My first reaction upon hearing Alex Rodriguez flunked a steroid test in 2003 was not surprise (despite the YouTubed video from 2007).
It's not that I necessarily suspected him. I guess I bought into the popular perception that A-Rod was the example of the right way to do it.
But still, I don't get surprised when I learn I was fooled by a cheating athlete.
It did make me wonder why I didn't suspect him more strongly, the way I did Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
I think the reason is because A-Rod's home run total never shot up the way they did for Bonds and Sosa. Rodriguez's biggest jump was 19 from '06 to '07, and that was after stronger testing was implemented.
After A-Rod admitted today that he did use performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-03, ESPN put together a chart showing his averages for those three seasons compared to his other 10. During those seasons (and A-Rod wasn't specific that those were the only seasons he used the drugs), he averaged 52.0 home runs, while during the other 10 it was 39.2.
Sosa hit 30 more home runs in '98 than he did in fewer games in '97 and Bonds hit 24 more in '98. McGwire's biggest jump was just 13, but he failed the eye test as his body took on gigantic proportions.
I guess I should have suspected A-Rod more after I read Jose Canseco's "Juiced," which I consider the most important book on this subject.
"He's not the saint he's perceived to be," Canseco wrote about A-Rod. "Eventually the media will find something nasty to write about Alex Rodriguez, because trust me, they're looking for it."
A-Rod was just one of 104 players who tested positive for steroids in '03. Do you want to know the other 103? I do, but I recognize the unseemliness of releasing that information. The results were supposed to be kept confidential and destroyed.
Curt Schilling said the list should be released so the clean players aren't indicted under the same cloud of suspicion. Mark DeRosa was just on with Waddle & Silvy and said he would be upset if the list were released because a contract was signed that results were to be kept confidential.
I respect DeRosa's opinion on that.
And to be honest, part of me shrugs my shoulders and says: Who cares. No fan is going to attend fewer games because of this. No general perception of athletes or baseball players is going to change. It's just another name added to the list.
Arod should have never been exposed. And if I were him, I would file the biggest lawsuit they ever saw. I would be demanding the kind of money that gets someone fired. That's not right to single him out, but I feel that information should be destroyed. This leak has cost him the Hall and a whole bunch of endorsements and money. Whoever put him out there should be fired and that entire company liquidated and funds transferred to A-rod. I know he cheated, but two wrongs don't make a right. NOW Arod is going to be made to pay for his wrong and so should the parties who ratted him out. They just made it impossible to trust "the man".
And Canseco is nothing more than a snitch and a hater. They have a cuss word for him. The cheater who is now so honest and open and wants to clean up the game.
The first comment is 100% right, A-Rod should sue, he signed a contract saying that they would be confidential. Not only that, but all other 103 names should be released, and whoever released A-Rod's name should be.... exiled from any public communication. People like that make it hard to trust anybody.
I'd like to know why those people weren't exposed and sanctioned in some way at the time they tested positive? Keith I don't agree with you at all. High school athletes are tested and suspended if caught using drugs or steroids, so are Olympians what makes pro baseball players any better or pro athletes in any sport? Basically what you're saying is that pro athletes should be immune to sanctions for cheating. If that is the case then Pete Rose should be inducted to the Hall of Fame tomorrow, after all he didn't cheat he just gambled. The infamous Black Sox should be pardoned and shoeless Joe should be inducted, those guys may have thrown a series but they did it without enhancement drugs, they cheated honestly LOL. And God knows Belichick caught all kind of grief in the media for allegedly stealing signals but he wasn't banned from football. Players have been fined for corked bats, wouldn't you consider steroid use a much larger infraction?
Just keepin' up with the Joneses.
To this day, the only one who has been consistenly ahead of the curve (and telling the truth) has been Canseco. This admission today seemed a bit rushed...tell me he didn't know what he was putting in his body. This timeframe also seems to tight.
Call him whatever you will Keith - he got back at the game that he thought shut him out and exposed this sport (players, owners, players' assn) for the complete fraud that it is.
The good news for Alex is that he now gets a spot on the Mt Rushmore of roid players....Bonds, Clemens, Sosa and ARod.
Tim this is a matter of LAW. See Arod and those players signed a contract and surrendered their results under the guise that the results would be sealed and then destroyed. That information had no RIGHT making it into the public, and then they singled him out. There were 103 more folks who tested positive.
I don't give the man a pass for cheating, that goes without saying. But in America a contract is supposed to be a contract. Arod should pay for anything he did illegal, and the folks that sold him out (AND O N L Y HIM), should have to pay the price of breach of contract, defamation of character, attorney/client privilege, etc.
Tommy, Canseco got back, but I only applaud that when someone has done the person wrong. He admitted his guilt and refused to let that be it. HE TRICKED on everyone else because he got caught. And he did it without coersion from the Feds. Just unzipped his pants and rolled over. Even a prostitute has a better motive. He confessed and wasn't man enough to shoulder the blame - ALONE like a man.
O.K. all of you clowns out there, and that includes sportswriters need to stop including Sosa in the same list as Bonds, Clemens, McGuire, and now Arod.
There has never been even a insinuation of an accusation that he used, not even by Canseco, who has been proven correct in every other case.
All of those guys have a smoking gun virtually proving their use.
there is no smoking gun for Sosa, so until there is one he doesn't belong on this list or on Mt. Rushmore for that matter.
Did he use steriods, the odds are he did just like everybody else who hit 50+, or even 40+ homers.
How about Ryan Howard today, or Luis Gonzales(57) back in the day. Don't hear anybody putting their names on Mt. Rushmore. How about Jim Thome, Manny, anybody, everybody.
We only have evidence that he used cork, not steriods.
Grow up Sox fans, and stop being hypocrits.
Some People think that the important point is the LAW, not what's truly right, when all is said and done! It's okay to cheat and lie and steal from the fans (they're the ones that support sports with their hard earned pay) so long as you don't get caught. Sounds like the good kind of morals we should teach our children. I'm thrilled that Canseco spoke out. Call him a snitch. So what!! The people dissing him must be cheaters themselves. Why else would you defend what these players did. Curt Schilling, who seems to be the only player to stand up for the moral majority on this issue, says they should all be exposed so we can move on. I couldn't agree more. Thank God there are a few guys out there willing to speak the truth. All of this garbage is because of greed. If the average player was making $200K instead of $5-10M we wouldn't be talking about any of this. A-Fraud admitted as much saying he felt pressured to justify that kind of salary. The people that don't cheat should know who the cheaters are and ban them from their sport. These players have already made at least 1000 times more than the average working stiff that pays their ridiculous salaries. All 104 players named in that report should be banned forever from baseball and all of their records removed from the books. If not, why the hell bother testing. Was that just a dog & pony show or are they serious about cleaning up the sport.
I'm not so quick to give this a shrug of the shoulders and let it easily pass "because we all knew they were doing it anyway."
This is just another example of the lack of personal responsibility that is giving this country a black eye on a variety of levels -- sports, politics, business, economics, morals, ethics. You name it, and we have certainly tarnished it.
We can't find a Cabinet level person for Obama who seemingly hasn't cheated on taxes.
The CEOs of banks and other financial institutions misled investors while they pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars for themselves.
Bernie Madoff f***ed his friends and long-time business associates, lied to investigators and funneled tens of millions of dollars to family members in hopes of shielding his ill-gotten gains from a very slow to act SEC.
We are slipping down a very steep slope and we keep hoping that the Guardians at the Gates will do something. However, our Guardians are often tainted by the self-serving nature that has infected our institutions.
I don't give a rat's ass about A-Rod. He has proven to be the egomanical a**hole I always had him pegged as. I wonder about my kids' perspective, which is becoming increasingly one that must suggest that everything is for sale, that a personal sense of pride, strong work ethic and belief in a job well done takes a back seat to getting ahead and getting the biggest slice of the pie and damn the consequences.
A-Rod makes me sick. I am glad he got outed. Toss his ass out of baseball now.
I am more than willing to give a guy a 2nd chance and forgive him for making a mistake but it is hard to tell now what they are being honest about. On ESPN they replayed his remarks to Katie Curic and he said that he never took or even contemplated using enhancements. Straight face. Looked her right in the eye and barely flinched. Now he is being applauded because he is admitting to telling the truth. How do we know what he is saying NOW is the truth? I can't say. And you can not say that he is exonerated because he didn't keep lying like all the other guys did. Criminals go free all the time because of technicalities who are absolutely guilty. This isn't a guy who did something stupid just once. He had a disregard for the truth for, admittedly, 2 years. He reaped the benefits. No different than all the other guys. The other guys are being ridiculed for not admitting they cheated. Across the board they are equally wrong. Guys like Bonds even admit that they don't care about the Hall because it has allowed racists, drunks, tax cheats, wife beaters, people who have thrown series unbeknowing to the average fans and just about every kind of human lowlife who has had something bad or ugly swept under the tug in the pretense that it was best for the game. They feel that it isn't a hall of honor to begin with. Being paid 1,000 times better than past players is the one thing they care about. And with the testing done as a "survey" in 2003 it just shows you how much no one really cared. Can my job tell me I have to be tested and I only agree that it can only happen if it can be used only as a survey? That sounds unreal. The other 103 should also be announced because then that portion of dirty players can equally be identified. Dirty is dirty and should equally be excluded from the Hall.
Bigway...we're totally behind you.
Signed
Roger Clemens
Mark McGuire
A-roid
Raphy P
Barry B.
P.S. Wake up...and tell us what planet you've been living on.
Robert
Did you just suggest there's never been an "insinuation" that Sosa did some sort of PHD? Too many ways to beat down that hilarious postion.
I would encourage you to go back and read the Rick Reilly column below when he visited Sammy in the Cubs' clubhouse. Told Sammy that he could clear up all "insinuations" of his PHD use by taking a quick and immediate test. Sammy went berserk...that proves nothing though right? His huge uptick in HR numbers? Nothing His 30+ pounds of muscle in his mid 30s? Nada...
You my friend have a huge case of denial...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2002/07/02/life_of_reilly/
Just goes to prove that Albert Pujols is the best player in the last decade, hands down.
Keith my point is that there should never have been any contract of non-disclosure! Those tests should be a matter of public record to start with! Why should pro players be afforded any more consideration than any high scholl or olympian athlete?
1) This is a shock because A-Rod was never a "tell" sign for usage. He was trumpeted as the best player in MLB early on in his career & & was thought to be a 40-50hr/yr guy.
2) There is plenty of evidence vs Sosa.
1: Se Hable No English: that was is out to avoiding having to testify before Congress.
2: He foolishly reported a theft of a paper bag full of $ valued over $20K in a hotel notorious for roid deals.
3: The change in his body from his days with the Sox to 1995 & beyond is the classic "tell" sign of usage.
4: He used corked bats in real games. That demonstrates both a lack of faith in his "God-given" talent & desperation to succeed.
Only a Cub fan would bury his head in the sand & ignore all of that. I think it's likely that Sosa's name is amongst the 104 so pretty soon these fans will just have to wear bags over their heads.
3) Full disclosure of the 104: use of some steroids constitutes a felony. The govt has every right to disclose suspects in criminals cases. The CBA does not matter in that regard. The govt can prosecute A-Rod if they want, but I suspect they wont.
4)A-Rod is free to sue his union if he likes. If you recall, the owners wanted mandatory testing in 2003. They 5% rule was a concession to the union. The union felt strongly they could prepare the players to fall below the 5%. Fehr never considered the possibility of the Fed seizing the test results despite the fact that the results would constitute evidence of a criminal act. So Fehr never gave it a 2nd thought to including a player's name with a test sample.
5) The owners are to blame for ruining the legacy. They knew what was going on & what did they choose to do? Make the parks smaller. They added to the distortion. Vincent knew about the problem in the early 90's. The owners could have sought to make the parks bigger to counter the usage. The fans knew something was out of whack. We didn't know much about roids so we felt it was the combination of smaller parks & tighter wound balls. Golf had taught us how much that can make a difference. Now we now it was illegal drugs that made the biggest difference.
I bet Pujols will end u in the list.
Seedy, your comments about the slippery slope of personal responsibility as well as the implications of this country's moral depravity exemplified by so many normal and decent individuals just looking the other way or accepting it is DEAD ON!
WRD, that's my favorite post you've written on several fronts.
Keith, I understand your frustrations on A-Rod's behalf. Yes, he did sign something. Yes, someone leaked it. That's wrong. I just don't agree that he or anyone else should have accolades (Hall, MVP's, etc.) for "juiced stats" however "hush-hush" they were supposed to be. What about Giambi who admitted to his steroid use while he was off beating Frank, controversially I might add again, for the 2000 MVP. Looks like Jason will still have a nice MVP trophy to look at until the day he dies. Frank on the other hand? True, we can't be certain, but Frank's always been big and never just ballooned from skinniness to Mr. Universe in a blink of a season's eye like Bonds. There are guys who've produced without the juice.
The whole friggin' thing disgusts me to no end. In fact, most of sport disgusts me as it mirrors the downfall of society. I'm right on the cusp of perhaps giving up sports altogether. I have better, more productive things I could be doing with my life.
Anthony
Don't forget that Pujols (like Sammy, Prior, Pudge Rodriguez, others) were on the initial list publlished by MSNBC as the list from the Mitchell report. Then it was mysteriously pulled a few hours before the Mitchell report was released.
I have no doubt Pujols did them too and many others. This list of 103 will come out...
Basically, the parties signed an invalid contract. The results were subpoena'd. The union did not have the power to keep these results from legal authorities.
How they leaked out should be interesting, but those leaks happen all the time. Heck, even grand jury proceedings end up leaking. Doesn't make it right, just that it is.
I agree that the complete list should now be leaked. Let's have a little transparency, so we don't have everyone thrown into the same boat as those caught cheating.
I have no idea what to do with the cheaters and their records. That's one for Soloman. I'd be mighty pissed though if I was an average or below average player who never cheated. At least they still have their self-respect, even if they don't have 250+ million. Do the math on that though. If you don't spend the money on an A-Rod (and not that this would happen), for a 25 man team, that's 10 million dollars taken away from each of the other players.
I can't see anywhere in my one line statement that says Pujols didn't use roids. All I'm saying is along with all the big numbers from 2001 to today, if he was riding the train with THE OTHER BIG NUMBERS or not, as of today, I feel he has been thee best in baseball. His numbers, as well as Rodriguez', weren't too shabby last year. I just know that on a LEVEL playing field, he would be my first pick in the park.
Question for you all: Will he still be in the hall of fame?
Off on a tangent here a little, but all this talk, year after year, athlete after athlete, TV and movie star after TV and movie star about how they are supposed to be role models, and their ensuing consequences always opens an ugly door for me; The Music Industry. After watching Amy Wino-house 'glazily' sing on stage before accepting some prestigious awards at last years grammies, and then watch T.I. perform and accept, days before jail time on his latest weapon charge, his umpteenth overall, just goes to bring to light the ugly hypocrisy in judgement today.
Let's see? Paid professionals. BIG TIME role models (whether you accept that notion or not). Always in the public eye.
Sounds like the same room to me!
If we're gonna distribute rules and regulations, laws and reasoning, consequences and punishments, I say let's cover the full spectrum.
Who cleans only a few rooms in their house anyway?
Sorry Selig, I forgot.
Some of you suggested A-Rod should sue the people who leaked this info for breach of contract. But one could argue A-Rod breached any and all baseball contracts he signed once he started using steroids. Maybe he shoud have to pay all that money back to the Rangers, Yankees, and probably Mariners.
Congratulations to the real record holders, Hank Aaron and Roger Maris. Now does everyone see how great they really were?
Oscar, well said.
Seedy - Very well put. I agree with you 100%.