a-fraud??

so, here are my thoughts on the whole alex rodriguez and steroids issue. i love baseball. if you don't, then too bad...

a-fraud?? hardly. with everything being said about alex rodriguez, it's kind of hard not to think so. he had me fooled. as much i despise him as a person, i have the utmost respect for him as a baseball player. i always had his back when the whole steroid topic came up. i fought for his innocence. not alex. he was too good of a player. he respected the game too much. i've read a bunch of books on the baseball/steroid topic. i thought i knew who was using and who wasn't. tells you what i know...

i do know this though: i think alex's apology was bullshit. in my opinion, there is nothing worse than half truths. yea, he came out and said he took some stuff but he didn't tell us the complete story. his fans deserve more. he should have come completely clean. i want to know what he was stacking, what schedule he was on, how long he was using, and if the management/front office knew of the use in the clubhouse. all of these are questions i would expect him to answer. baseball has a steroid problem. there is no doubt about it. lots of players are using, but here's the thing: taking performance enhancing drugs does not allow you hit a 90+ mph fastball. they don't make you field a ball better. it still takes an enormous amount of skill to do what alex does. is he still taking some banned stuff? probably. do i care? not really. everyone in MLB is taking them. well, not everyone but a good majority of players. which brings us to another point: how is MLB going to remedy the problem?

i think we should hold bud selig and the owners of the team responsible. it starts at the top and works its way down. the trickle down effect if you will. until 2004, there were no penalties for testing positive for a banned substance. i think there is something inherently wrong with that! there needs to be stricter testing policies and tougher penalties for breaking those rules. setting up a press conference and saying you're sorry doesn't cut it in my book. at the same time, i'm not saying congress should get involved like they did before. this country has way bigger problems to deal with than punishing overpaid baseball players. the president has far bigger issues to address in his first primetime news conference than steroids and baseball.

another topic of discussion should be how and why his name was leaked into the press. the test he took in 2003 was supposed to have been anonymous. the results were to be confidential. so, why then did sports illustrated rat him out? how did the players union allow this to happen? i think the reporters are just as bad as alex because they cheated their way to get this info. it wasn't their list to obtain. all of the barry bonds info was wrongfully acquired as well. when are there going to be limits to what the press can illegally get?!?

i'm not covering for alex at all. he cheated the game and his fans. but the only way to get baseball back to the way it was is fixing the problem. just because game attendance is higher than it has ever been, it doesn't give MLB the right to turn a blind eye for the sake of an extra dollar. the game is tainted and needs to be fixed. alex rodriguez, barry bonds, roger clemens...those are all bad apples that ruined it for the rest of the good, clean players. i just hope that derek jeter is clean. he is the only player i hold true to the game anymore. shame on you, mr. selig. i want the game i grew up loving and watching back!!!