Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, when he was playing with the Texas Rangers. He reportedly used banned substances during his 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons in Texas.
Will Alex Rodriguez's apology for using a banned substance lessen any media or public backlash?
Mon Feb 9, 2009 2:55 PM EST
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It won't lessen the public's backlash. Anyone who is not a Yankee fan is going to backlash against Alex. There are a lot of people jealous of the Yankees and their fans, so i say no, there will be no forgiving Alex. Now, if a Boston player did it than yes, everything would be forgiven. Not so with the Yankees, people are too jealous of their success to forgive a player from that team of anything.
Do you really think that people are jealous of an overpaid rich team that keeps on loosing?
Overpaid rich team that keeps losing? What are you an idiot? Last I check the Yankees have won more than any other team in sports...I mean wtf is up with you Yankee haters...Admit it, we are the best sports team out there...What does Arods texas days have to do with Yankees...Its old news...We all have to face the fact that between 90's till 2003 lots of players did PHD's, its old news...Lets move on already...
We all have to face the fact that between 90's till 2003 lots of players did PHD's, its old news...Lets move on already...
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That's Bull and you know it. If it's old news as you say. Why aren't you singing praises for Barry Bonds?
Get over yourself Yankee fan. Is everyone's anger towards Mark McGwire because they are jealous of the A's or Cardinals? No, it's because baseball, more than any other sport, is a sport of numbers. And when someone takes illegal substances and those numbers become artificially inflated, it ruins the history and ability to compare past to present. A-Rod is no different than any other cheater of this era. To his credit he owned up to it, which was the smart thing to do. Baseball fans have shown much more forgiveness for those that admit it than those that continually lie about it. But he deserves every boo he hears this year, just the same as Bonds or Sosa or anyone else...
There will never be a true comparison between past and present - Medicine, Nutrition, Surgical advances, along with chemicals will all alter that comparison, should Tommy John surgery be banned? should access to nutritionists that have an advanced understanding of how our bodies work be banned? The only argument to be made is legality, but as far as a pure comparison, you can only call a player to be the best of an era.
The great myth in baseball is that the numbers are comparable between generations of players. No one seems to want to talk about all of the changes when comparing the numbers. The are more games, the parks are smaller, the balls more lively, the mound lower, the bats are not made of old growth lumber anymore, the players in the 60's and 70's doing amphetamines between double headers. Get over it already. The game changes with the times, for better or worse.
Get over yourself. Sosa is stilling playing. Clemmons has been ruined and Bonds deserves what he gets.
Agree with Crowdedhouseny re. the surgical advances that just happen to improve or enhance an athlete's ability to excell.
Let's all continue this lame debate when Tiger Woods - who had (two) eye surgeries that mentally allow him to visualize [golf course] details better than his competitors - vies for the "Greatest Golfer" ever.
If it's not illegal, and it works advantage goes to the recipient. End story. No tears.
Even as a sox fan I can say that AROD did the right thing here. He was open and honest and i think that will benefit him. That said, he's still going to here it when he comes to Fenway. AROID
While I do think that his admission will lessen the backlash, it's not like he came out and admitted to using banned substances *on his own*, he's merely apologizing because he got caught!
He admiitted his drug use AFTER he denied it. What an idiot and a liar. He deserves any negativity or fall out that may come his way. Put that asterick next to his name and all the others who cheated. They should be banned from baseball forever.
Americans are utterly insane when it comes to steroid issue. No one was complaining about steroids when Sosa and McGwire "saved" baseball with their home run race in '98. Hell, it's not like any of the owners cared then either. They were perfectly happy to employee steroid users as long as they put people in seats and made them money.
But now all of a sudden we're all on our high horses wondering why guys in their 20's with constant media attention and exposure and some of the largest stress levels ever would ever think about maybe trying to enhance their performance a bit to try to be even better and maybe collect a little more of that $6 billion dollar pie that is MLB.
It's also a joke that we somehow consider only the '90s to be the steroid era. We've known about steroids since the '30s. There's been steroid doping in the Olympics since the '40s. There are reports of steroid doping in the 60's in football. If you believe there weren't players doping steroids in the 60's, 70's and 80's then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
You're right, Hob - we should just make steroid usage mandatory in Baseball. Then, at least it will be an even playing field again!
Funny.
But seriously. First we need to realize that just because a player used steroids or other PEDs doesn't make them a baby killer. Second, we need to realize that most of us as baseball fans were very much complicit in the steroid era. We didn't care about steroids then. We still went to games, bought the jerseys, watched games on TV.
The past was the past. We are all to blame. And I think that's part of the problem. We know we are all to blame, and that's why we take it out on the big stars, the A-Rod's, the Barry Bonds' so much. We are scapegoating them to relieve some of our own guilt.
Now that all said. We don't have to make the same mistakes in the present or future that we did in the past. We have testing now. We have penalties now. The Penalties are actually pretty decent in my mind, but I think we can improve the testing even more.
I'm giving my blanket forgiveness to any player who used PEDs in 2003 or prior. But any player caught using them today, well, they're dead to me.
IN no way was A-rod Honest here, When the storiods thing first broke he said he never used them and talked about how it whould be cheating the game if he did. Well Low and behold he did use them he did cheat the game and he lied. He should be lumped in with the worst of the worst Bonds, Clemens, Palmaro, Their all liers and cheats that tried to save them selves and it didn't work. If you want someone to look up to in this league Try Lance Berkman Of the Houston Astros whom is still pushing for tougher testing including blood test.
"Lo & Behold!" "They're" (they are, not their; possesive or there; over yonder). Your writing needs steroids! ... just kidding, but English should be clear, Kevin.
Good for Alex to finally admit what some people have supposed for years. I'll bet he plays better this year with that cloud of guilt removed from the back of his mind. Let him move forward. Barry Bonds needs to come clean also!
Of course he denied it back then. As it has been said here before, the baseball fan has a completely ridiculous double standard regarding steroid use. As long as we "dont know", it's ok, ie McGwire and Sosa '98. Once it became en vogue to discuss it, everyone was "shocked at how rampant the problem was." Puhleeze. Give me a break. It happened, put a disclaimer in the HOF regarding the "Steroid Era", and move on.
He's not sorry he took the drugs, he's sorry he was caught.
I couldn't agree more.
He can do no wrong in my book, great player and a true gentlmen. He and Manny Ramirez are the only reason I watch the game.
This "true gentleman" is the same guy who said he wanted to go to a winning team. It had nothing to do with the money, remember that? He has always been a liar. I agree that he is only sorry because he got caught.
Let's keep this in context of the rules in place at the time (2003) and the people involved. The reports that have come out include 103 players who have tested positive!!!! All of these people aren't named Bonds, McGwire, Sosa or Alex Rodriguez. It also means that there were 100 other players who were on roids who STILL couldn't come close to those marquee players' stats. If there were penalties in place in 2003 fr testing positive ARod should be punished. The problem is, Basebal had the most absurd drug policy imaginable: banned substances, but no punishments. Bud Selig gets paid $17MM/year, but he leaves the job of punishing steroid users to fans and the media???
Alex Rodriguez has at least not done us the dis-service of insulting our intelligence like Bonds and McGquire have, AND assuming he changes his ways, has a few years ahead of him, to show that his stats can still hold up. Bonds, McGwire et al. won't have that opportunity.
If the SI article had not named him, he'd still be denying steroid use, so his admission and apology are of limited value - better than continuing to lie, but the black cloud over him is there to stay. I can admire his skills while disliking his personality. I just wish he had had the integrity to stand up and make his admission in the beginning. If he and other users had done that, we'd perhaps be spared this never-ending whodunnit soap opera.
Divorce and drugs… This is very sad and I hope for him, his kids, and his family that he is able to turn it around… He has time, God, and all that is good in this country and the world going for him…
2 words: it's over.
(at least we don't have to go on a witch hunt.)
Hey Javier...you state that you only watch AROD & Manny......Question: What was your reaction to Manny when he runs to first base at one quarter speed? I suppose you still have telephone dial-up just like Bill & Evelyn Slowski (the turtles)......you just cannot stand anything that runs fast....just like Manny
I believe his reputation is ruined forever. The bigger question I have is why don't we ever hear anything about NFL players using steroids? You're very naive if you don't believe a 250 pound human can run the 40 yard dash in 4 seconds without some sort of performance enhancing substance.
It's funny how we sit here and criticize him for using steroids. Like everyone here posting has never done anything wrong?? The average Joe can take steroids does not mean he will be a great athlete! You had other MLB stars use hardcore Drugs ex. cocaine and let them continue on their career without this much hype! Great example to show our kids, Hey it's ok to snort coke just don't use steriods! There is way more important things in our country going on besides an athlete who used performance enhancers so he can get a bigger contract! Maybe our economy needs some steroids!!!
Why did Darryl Strawberry just come to mind... amongst a great many others.
I go to a ballgame to watch my team hit homeruns and win. If they use steroids to accomplish it then I really don't care and never have. They start getting limp wristed and have to resort to being walked in for runs then my money will start going elsewhere as well as I am sure many other payers will do the very same thing. Steroids gave baseball a new life and I don't give a damn who used it or who didn't. Makes no differance to me. But then again, I am no congress person that just lost my butt on a game bet neither so...
This guy A-Fraud is just that. How long would he have continued and deceive the young fans who looked up to him if he didn't get caught. I also wonder how many players did not make it to the majors because they were trying to make it legally by following the rules. Why not ask the pitchers he faced (during his MVP year), how they feel about A-Fraud now. I bet A-Fraud is not young and stupid when he is depositing his multi-million dollar check in the bank. What this guy has done along with the other idiots (Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro,etc.) is made a mockery of baseball and have justifiably placed a bad taste in our mouth for our national pastime which we loved at one time. Bring back Ernie Banks, Don Mattingly, Robin Yount, Dale Murphy, and players like that who played for the love of the game.