Once Linked By Greatness, A-Rod, Junior Have Gone Separate Ways
In the case of Rodriguez, however, there is no gift wrap. He is fading to black because (as opposed to Griffey) the skills haven't abandoned the man -- the man has abandoned the skills. At 34 and preparing to return from the disabled list, Rodriguez is still one of the game's two or three most-feared hitters. And yet, whether he plays for another season or another decade, Rodriguez is done. Finished. Kaput. Over. Gary Coleman.
A-Rod's done?! To quote A-Rod himself, HA! Somewhere in Miami or wherever, I hope he is reading this while polishing his ring and giggling to himself.*
According to the material leaked from Selena Roberts' new book, A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, he is not merely a liar, a fraud and an egoist, but a cheater of the first degree, whose remorseful "confession" during spring training was little more than a well-choreographed one-man interpretation of Justin Timberlake's Cry Me a River. Turns out A-Rod might have been using steroids since high school, and that he was involved with HGH after becoming a Yankee. In other words, like Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds before him, the glowing awe that once accompanied Rodriguez has -- poof! -- vanished.
I know he had to support Selena Roberts because she wrote for Sports Illustrated and so did he, but come on. That book was horribly researched and way more theories and innuendo than facts. And honestly, not for anything, it pisses me off when people overanalyze the shit out of press conferences or interviews or whatever of players admitting to steroid use. How many on that list of 104 (and no, I don't for a second think that those were the only people using steroids) have actually admitted it? Not too many. A-Rod has a totally weird, to be fair, press conference, and everyone won't shut up about the faces he was making and how he wasn't being genuine or whatever. David Ortiz gets his name leaked, has a press conference where he denies ever doing anything illegal, and everyone's like "oh he was so genuine." It's bullshit. No, I don't think it's a Yankee/Red Sox thing, either, because people pretty much don't care about Brian Roberts' admission or Pettitte's HGH use (except for the classy Philly fans chanting "YOU DID STEROIDS!" early on in Game 3 of the World Series); it's a "nice guy"/"bad guy" thing. Which brings me to...
Less than a year ago, people were not merely speculating how many career home runs he would hit (800? 850? 900? 950?), but also how his name atop the all-time list would return Aaron-esque decency to a record book poisoned by Bonds' regrettable presence. Rodriguez was the Brad Pitt of baseball -- the pretty boy with chops who could carry a big-budget adventure through the summer.
This is pretty much the dumbest part of the article, other than the "A-Rod's done" thing. Why the hell are you pretending A-Rod was some golden boy before this whole steroid thing? Pretty much everyone hated him. The media loved to portray him as a nancy-boy diva fraud who choked in every big situation and only hit home runs when his team was leading or trailing by ten runs. Stop pretending it's like Jeter got caught.
Oh, and Hank Aaron was on greenies.
Jeff Pearlman is a really, really good sportswriter. Just not when it comes to the Yankees. Why the hell are you trying to put logic on fandom, Jeff? You're a Mets fan. You should know this!
* Yes I know they hand out the rings at the home opener, allow me my snark.
