At a press conference on Tuesday, Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez said in a prepared statement that from 2001 to 2003, he and a cousin used a substance available over the counter in the Dominican Republic and that it was known as “boli.”
“I didn’t think they were steroids,” he said. “That’s again part of being young and stupid. It was over the counter. It was pretty simple.”
“All these years I never thought I did anything wrong.”
He said he wasn’t sure how the drug use helped him, but admitted he had more energy.
Rodriguez said he has not used human growth hormone or any other banned drug since then. He refused to identify his cousin.
The three-time AL MVP and baseball’s highest-paid player spoke at the Yankees’ spring training camp 10 days after Sports Illustrated reported that he tested positive in 2003 for a pair of steroids during baseball’s anonymous survey in 2003. Two days after the story broke, Major League Baseball’s highest-paid player acknowledged that fact in an interview with ESPN.
For years, Rodriguez denied using performance-enhancing drugs. But SI reported he was on a list of 104 players who tested positive during baseball’s 2003 survey. SI identified the drugs causing the positive test as Primobolan and testosterone.
“We consulted no one and had no good reason to base that decision,” he said. “It was pretty evident that we didn’t know what we’re doing.”
Hey, A-Rod’s human – he makes mistakes just like everyone else. But I have a hard time fathoming that he injected something into his body that he believed was just an energy booster.
He’s a star athlete making millions of dollars, had a newborn baby on the way at the time and a wife. Forget the fact that he’s an athlete – as a man, shouldn’t he have gone to greater lengths to make sure that he wasn’t doing anything to harm himself or his family? It would be irresponsible if he or anyone else were out doing drugs with a child on the way and a family to take after. Considering he didn’t know what was going into his body, this situation is no different.
He hasn’t tried to hide from this situation and that’s commendable. He is taking his medicine and will continue to do so throughout the rest of his career. But to me, he still seems like he’s trying to snake out of this situation. He still seems like he’s trying to play the role of victim by writing this entire situation off by saying he was young, naïve and stupid.
Either way, as long as he’s not lying again, it’s over. He’s admitted his mistake and that’s more than Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero have done.
“You and I both know that the one [player] you’re asking about all the time, if I gave you the answer that you want to hear, then you would have already had it,” Jones said. “So the fact you don’t have it ought to tell you something.”
