A-Roid Takes It In The Butt... Just Not The Way We All Assumed

I knew there would eventually be a sports news story that would shake me from my slumber and push me back into the sports blogosphere. And this one is a monster.

Alex Rodriguez, multiple time MVP, highest paid athlete, adulterer and pink lip gloss addict used steroids. It's almost too good to be true. But the question that has bugged me recently is this...while there is no doubt that it is amusing to watch this jerk squirm and face his actions, does this news further cheapen my favorite sport to a point from where it may never recover?

First things first...my thoughts on the revelation and the interviews since. I can say with all honesty that I was caught totally off guard by the news report letting us all know that A-rod had tested positive for steroids. For one thing I had always believed, whether out of naivety or a hope that maybe he could redeem the home run record, that A-rod, for all his failings, was clean. I had a strange mix of giddiness (I mean he is a Yankee after all) and disappointment. Perhaps the most intriguing thing to come out of that day, however, was that there was a list in existence with 104 players names on it. That is nearly 12% of the league (as I understand it).

We need to see this list. This era in baseball is a black eye from which the game may never recover. The longer this is dragged out, however, the longer it will take for baseball to get back on the road to recovery. The players on the list don't deserve to be protected. Yes, i know that these tests were supposed to be confidential, but the very notion that confidentiality should ever be granted to cheaters and law breakers is absurd. These players, whether they be stars or bench warmers, defrauded the game and cheated the fans, fellow players and the league. And likely they continue to reap the benefits of being a pro athlete without having to be honest with their fans and their teammates about the way they cheated in the past.

These 104 names should come out, the media storm will commence, no more names from this era will leak in the future, and hopefully the game can begin to move forward and leave the steroid era behind.

Now back to A-rod. After the initial revelation a few days of silence were broken when A-rod scheduled an interview with Peter Gammons to be aired on ESPN. He answered questions, and while he stopped short of saying everything he did and played dumb about what exactly he took I have to say I was somewhat impressed by the way he handled himself. He realized he was caught and instead of taking the road of Bonds, Clemens, and McGwire he realized that he had to admit his wrong doing and apologize. That's what he did, similar to how Andy Pettite chose to handle his situation and I really thought that forgiveness may come sooner as opposed to later for A-rod. That was of course until his spring training press conference this morning.

It appears that A-rod not only held some stuff back, but flat out lied in parts of his interview with Peter Gammons. He insisted that he did not know what he was taking that led to the positive test, but then today he said that not only did he know what it was, he and his cousin had to smuggle it in from the Dominican Republic just to get it. When speaking with Gammons A-rod indicated that there were any number of products you could get off the shelves at GNC back then that would now be illegal. He brought up GNC at least five times and seemed to be indicating that whatever he tested positive for may have been simply an over the counter product. Today he admitted that the drug had to be injected...you know...i can't remember ever seeing hypodermic needles sold at GNC. This, however, was not what I view as the most important lie that A-rod has been caught in. During his interview on ESPN A-rod attacked the integrity and methods of SI reporter Selena Roberts in her efforts to break this story. He accused her of stalking him and having several brushes with the law for which she was cited. As it turned out none of what he said was true, and the whole thing was merely a ploy by A-rod to engender sympathy for himself.

So there you have it, three (and there could be more...I'm writing this from memory) significant lies in A-rod's "coming clean" interview. He already had little to no credibility due to the fact that he cheated, concealed it and lied in a CBS interview a year and a half ago, but now, at a time where he has to come out and tell the truth it appears he is still trying to hide as much as possible, only coming forward when he gets caught in his own lies.

This leads to one very important question...why should any baseball fan believe A-rod when he says that he stopped taking PEDs in 2004. Maybe, just maybe, in 2004 when drug testing became the norm and penalties were implemented for positive tests...and when he was under the most pressure of his career after having been traded to the New York Yankees, A-rod switched to the undetectable HGH and has been a chronic cheater much longer than he is ready to admit. The fact of the matter is this, he didn't come clean when he needed to and while I think it is certainly possible that he has been clean I don't think there is any reason anyone should give him the benefit of the doubt. It is time we look seriously at the idea of striking cheaters numbers from the record books. Obviously there was a different culture and a lot of people who should not have looked the other way did, but that is no reason to punish the players of the past and the future, by allowing the cheaters to benefit from their cheating.

A-rod, while not exactly universally liked, was supposed to be the clean player who could reclaim the most hallowed of records from the reviled Barry Bonds, but now it appears that record will remain tarnished for the foreseeable future. For ten more years A-rod will serve as a striking reminder of a time that baseball needs to distance itself from, and if the list of names continues to slowly leak to the press baseball may never be able to separate itself from this scandal.

A-rod is not the first, or the only player to cheat, and I do believe its somewhat unfair that he is facing this alone while 102 other players (I'm assuming Bonds is on the list) remain anonymous, but the fact of the matter is this...until there is true transparency, by the league, by the teams, and by the players baseball will never get away from the steroids era and it could lead to the detriment of the sport in the future.