The world of Major League Baseball reacted with shock and indignation (again) last weekend after Sports Illustrated outed Alex Rodriguez as one of 104 players who tested positive for steroids in 2003. Rodriguez of course is the New York Yankees’ third baseman, the highest-paid player in baseball (having signed a new 10-year contract just a year ago for $275 million) and Madonna’s erstwhile boytoy.
No doubt this reaction stemmed from the fact that Rodriguez was always so adamant in his denials about taking steroids. Not to mention that, unlike Barry Bonds, he does not look like a juiced up freak; except that Rafael Palmiero exposed this deception when he was outed as a “roider” years ago….
At any rate, here’s how Rodriguez lied about taking steroids in a 2007 interview with Katie Couric – as special correspondent for 60 Minutes:
Couric: For the record, have you ever used steroids, Human Growth Hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?
Rodriguez: No.
Couric: Have you ever been tempted to use any of those things?
Rodriguez: No.
Couric: You never felt like ‘This guy’s doing it, maybe I should look into this too? He’s getting better numbers, playing better ball … ”
Rodriguez: I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I’ve always been in a very strong, dominant position and I felt that if I did my work — since I’ve done since I’ve been a rookie back in Seattle (with the Mariners) — I didn’t have a problem competing at any level. So … no.
Couric: What’s your reaction to this investigation (the Mitchell Report)?
Rodriguez: Katie, you’re putting me in a tough spot. These are guys that I’ve played with. They’re my teammates, friends … if anything comes of this, it would be extremely disappointing. And it would be a huge black eye on the game of baseball.
Couric: It sounds like this (steroid use in baseball) is rampant. According to the Mitchell Report, every single club has a player using banned substances. Did you ever witness, or hear about or even suspect that this was going on?
Rodriguez: You hear a lot of things. I mean, I came in the game in 1993 and you heard whispers about the 80s and 90s. But I never saw anything, I never had raw evidence and quite frankly I was probably a little too naive when I first came up to understand the magnitude of all of this.
But before you jump on the bandwagon of those now condemning “A-Roid” to the rogue’s gallery of superstar cheaters, including Mark McGwire, now fated to be excluded from the Baseball Hall of Fame, consider this:
Steroid use has flourished in baseball and other professional sports pursuant to an open conspiracy amongst players and team owners to feed the gladiatorial lust of fans who want to see stronger, faster athletic cyborgs perform for their atavistic enjoyment. And, of course, the more fans revel in their steroid-fuel feats of athleticism, the bigger the players’ contracts (and even bigger the owners’ bottom line).
[Baseball’ MVP … is a steroids junkie, duh! TIJ, March 8, 2006]
Therefore, given that virtually every player of note (in the “steroid era”) has probably taken steroids, all of the talk about putting asterisks next to Rodriguez’s records and accomplishments would require the same to be done with every big name in the game.
So Rodriguez is a liar and a cheat…. But, given the public scandal he’s made of his personal life (hitting on as many blondes off the field as baseballs on it), nobody needed Sports Illustrated to out him as a steroid abuser to confirm this fact….
At any rate, let’s hope this “revelation” puts a final nail in the coffin of lies about the routine use of steroids in professional sports. More important, I hope it compels lawmakers to reconsider informed entreaties to decriminalize these performance-enhancing drugs. After all, like marijuana, steroids are less harmful to the body and pose far less social hazards than alcohol or cigarettes.
NOTE: With her “gets” of Rodriguez, Sarah Palin and hero-pilot Chesley Sullenberger, Couric is slowly becoming the brightest star amongst the network anchors. Of course, no one could have predicted this given the way critics and many of her colleagues ridiculed “perky” Katie three years ago for leaving the soft couch of the Today Show on NBC for the hard chair of the Evening News on CBS.
Related commentaries:
Baseball’s MVP … is a steroids junkie – duh!
Mitchell Report on steroids in baseball
Rafael Palmiero is a juicer too…?
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coffeerama says
it seems to be all about competition, winning at all costs, so it’s hard to blame players that shoot up;
is their job to be sports stars or is it to “play the game?”