So. Alex came out today and admitted he did steroids for all three years he was in Texas. He claims he hasn’t done any since then. There’s no positive tests to combat that since then. However, given he lied about doing them here in Texas, who knows what the real truth is?
I actually kind of buy into his logic that he felt he needed to live up to the contract. I remember there being an awful lot of talk in that direction when he first signed here. How he chose to try and live up to it.. Ever since he left Texas (09 will now be his sixth season since he wore a Texas uniform), I’ve always personally thought he held up his end of the bargain by delivering on the field. I’m not sure what I think now.
However, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. In looking around for a pic of A-Roid to use in this story, look what I found in the archives. I had forgotten about this – it should have been so obvious!
I think since he’s confessed his sins, people will give him a break. Hall of Fame, not sure initially, but I think eventually he’ll get in.
Like with Giambi, I have respect for people who admit their mistakes.
You said, “I actually kind of buy into his logic that he felt he needed to live up to the contract.”
I kinda don’t. Remember, he and his agent Boras worked up that 50-page prospectus after he completed his two 3-year contracts with the Mariners, pumping up his stats, what he could bring to his new team, his character, his All-American-ness, etc. etc.
They didn’t do that thinking he might fail at his next gig, no matter how much he was paid — and THAT was the whole point of the prospectus, to get as much as he could, for as long as he could (with all those perks and opt-out caveats).
Nah. It’s just another A-Rod Excuse.
Furthermore, thanks to the MLBPA’s abysmal screw-up in not destroying the results of the 2003 “sampling” (and thanks to the original stupid 104 players who didn’t think about the consequences of being tested with PEDs in their system), Alex Rodriguez MIGHT be subject to prosecution for committing a white-collar crime: possessing and using a Schedule III controlled drug without a legitimate prescription. So might all of the other players in that 2003 testing.
See, if all of them — the owners, the union, the players — had been honest to begin with and hadn’t bowed to the God of Greed, we wouldn’t be talking about this. That was the whole point of PEDs: players took them so that they’d awe owners and fans by impressive production to agree to 300% increases in salaries, and the union gave tacit approval because that’s one union mandate, more money for the players.