Greetings.
Today's question comes from Phil TCA, and it's about the recent going-ons with A-Rod.
Honestly, I have no idea about any of this. I don't have cable, and I don't follow the news, since it's all a bunch of depressing BS. From what I've read here today, it's regarding PEDs. Man, Americans need to get the fuck over this whole ordeal with PEDs. EVERYONE is doing them, hence it isn't cheating. They need to quit blowing money, time, and effort on crap like this. Who cares? Let some healthy athletes inject some anabolics & stimulants if they should so choose to.
I don't get it though, why do Yanks fans hate A-Rod? Isn't he the jam? I sure know as a guy from Seattle that people lost their MINDS around here when he left. He was completely vilified.
How say you?
Today's question comes from Phil TCA, and it's about the recent going-ons with A-Rod.
Philippe TCA here with a very simple question with a no doubt complicated discussion attachedhttp://deadspin.com/can-baseball-actually-ban-alex-rodriguez-982446662
Should the commissioner of baseball be able to ban Alex Rodriquez for life? As a Yankees fan, I'd love to see him go but that's more for salary reasons than anything else. Thoughts?
Honestly, I have no idea about any of this. I don't have cable, and I don't follow the news, since it's all a bunch of depressing BS. From what I've read here today, it's regarding PEDs. Man, Americans need to get the fuck over this whole ordeal with PEDs. EVERYONE is doing them, hence it isn't cheating. They need to quit blowing money, time, and effort on crap like this. Who cares? Let some healthy athletes inject some anabolics & stimulants if they should so choose to.
I don't get it though, why do Yanks fans hate A-Rod? Isn't he the jam? I sure know as a guy from Seattle that people lost their MINDS around here when he left. He was completely vilified.
How say you?
MLB should shit or get off the pot already.
ReplyDelete>Man, Americans need to get the fuck over this whole ordeal with PEDs. EVERYONE is doing them, hence it isn't cheating.
ReplyDeleteUhhh Caliber, this logic doesn't work. PEDs are illegal in baseball, so if someone is using them, it is cheating.
The problem is that players who DON'T want to cut corners with drugs shouldn't get screwed over because most do.
ReplyDeleteSo if everyone goes out today and punches someone in the face, assault and battery shouldn't be illegal? Sorry Caliber, I don't get your logic on this one either.
ReplyDelete'I don't have cable'
ReplyDeletedo you watch wwe programming on THE APP?!
Sports fans are hypocrites about PEDs. If a baseball player takes steroids, he's treated as lower than dirt....unless he's a beloved player from a big market (i.e. Andy Pettitte, David Ortiz), in which case it's forgotten. If an NFL player gets busted for steroids, he's just suspended for four games and it's treated as nothing more serious than a minor injury.
ReplyDeleteUnless MLB has ironclad proof that A-Rod did something detrimental to the sport, A-Rod can easily win a lawsuit against the league if they do in fact ban him.
His current favorite show must be a tie between "Walking Sheamus" and "Standing in Front of a TV" starring Randy Orton.
ReplyDeleteHe wouldn't be banned for the PEDs. He would be banned for destroying evidence and trying to purchase evidence which he also wanted to destroy. My question is more related to whether or not the Commish should be able to ban anyone, let alone A-Rod.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't like him because he's very expensive for not much production.
Caliber,
ReplyDeleteA-Rod was a great, A GREAT player with Seattle, with no drama around him to boot. And yes, with the Yankees he had some great moments, won two MVP's and was terrific in the 09 playoffs. The problem is that pretty much ever since he got to the Yankees in 04 he has embarrassed the Yankees over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. I'm with you, I don't get outraged about PED, mostly I just want to be entertained and for my teams win. In A-Rod's case though his steroid use was the cherry on top of everything else. Since you can't suspend someone for being a giant embarrassing douche-bag, banning him for roids is good enough.
As for the original question, as much as I would like to see it happen, no I don't think Selig should have the power to suspend A-Rod for life. Suspend him for whatever the violation is for getting caught a second time, and add the suspension that he never served from the first time around and that should be the proper way to handle it.
Big (fat) Papi and the rest of the 04 sox were more juiced the Tropicana. Just saying.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to conveniently forget that A-Rod is (potentially) getting a lifetime ban because he interfered in the investigation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, people who say they don't watch the news because it's "depressing" are ridiculous.
Steroids are one of the last tie-overs to the Reagan era of "OMG ALL DRUGS ARE BAD! POT? RUN! STEROIDS? RUN!"
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of credible sources who will say that if you are very careful about steroids, cycle on and off them properly, and keep yourself monitored, then there are no negative side effects.
What people seem to be forgetting here is that he's destroyed and attempted to destroy evidence, used and possessed illegal drugs, and helped the doctor distribute illegal drugs by recruiting other players to the clinic. All of the above are felonies. Being suspended/banned should be the least of his worries, he needs to be more concerned with keeping his ass out of jail.
ReplyDeleteAs for the original question, sure, Selig can ban A-Rod. I'd say there's a better case for banning him than there ever was for banning Pete Rose or Joe Jackson. Though if you're going to ban A-Roid, you might as well ban Barry Bonds too, seeing as how he did pretty much the same thing. And BTW Caliber, how do you know EVERYONE is doing PEDs when you came right out and said you don't watch baseball or care about it?
Yeah...pretty much.
ReplyDeleteMLB should come right out and show us this. All we've heard is leaked reports from their site in an attempt to get A-Rod to fold.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if these were real felonies, A-Rod would be investigated by something more than Major League Baseball. And a lot of this is still on the word of a guy who is about as reliable as Brian Macnamee. (Probably spelled that wrong)
The fact that it has taken so long for MLB to actually issue suspensions and do something is troubling, as is Bud Selig deciding to overstep and wiggle around the CBA to save face for being a massive fuckup of a commissioner. He is awful.
Isn't he done at the end of the year, or am I thinking about David Stern?
ReplyDeleteAnd they are real felonies, and just because we haven't heard about law enforcement investigating him doesn't mean no one is.
I would think if the feds were looking into this, we would've heard about it.
ReplyDeleteDavid Stern is the one retiring next year, though I think Bud is leaving soon. Now if we can just get Goodell out, we'd be great. He's the worst.
Actually, Stern is the one commish I don't hate.
Also the feds track record is pretty abysmal on this. Bonds got the worst of it and he only got a slap on the wrist
I've never seen why people have a problem with Stern, unless they're Sonics fans. Gary Bettman is a far worse commish, and while we're on the subject, Brian France (Nascar) and Bernie Ecclestone (F1) suck too.
ReplyDeleteAny yeah, the feds track record on PED-related matters is pretty crappy. Just look at the Lance Armstrong case, which has taken fucking FOREVER with nothing to show for it.
I co-sign on everything the real deal here said. The "mountain of evidence" MLB supposedly has against A-Rod seems smaller and smaller every day that MLB sits on it and waits for A-Rod to call their bluff.
ReplyDeleteShould they suspend him for taking part in this circus? Sure, a 50-game suspension as laid out in the Joint Drug Agreement seems fair. The lifetime ban is just MLB pressuring him to make a deal.
Or just don't take them because it's fucking pointless. Unless you're an athlete in a contract year, then it becomes less pointless. But if you're just a regular dude, why bother?
ReplyDeleteThe other issue I have with this is that when people do abuse steroids there can be terrible consequences. It isn't as easy to have self-discipline than you say it is.
Don't forget "Resthold, Spot, Resthold." It's quite compelling.
ReplyDeleteYou can't suspend someone for being a giant embarrassing douche bag, but the Yankees very much should not have given him the stupid fucking contract they offered him at the end of the 2007 season.
ReplyDeleteHe was ALREADY being crapped on after just 3 years as a Yankee.
I think they dropped the Lance Armstrong case after Clemens and Bonds fell flat. I mean, he did something awful, but it's just hard to show the burden of proof.
ReplyDeleteI think he's still being investigated for witness tampering?
I believe that the USPS wants money from him because his TDF victories were vacated while they were his main sponsor, but that might be a civil matter and not a criminal one.
ReplyDeleteManny obviously was, Papi Ive heard people say that infos come out since then disputing the report, Nomar I have no doubt about but he was gone at trade deadline not sure about who else you might think though.
ReplyDelete"The lifetime ban is just MLB pressuring him to make a deal."
ReplyDeleteYeah, they've all but come right out and said so. I don't think he really deserves a lifetime ban, though as I said above I think what he did was worse than what Rose, Shoeless Joe, and Buck Weaver did to earn lifetime bans. He's getting more than 50 games though, Ryan Braun got 65, and they're going to hit A-Rod a lot harder. He'll get at least 100, more likely the rest of this season and all of next season.
I just have to wonder what role the Yankees are playing in this, they're probably praying for a lifetime ban.
Most of what I see on here is anti-establishment BS. MLB and the commissioner are not the bad guys here, pretending to have evidence that doesn't really exist. They are trying to clean up a game that has declined in quality, mainly because of this situation. Everything I read about this online and watch on MLB Network and ESPN, reading fan comments on articles, seems to indicate that Alex Rodriguez is going to get exactly what he deserves. There is a mountain of evidence, or this wouldn't even be an issue. And it's not just Rodriguez, it's dozens of other players as well. Ryan Braun cheated, Rodriguez cheated (also making himself looking very foolish with several other non-PED related incidents). They all cheated. You read comments from other players, and they want to see these guys go down. This shit has tainted the only sport I have taken seriously. MLB wants their drug policy taken seriously, you set precedent by banning the fuck out of the guys who thumbed their noses at it, well after it had been set up and implemented. What I want to know is, why can't team ownership put a clause in a contract, ALL contracts, that states that if you use and get busted, your contract is voided, and remaining salary burned?
ReplyDeleteAs a long-time Yankee fan that can't stand A-Rod... a few reasons:
ReplyDelete- When you're playing for a team that's been represented by guys like Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, Mo, etc - some of the best people to put on a Yankees uniform, guys who are incredibly hardworking, put the team first ahead of everything, and regarded around the league as really great human beings in addition to being great players... a guy like A-Rod just looks that much worse. People like Jeter/Mattingly/Mo/etc put the team first, if there were contract issues, for the most part they handled things gracefully, and were only in the spotlight for the right reasons.
A-Rod? Opts out of his contract in the middle of the World Series, and in his case, everything becomes about big milestones and home run landmarks. Then you have the tons of negative media around him, for the right reasons - the guy's a self centered, arrogant yet massively insecure douche, who'll go commissioning paintings of himself as a centaur, or posing kissing his reflection in a mirror.
- The whole performance issue... yes, he basically carried the Yankees to the 2009 ALCS on his shoulders. Had a fine season and a fucking amazing postseason (in the LDS and LCS at least). The rest of the time, his postseason numbers have fucking sucked, and at this point he's one of the least reliable hitters you want swinging in big situations in October. For a team that's basically been all about World Series or bust, it's not great when you perform in August and forget how to hit a ball in October.
- And then there's the incredibly stupid contract which still has him earning about 20 mill a year until he's 42. Another reason Yankee fans want him banned - the owners are trying to pull salary below the 189 million cap, and if A-Rod is off the books with a year long suspension in 2014, that's 20+ million that goes towards other talent.
Oh, and there are a ton of reports elsewhere that A-Rod's involvement with Biogenesis was more than just buying PEDs - he apparently introduced a handful of other/younger players to the clinic, and later on tried to impede the investigation by buying evidence. Rumors for now, but let's see what happens.
If A-Rod gets banned for life, I'm not shedding a fucking tear. And at this point, I would rather see a kid like David Adams get a chance to play 3B instead of an aging, insecure, egomaniacal fuck who's essentially a DH at this stage.
The man has millions of dollars and a naked Torrie Wilson lying in his bed. F*ck MLB.. I'd keep my ass at home and let my lawyers fight it out too!!.
ReplyDeleteThis. Fuck the Steinbrenners.
ReplyDeleteCashman AFAIK wanted to let A-Rod go to hell after the opt out, and Hank decided to bring him back with a stupid contract WAY beyond what anyone else would match.
Dipshit.
I'm a big baseball fan but am sick about hearing about Arod. I want him to go away
ReplyDelete> When you're playing for a team that's been represented by guys like Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, Mo, etc - some of the best people to put on a Yankees uniform, guys who are incredibly hardworking, put the team first ahead of everything, and regarded around the league as really great human beings in addition to being great players... a guy like A-Rod just looks that much worse. People like Jeter/Mattingly/Mo/etc put the team first, if there were contract issues, for the most part they handled things gracefully, and were only in the spotlight for the right reasons.
ReplyDeleteOwnership publicly criticised Jeter for his partying and staying up late. Jeter, a great human being, tried to get out of paying his taxes, falsely claiming residence. He also is known for his dalliances with women. And Jeter had a nasty contract issue with the Yanks a few years ago.
Let's not forget A-Rod only plays 3B because Jeter wouldn't move over and A-Rod had to.
Mattingly had many issues with management.
Mariano? http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/sports/baseball/11rivera.html?_r=0
A-Rod has won two MVPs and been to 7 All Star Games. Yes, he's had some bad postseason series, but he's one of the reasons they are in the postseason to begin with. Yankee fans are so ungrateful.
>- And then there's the incredibly stupid contract which still has him earning about 20 mill a year until he's 42. Another reason Yankee fans want him banned - the owners are trying to pull salary below the 189 million cap, and if A-Rod is off the books with a year long suspension in 2014, that's 20+ million that goes towards other talent.
A contract the Yankees stupidly signed that everyone knew was a bad idea and saw the Yankees bidding against themselves. It's not A-Rod's fault the Yankees were stupid. Especially since the Yankees said they wouldn't resign him and then back pedalled.
He's not getting banned for life,
The players association would never agree to that and to very good reason. They would be idiots and completely give up a lot of their rights and power.
ReplyDeleteWould you really trust the owners to not fudge a drug test? After the numerous collusion incidents, I wouldn't.
Stern's blackmarks are the Donaghy stuff, Lakers v. Kings and Heat v. Mavs. But everyone accepts the NBA is rigged, so he gets a pass.
ReplyDeleteYea, Lance Armstrong has a lot of court dates in his future, but I think criminally, he is in the clear
ReplyDeleteWhy hasn't MLB suspended these people yet? Why can't they show us the evidence? Why did they wait until after the trade deadline?
ReplyDeleteI don't trust Bud Selig at all. The lifetime ban stuff is such an overreach and not really legal, but people accept it because they hate A-Rod. Let's not support the commish setting a very dangerous precedent.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/a-friendly-reminder-about-a-rod-and-october/
ReplyDeleteI'm a big Yankees fan, and even I say Fuck MLB! The season is too damn long.
ReplyDeletePetitte was slightly different. HGH was originally designed to help you recover quicker from injury. Which if we're to believe the evidence, is when he was taking HGH.
ReplyDeleteThe difference is that he manned up and admitted that he did that.
A-Rod is a petulant child with a god complex who won't just admit that what he did was wrong.
I don't see how the game has declined in quality. Neither do a lot of other people, considering that MLB is making more money then ever.
ReplyDeleteThe Donaghy thing (you know he writes a column for Deadspin critiquing the refs? Can you believe that shit?) wasn't really a big deal, as it didn't really affect the outcome of the games. As for "fixing", it's not like the other 3 of the Big 4 haven't done the same thing.
ReplyDeleteDonaghy absolutely impacted a game. The Phoenix v. San Antonio series in particular.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I got this from wiki-
Sports gambling expert R. J. Bell, president of sports betting information site Pregame.com, tracked every game Donaghy worked from 2003 to 2007. He discovered that during the two seasons investigated by the NBA, the teams involved scored more points than expected by the Las Vegas sports books 57 percent of the time. In the previous two seasons, this only happened 44 percent of the time. According to Bell, the odds of such a discrepancy are 1 in 1,000, and there was "a 99.9 percent chance that these results would not have happened without an outside factor". He also found 10 straight games in 2007 in which Donaghy worked the game that the point spread moved 1.5 points or more before the tip—an indication that big money had been wagered on the game. The big money won every time—another indication that "something (was) going on". However, Bell suggested that there was no way anyone who wasn't in on the fix could have known that something was amiss about Donaghy's actions during a game; he said it would have been another year at the earliest before anyone could have caught on.[24]
_______________________________________________
Regarding fixing-
I can't think of any sports that had games that screamed work as badly as Lakers v. Kings and the Heat v. Dallas series.
NFL had Steelers v. Hawks, but I think that was just shitty officiating and Seattle also sucked that game. They also had Packers v. Hawks, but that was Goodell being a cock.
Off the top of my head for NHL, there's the Hull goal and the non-goal in the 04 SCF. MLB has had some too, but I am blanking off the top of my head.
Agreed. I mean you had the period with some WTF home run numbers (Hi Brady Anderson!), but that era seems to be over There were also smaller ballparks being built at the time too.
ReplyDeleteBut I'd like more insight into how you think the game declined.
Also, to clarify, I don't think Sabres v. Stars or Lightning v. Flames was an attempted work. Those were just disputed calls. Lakers v. Kings in 2002 and Heat v. Mavericks is something fishy going on.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing about Lance, he's a complete piece of shit. A-Rob and Bonds and McGuire and Clemens cheated, but what they did was basically a victimless crime. Sure, they fucked with the integrity of the game, but no one got hurt. But Armstrong threw so many people under the bus, ruining a lot of their lives and in some cases costing them millions of dollars, just to keep up his front. I never thought Bonds or Clemens deserved jail time (and I fucking HATE Clemens), but Lance should be in a 6' X 9' cell right now. Fuck him.
ReplyDeleteI want to know when he thinks the game was better. If he's talking about the 70-80's I guess I understand. But if he's talking about the steroid era it kind of negates the rest of the post.
ReplyDeleteSabres vs. Stars wasn't a fix. Just talking about this infuriates me (I was there), but there was no reason to fix that series, or any SCF. You only fix something so the next series draws better. People around here seem to forget that Buffalo wasn't getting the cup if they won, they still had to go back to Dallas for game 7 (which is further evidence that it was on the level). Same reason I don't think Heat vs. Mavs wasn't a fix. What was a fix though, was when the Sabres lost to the Capitals (I think) in 2001 or so, when the deciding goal went through the side of the net. That was ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI'm blanking on fixed MLB games too, though I swear I remember a big Yankee game that involved them win on a bullshit fan interference call or something, but I can't really remember what exactly happened.
I think that was Flyers v. Sabres in 2000 with the bullshit goal.
ReplyDeleteI knew you were from Buffalo, so apologies for bringing up that game. Was just trying to think of examples of horseshit calls in huge games.
Heat v. Mavs was simply Stern not wanting to give Cuban the title. I think it was Game 4 or 5, where Wade had more free throws than the entire Mavericks team. I watched that game, it was infuriating. Lakers v. Kings screams work.
Braves v. Fish where Eric Gregg (burn in hell you fat fuck) cheated the Braves is one, but I didn't want to use an example with my team.
Bonds and Clemens are terrible people, but I always felt bad for McGwire. For the record, I don't think Clemens or Bonds deserved to go to jail, but Clemens testifying in front of Congress was such an idiotic dick measuring move that he almost deserved something just for being so stupid
ReplyDeleteThat whole charade in front of Congress was bullshit and McGwire was put in a no-win situation. He probably should've just admitted it then but since he broke a sacred record, it would've never ended. McGwire always seemed like a good guy who just didn't know how to handle the immense fame/everyone turning on him.
Look at Andy Pettite. Does he ever get vilified?
Lance Armstrong is evil. Fun fact: My dad always hated Lance Armstrong and thought he was a prick, when everyone was lining up to suck him off. (He didn't like how he professed to be a family man, but always off gallivanting with Sheryl Crow and other trophy girls). So he felt pretty good when it all came crumbling down.
I hope Lance Armstrong becomes bankrupt. I really feel for his kids, especially one of his sons, who was always going online and defending and arguing in favour of his dad. Whoops.
Also, the summer of 1998 was magical. I don't care if it's tainted, that was so much fun. Sportswriters who buried their head in the sand only to go THINK OF THE CHILDREN STEROIDS are fuckers.
ReplyDelete"Heat v. Mavs was simply Stern not wanting to give Cuban the title."
ReplyDeleteI forgot about Stern and Cuban having heat. Maybe that was a fix, who knows. And I don't think that call in the Sabres game (sidenote: Brett Hull is probably my least favorite pro athlete ever, which pissed me off even more) was that bad, really. We're not talking about that Jets game where the guy got stopped at the 2 yard line but somehow got a TD, or Galaragga (sp?) getting screwed out of the perfect game (though at least Jim Joyce came right out and said that he missed the call and fucked him over), but a minor technicality. And they changed the rule right after that. It was just being there in person is why it's a sore spot for me. Had I just stayed home it would have different, but being with 19,000 other pissed off people (and a girl that didn't want to be there but insisted on coming with me anyway) just made it a whole miserable experience.
And yeah, Eric Gregg. Someone should do a Botchamania rip-off, only with blown ref calls. Refamania #1 should just be clips from that game.
Remember when Rich fucking Aurilia had 37 HRs?
ReplyDeleteOK, paragraph by paragraph:
ReplyDeleteClemens is a complete fuckwad, but I don't think Bonds is that bad of a guy, he just seems really anti-social. Sure, he fucked around on his wife, but if you go by that criteria most athletes are terrible people. And I think it's worth noting that while A-Rod has to try and buy documents from people to burn them, Bonds takes care of his people so well that they're willing to spend a couple years in jail on contempt charge because they won't snitch on him.
Yeah, that whole Congress hearing was total bullshit, never mind that they better things to do than waste time on baseball. How about our shitty schools, shitty drug policies, unemployment (though that wasn't an issue at the time), etc... I don't really feel bad for McGuire at all, just because he's doing perfectly fine right now. And he'll always have his moment, EVERYONE that watches baseball remembers where the were if the saw #62 live. I also want to point out that Roger Maris isn't in the HOF either.
Eh, Pettite is a pretty likable guy, so that helps. I mean, I despise the Yanks, but I have nothing against him. He also came clean on it pretty much right away, and supposedly only used HGH to heal from an injury. He's not even in the same league as those other guys.
I never got the hype. It's the fucking TOUR DE FRANCE, who the fuck cares in the U.S? Also, Sheryl Crow is an absolutely terrible musician.
I'd tell Lance to suck my dick, but he'd probably find a way to cheat at that, too...
I didn't remember Rich fucking Aurilia at all until you bought him up. Or Brady Anderson.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Bonds not being that bad a guy, Game of Shadows and Jeff Pearlman's book on Bonds are both brutal and paint him to be just this awful person. At best, he's very very aloof.
ReplyDeleteOf course, we don't know these people so for all we know, Clemens could be a great guy while Andy Pettite isn't. Who knows
When you have guys in recent history (Omar Vizquel stands out, I saw Rich Aurilia's name, hell I'll even go out on a limb and say Jose Bautista) with inflated numbers, I personally, am not one who enjoys a slugfest featuring guys who have no business being on that end of things. I became a baseball fan in 1983, at the age of 10, and the game was of a much more pure quality at that time. Now, every hitter wants to jack one out, and the overall hitting skills have declined. It's been noted that bunting skills have declined, baserunning skills. The fundamentals have suffered, because these fucking melonheads think it's all about the home run. So when i say the quality has declined, I don't mean in a revenue sense...I'm talking about the actual skills of the player. Grab a time machine and see what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteif anything I think quality is improved with advanced statistics. I think the "Fundamentals have suffered" is one of those back in my day complaints that people always have.
ReplyDeleteThe game has changed, though I think HR numbers have come back down to earth. Bunting is stupid anyway, unless it's the pitcher
LOL....do you like the WAR? Because I don't. Sabermetrics ain't my bag. I'm just from a different school of thought.
ReplyDeleteI don't fully understand or appreciate sabermetrics and I think too many writers use it without giving the reader proper context (Hi, Jonah Keri!), but it certainly has a place in the game and something that should be valued
ReplyDeleteThose complaining that Mike "Jesus Fucking Christ Himself" Trout should have been MVP last year because of his WAR drove me nuts. Miguel Cabrera winning the Triple Crown made him the front runner the whole time.
ReplyDeleteTHIS commissioner shouldn't be able to, no. This is the same commissioner who was turning a blind eye for decades during the height of PED use. Now he wants to play judge, jury, executioner as if he's just finding out about it and wants to "clean up" the game. This is as much a failure of the Player's Association as anyone else, because the union's concessions allowed Selig his power.
ReplyDeleteI see both arguments for Trout and Miguel, plus I'm an NL guy, so I really can't pick a side.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Game of Shadows came off as really biased and kind of BS. It reminded me of a lot of wrestling books. Never read Perlman's book.
ReplyDeleteAs a Yankees fan I have to say...there is soooo much blame to go around. First is A-Rod, He is a over-sensitive, insecure, egomaniac that not only has been using illegal substances for who knows how long but he's also been putting his "foot in his mouth" even longer. He's been jealous of Derek Jeter for years now and between his October hitting woos, his Esquire interview and hitting on chicks in the stands during a playoff game that he was BENCHED in...he has no redeemable qualities. That's why fans despise him. Second, The Steinbrenners have a nice little piece of blame here too. Brian Cashman begged them not to re-sign him after he opted out of his last contract and they choose to sign him to the worst contract this side of Albert Pujols. Finally, Bud Selig and MLB has the final piece of blame. They choose for a very, very long time to let this PED problem go on with no repercussions and now 15 to 20 years later, we, as fans, have no idea if the steroid era is truly over i.e. Ryan Bruan. Even as I write this Chris Davis and Jose Batista are totally and unfairly suspect with no evidence...that's on MLB. All that being said...maybe it is true, everyone is using....Jesse Ventura said it best, "Win if you can, lose if you must but always cheat."
ReplyDelete