Spring Break
Opinion: A-Rod tries to explain
Bob Klapisch, The Record
Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: News
TAMPA, Fla. -- So here's the indictment that Alex Rodriguez dodged during his 33-minute stroll down Spin Control Lane, where follow-up questions were conveniently banned:
Why are you so afraid of the truth ? the un-lawyered, bedrock account of your life with steroids?
Why not say what was really on your mind between 2001-2003: that you knowingly took steroids because, like hundreds of other players in the era, you believed it would help your performance?
A-Rod could've set himself free from his jail cell of lies, spins and alibis.
It could've been so easy, not to mention liberating. Instead, he chose yet another set of absurd explanations for his positive steroid test in 2003.
After telling ESPN last week that he juiced because of the "loosey-goosey" nature of steroid-use in the Rangers' clubhouse, A-Rod now says it was an unnamed (and untraceable) cousin from the Dominican Republic who brought him to the dark side.
Rodriguez said he experimented for three years, injected himself as many as 36 times, yet never knew exactly what was being pumped into his system. A world-class athlete, having just signed a $252 million contract, taking risks with a substance that was imported from another country that, for all he knew, could've been poison.
And we're supposed to believe that? Really?
A-Rod, clearly stumped, finally admitted, "I knew it wasn't Tic Tacs." But he went no further in this confession; in fact, he never used the word "steroids" in his 33-minute news conference. Instead, Rodriguez repeatedly swept all his transgressions under the same tent: He was young and naive.
That might be good enough for his teammates, who are sick of this fiasco, and for his sycophants. But more discerning listeners would've found two more problems with A-Rod's mea culpa:
First, he already was 25 when he'd arrived in Texas ? hardly a newcomer by industry standards. And he was hardly innocent, either. In fact, Rodriguez was aware enough of his nasty little habit, syringes and all, to keep it a secret from his fellow Rangers.
Why are you so afraid of the truth ? the un-lawyered, bedrock account of your life with steroids?
Why not say what was really on your mind between 2001-2003: that you knowingly took steroids because, like hundreds of other players in the era, you believed it would help your performance?
A-Rod could've set himself free from his jail cell of lies, spins and alibis.
It could've been so easy, not to mention liberating. Instead, he chose yet another set of absurd explanations for his positive steroid test in 2003.
After telling ESPN last week that he juiced because of the "loosey-goosey" nature of steroid-use in the Rangers' clubhouse, A-Rod now says it was an unnamed (and untraceable) cousin from the Dominican Republic who brought him to the dark side.
Rodriguez said he experimented for three years, injected himself as many as 36 times, yet never knew exactly what was being pumped into his system. A world-class athlete, having just signed a $252 million contract, taking risks with a substance that was imported from another country that, for all he knew, could've been poison.
And we're supposed to believe that? Really?
A-Rod, clearly stumped, finally admitted, "I knew it wasn't Tic Tacs." But he went no further in this confession; in fact, he never used the word "steroids" in his 33-minute news conference. Instead, Rodriguez repeatedly swept all his transgressions under the same tent: He was young and naive.
That might be good enough for his teammates, who are sick of this fiasco, and for his sycophants. But more discerning listeners would've found two more problems with A-Rod's mea culpa:
First, he already was 25 when he'd arrived in Texas ? hardly a newcomer by industry standards. And he was hardly innocent, either. In fact, Rodriguez was aware enough of his nasty little habit, syringes and all, to keep it a secret from his fellow Rangers.
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