The case of the roided rod
David Brown did a complete transcript of the A-rod interview with Peter Gammons wherein he confesses his steroid use and Peter asks him the same questions over and over again for 45 minutes. 45 minutes of the same four questions! And David actually had the wherewithal to go through the whole thing over and over again and transcribe every word of it, plus add cynical commentary. That’s the second-most insane thing I’ve heard lately, behind some asshole who bought a video game just so he could write 1400 words of criticism per hour spent playing it.
I couldn’t slog through the whole thing, but at least he kind of sort of admitted to using steroids, unlike Jason Giambi, who apologized profusely for… something he wouldn’t elaborate on. Or Barry Bonds, who I guess is now using the “It wasn’t technically a steroid when I technically didn’t know I was possibly taking it” defense.
The one thing everybody seems to be hammering A-Rod on now, though, is his claim to not know exactly what he took. Is that really so far-fetched? When my doctor writes a prescription, I ask him what it’s supposed to do and what side effects it might have, but I don’t memorize the name of it. So yeah, I can totally buy that A-Rod took “steroids” but can’t name exactly which one he was on. Sure, it’s probably just a calculated dodge of some kind, but is it really that ridiculous that he can’t name exactly what steroid he took? I can’t name the last anti-biotic I took, either.
Comment by Dave | 10 February 2009
Erythromycin was the last antibiotic I took, but that’s neither here nor there.
Were this just J. Random Ballplayer, I’d say you’re right — it would be absurd that people are humping him so hard over this "I don’t know what I took" thing. But part of A-rod’s mystique (if you call it that) is that he makes a giant fetish about his body, and toning and conditioning and strict dietary regimens and so on and so forth. In that context, it does seem a bit strange that he would have taken supplements without knowing what they were.
Strange, yes. But important? Frankly, I don’t think it matters. I do believe that A-rod is clean now, because otherwise he’d get caught. MLB is testing pretty seriously. I do believe A-rod was clean in Seattle, also. Why? Because when he went to Texas, his numbers (power numbers in particular, but AVG also) increased by more that can reasonably be explained just by saying Arlington is a hitter’s park, and when he went to New York, they returned to his Seattle levels. I think the whole "he’s still lying" angle is just knee-jerk cynicism.
As for the apology, I agree that it was the right thing to do, but A-rod (unlike Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, and Giambi) had the benefit of hindsight. He saw what other people did, and how well it did or did not work. He saw that Bonds’ denials, McGwire’s refusal to acknowledge the situation, and Clemens’ legal threats all just dug the players into deeper holes. Players like Giambi and Andy Pettitte and Brian Roberts who owned up to what they did and apologised (however indistinctly) have been able to move on and get back to baseball. Pettitte and Roberts aren’t really clouded by steroids anymore, and Giambi only because his production dropped so sharply after he stopped the juice. A-rod (and his handlers) are clearly aware of what the course of minimal damage is, and they’re definitely taking it.
Which is for the best, since it’s the right thing to do anyhow.
Comment by Darien | 10 February 2009