A-Rod?! A-Fraud!

Just days after Michael Phelps, one of the biggest names in the sports world, is being hit by controversy, another one is hitting the dust as well. Alex Rodriguez (aka A-Rod), arguably the best baseball player in this generation, has admitted to ESPN that he had used performance-enhancing drugs during his days with the Texas Rangers. While the society is still dumb-struck of what Phelps has done, the A-Rod story is quickly taking over in sports radio, news talk, and so on. Michael Phelps is celebrating that he is temporarily off the hook. 

Unlike some of the other names in baseball (Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens), Rodriguez came out relatively quickly to admit what he had done, and apologized for his action. He did not try the “I don’t want to talk about the past” card like Mark McGwire, and did not try to intimidate people into not asking him questions like Bonds and Clemens did. Instead, he borrowed a page from the likes of Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte to somewhat apologize and take ownership of what was done. I guess he would like the public to forgive and forget what he has done, much like how they have treated Giambi and Pettitte. Just the fact that he has apologized, I guess, deserves some credit. 

But the credit stops there. Make this very clear: all of Giambi, Pettitte, and now Rodriguez, are apologizing because they really do not have a better choice. The next baseball player who will publically admit that he has used/is using performance enhancing drugs when there is no allegations/potential charges/indelible evidence about to be leaked would be the first. These players all made a choice to cheat, and would continue to cheat as long as they know they can get away from it. Why are players coming out now about steroid use, and are admitting that they have done it? Because there are reliable tests that can prove, without much of a doubt, that you have used it to make your head five times bigger and your biceps twenty times stronger. There is, to date, no way of testing the use of human growth hormones (HGH) – do you see any player admitting that they are currently using HGH to boost their performances? 

Reports indicated that there were 104 players who tested positive for steroids use prior to the year that steroids use was actually tested. For a league that has between 600 – 700 players, that number is substantial enough that all players are now “guilty by association.” Seriously, can you say, without the shadow of a doubt, that player A, B, or C is clean at this time? Everyone thought Alex Rodriguez was clean, but not anymore… A-Rod was juiced, and probably, many of his peers were as well. There is just no way to know.

The Players, Major League Baseball, and the players’ union have no one to blame but themselves for this credibility crisis. Sure, the media and the fans did not stand up to ask the tough questions during the steroids era when sluggers were suddenly a lot more powerful than they were, but those directly involved are still the ones to blame: the players for using the drugs, the league for turning a blind eye on the situation while their turn-rails were spinning, and the union for doing everything they could to condone this culture of cheating. 

I was a baseball fan in the early 90s, and still follow the sports somewhat closely, but the increasing number of players indicted of cheating has just made the sports less and less appealing to me. If I want to watch fabricated drama, why don’t I just turn onto wrestling?