For more than 30 minutes, the latest to get caught with his hand in the cookie jar gave his best shot at a "mea culpa."
Plastered on nearly every ESPN outlet was Alex Rodriguez admitting to using Performance Enhancing Drugs from 2001 to 2003, when he was with the Texas Rangers. The Yankee third baseman was looking his best, albeit a little orangey, as he pursed his lips and made fishy faces in between Peter Gammons' questions.
Now what did we learn from this heart-to-heart, boys and girls? Well, that the time span in which he took the banned substance was "pretty accurate." And that he was under pressure to succeed, naive aaanndd...oh man, what was that other word? Oh yeah, stupid.
A-Rod said he is the only one responsible for his mistakes, but he seemed to point the finger at the culture of the time. There was no punishment for steroids back then, so any number of things could have triggered a positive test. He said he still doesn't know what he was guilty of taking. Kinda sounds like Mr. Bonds claiming he didn't know what was being injected into his body. Rrriiigghhhtttt.
Believe him or not, you can't take baseball players for their word anymore. As for Rodriguez, it's hard to believe he was that stupid. Plus, there are sources saying he knew of his positive test for the past few years. Meaning he lied to Katie Couric last year. Who lies to Katie Couric anyway? Another strike against Rodriguez (pun intended) is the timing of this confession. He's learned from the mistakes of Clemens and Bonds who are still denying their alleged usage. One point for his PR man to convince him to come clean. Andy Pettitte took a similar road and is certainly the better for it now.
Aside from the criticisms, there are some props in order for A-Rod. Since 2003, he's been tested "8-10" times and as far as we know, those results were negative. Kinda surprising since he seems to be bogged down with the pressure of playing in New York. Also, Rodriguez deserves some credit for being "open" about his situation. We'll probably never know what's true and what's not, but at least he's talking. He admitted to his wrongdoings and his legacy will pay for it. Some will say it's just because the news is out, but I don't think that makes it all that much easier. There were several moments, he was getting a little choked up in his responses...especially when facing the reality that a lot of his fans will never see him the same way again.
There are several gradings of this interview in the web world, but the question remains, "What now?" Does he deserve to be a Hall of Famer? Even if he fessed up? Does this mean other players will come out or does this mean everyone is doing it or did at one time?
I've never been a huge fan of Alex Rodriguez, but I'm willing to give him credit for coming clean. Hopefully he learned from his mistakes and stopped when he said he did. I might just be like any other baseball fan...just hoping there's an end to this. But then again, we're reminded there are 103 more names on the tainted list yet to be revealed.
