So Alex Rodriguez has finally come clean about using performance enhancing drugs. Or has he? A-Rod, after all, is...a liar. It's not something I say lightly. Calling another man a liar is the kind of thing that might result in fisticuffs--especially if the guy you're accusing of being a liar is hyped up on steroids or who knows what? But as A-Liar said himself, he made his own bed...
It turns out Rodriguez lied repeatedly over the years in denying he ever used performance enhancing drugs. It wasn't until Sports Illustrated had the goods on him that he confessed to ESPN's Peter Gammons that he'd been a doper. But even then, he didn't tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
On Tuesday, he had another version of his story when he appeared at a news conference (at which no follow-up questions were permitted). In this version, his "cousin" (now identified by ESPN and other news organizations as Yuri Sucart of Miami, Florida) procured and injected him with a performance enhancing drug he called "boli." What is it? Doping experts aren't sure because they've never heard of it. According to Rodriguez: "I didn't think they were steroids." Really? Then why did you do it in secrecy? Why did you lie about it repeatedly? When pressed on it by a reporter, A-Liar admitted: "I knew we weren't taking Tic Tacs."
How believable is this version of A-Rod's story? Not very, according to someone who knows him. Suzyn Waldman is a Yankees radio broadcaster. As Waldman put it: "Do I believe that Alex Rodriguez, who won't have a Snickers bar or a cookie, let his cousin inject him with something that he didn't know what it was? I find that really hard to believe," she told New York's WCBS radio.
Why does this matter? For one, it's a matter of an uneven playing field that other baseball players have apparently been playing on. The guys who did it right are tainted by the guys like Rodriguez who did it wrong. They're the guys who've been lucky enough to play baseball for a living but who know they'll never make it into the Hall of Fame--guys like 14-year veteran Mike Sweeney, who told the AP: "Fans speculate that all players are doing it. It's unfair to the guys like myself who never did squat--never took a 'greenie,' never cheated, never took growth hormone, steroids, none of that."
A-Liar's behavior also sends the wrong message to kids. Here's a guy who has nine years left on a 10-year, $275 million contract. If Major League Baseball doesn't come down hard on Rodriguez, the message to kids is: Do dope and whatever else you have to do to make the big money. Don't worry about being caught because they'll just slap your wrist. You'll probably even end up in the Hall of Fame.
An Associated Press-GfK poll on that question, by the way, came out today. It showed 52-percent of baseball fans said Rodriguez shouldn't be allowed into the Hall. Only 52-percent? I wish they'd asked me and other dads and moms whose sons and daughters play the game.
What about A-Liar's records? With 553 home runs, there's a pretty good chance the doper will eventually become the home run king when he surpasses the 762 homers hit by another alleged doper, Barry Bonds. In my view, MLB should remove any records achieved by any known doper. But many fans just don't take the records seriously any more. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said the allegations of steroid use in baseball have caused them to take that view.
So what's next? MLB's investigators are expected to try to talk to Rodriguez about his confessions and about whether his "cousin" ever supplied drugs to other players. For his part, Rodriguez told his teammates he's looking forward to "putting this all behind us and having an amazing season." I'm sure he is. A-Liar claims he'll do something in the future to tell kids that using steroids is wrong. Maybe he will. Expect a non-profit organization to be formed in his name. Expect a few public appearances and media appearances designed to make Rodriguez look like he's keeping kids off the dirty path he chose.
It's all just too predictable. You profit from cheating, you lie to the public about it, you confess, you claim you'll make up for it. We all move on and left behind is the great American pastime sullied again by another spoiled athlete who doesn't think the rules apply to him.
My hope is that this is the time baseball officials decide to do something that actually punishes this player and sends the message that the game is bigger than any one player. Even better--this is the time the athlete himself has some shame and voluntarily gives up his records and his salary from the years when he was cheating.
What are your thoughts? Am I being too harsh? Do you believe A-Rod's story? Should he be voted into the Hall of Fame someday? Should his records be allowed to stand?
