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"I did take a banned substance. For that, I'm very sorry and deeply regretful."
Alex Rodriguez really only had one option here. He's had the benefit of seeing what's happened to guys like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens who have either refused to admit their wrong-doings or downright denied them all together.
He's also seen how his teammates Andy Pettite and Jason Giambi were able to move on with their careers and remove the shadow from above their heads by being honest and forthright in their admissions.
Let's be real here, once this cat got out of the bag and SI reported the piece over the weekend about A-Rod being one of 104 players to have tested positive in a supposedly anonymous 2003 test, we all knew this could end one of two ways:
Either A-Rod could deny until the bitter end and enter the realm of Roger Clemens, a talent like no other whose shady past will forever cast a shadow on his legacy, never allowing the public to forgive and move on. How can you forgive someone for something they can't admit to?
The other option was to do what he just did. Consult with his agent, take a day or two to allow this to digest and then swiftly conduct an interview being as contrite, honest and apologetic as possible. A-Rod admitted today to taking performance enhancing drugs for three years in Texas and says, among other things "I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. I wanted to prove to everyone I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time."
Pete Rose learned this same lesson not too long ago. The North American sporting public WANTS to forgive you. They want to let you off the hook. But they aren't stupid. They know when you're lying and the longer you go, the less willing they will be to forgive. Already you hear of people calling for Rose' reinstatement into baseball culture and the hall of fame. You hear none of that for Barry Bonds, whose stubborn refusal to admit the truth is the reason he is currently out of baseball, on trial for perjury and may very well spend significant time in jail.
He is not on trial for doing steroids, which after all were not even against the rules at the time. He is on trial for lying under oath, which according to Joe Public anyway, is a much, much worse offense.
Good for A-Rod for avoiding the controversy and owning up to his mistakes. Though we still can't quite think of him in the same light as we did a few days ago, his reputation can now begin it's steady climb back up.
We forgive you...now won't you just start playing well in October??
There is a major difference though between A-Rod and people like Giambi. As good as Jason Giambi is, he is no A-Rod. People were able to forgive Giambi because, at the end of the day, he will go down as a solid, even sometimes great, player.
ReplyDeleteA-Rod is most probably going to break Barry Bonds' HR record. He was supposed to the guy who cleaned this whole thing up. Sure, it's great that he fessed up to it. But don't go thinking people are just gonna let this one go.
There is so much to pay attention to, both within and outside of professional sports, that so long as A-Rod is not embarrassing anyone including himself, there will be a very early period of national amnesia around this episode. Yes the talking heads will remind us for a while, but then what’s going to be left unsaid, and how often say the same “Yeah he’s good, played great today, but don’t forget a decade ago he hurt himself and cheated”.
ReplyDeleteFans identify with a winner, Mr. Rodriguez, so long as he is a winner, will be praised not vilified.