It's really, really easy to say someone is a bad person when they do something wrong. It's even easier when the person who did something wrong is someone it is fashionable to dislike.
I don't like Alex Rodriguez...I don't hate him either. But after watching his interview with Peter Gammons on ESPN, all I could think was "Poor A-Rod." Here is the real situation:
Alex Rodriguez is not a bad person for taking PEDs in an time where the pressure was immense, everyone did it and it was barely illegal. A-Rod is also not a good guy for telling the truth. It's not as bad as what Clemens or Bonds are doing, but there isn't anything noble about coming clean when the facts already came clean for you.
A-Rod is just a normal guy. He gets made fun of by his teammates, he chokes under pressure and he makes ethically questionable decisions when the pressure gets to him. The fact is, almost everyone given the same situation would do the same thing. That includes taking the PEDs and lying about them (to himself or Katie Couric, whichever) for as long as he could. There's a way to succeed, you take it. There's a way to avoid punishment, you take it...it's what people do, especially if you're an overly sensitive guy like A Rod is.
On a legal note, how fair is it that these tests that were supposed to be confidential were leaked? And how come only A-Rod's were leaked? Somebody should be sued or fired.
On the plus side, Gammons was classy in the interview, no Jim Gray bullshit here. Still, all I could think while watching...poor A-Rod.
With the whole A-Rod PED story taking the forefront of the sports world this week I thought I would chime in with a few thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFirst for my thoughts on A-Rod. I refuse to feel sorry for a man that had the capability to make hundreds of millions of dollars without taking drugs but still felt the need to take them. Coming clean does very little for me, especially when the truth is clearly not being told about some things. There is NO WAY that A-Rod doesn't know what he was putting in his body. That was my main problem with his entire interview but the other things are smaller and frankly I am tired of talking about this whole issue.
Which brings me to my main point of this entire saga. I am tired of ESPN running stories into the ground. This reminds me of the summer of Bonds when I had to see Pedro Gomez stalk Barry for months on end. I have heard enough about steroids. Give me the names of everyone who did them and move on. Nobody that took the "confidential" test in 2003 should have been naive enough to believe those results wouldn't come out in an age where no secret can be kept.
Steroids stories officially have no affect on me. When I saw the breaking news about A-Rod it didn't even surprise me or make me think twice. I don't care anymore, ESPN has worn me out.
BREAKING NEWS: Bowl Bradington's 2003 samples have come back positive for 4 different PEDs. Also, Buddies results have come back positive for HIV. More coverage tonight on the 6pm SC.
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