A piece in the Village Voice sums things up: this A-Rod steroid thing is out of control. Isn't that the truth.
The connection between Alex Rodriguez and steroids popped up all over the place late last week, best illustrated by a Daily News back-page headline Friday, "Under Suspicion." Jose Canseco says it, Chipper Jones says it, and now the New York tabloids say it: Alex Rodriguez has a connection to steroids.
The talk shows are a-talkin'! The blogs are a-buzzin'! It's all over the country: The youngest man ever to hit 500 home runs—the man who's supposed to be the hero who will relieve us in a few years of the burden of steroid-cheat Barry Bonds—now has his own drug baggage to lug around.
But what if no one actually said any of these things? Let's see if we can trace the A-Rod rumors back to their source.
Jose Canseco touched things off a couple of weeks ago, during a July 28 radio interview on a Boston radio station, when he called Rodriguez "a hypocrite . . .
Which brings us to Mike Lupica's column in last Friday's Daily News. Contrary to the misleading headline, "Under Suspicion," Lupica pointed out that there was no evidence at all against Rodriguez, and that Jones had merely said what everyone had been thinking since the first time Barry Bonds's name was linked to the BALCO investigation. And what we have all been thinking is that from now on, anyone who sets a new home-run record is going to be under a cloud of suspicion until proven innocent. (Lupica's whipping boy was the players' union for having so long resisted drug testing.)
So, tracing back the rumor step by step, it turns out that there's not only no evidence, but no one is saying there is. This ugly trail of innuendo, suspicion, and outright paranoia may finally be Barry Bonds's real legacy to baseball: In polluting the historical record, he's muddied the waters for everyone who follows him.
We pointed to the Jose Canseco interview a couple weeks ago on WEEI. Really, this interview appeared to be Canseco playing coy, dropping innuendos, and generating pub for his alleged new book. Chipper Jones simply commented on his thoughts, which sounded reasonable: anyone putting up numbers in the steroid era, will be under suspicion.
First, there is no evidence linking A-Rod with PEDs or steroids. A-Rod is a larged framed, incredible athlete, with great power.
Second, MLB needs to develop a PED-testing program that puts the league above reproach. The league and the union need to work together to mean what they say about 'roid testing.
Right now baseball is very popular. However, the competition for the sports dollar remains intense. One can see how pro cycling is disintegrating, as big sponsors pull dollars out of the teams. One can see how Barry Bonds is shunned by Corporate America. There are struggles enough with bad PR when you run a corporation. Companies do not want their names associated with juicers, or dog killers.
With a solid drug-testing program, a great player like A-Rod may be the target of barbs, however with solid testing the huge burden of proof would fall to the accusers.
Let's keep the game clean.
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