Tag: Alex Rodriguez steroid story (Page 1 of 3)

      The media’s steroid double standard

      February 23, 2009 /

      The media circus arrived in Tampa on Tuesday, and the star attraction under the big top was Alex Rodriguez elaborating about his steroid usage. The talking heads on the evil four-letter network, ESPN, inundated us with up-to-the-minute updates on what to expect from Rodriguez’s press conference and showed countless sound bites from his contemporaries in baseball expressing their disappointment with his actions; SportsCenter became A-RodCenter.

      Then, after a 32-minute press conference, the commentators returned to voice their displeasure of A-Rod’s handling of the media’s questions. They screamed for more details on his merry trek through Latin America with his cousin Yuri in search of the banned substance “boli” (Primobolan). Their analysis of the latest chapter in baseball’s steroid scandal had feel of a good old-fashioned witchhunt.

      My reaction to the coverage: you are all hypocrites!

      It is generally accepted that there is a double standard in how the media covers baseball in comparison with other sports. Their intense scrutiny on baseball’s latest black eye will give everyone involved enough anguish and outrage to last a season. Yet a collective yawn will be drawn inside the press box when it is announced that a NFL player has tested positive for steroids. No, they would rather write or chat about the ramifications from San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary dropping his pants in front his team than investigate players using diuretics to mask their steroid usage in league-mandated drug tests.

      If you want to talk about steroids in the NFL, let’s begin with the 1970’s Pittsburgh Steelers. They won four Super Bowl titles and have a high rate of former players dying at a young age. Mike Webster, Steve Furness Courson (admitted steroid abuser), Dwight White, et cetera, all have died way too early in life. Add that their team doctor was implicated in buying over $150,000 worth of HGH from a Florida pharmacy that was raided by federal authorities last year. Yet, the media applauded them for doing whatever it took to become the most prolific dynasty in pro football.

      Nobody imagines that locker rooms are drug-free, but few would think that players on successful teams would risk their lives to reach their goal of being the best in their sport…but they do. Money, of course, trumps ideology and blinds people from making rational decisions while pursuing their goals. Cheaters shame the game, as they care more about lining their pockets and less about the integrity of the game they say they love.

      The media cannot pick and choose which stories to spotlight in their crusade to eradicate performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports. What A-Rod did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage that has been done to his name and image in the baseball. Journalists cannot full-court press their coverage on the latest greatest scandal in baseball while simply shrugging their shoulders to other known steroid abuse cases in other sports. It can’t just be business as usual in the NFL, where from Bill Belichick down to the lowly Detroit Lions, they would all cheat if it guaranteed them a victory on Sunday. I just wish that athletes would come clean about their use of performance-enhancing drugs and stop running from their past.

      MLB, NFL

      Rodriguez had relationship with banned, steroid-linked trainer

      February 20, 2009 /

      Alex Rodriguez’s claim about stopping the use of steroids after 2003 is already being shot full of holes.

      According to a report in the New York Daily News, A-Rod has had a long relationship with a man named Angel Presinal, a trainer who has been banned from private areas of every MLB ballpark for being linked to steroids. Apparently Presinal roomed with A-Rod’s now famous cousin, Yuri Sucart, at every hotel Rodriguez went to in 2007. The report also states that Presinal wasn’t around A-Rod in 2008, although Sucart “remained a constant presence.”

      In his press conference on Monday, A-Rod claimed that he and Sucart injected each other with steroids in the Dominican Republic from 2001 to 2003. While that might have been the case, the question now becomes: Where did Rodriguez and Sucart get the steroids? And if A-Rod claims he’s been off performance-enhancers since 2003, why would he continue a relationship with Presinal up until 2007? (Assuming the report is true, of course.)

      I’m naïve to how athletes go about things when they travel in-season, but I’d have to imagine that not even the best of friends are staying with players at every single hotel like Presinal did in 2007. Again, why did Rodriguez remain close with Presinal after his claimed use of steroids from 2001 to 2003? It’s hard to imagine that a steroid-linked trainer was staying at the same hotel as A-Rod just to fluff his pillows and make sure he had enough clean towels in the bathroom.

      If the Daily News report is true, then A-Rod is still lying and there’s a good chance that he took steroids while a member of the Yankees. And this BS that he took roids because he was “young and naïve” doesn’t hold water either (not that it ever did). You don’t seek the help of a steroid-linked trainer if you’re just trying stuff on a whim with your cousin in the DR. Rodriguez knew he wanted to take performance-enhancers, knew who could supply them and reached out to Presinal. It looks like Sucart was just A-Rod’s smokescreen for Presinal, but it didn’t take long for that story to unravel.

      Not that he will at this point, but A-Rod needs to stop taking everyone for a ride and admit the truth. He took steroids because he was making a lot of money, wanted to live up to the new contract and wanted to perform at an elite level. Sports are a performance-based world. Clearly Rodriguez wasn’t confident in his abilities (which is freaking unfathomable when you think about it) and sought the use of enhancers. That’s it. He did it to remain the best and so he could continue to make an absurd amount of money. He wasn’t naïve – he knew what he was doing the entire time. And with this report, there’s a great chance that someone will prove that he took steroids long past 2003.

      This report is only the smoking gun. More is sure to follow because the New York media has only started to dig into this story. A-Rod better hold onto his nuts because everything he’s ever said and done over the past six years is going to come out. Suspension is the last thing that he should be worried about right now.

      MLB

      A-Rod Pre-Steroid Training Tapes

      February 18, 2009 /

      Before making it to the big leagues as a star player for the Mariners, Rangers and Yankees, Alex Rodriguez showcased his raw talents for scouts in this pre-steroid training tape for Atom.com. The footage is shocking.

      A-Rod Pre-Steroid Training Tapes

      And people say that steroids don’t help baseball players that much. This footage should put an end to that debate.

      MLB, Video

      Johnny Damon: ‘A-Rod didn’t murder anyone’

      February 18, 2009 /

      Johnny Damon talked about the Alex Rodriguez steroid situation at a recent press conference and what came out of his mouth was, well, less than intelligent.

      Johnny DamonJohnny Damon speaks to the media today in Tampa following A-Rod’s presser: “Yeah he did some bad things. He took a steroid. Definitely do not condone that, at all, but there could be a lot worse things he could have been doing out there. He hasn’t done a crime. So there’s worse things that he could have done but you know I’ve known Alex since he was 15 and he’s always been super nice to me and so I’m going to support him and try help him through this time. (Reporter: Johnny, what would have been worse?) Murdering someone… There’s plenty of things that could be worse than what he did. (Reporter: In your mind, is what he did cheating?) For part time in his career, perhaps, but you know what, the pitchers that were facing him too at the time were doing it.”

      In essence, Damon is right – murdering someone is worse than taking steroids. But saying, “you know what, the pitchers that were facing him too at the same time were doing it” is a juvenile argument. Too bad one of the reporters didn’t follow up with, “Well, if Roy Halladay jumped off a bridge, would A-Rod have done it, too?”

      It’s comments like Damon’s that prove that these guys are going to brush off the fact that they ever did anything wrong. In the grand scheme of things, are steroids that big of a deal? Not really. Depending on what steroid the person uses, they do more personal harm (acne, increased aggression, anaphylactic shock, cancer, blood clotting, depression, etc.) than anything. Is someone taking steroids worse than someone murdering someone? Of course not. But the fact remains that these guys used something to gain an unfair advantage and taint the great game of baseball. That’s the problem, and players like Damon and A-Rod continue to miss that point.

      MLB

      A-Rod speaks, says he and cousin injected each other with over the counter substance

      February 17, 2009 /

      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.

      MLB

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