Ka-boom.The proverbial shit hits the fan tomorrow. Alex Rodriguez descends on Tampa and will no doubt spend the day throwing more dirt on his own unmarked grave. The reporters, journalists, and media folk will revel in the moment as they pick apart his already eviscerated remains. Get ready. It should be nothing less than horrific.
The last week or so of baseball news has been dominated by one thing and one thing only. Mr. Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez took steroids from 2001-2003. Gone in an instant was any remaining credibility A-Rod ever had. The prevailing thought has been more of a collection of emotions in all forms of media. Those emotions are little more than shock, outrage, and sanctimony.
I've been on mini-hiatus due to the frustration and contempt I have in regards to all forms of media and the way this story has been handled. The prevailing thought I'm left with is that it's nothing more than a sad commentary on the human condition and the modern world. That's a touch too deep for a baseball blog however, so I'll just leave you with my final thoughts in regard to the matter. There may or may not be one more post tomorrow, but after tomorrow, I will be on an A-Rod news blackout.
With that in mind here's my final say on the matter:
- Bud Selig is garbage. He's done more damage to the game than any other single entity. Why is a list of players who took illegal substances in 2003 still around in 2009? How long do you think it took Roger Goodell to destroy whatever he saw on those Spygate tapes? Why is something of that importance, something that's supposed to be a secret, just sitting in some lab in Arizona?
- And what does this say about court orders and the power of the press? I mean, if a court ordered a document sealed, how can someone publish second-hand information divulging the contents of said sealed document? How can they not reveal their sources to boot? I'm all for a free press, but what about privacy rights?
- Despite the fact that I pretty much expected this mess with A-Rod (he played with Pudge Rodriguez, Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmerio, and Juan Gonzalez in Texas and averaged 40 HRs a season as a SS), I'm still very naive. For some reason, I thought that 103 other players would hold press conferences and make announcements of their own. Their silence speaks so much louder than any single admission.
- The media's inability to uncover any of those other names is more pathetic and twice as sad. My thoughts above notwithstanding, it's their job to get the story. It's their job to get those names -- especially now that one is already out there. I give Selina Roberts as much credit as I can because she broke a big-time story and got it right the first time. In fact, she got A-Rod so good, he fabricated some bullshit to try and spin her as a stalker and a psycho (just more evidence to the fact that A-Rod is a tremendous baseball player and a tremendous douchebag), and has publically apologized for it. But where are the other guys? Buster Olney has no problem with taking A-Rod's shot at the Hall of Fame away from him, that's great, Buster, but there's 103 other guys who you need to scowl and look down your nose at. So save up some of that self-righteous indignation, you might need it.
- Everyone's complicit. Guys in the lockeroom either participated or turned it down. The manager's had to know what was going on in their clubhouses and what was going on with their players. GM's had to know what and who they were offering contracts to. Fans chanted at Canseco in the late 80's and Ken Caminiti dies in 2004. Why did it take 20 years for someone to notice and some names to come out?
- Why do we care? Seriously. Is it the numbers? Does 61 and 755 mean that much? They're just numbers. I don't get it. Shawne Merriman could break the single season sack record or the all-time sack record at any point of his career. Will anyone moan over the fact that he's been suspended for HGH?
- Why is disillusioning children still one of the worst things you can do? In the big morality play that is American life, for some reason, when you let some snot-nosed kid down you're worse than Hitler. I never got that.
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