Let Me Give Them Their Props

I've been critical of ESPN in the past.  My complaint has always been that their coverage is too star driven and has too many biases, which questions their ability to be fair and balanced.

But here's the bottom line: star driven content sells.  If it didn't, they wouldn't discuss it so much.

Scott and I have been working on this blog for just over three months.  The most discussed posts on our blog almost always have to do with Alex Rodriguez or Terrell Owens.  I may criticize ESPN for over-publicizing every move that each of these stars makes, or having clear biases towards east coast teams or sexy story lines.

Yet it's these topics that get sports fans to talk.  And that's all the network can ask for.

They cover sports.  That's their job, sure.  But their job is also to entertain.   Apparently, A-Rod, T.O., Kobe, and LeBron are the topics that sports fans want to hear about most.  It's easy for us as sports fans to blame ESPN or other media for spending too much time on these topics.  Yet the fact remains that when they talk about it, we talk about it.  Consequently, if we talk about it, we're going to watch more coverage of it, and media like ESPN continue to flourish.  

So let me give ESPN their props.  Do I get annoyed with wall-to-wall coverage of T.O.?  Yep.  As sports fans we all get sick of it at some point.  But the Worldwide Leader knows what it's doing when it comes to topics to cover.

When you start to get annoyed again that you're hearing too much about these superstar players, ask yourself whether you've been discussing the same things recently.  The answer is probably yes.  And that's why you're hearing about it so much on ESPN.

30 Teams In 30 Days

New York Yankees: The Billion Dollar Bombers

(Over the next 30 days, BERNing on Sports will be previewing every team in the Majors, yes, even the Royals. Only one a day, every day, so try not to get too hooked)

Keeping It Real

The Yankees dumped a disgusting amount of money (recession or not) on three of the best free agent available this off-season. It came to a whopping 423.5 million. But, the reality is they actually trimmed payroll from last year (amazing as that sounds, it's true). Gone are heavy burdens like Jason Giambi (back to the Bay), Mike Mussina (retired), Bobby Abreu (allowed to avoid walls in Anaheim now), Carl Pavano (allowed to quit for another franchise), and Kyle Farnsworth (allowed to flex his muscles in purgatory...err, Kansas City). They added serious rotation depth, not just in A.J. Burnett and C.C. Sabathia, but also in the form of former ace, Chien-Ming Wang, who is healthy after missing most of last season with a freak ankle injury. Mark Teixeira may have seemed like a greedy pick up, but they needed him for a) his defense, and b) his bat (Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano aren't likely to get either younger or more consistent).

Alex Rodriguez Plays Baseball (among other things)

What can be said about this guy that hasn't been said? What more can he say or do wrong? Just a few days ago he said he wished he could play with Jose Reyes all the time. I guess Derek Jeter and Cano don't do it for ya? I can't say the steroids won't distract him, but, it won't be the first time (or last) he'll be bombarded with media coverage. My advice to Rodriguez? Take your time recovering from surgery, keep your mouth shut, and hit a home run or two when you come back.

And The Award For Most Time Spent On The DL Goes To...

With the types of players on the Yankees, the amount of money invested in them, and the history the Yankees have had with the DL, it's not a matter of who, but how often and how long. If I was running Vegas, the odds on favorite would be A.J. Burnett, and that's hard to argue with. But, to keep it interesting and because he's already starting the season on the DL, Alex Rodriguez has to make the list.

Running Proof the ROY Means Nothing

Just in case you hadn't noticed, Angel Berroa, AL ROY in 2003, is battling Cody Ransom (who at least can do this) for the back-up infielder spot. Apparently, striking out at a rate four times more frequently than walking is detrimental to your career success. Who'd have thought?

Bold Predictions

Robinson Cano will start (and finish) strong, bouncing back from a poor 2008. People have compared him to Rod Carew (easy with that) and while he's no where near that now, he'll finally have a complete season. I'll say a steady .295/20/95.

Phil Hughes in another attempt to distract people from the fact that his fastball tops out at 92 MPH, will try glasses again while pitching. When that doesn't work, he'll wear the same mask that Rip Hamilton wears.

Up Next...Friday, Atlanta Braves

Hump Day Headlines

In this week's Hump Day Headlines Manny Ramirez may finally be a Dodger, the scary story in the NFL gets worse, A-Rod's newest mess, and hockey's trade deadline comes just hours from now...

• A few days ago I suggested the notion that maybe Manny Ramirez's general apathy to the contract negotiations with the Dodgers might mean that in fact he does not wish to play baseball again. I guess now my theory is being tested. He's had a change of heart, maybe, as he's reportedly warming up to the idea of signing a 2-year, $45 million contract with L.A. These are the same terms he rejected on two occasions this offseason already. Yet, according to ESPNdeportes.com's Enrique Rojas, Man-Ram agreed to the general terms of the new deal. However, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark says there are still complications that haven't been solved yet, and Jerry Crasnick says the agreement in fact has not been reached. Either way, with all these reports starting to come out, you'd figure this mess will likely end soon. This would be good because as we have already mentioned here at BERNing, a) the Dodgers need him, b) he wants money from them, and c) once he signs, we won't have to hear about this anymore. The last reason is probably the best and most compelling reason for him to sign, but then again, what does he care what we the fans think?
• We know now that one of the men on the boat that went missing this past weekend carrying NFL players Corey Smith, Marquis Cooper, and two former University of South Florida football players was found, thankfully. But that's where the good news ends, unfortunately. Twenty-four-year-old Nick Schuyler was found, but the two NFLers and the other USF football player are still missing. Now the search for their missing boat has been stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard after inspecting 24,000 miles of ocean. Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close told reporters that he was sure the efforts of the search were more than sufficient, and the search would have found the men if they had survived. What a scary and difficult story to read. It's not like these men were out to cause trouble, like so many others in the NFL. Instead, what started as a fishing trip for four buddies turned into a tragic ending. Remind me never to take a fishing boat into the Gulf of Mexico.
• If the 24/7 coverage of Alex Rodriguez's lies and admissions about his use of performance enhancing drugs wasn't enough for you, or his inexplicable decision to represent the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic instead of the United States, where he was born and raised, now there's this: he has a cyst in his hip, and he's going to visit a doctor in Colorado today. Whether this affects his status for the WBC? That question remains unanswered. Yankees GM Brian Cashman had this to say about his embattled slugger's newest problem: "Alex has proven his durability throughout his career, and we will take every precaution and step necessary to ensure his health as we near the start of the 2009 regular season and beyond." No kidding. What a time to get hurt. There's no shortage of news when it comes this guy. I wonder if this will be a nagging injury that keeps him on the bench during any of the regular season. That would only create more fodder for the New York media. As if they need any help getting a story.
• The NHL trading deadline comes at 3 p.m. eastern time today, and some big names could potential be dealt. So, puckheads, beware. Rumor has it Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger could be headed to Boston in a deal. There are also rumors he could end up in Chicago. Basically, if by dinner time Pronger is still an Anaheim Duck, it would be surprising. Scott Niedermayer could be heading out of Anaheim, and Tomas Kaberle could be on his way out of Toronto. All-Star Panther Jay Bouwmeester could be leaving Florida, and so could Coyote defenseman Derek Morris. Over the last three years, there have been twenty-five deadline deals made. So unlike the baseball trade deadline that is often much ado about nothing, hockey fans might be seeing a lot of wheeling and dealing before the middle of this afternoon. Other names I've read could be traded: Islanders captain Bill Guerin, Coyotes forward Olli Jokinen, Wild forward Marian Gaborik, even though he's hurt, Edmonton's Erik Cole (who I've heard could also be traded to Boston), the Penguins Jordan Staal, the Blues Keith Tkachuk, and the Av's Ryan Smyth. There are others too, countless others that I have read could be traded. So for hockey fans, and those of us who are new hockey fans like me, it should be an intriguing day if any of these big named players get moved. If not, it's another ho-hum day as we get ready for March Madness to start already.

A-Rod Homers Today in First Spring Training Game

Granted, it's spring training.  But there was no booing in this at-bat.  And so much for those who believe A-Rod will buckle under the pressure.  Sure, one game, one at-bat.  But here's a little statement from the man who has been the subject of every baseball conversation over the last few weeks...

Hey, you'd have to figure that was a clean homer.

Nate Silver From Baseball Prospectus: A-Rod Not a Lock to Become HR King

Sometimes Baseball Prospectus is a little much for me with their complicated statistical analyses, but if anything they definitely provide food for thought for diamond dorks like me.

In Silver's latest work for BP, he argues that while it seems like a foregone conclusion for most that Alex Rodriguez will break baseball all-time home run record, some indicators would argue it's not.

Silver's reasoning against A-Rod hitting the final 210 home runs to pass Barry Bonds is as follows:  (and FYI, at Rodriguez's current pace, he'd break the all-time home run record at the tail end of the 2013 season)

1. According to the aging curve, which evaluates players statistics based on age, the biggest point of decline comes between ages 32 and 34.  A-Rod turns 33 this season.  And consider these numbers he points out:  In 2007, A-Rod hit 30 dingers in the first half of the season, and just 24 in the second half.  Last year, he hit 19 homers in the first half and just 16 after the break.  Those numbers would coincide with the statistical analysis, and could suggest he'll continue to decline.  Silver does point out, however, "that could be just a fluke."
2. A-Rod has never suffered a significant injury, that is, until last season when he missed 24 games.  He hadn't missed that many games in a season in 10 seasons, as his last significant sidelining came in 1999.  Silver points out that players who have taken steroids are more prone to injuries, and when a player reaches his mid-30s "injury problems sometimes can be compounding".
3. Based on a statistical analysis called PECOTA, which "stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm, projects player performance based on comparison with thousands of historical player-seasons, analyzes similarities with past player-seasons based not only on rate statistics, but also height, weight, age and many other factors", according to BP's website, A-Rod will significantly decline from here on out.  Silver argues that based on the 20 most comparable players to A-Rod, and this statistical analysis, A-Rod will hit 730 home runs if he retires in 2019.  He'll hit 33 home runs next year, 30 the year after, and then decline incrementally year after year until he hits one measly dinger in 2019 to finish 32 home runs behind Barry Bonds.

On the other hand, Silver acknowledges there are other factors indicating A-Rod does have a great shot to break Bonds' record:  He's a great athlete, he will earn $30 million in bonuses for every player he passes in pursuit of the record, and based on stats, players who start their careers in a flourish tend to finish them the same way.  So the fan perception that breaking the record is a formality may actually become a reality.

Pretty interesting huh?  Check out the entire article here.

Much Ado About Nothing: The Yankee Years

The buzz, in early February, was all over Joe Torre's new book.  Co-written (read:  written) by Tom Verducci, the book was talked about all over the place, with leaks from different sections of the book securing its description as a "tell-all".

Torre found himself discussing the book just about everywhere.  Sirius Radio, WFAN in New York, ESPN.  Even on Larry King Live.

Every few days leading up to the February 3rd release of the book, new leaks would come out.

Teammates called Alex Rodriguez A-Fraud, Johnny Damon may not have been as good of a teammate as people think, problems with Kevin Brown and Carl Pavano.

It seemed to have all the markings of a juicy, insider's look at one of the most popular franchises during one of its most successful runs in team history.  I was excited. 

Then, I read it.

After over 470 pages, I was left feeling like I'd just seen any Eddie Murphy movie that has come out in the past 15 years.  The previews look great, you think you've got a winner, and once you're leaving the theater, you realize you've seen all the good parts in the preview, and the movie was otherwise lacking.

Not much difference here.

Verducci takes the reader through the 12 "yankee years" of Joe Torre, an interesting look (albeit protracted) at the changes that took place not only in the Yankee clubhouse but also throughout baseball.  Interesting, but not revealing.  Anyone following baseball or having read Moneyball at some point is at least vaguely familiar with the newfound obsession by baseball executives with statistical analysis, niche finding, and market exploitation to compete with the high spenders of the major leagues.  

This is where the book finds its demise.  As a concept, the "changes in baseball" idea isn't that original.  It's been done, several times over.  Not to mention that unless you were a Yankees fan, you wouldn't really care too much about what was going on inside their clubhouse at the time.  But, if you were a Yankee fan, the things you were reading about were pretty much common knowledge.

For instance, no one actually told me that players resented Kyle Farnsworth, Kevin Brown, and Carl Pavano.  But, I think I could've figured that one out of my own.  Did I know for a fact that Randy Johnson's struggles were linked to the pressures of NYC?  No, but pushing away a camera guy on his first day pretty much told me all I needed to know at the time.

There were some interesting stories, though.  One that sticks with me found George Steinbrenner walking through the clubhouse during spring training some years back.  Allen Watson, a mediocre middle reliever for the Yankees, was horsing around and tossed a bagel at a clubhouse attendant.  The errant throw hit Steinbrenner, who demanded to know who had perpetrated the crime.  Watson sheepishly admitted it was him, to which The Boss said, "I thought it was you, Watson, that's why it didn't hurt."

General overview:  Torre felt betrayed by the way the Yankees handled his final few years, the Yankees relied too much on statistics and big free agent signings post 2000, and made a ton of free agent pitching mistakes (not the least of which was Kei Igawa, who bullpen catcher Mike Borzello goes on record as saying he knew was terrible after catching only one session with him in his first February with the team).

Not too shocking.

A Little of This, A Little of That

None of this deserves its own full posting, so I present a smattering (smorgasbord, even?) of some sports related information.

• Amar'e Stoudemire will miss the next 8 to 12 weeks after surgery on his eye.  Talk about coming completely out of no where.  Apparently, Stoudemire got poked in the eye in the 1st quarter of the most recent Suns/Clippers "game".  Then, he proceeded to continue playing, lowering his drawers on the Clippers, and deucing the Donald Sterlings for 42 points.  Imagine how good he'll be against the Clip Crew once he's fully recovered from his superhero eye surgery.
• A semi-pro basketball team in New Jersey, the New Jersey Express, scored 171 points in a regulation game this past Sunday.  The Express, a part of the ABA (yes, it still exists), didn't set any records with that score though.  That belongs to the Detroit Pistons who scored 186 in a 3 OT game over the Nuggets (who pathetically could only muster 183).  In related ABA news, there is a team in the Express' division that is called the New York City Internationalz.  Not a typo.
• The trading deadline in the NBA passed without any real activity of note, besides the Bulls/Kings deal the day before.  Michael Ruffin does get his first crack at life in the Northwest Division, so that's exciting.
• And finally, Alex Rodriguez has announced that nothing he said about steroids was true because it was, in fact, opposite day on the days he met with the media.  But, if it was opposite day, and he's telling us now, does that mean it wasn't not opposite day then?  More lies from A-Rod...

Please click on "opposite" for a laugh and "day" for a history.

A-Rod Does Exclusive Interview with Conan O'Brien

Enjoy.

Enough Is Enough

Alex Rodriguez must think we're all idiots. He must think that no matter what he says, we'll believe it because he's A-Rod. He must think that after all that he's gotten away with prior to a couple weeks ago, he can continue to get away with telling lies and we'll just give him another chance.

Maybe we, the media and the public, put blinders on in 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa vaulted their way into baseball's record books on steroids. We only learned later that the reason for their enormous body masses as they blasted baseballs out of the park at prolific rates was due to a series of steroid injections that gave them bodies that resembled The Incredible Hulk.

Maybe we, the media and the public, put blinders on while A-Rod was putting up marvelous numbers year after year because we didn't want to believe that the anti-Bonds was cheating us too.

Not anymore.

It appears A-Rod's press conference Tuesday was filled with more lies. His Cousin Vinny, err, Yuri Sucart, apparently couldn't have provided primobolan to the slugger legally, or over the counter, because the drug could not be acquired legally between 2001-2003 in the Dominican Republic. (It cannot be legally acquired there today either.)

It also appears the only way to obtain primobolan is by finding an underground dealer or through the Internet.

So when A-Roid tried to appeal to the sympathetic by saying he didn't know he was doing anything wrong because he got the drug over the counter in La Republica Dominicana, as they call it there, he lied again.

He also may have lied again, about the time period of his steroid use. The New York Daily News reported today that Rodriguez has had a long standing relationship with a trainer who was banned from baseball in 2001 due to his ties to steroids. The trainer, Angel Presinal, apparently followed the slugger the entire 2007 season with the Yankees. And according to the report, he even stayed in A-Roid's hotel room on the road.

Furthermore, cousin Yuri was apparently Rodriguez driver all of the 2008 season. If he's the guy that was providing A-Rod steroids, as the slugger himself claims, wouldn't it be hard to believe that Alex didn't receive a thing from Yuri last season? Sure, maybe he hasn't tested positive recently, but everyone knows these guys are always one step ahead of the testing.

Stop lying to us, A-Roid. You're teetering on Mark McGwire territory at this point. Everything you've tried to do to help your image has been nixed by your continuous lies. It's ridiculous.

Enough is enough.

A-Rod Addresses Steroids, A-gain

Pardoning the titular pun, nothing new happened today when Alex Rodriguez met with the media down in Tampa.

The beleaguered slugger sat down, read a prepared statement in front of seemingly every news media outlet on the planet, and then answered questions for about a half an hour.

In a bit of arrogance that seems to represent the entire "we can do whatever we want" attitude that surrounds the steroids cloud over baseball, Rodriguez didn't show up to the presser until around 2:00, about a half hour after he was scheduled to be there.  Why?  Yankee spokesman Jason Zillo said it was because A-Rod was going through his required physical, something each player has to take upon arriving in camp.  Somehow they couldn't have planned for that to be a bit earlier.

As to the meat of what was said, there were some new revelations.  Apparently, he knew what he was taking, a substance known as Boli.  He and his anonymous cousin took the drug, which was available over the counter in the Domincan Republic, twice a month for 6 months for three years.  He continues to insist he didn't know much about it, doesn't know what effect (if any) it had, and that he didn't tell anyone about it despite not thinking he was doing anything wrong.  He denied any use of HGH or amphetamines, though did come clean to using Rip Fuel, a now illegal but once over the counter substance used for energy.

The question that seems to be floating around the SportsCenters and radio shows is, "How much did this apology do?"  Did A-Rod's newest admissions do enough to convince people, or at least get them back on the path to being on his side?

Simply, the answer is no.  He'll never be able to do enough.  It's certainly curious that he didn't know much about this drug, continually injecting it without knowing whether or not it was having an effect.  It's certainly curious that he didn't tell anyone what he was doing, though he didn't think anything was wrong.  It's certainly curious that each time he talks, something new is revealed.

But, when it's all said and done, chewed up and reviewed, analyzed and spit out, there won't be enough that he can do.  He's been urine tested many times since, he's been blood tested (and will be again next week for the WBC), and that won't be enough.  People will some how find a way to crack holes in these proofs.  

Not that you can blame them though.  When someone gets caught in a lie, it's hard to believe them from then out.  Now, Alex Rodriguez is no different than the boy who cried wolf.  

A Good Move?

The Sports Illustrated reporter who broke the story about Alex Rodriguez's steroid use is coming out with a book. But now, it's coming out a month earlier than originally planned.

Selena Roberts, who has done countless radio and television interviews over the last week, has written a book about Alex Rodriguez entitled "A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez". It was supposed to hit bookstands May 19th. But with all the publicity the A-Rod saga has received in the last seven days, the book will now be out April 14th.

Is this the best idea?

On one hand, with all the scrutiny and attention surrounding Rodriguez and the other players who have admitted or may later be outed for steroid use, there's no better time than now to capitalize on the American public's thurst for more information on the subject. The profit margin for a book of this subject figures to be high.

But to me, the decision to move up the release date comes off as a selfish way to take advantage of the situation by the journalist.

It is unknown whether the choice to release the book a month early was made by Roberts or by publisher Harper Collins. But it shouldn't be so obvious now that she's brought an impactful and highy controversial story to the forefront of the American conscience, she's hoping to make a few bucks off it too.

It's her right to author a book on the subject, and it figures to be an interesting read. So she was going to make some money off it anyway. And it's not like had the book kept its original release date in May that it wouldn't have a similar impact in terms of publicity and potential profit for Roberts.

Still, the decision to move the release date up just seems self serving to me. It brings into question the ethics of whether Roberts obligation to report the news was outweighed by her quest to break a story for personal gain. Now that she's focused the American public on her story, she's capitalizing on a window of opportunity to get all the rest of the A-Rod crazed public to buy her book.

What do you think? As Scott would say, get at us.

Bud Should Shut Up

I know that right about now everyone wants to hear from Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig.

Everyone wants to hear what he has to say for himself following the snowball of bad news that has hit the press over the last week. A-Rod is outed for steroid use. A-Rod apologizes for said steroid use. Miguel Tejada lied to Congress. And as Scott pointed out, what a weird story about Roberto Alomar.

But as far as the A-Roid saga goes, Bud's best move would be not to say a thing.

The Commissioner turned a blind eye to a growing epidemic in baseball over the last ten years. It would be naive to think the commissioner's office had no idea that so many players in their game were taking steroids until the press found out. In fact, it appears that members of his governing body (a.k.a Gene Orza) were complicit in helping players pass drug tests to cover up the mess. And, until Congress became involved, baseball didn't have a drug-testing policy that banned many of the substances these players took until 2005.

So when Selig comes out today to point the finger at A-Rod, maybe Selig should point the finger at himself instead.

“What Alex did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage he has done to his name and reputation,” Selig said Thursday in response to A-Roid's admission. “While Alex deserves credit for publicly confronting the issue, there is no valid excuse for using such substances, and those who use them have shamed the game,” Selig said.

It's not that what Selig actually said isn't something anyone would agree upon. Obviously A-Roid made a bad choice and shamed baseball by cheating it and lying about it. His apology was a necessary move, whether it was completely sincere or not.

But Selig is probably the last person that should be damning anyone right now, considering the crimes of which he's guilty. How can he look at himself in the mirror with all the scandal that has gone on during his reign?

Listen, there are a lot of Selig haters out there, but I have always been one to defend him. He has done a lot of good for the game of baseball, by adding the wild-card (which, might I add, was highly criticized when implemented), globalizing the game with events like the World Baseball Classic, and improving products like the All-Star game. Revenues are up, they're higher than they've ever been, and attendance figures soar in baseball year after year.

But the steroid era was under his watch. So while he has done plenty of good, the bad has been just as plentiful. And for this, there is no defense for Allan.

It's easy for Selig to sit on his commissioner's high horse and condemn A-Roid for screwing up. Sure, A-Rod deserves the criticism he's received and the criticism he's bound to get for the rest of his career. But he's just one of many there is to blame for the mess over the last ten years that has been the steroid era.

Selig is just as guilty, as far as I'm concerned. That's why Bud should just shut up.

The Bigger Problem

I can't help but look at this whole situation with Alex Rodriguez and think, maybe it's not his fault.  Maybe, it's ours.  

Not for doing steroids.  No, that's certainly his fault.  Not for the "pressure" to do steroids, because I don't buy any of that garbage.  No one had a gun to his head, he decided to ruin his legacy, not us. 

What I mean to say is, maybe it's our fault for even taking him (and other celebrities and athletes, for that matter) so seriously.  What makes Alex Rodriguez a role model?  The fact that he can hit a baseball a long way, the fact that he can range to his left and has a cannon for an arm?  I understand how society is set up, and that as a guy in the public eye, making as much money as he does, there are expectations people like he and Michael Phelps need to live up to.  But, maybe that's the problem.

We seem to be constantly in shock and surprise when our favorite athletes and musicians and actors/actresses get caught for doing the wrong things.  Whether it's domestic abuse, or cheating in the sport they play in, or drug possession, or saying racist things, these guys aren't perfect.  In fact, they're just like us.  Some of them are good guys, some aren't.  Some you'd be friends with, others you'd never want to even talk to.  So why, because they play basketball or can rap or play a guitar should that elevate them so?

I happen to be a fairly fortunate sports fan.  Growing up, my favorite player was David Robinson, whose only crime was that he was a bit too religious early on in his career.  Following Robinson, I idolized Tim Duncan and Warrick Dunn and Derek Jeter, all players that have (thus far, fingers crossed) stayed far away from negative press and quite in the positive realm.  That's just one person's experience.

Yet, there has to be at least one Albert Belle fan out there.  One Vince Coleman fan.  One Rae Carruth fan.  One Notorious B.I.G. fan (guilty).  Point is, we've all liked celebrities that we may not have liked personally.

But, that's OK and that's how it should be.  What we pay to see is what they do in between the lines, on the CDs, in the movies.  That should be it.

Don't you think it's a bit odd that even President Obama commented about A-Rod?  Or that the government seems to be knee deep in this whole investigation?  Shouldn't we have more pressing issues to concern ourselves with (ahem, government)?

In no way am I excusing A-Rod of what he did.  It bothers me to no end, as a Yankee fan and as an idealistic fan of baseball.  But, if I stopped rooting for players or musicians based on what they did in their personal lives, I'd really be at a loss.  I couldn't listen to any Kanye West songs, three quarters of the NFL and NBA I'd have to ignore.  It would be awful. 

Would it be great if every player was like Tim Duncan (OK, more exciting than TD, but you get the point)?  Sure.  But, that ain't the way it goes.  

Some are jerks, some are not.  If anything, this whole episode should prove that we need to stop putting these athletes and stars on such pedestals.  All they seem to do is let us down.  

A Fraud He Truly Is

After making his initial apology, in the two minute snipit of his long exclusive interview on ESPN with Peter Gammons, Alex Rodriguez screwed up. Again.

In the full interview that aired on the 6 p.m. Eastern SportsCenter, A-Rod proved that he doesn't understand what this interview was supposed to be.

This interview was supposed to be the only way A-Rod could save face. It was supposed to be the interview in which A-Rod came out on top. It was supposed to be his saving grace from the public humiliation he would have faced had he lied about steroid use again.

Instead, while he did admit and apologize for steroid use, and may have won over a few fans, he also made some comments that didn't convince me for a second he was telling the truth.

If only Tim Roth's character in FOX's new drama Lie To Me, Cal Lightman, could analyze the tape on this week's episode. He'd probably find lies all over A-Rod's face.

First, he had to attack Selena Roberts, the SI.com journalist that broke this bombshell of a report on Saturday morning. He accused her of stalking him, tresspassing his property and trying to break into his house while his children were sleeping. Sports Illustrated commented during a break in the interview on SportsCenter calling the allegations absurd and untrue. It turns out that that there was an incident with Miami police, where Roberts tried to gain access to Rodriguez's gated community in Miami, although she apparently never entered his property. It also appears that this incident was minimal.

Furthermore, when asked about his nickname "A-Fraud" in Joe Torre's new book The Yankee Years and whether he heard the name in the clubhouse, he first said "never". Then he admitted just minutes later than in fact he had heard it and that the team jokes around with him about it all the time.

Granted, whether or not he was called A-Fraud isn't that big of a deal. But if that's not enough, he said he had never heard the names of the drugs he took. Does that sound believable to you? A guy so conscious of his own image, a guy who cares what everyone thinks of him wouldn't know what drugs he was taking? Over a span of three seasons?

And finally, he claims that when Union Head Gene Orza told him that he may or may not have tested positive for steroids in 2004, he took the comment at face value and never questioned whether he tested positive or not. Come on. That's ridiculous.

A-Rod would have been much better off just apologizing and being done with it. But instead, he had to make many evasive and potentially false statements and attacked a journalist with accusations that appear untrue.

A-Fraud, he truly is.

Baseball Is Fine, Steroids or Not

Of all the talk over the past 48 hours about A-Roid and his positive steroid test in 2003, there's one thing that I just don't understand: this notion that somehow this news will deter people from watching baseball or that the steroid era will cause people to stop following baseball.

That's never going to happen. People will continue to watch baseball, just as they always have.

The steroid problem in baseball is bad. There's no question of that. And there's no question that this most recent era of baseball has had more villains than heroes. But baseball will survive, just like every sport survives scandal and scrutiny. People love sports, and they're not going to stop watching them just because controversy and scandal surrounds it.

Think about all the problems in sports just over the last few years. An NBA referee was caught fixing games for the betting line. Ron Artest jumped into the crowd in Detroit and brawled with fans. Countless NFL players have been arrested on criminal charges. One of the game's biggest stars in Michael Vick, went to jail for criminal dogfighting. Somehow basketball and football have survived.

And in the past: college basketball survived a point shaving scandal. Baseball has survived many players corking bats, applying too much pine tar to bats and hats, and most importantly, Pete Rose's admission that he bet on the game. Football has survived having players at the scene of murder and actually committing murder (Rae Carruth). And hockey, basketball, and baseball have all had lockouts over the last twenty years that have either shortened or cancelled full seasons. All these leagues, of course, have survived.

So let's all stop claiming that somehow baseball will lose fans due to the steroid scandal over the last ten years. The only "fans" the game will lose are people that aren't truly baseball fans to begin with.

Sports have survived many difficult scandals and many PR nightmares as bad or worse than this. The integrity of every sport has been question at some point or another, but fans continue to watch the games and enjoy them with the same passion despite the games' pitfalls.

Sports fans love the games they love because they are live entertainment that helps us escape our everyday lives. As long as they continue to serve as just that, no matter what the problem, we'll all keep coming back.

No matter who else gets named for taking steroids over the last few years in baseball, whether the names are as big as A-Roid's or not, we'll all be back on opening day, loving every minute of it. Baseball is fine, steroids or not.

Canseco Smelling Like a Rose

Who would have thought that Jose Canseco was actually right all along?

Apparently, that's the case.

When he came out pointing fingers at all the players in an attempt to clean up the game, everyone tried to discredit him. To be fair, it's not like they didn't have good reason. Canseco himself cheated the game by taking steroids. He has been arrested four times, most recently in October. He's not a model citizen.

But everything he keeps saying about who was and wasn't on steroids continues to be accurate.
In his book "Juiced" he named Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez. All of them except Pudge were named either in the Mitchell Report, and just take a look at a picture of Pudge in 2003 and now, and you tell me whether he was on steroids or not.

Good work, Mr. Canseco.

In his newer book "Vindicated" Canseco fingers A-Roid and Albert Belle, among others. Correct again.

Maybe we should have taken Canseco more seriously when he started making these allegations. Turns out all of his "allegations" were actually facts. Granted, the guy is a boob of a human being, but he's actually done a tremendous amount of good for baseball. He's been the one that despite a ton of public criticism has done a tremendous amount of legwork that Major League Baseball would have never done to clean up a game ridden with a drug problem.

So after all this, who would have thought it would be Canseco who comes up smelling like a rose?

A-Roid: Another Colossal Black Eye For Baseball

Alex Rodriguez was on steroids, according to a report on SI.com.  This is the worst possible news for baseball, considering what A-Rod means to the game.

He was supposed to be the one to cleanly break Barry Bonds home run record.  He was supposed to be the one to go down in the record books as maybe the greatest player to ever live.  He was supposed to be the man that, despite the ridiculous flack he had taken up to this point, that people would remember for generations as the modern day Babe Ruth.

Not anymore.  This news is disastrous for baseball.  Just completely and utterly disastrous.

What does baseball do now?  The suspicions were there despite the Mitchell Report that other major names skated through cleanly.  Now that A-Roid has been fingered, who's next?  This black cloud will follow every player in baseball around when pitchers and catchers report next week.

And, what will A-Roid say to the media?  How will he spin this one?  Will he deny it?  Will he apologize?  He denied this in the past in an interview with Katie Couric on CBS:

What a colossal disaster for baseball.