Ohhhhhhhhh Mr. Rodriguez

Written by TDERIGG2

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mr. Rodriguez.

A-Rod, A-Fraud, A-Roid.....A-Idiot (should be an - idiot, roll with me on this one English Majors)

As I'm sure most of you who are going to read this already know, Mr. Alex Rodriguez admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs. Great, just what we need Selena Roberts (reporter at SI.com who broke the story)...way to ruin our only white knight left in the sport of baseball. The thing that ticks me off the most about all of these steroid reports is that the media is just looking to make a buck and they could careless about what it is ultimately going to do to the game ...THAT THEY cover for a living.

Now granted that A-Rod has come out and apologized during the interview with Peter Gammons, it isn't going to change the perception of him now. Nearly half the beat writers and media members are so quick to pull the trigger on these conflicted athletes and there status in the hall of fame and how they should be looked at. (See: Bonds, Barry; Clemens, Roger; Rose, Pete) I think it's absolutely ridiculous. To get into the Hall of Fame, you need to have made 'a significant contribution to the game of baseball.' Oh OK...so let me get this straight... 4,000 hits for Pete Rose isn't enough. 750-whatever Bonds has HRs, that isn't enough. A-Rod, soon to be holder of every record imaginable, (HRs, RBIs, 3000 Hit club) is going to be questioned and second guessed on his Hall of Fame bid? I really feel like these media members need to step back and not write an article because they can, but ask yourself if you SHOULD write the article, or make the report.

Also, the media and the people in charge of declaring banned and unbanned substances should really do they're homework on 'performance-enhancing drugs.' There are drugs, pills, etc. out there that are just as effective as banned substances. Why aren't they banned and the banned substances are? ...Wow do I digress when I get heated.

Back to A-Rod. I commend Alex for coming out and apologizing and spending 35 minutes talking about what he did from 2001-2003. I think that his interview is going to be questioned because he has always been seen as a robot, someone who says what he has to say because it is the politically correct thing to do, or because it's going to save his ass. But watching that interview, (you can catch the whole thing on ESPN.com) I felt that A-Rod was completely honest with everything he said. You can choose to see it however you'd like, but I think those were his only years that he did it. I could be naive to think that, but I'm going to take Alex on his word for this one, and if it turns out that hes been doing it all along then shame on me.

(By the way, thanks to A-Rod, everyone in America now knows what the word naive means and how to use it. Seriously A-Rod, you should have picked up Webster's Thesaurus and at least picked out a few more adjectives to describe how you were.)

I believe that Jay Mariotti, from Around the Horn, said it best yesterday as I was watching him on the show. He said that all of this news is beginning to become annoying and pointless. When I decided to start writing this blog, I made a promise to myself that I would never write about steroids in sports, because quite honestly, who the hell cares? Do you want to sit here and listen to me go on about steroids in baseball and blah blah blah? I wouldn't, because America is over it. When it first happened, we were interested. Now (just as Jose Canseco, maybe the only real credible writer on steroids in the past 5 years, stated in his book) it is basically the norm, and it sucks that it is but it's the truth.

(So Consider this my one and only steroid article)

I had this conversation with Showtime today, and my boy Ski yesterday, just to get two different views on this whole thing. (And they know what they're talking about when it comes to this.) By no surprise, we all felt the same way about A-Rod and steroids in general. In A-Rod's case look at his numbers from 1996-2007. So what he averaged 53 homers for 3 years in Texas, what are the steroids going to do? Make his production so astronomical that hes unreachable? No. He would have probably averaged 49-50 HRs. Big Deal. Guess what? His three years on the juice, Texas was the worst team in baseball. You can't tell me that steroids has that much of an effect on your ability to hit a baseball. It doesn't improve your hand-eye coordination. A-Rod said it best yesterday, look at his production. It's been steadily ridiculous for 12 years. And his best year in 2007, he had better numbers than all of his steroid years. Add to that his weight. He came up at 200 pounds. He weighs 225 now. a little over 2 pounds per year. That seem like hes lying when he says its only been those 3 years?

I just hope this is the end of the steroid saga (I'm not even calling it era anymore). But given the history of this time, it can't possibly be over. But please dear lord, I'm begging every media member, coach, player, former player, owner, investigator.....do not come out and tell us that Derek Jeter has done steroids. It will ruin the sport as we know it. If this happens, I'll go on record right now and say it...I'd be officially done with baseball...