction, his answers, and the way he is phrasing his responses, I feel that A-Rod has used numerous (or at least, more than 1) banned substance, and maybe continues to use those substances today, and he doesn't want to admit to anything more than he has to.  I guess this is smart, in a way, but how are we supposed to trust someone when you're telling us incomplete truths?  (Yeesh, I sound like my parents now.)  Give us *all* of the facts.  Lay it all out for us.  People will forgive you and let you go back to getting crazy amounts of money for not-so-crazy production on the field.

Also, on a complete side note... I was looking at A-Rod's stats, and something very key caught my eye.  Let me share these numbers with you.

29, 46, 21, 15, 18, 9, 17, 28, 21, 15, 24

These are Alex's season steals from 1997 to 2007... or more specifically, 4 years on either side of his 3 year alleged usage of steroids.  From '97 to '00, he averaged 27.75 steals per season.  From '04 to '07, he averaged a flat 22 steals per season.  The 3 years of alleged "bulking up" and steroid use ('01 to '03)? 14.67 per season.  Now, granted... the 3 season of alleged usage were his 3 season with Texas, whereas before he was with Seattle, and after with the Yankees.  Maybe the Rangers had no desire to have him be a consistent baserunner, or maybe Seattle and NY just had better situations or opposition for him to run on... but for a guy that's averaged almost 19 steals a season for his entire career, I'm wondering if maybe his added bulk would account for his lack of running (I tried finding his SB Success %, but I've lucked out on that... if you can find something on that, please link it for me).

I hope that all sports, not just baseball, view this as a wakeup call.  How many A-list players have been nailed in baseball now?  Bonds, Mc Gwire, Sosa, Palmero, and now A-Rod, plus many many others in the Mitchell report.  Sports have turned a blind eye to drug use for a long time... I mean, when an obviously beefy Mc Gwire and Slammin' Sammy were just crushing HRs all summer long, and revitalizing baseball in the eyes of fans in the process, do you really think that anyone in management cared how it got there?  No.  But now, we have rules about these things.  We have testing (as crazy as it might be... I mean, seriously, when a guy can allegedly take a pee test for someone else?  C'mon.) for these things now.  Let's make it mandatory for *everyone*.  Let's make it frequent enough that there's no way of getting it flushed from your system before the next test.  Baseball, football, even basketball need to step up on this... maybe they can all work together, come up with a joint testing commission that's only there for testing the various teams and nothing else.

In this society and economy, I know times are tough for everyone, probably even for these super rich sports franchises and leagues.  But the last thing I want to see right now is my sports getting tainted even further.  What are the stories lately?  A-Rod, Tejada being accused of lying, Phelps doing pot in the Carolinas... I'm sensing a theme here.

Wake up, guys.  You are supposed to be role models for me, for the fans, for the children.  You don't want to be a role model?  Too bad... that's part of the profession... accept it, or find something else to do with your life.

And to all the athletes out there that have been clean all these years... thank you.  I realize that you (especially those of you in baseball) are almost "guilty by association", but you've stayed true to yourselves and to your fans for all these years, and that's what's important.  Hang in there, stay strong, don't give in to the temptations.  It's athletes like you that bring the fans to the field/pitch/court every day.