My 'roid rage...

For all the Betty Bowers in the media and general public clamouring for Alex Rodriguez to come clean I have one question: If he does tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth--will you believe him?

Here is what I mean--the only thing we know at this point is that in the 2003 survey testing, A-Rod’s sample came up dirty. He has been tested since then including the Olympic style regimen used for the World Baseball Classic and has come up clean each time.

What does this mean insofar as Rodriguez’s usage goes? Well, there are a number of scenarios that are possible:

1) He experimented during his time with the Rangers and was caught and wizened up realizing that it wasn’t worth the potential cost.
2) It was a false positive and he never used.
3) He started using in high school and discontinued doing so once testing with penalties came about.
4) After seeing the results other players were getting in the late 1990’s thought it might be a good idea to see what they could do for him seeing as he was coming into free agency after the 2000 season.
5) He started using after he hit .204/.241/.204 and .232/.264/.408 in his cups of coffee in 1994-95 and was scared that he couldn’t cut it and started juicing until testing with penalties came out.
6) He used only briefly, he felt awful and discontinued--this occurred about the time the survey testing was done.
7) He’s used his entire professional career and switched to undetectable designer steroids after he tested dirty in 2003 and remains a user to this very day.

Now--while there are other possible scenarios--let’s assume one of the above is the complete, unvarnished truth and A-Rod comes forward with it.

Will we believe him if it’s anything other than No. 7 on the above list?

Of course not.

The prevailing public opinion (regarding the elite player) generally is once you’ve been busted--and you’re not a beloved player (read: good to the press and well liked by the fourth estate)--it means you’ve been a hard core user from the get-go and continue to be one. To confess to anything less means you’re lying--in the public’s mind there is only one kind of steroid user: the out and out, ongoing, filthy greedy cheat that is only out for number one. You eat Winstrol and eggs for breakfast, grilled Deca Durabolin sandwiches for lunch and testosterone-bone steak for supper washed down with a Clear cocktail and peaches and Cream for dessert.

Guns 'n' boozers?

Barry Bonds has probably passed as many MLB-mandated steroid tests as Rodriguez but were you to ask the average fan, they would tell you that he’s probably still on it. Jason Giambi was a noted good guy before BALCO, has never flunked a test and has never been under serious suspicion since--however, when I saw this recent picture of Giambi, well...

However, the media loves him, he issued a mea culpa commensurate to his popularity level with the press to satisfy them and has generally been forgiven by the public simply because the fourth estate says that it's O.K. to cheer for the penitent slugger.

Rafael Palmeiro was busted in his final season, Roger Clemens hasn’t pitched since he was mentioned in the Mitchell Report, Mark McGwire was never tested but there isn’t a soul alive that believes any of them had a brief flirtation with steroids. Heck, Sammy Sosa has never been formally linked by anyone to using anabolic substances but his blocky physique and trio of 60 HR seasons have him convicted as a hard core user in the minds of many.

Sadly, even if Alex Rodriguez were to fully disclose his usage chances are he wouldn’t be believed because it doesn’t line up with what many want to believe. He is in the same boat with Barry Bonds--people want to think the very worst about them since it makes them feel better about themselves. As we discussed below, 252 turned Rodriguez from a saint to a sinner almost overnight and he went from everything that is right and good about the sport to symbolizing everything that is wrong with it.

There will be no redemption for Alex Emmanuel Rodriguez. He fell from grace on January 26, 2001 when he did what everyone else would do if somebody offered them a quarter billion dollars. Since we will never have an opportunity to lack that kind of jack, we don’t anyone else to have it either, we want them to say “Heck no, that’s too much money--let the billionaire keep his money so the fans who will boo my ass off once my skills decline can feel better about their miserable little lives.”

It‘s O.K. for the little guy to want as much money as his skills are worth in his world but it’s not O.K. for baseball players to do so because the media tells us that the truly great players would play for free so some of the richest men in the world can keep their money.

Give me a break.

The glee in the media over this is stomach churning and believe me, there are a lot of petty folks having absolute orgasms over this; they want their pound of flesh and will only believe the truth if it agrees with what they’ve already made up their minds that it is--even though there is only one failed test from six years ago to go on. Sadly, all too many people in the press and the general public will accept nothing less than a confession of a professional lifetime of usage as the “truth.”

I’m sorry, but we, as a species, suck.

Best Regards

John