New York Nine

God, just look at him, I mean yeah ESPN obviously took this photo to be unflattering, but tell me this image doesn't scream "douchebag." In truth it is very easy to hate this guy, so cold, so calculated, every step seemingly orchestrated and scripted, teeming with talent and yet seemingly always falling flat on his face whenever he has the chance. Consequently, its not at all surprising to me or anyone who's familiar with Alexander Emanuel Rodriguez the kind of response he'd get when it was found out he took steroids and in truth I can't blame them. He's always made it easy to hate him, even if you're a fan of his team, and his lone gold star, that being the White Knight of Good Clean Home Run Hitting, is forever tarnished, forever clouded in doubt. And now he meets the media finally to speak about his dark past to come clean, and again he is lambasted for it, mocked and ridiculed for it, but for this I don't think he deserves it.


I'm not here to argue that he's innocent or anything like that, he did a wrong thing and he should be singled out for it and be made to answer for it, but here's the thing, he DID answer for it. Alex could've done a lot of things when this came out, deny it up and down like Palmero, Tejada and so many others did, go to congress and make this a crusade against the accusors like Clemens did, or stand trail in a grand jury and lie until he's blue in the face like Bonds did. And yet Alex did none of those things, within 48 hours he came clean he went onto ESPN and spoke with the venerable Peter Gammons and said yes, yes I did take steroids, yes I did a terrible and regrettable thing, and I want everyone to know that I did.


Again, this in itself is unprecedented. Indeed, even Giambi only gave a news conference where he said he was sorry for "something" he never said steroids never said anything like that just that he felt bad. But Alex went further, Alex said okay I'll hold a press conference with all the media present and I'll let you fire away, I'll deal with the brunt of the sports media while they dished out their worse and he spilled his guts. He told him who gave it to him, how many times he took it, how he got it, how long he took it, I mean what else did you want from him, what he was wearing when he was injected? In brief, unlike any other accused steroid user he faced his detractors he took them head on and answered, and yet we are still unsatisfied, but why?



I have heard from many that his explainations were unsatisfactory, that he couldn't have not known what he was taking, that he's hiding behind "I was young and stupid" argument, and most of all that it was disengenious that he didn't seem real. Indeed, you have to consider, if he lied before, why would he stop now? What guarantee do we have that he's not juicing right now? And in truth there is now way for "sure" I am inclined to believe the majority of what he said despite this claims when you consider the situation.


I mean think about it, think about where A-Rod is right now, his career is on the brink of ruin, the only think he had going for him is gone now, now he's a douchebag AND he's dirty. His records are forever tarnished, and his legacy is in doubt, what does he have to lose at this point? He's already been called out as a liar, as a cheat, what good is lying about any stupid detail at this point? Is saying he got it from his cousin rather than another baseball player going to resuce his legacy? Hardly. And the "young and stupid" thing? Well shit I'm 24 and I've done some pretty dumb stuff this year too, is it possible a 24 year old with 252 million dollars in the bank wouldn't do something spectacuarly stupid?


I'm sure there are many who will find my take to be unconvicing, after all, I'm a yankee fan, I'm inclined to want to give a guy on my team a break. But I think that if you sift through the bullshit, A-Rod's past, his throughly irritating demeanor, I think the facts are pretty plain. Alex did something stupid but he's trying to own up to it, he's trying to put himself out there and say look I know I screwed up, but I'm trying to make good, I'm trying to atone for it. Maybe that's not enough for most people, but in my opinon it take a real man to own up to making a colossal mistake like this, and that's more than any of these other cheaters can say.