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.

What Is The Point Of It All?

What does all of this tattle-telling do? What do we all get from this back and forth bickering nonsense?

Former players ratting out teammates, brothers dropping dimes on brothers. Trainers and confidants coming from out of the woodworks. And so I ask, where are we now?

Where are we after knowing all of this? How much different are our lives after the infamous Mitchell Report?

Players seem to take one of two paths. They either deny it and do so arrogantly (Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens) and are later found to be guilty. Or, they come clean, maybe cry, and are forgiven (Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte, Marion Jones etc.).

I, for one, am tired of the whole charade. I don't want Congress involved any longer (concentrate on the more important things) or ever again. I don't want to watch some ga-gillionaire get on TV and either cry for forgiveness or wag a finger in my face like I'm a jerk for even thinking he did steroids or HGH or whatever.

My view on the game is already tainted. As Jordan mentioned, McGwire had already been convicted in the court of public opinion. But, the honest truth is, we all have players in our own minds, Mitchell Listed or not, that we think did steroids. Personally, there's about 20 or 30 players that I wouldn't be surprised to hear about having done something.

And so I ask, where do we all stand? Baseball's popularity's at an all-time high, people are flocking out to games in record numbers, and, despite a recession, teams are still spending money. Hell, the Cubs are about to be bought for nearly a billion dollars.

Does finding out that a certain player did steroids make you not want to watch the game? It would bother me, sure, but I'm not just going to stop my love. So, I beg, let's stop this. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and this is one of those times.

A lot of these guys messed up, and there's no defending that or making it right. But, after a while, it's time to move on. Until there is some real action taken on these players (like strike some records from the books or ban someone from the Hall), I'll be content being kept in the dark.