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jaunthieYuck.
Alex Rodriguez has been all over the news recently for his newly-disclosed steroids use back in 2001.
I have no use for "A-Rod" and haven't since he declined to re-sign with the Mariners not because of the money, but because he wanted to "play for a competitive team" - and then promptly signed with the Texas Rangers, the joke of the AL West, for a truly obscene amount of cash. He engendered The Curse of the A-Rod, and I still firmly believe that NO team that he plays for will ever make it to the World Series while he's on the roster. He brought it on his own head.
But I digress. Today he held his first "press conference" to discuss the revelations that he'd been juicing (taking steroids) while playing for the Rangers. I caught a few glimpses of the travesty on the evening news tonight. In between blaming his cousin for everything and reading pre-prepared statements from a sheaf of paper in his hands, he tried to sell his double message: that he was too young and stupid at the time to be truly responsible for his actions (yeah, right, at 25 years old and a multi-year veteran of the major leagues!) and that he was truly sorry for having done what he did. The latter message might have been a trifle more persuasive if he could have kept the smirk off of his face or the smugness out of his voice.
Look, folks. He's not at all sorry for anything except having been exposed. He's filthy rich. He's in no danger of losing any of his money. He's in no danger of losing his job on the Yankees or suffering any repercussions in any way. Major-league baseball isn't going to sanction him; in fact they're defending him. So are many sports writers, claiming that everyone was doing it anyway, and that it wasn't technically breaking the rules at the time. (It was breaking the law, but sports writers don't care about that, apparently, and I guess the war-on-drugs crowd doesn't either.) He's in the same place he's been for years: an accountability-free zone, where as long as he posts semi-decent stats (however he comes by them), there are no consequences for anything else he does. It's all about the money. That's all MLB cares about. That's all the fans apparently care about. The press won't touch him, thanks to his money and percieved power. The law won't go after him, because of his money and standing. His corporate sponsors won't dump him because they know that he, unlike Michael Phelps, won't be held accountable by the public for what he did (despite his having publicly admitted to the felony of smuggling drugs across the border, as opposed to Phelps' misdemeanor caught in a photograph). The rules that govern the rest of us don't apply to him. And that smug little smirk shows that he knows it.
The whole thing makes me very, very sick, and rather angry. Part of the justification for the absurd adoration (and paying) of professional athletes is that they serve as "role models" for the rest of us, kids especially. But there's nothing exemplary in the way Mr. Rodriguez has conducted himself, back in 2001 or now. Just for once, I'd like to see him held accountable - and let THAT be the message we send to anyone paying attention.
Alex Rodriguez has been all over the news recently for his newly-disclosed steroids use back in 2001.
I have no use for "A-Rod" and haven't since he declined to re-sign with the Mariners not because of the money, but because he wanted to "play for a competitive team" - and then promptly signed with the Texas Rangers, the joke of the AL West, for a truly obscene amount of cash. He engendered The Curse of the A-Rod, and I still firmly believe that NO team that he plays for will ever make it to the World Series while he's on the roster. He brought it on his own head.
But I digress. Today he held his first "press conference" to discuss the revelations that he'd been juicing (taking steroids) while playing for the Rangers. I caught a few glimpses of the travesty on the evening news tonight. In between blaming his cousin for everything and reading pre-prepared statements from a sheaf of paper in his hands, he tried to sell his double message: that he was too young and stupid at the time to be truly responsible for his actions (yeah, right, at 25 years old and a multi-year veteran of the major leagues!) and that he was truly sorry for having done what he did. The latter message might have been a trifle more persuasive if he could have kept the smirk off of his face or the smugness out of his voice.
Look, folks. He's not at all sorry for anything except having been exposed. He's filthy rich. He's in no danger of losing any of his money. He's in no danger of losing his job on the Yankees or suffering any repercussions in any way. Major-league baseball isn't going to sanction him; in fact they're defending him. So are many sports writers, claiming that everyone was doing it anyway, and that it wasn't technically breaking the rules at the time. (It was breaking the law, but sports writers don't care about that, apparently, and I guess the war-on-drugs crowd doesn't either.) He's in the same place he's been for years: an accountability-free zone, where as long as he posts semi-decent stats (however he comes by them), there are no consequences for anything else he does. It's all about the money. That's all MLB cares about. That's all the fans apparently care about. The press won't touch him, thanks to his money and percieved power. The law won't go after him, because of his money and standing. His corporate sponsors won't dump him because they know that he, unlike Michael Phelps, won't be held accountable by the public for what he did (despite his having publicly admitted to the felony of smuggling drugs across the border, as opposed to Phelps' misdemeanor caught in a photograph). The rules that govern the rest of us don't apply to him. And that smug little smirk shows that he knows it.
The whole thing makes me very, very sick, and rather angry. Part of the justification for the absurd adoration (and paying) of professional athletes is that they serve as "role models" for the rest of us, kids especially. But there's nothing exemplary in the way Mr. Rodriguez has conducted himself, back in 2001 or now. Just for once, I'd like to see him held accountable - and let THAT be the message we send to anyone paying attention.
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Date: 2009-02-18 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-18 08:15 am (UTC)