Foul Ball: Rodriguez Press Conference

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by Digger

Baseball's various steroid stories aren't going away time soon. Sports Illustrated reignited this firestorm a couple of weeks ago by naming Alex Rodriguez as a steroid user. ARod then quickly sat down for an interview with ESPN's baseball guru Peter Gammons and admitted previous wrong doing.

Today, Alex was back in front of microphones holding a midday news conference. ARod claimed to be "young and stupid" and not knowing what effect, if any, his wrong doing (steroids) had on his body or performance. ARod is asking to put this all behind him, for a second chance, to be tested at any time etc. Squarely placed blame on himself for past actions. Unfortunately for ARod and baseball, today's latest attempt to right a past wrong was nothing more than a long foul ball opening the door to further questions and disbelief.

Here's my short list of what doesn't fly with ARod's reasoning:

Topping my list... this is not ARod's first interview. A sit down with Katie Couric turned out to be full of non-truths. His sit down with Gammons contained further non-truths. So did today's little circus.

1st, he was clearly implicated in Jose Canseco's book as approaching fellow Texas Rangers players who juiced inquiring of how to's. Today, ARod stated he never saw other players using. This just isn't true. The Rangers were one of baseball's teams where steroid usuage was a common bond. Canseco clearly stated ARod was another teammate using.

2nd, ARod tried to imply when using in years 2001-03 it may or may not have helped performance. He went on record today stating his "best" years were in pre/post using days. Funny how Alex forgot to mention he led baseball in many offensive categories during the years he admits to.

3rd, I just don't buy he quit in 2003. There's no credibility behind many statements being tossed around. He has a history of failing to come clean from his private life to professional life. Since joining the Yankees here's a guy surrounded in steroid controversy, spotted leaving illegal gambling establishments, allegedly caught cheating on his wife with strippers, hookers and Madonna. And now, fresh rounds of coming clean? Cleaner yes, clean no.

4th, if he doesn't think juicing was cheating then why cover it up? Why come clean now? It's part of self denial. I think most players convinced themselves it was ok since no one seemed to care who was or wasn't. Big dollars rewarded the games top slugging juicers. Money money money.
His statements today did contain a bit of denial and plenty of self induced ignorance. I was young and dumb only goes so far. I know he didn't want to rat out former/current teammates he saw or knew of using.. but his flat out denial was lying. This is the problem with throwing yourself a news conference to "come clean" and tell the "truth". In order to tell truth's he injected non-truths. In the process he also admitted to using some sort of over the counter pep pill which was later added to baseball's banned list.

ARod is now the latest poster child for baseball's steroids. I'm in complete disgust with how Commissioner Bud Selig threw Rodriguez under a bus after the ESPN interview. Selig is still in denial and now takes great "offense" to not doing enough to curb performance enhancing drug usage which spread throughout Major League Baseball. Selig has been and remains a central figure covering up this issue. It's been reported an executive officer in MLB has been squarely accused of tipping off players when "random" tests were given. A former NL MVP, the late Ken Caminiti, admitted he used 'roids during his 1996 award winning season. Countless sports reporters wrote articles back in the 1990's suggesing usage was on the rise. Selig and owners turned a blind "public" eye. There's no way they couldn't at least be suspicious of activity. Instead, it's my belief owners and Commissioner's Office all knew and encouraged further usage by doing nothing. Revenues flourished, so there was no reason for any action taken.

Baseball keeps getting self inflicted black eyes. This list is long and dates back over 100 years. Problem is always in how officials attempt to coverup many wrong doings. No exception here. I'm curious as to when there will be perjury investigations of Bud Selig's sworn testimony. Roger Clemens has taken plenty of heat. Why not dig into baseball's $17M front man Bud Selig? It'll never happen since baseball owners are heavy political contributors.

As for ARod, the 2009 baseball season can't come quick enough. He desperately wants everything his past put to rest while focusing on future events. I can't help thinking he's in a lose lose situation for quite some time. Every attempt to come clean invites further scrutiny. He'll be jeered in every city outside of NY. When he slumps, New Yorker's will howl. If he hits 60 homers, reporters will tear him apart and then questions of validity for records broken by juicers comes back into play. This event will haunt ARod for the rest of his playing days.