Alex Rodriguez: A-Fraud or A-OK?

So it's been a few weeks since Alex Rodriguez has admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs. There's been a ton of reaction and coverage about it, including a couple of good blog posts from by baseball-fanatic buddy Anthony. But nothing from me on this blog. Until now.

I was holding off on my opinion of the whole situation in an effort to hear the full story. First, there was just a report. Then, there was the Peter Gammons interview, which while shocking, was also lacking a ton of information (thanks Peter). Finally, came the long press conference in which A-Rod talked at length about the whole situation, revealing the "truth" about his involvement with the drugs and much more.

Let me start this way. I've always been a fan of Alex Rodriguez. He's never been one to stir up controversy. He has always seemed to go about his business and looking at his numbers, he's done a great job doing that. Of course, there are the occasional tabloid reports (Madonna relationship) and monumental collapses (every playoff series), but all in all, he is the best player in Major League Baseball and well on his way to becoming one of the best ever in the game. Whether he was in Seattle, Texas or New York, he has been consistent and that's good, considering he is the highest paid player in the game.

But now, things have changed a bit. He's admitted to cheating. Yes, cheating. In his press conference, when asked if he felt like he cheated, A-Rod said "that's not up for me to determine". Well, trust me, you cheated. A-Rod continues to explain that this was a mistake that he made because he was "young and stupid". Well, let's think about that. He took these drugs from 2001-2003. That means he was 25 to 27 years old! I'm sorry but in this day and age, that's not young. And you have to consider the fact that his first full season was in 1996. So he had played 5 full seasons in the big leagues before he felt all this "pressure to perform". Gimme a break A-Rod. Not buying it.

As far as his apology, I really do think it is heartfelt. He knows he screwed up and he knows the words "role model" won't be attached to his name anymore. But what I'm not so sure about is that he is telling the absolute truth yet. With Katie Couric, he claimed he didn't take P.E. drugs. That was a lie. With Peter Gammons, he claimed he didn't know the name of the drug. That was a lie. After this press conference, it's almost as if we have to choose what to believe now. The answer to this whole thing: put him on a lie detector episode of Maury. Promise we'll get the truth then.

And as my good friend pointed out, one has to wonder what exactly A-Rod wanted to do with that press conference. If he wanted to "come clean", fine. Reading from a prepared statement, OK. But to talk about his teammates and his admiration for them from a piece of paper kind of makes him look like a heartless idiot. And the whole 35-40 second emotional moment he took before taking questions, well, that seemed a bit staged. Whoever manages him could have done better than that. But whatever.

So where do we go from here? Well, A-Rod is no longer the best player in baseball that is clean. That distinction now goes to Albert Pujols. But as Johnny Damon will tell you, A-Rod could have done worse.

No doubt there will be a smattering of boos across MLB stadiums this year but he plays for the Evil Empire already so not like he isn't used to those already. He's still gonna make the Hall of Fame, though it won't be a unanimous vote. And he's still gonna put up monster numbers because drugs or not, the guy is flat out good. Case closed.

A-Rod says he wants to now help with awareness programs about steroids and other drugs. I'm all for that. It's the least he could do for giving baseball another black eye and giving kids one less world-class athlete to look up to. What may be the bigger story though than all of this A-Rod junk is that 104 of about 700 players tested positive. That's just sad. Kids grow up hearing cheaters never win. Slowly but surely, Major League Baseball is proving that wrong.

And you know, it's a good thing the NFL is gaining in popularity. And a good thing that the NBA is having a scandal-free season too because baseball is America's pastime and no thanks to all this, it's going to stay that way for the next generation.