Steroids nab another failing star
Posted by Sport.co.uk on: 20 February 2009 - 15:43
Author: Chris O'Leary
Aside from his post-season woes, Alex Rodriguez’ career has demonstrated a level play that the sport of baseball has never seen. So far he is the best ever, and Tuesday we learned in part why – steroids.
At the New York Yankees Spring Training facility in Tampa Bay, Florida, he admitted that his unnamed cousin administered his steroid injections between the 2001 and 2003 seasons.
A-Rod’s 2007 claim that he never used ‘roids’
When United States Senator George Mitchell released his devastating report in 2007 implicating more than 80 Major League Baseball players including MVPs, Cy Young Award winners, and potential Hall of Famers, A-Rod was over-looked.
A-Rod2conducted the famous Sarah Palin interview), Rodriguez stated unequivocally that he never, ever used steroids, human growth hormone, or any other performance-enhancing substance.
Had he been tempted? Never: “I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I’ve always been a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did my work as I’ve done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn’t have a problem competing at any level,” said Rodriguez.
He added in a somewhat admonishing tone: “If anything comes of [the Mitchell Report], I will be extremely disappointed. And it will be a huge black eye on the game of baseball.”
Steroids merely an ‘energy boost’ for A-Rod…
What Rodriguez seems to be saying is that his unprecedented brilliance in baseball is merely a consequence of his innate skill, tireless hard work, and dogged determination. Reaching the 500 Home Run mark faster than any ball player in history, not to mention accumulating a host of other gaudy statistics, he said, was achieved without the assistance of performance-enhancing drugs.
In a subsequent interview in 2007 with Katie Couric (yes, the same one who
Interestingly, even after admitting to steroid use, A-Rod confirmed that it had nothing to do with his success in baseball: “I’d say I felt more energy but it’s hard to say…”
Concerning whether or not Rodriguez knew what substances his cousin was giving him, he offered the media this gem: “It was [my cousin’s] understanding [the shots] would give me a dramatic energy boost and was otherwise harmless.
“My cousin and I, one more ignorant than the other, decided it was a good idea to start taking it. We consulted no one and it was pretty evident that we didn’t know what we were doing. We did everything we could to keep it between us. I stopped taking it in 2003 and haven’t taken it since. I stopped taking it for several reasons.
In 2003 I had a serious neck injury and it scared me half to death. I was scared for my career and my life after baseball. Second after players voted for a mandatory drug policy, I realized how serious this all was and I decided to stop then.”
The question begs itself: What did he think he was shooting himself up with when his muscles went from human to super-human? How about when his testicles shriveled into tiny raisins?
Who knows if Rodriguez suffered from any negative side effects from the steroids. Perhaps if he took very small doses, he might never noticed anything adverse affecting his general disposition. But no matter what, the steroids affected his performance on the Baseball diamond in some way, and most likely for the better.
Why all the secrets?
More to the point, if he was so convinced he was doing nothing wrong, why was it such a secret between him and his cousin? Maybe A-Rod and his cousin really are that naïve and thought the steroids were actually a type of herbal ‘pick-me-up’ like echinacea or St. John’s Wort? Whatever they thought it was, they clearly knew it was likely to be illegal in the eyes of Major League Baseball and the United States Government. And of far greater importance to lovers of America’s most cherished pastime: A-Rod knowingly cheated in baseball.
Bring A-Rod to justice?
So should we demand A-Rod’s crucifixion? Probably not… While teammate and future Hall-of-Famer Derek Jeter hates the term “the Steroid Era”, it is undoubtedly true Rodriguez began his career when performance-enhancers became fashionable. We must also bear in mind the extreme pressures – mostly self-imposed – that athletes go through to be the best and gain a competitive edge. So intense are these pressures that even guys like A-Rod and Barry Bonds – who are among the most naturally gifted ball players in history – succumb to taking steroids.
Speaking of Bonds, it is clear just by looking at the man that his steroid-related offenses are more significant that A-Rod’s – and yet if his various records require an asterisk to denote steroid-related cheating, how can we not do the same for Rodriguez?
A sad finish…
Ultimately Rodriguez’s behavior is thoroughly offensive, not least because the Yankees are paying him $300m. He lied to our faces about not using steroids and kept his lips sealed while teammates like Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens were being tortured by the media and George Mitchell…
In pathetic fashion A-Rod ended his press conference by appealing to our sympathies: “All of these years I never thought I did anything wrong…”
To quote Justin Timberlake: Cry me a f-cking river.