Reports out of New York say that baseball’s A-Rod is getting more ink in the big-city newspapers than the recession or President Obama.
I’m not surprised. It’s been “Media Gone Wild” since reports surfaced last week that Alex Rodriquez, who played high-school ball in Miami where he grew up, was linked to a positive test for steroid use in 2003.
The New York Yankees star third baseman is the youngest player to hit 500 home runs in baseball history and signed a 10-year $275 million contract in 2007 with a bonus clause worth $30 million more if he breaks the all-time home run mark of 762.
Oh, and he and his wife separated after the birth of their second daughter last year, and some reports link him romantically to Madonna.
Expect the floodgates on A-Rod talk to open up when he reports to spring training in Tampa tomorrow. Find me some cotton for my ears.
I’ve grown so tired of the A-Rod conversation that I’ve actually had to change the channel several times to something else besides MLB Home Plate or ESPN on my XM radio. I’m avoiding reading newspaper stories about it. I probably won’t read this column after I’ve finished it.
I am disgusted with the whole steroid-use debacle, but even worse in my view is the hypocrisy. Cheaters are never supposed to prosper.
But A-Rod signed a potential $300 million contract four years after baseball knew he had tested positive for use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. It is clear when you are talking about this kind of money in this kind of environment it is not just a kids’ game we’re talking about, but the message will be received very clearly by our kids.
Everyone who needed to know knew. A-Rod and 103 other yet-unnamed ball players tested positive in that 2003 test, and the fact that he's been cleran since only proves he didn't have to cheat to be very good.
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