matt weighs in

I am not outraged. Read almost any sports writer on the main sites, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, etc, and they are outraged. What a bunch of high-horse, sit-on-a-pedestal, I-need-to-write-this-because-this-is-what-the-readers-expect nimrods.

I don’t like that Alex Rodriguez and many others took steroids to help stay sharp during the long season and help improve their already very skilled game (Miguel Tejada was just charged in court today for lying about his use). However, for these writers and sports talk guys to come out and say that baseball, past, present and future has forever been tarnished is absolute bologna. Unless they’ve had their head in the sand for the past decade, the revelations by Sports Illustrated in the last few days are not new, and how they obtained the results probably falls under the category of criminal.

Journalists, especially in these 24 hour news, gotcha journalism days, will do anything to get a scoop and get themselves noticed by the masses. Selena Roberts and David Epstein probably did do some great investigative work, but at what expense? At least four people should probably go to jail for leaking A-Rod’s name from the list of 104 players who tested positive in 2003. From what I’ve heard/read, the tests were supposed to remain anonymous, with no names attached. If 5% of the tests from that year came back positive, mandatory testing was supposed to automatically kick in the next year – 7% were positive. The results were supposed to be destroyed, as baseball had no official penalty for a positive test then.

Where are the other 103 names? Why is A-Rod alone taking the hit for this, besides being the big name? Are there other motivations? If you were one of the players from 2003, whether you are on that list or not, aren’t you upset, because now the whole season is under suspicion and therefore you are too? 104 players equals 4 full baseball teams, which means about 10% of the players that year were using steroids.

How can many of these journalists justify ripping A-Rod without roundly ripping the management of the game back then and demand that all names be released? From the clubhouse to the board room, they had their head in the sand for decades, and they’re just sitting in their high-rise offices, collecting their millions, washing their hands of the whole situation. Hell, the journalists themselves, who today are on the stump saying the game will never be the same are the same ones who ignored the signs throughout the 90s.

I just don’t like it. I hate that players, good players, even MVPs and Hall of Famers made the decision to juice. But, I hate it even more that there are people getting paid to write and lazily jab and wag their finger at players who were trying to get better, as they sit on their fluffy couch eating potato chips. Roberts and Epstein will make the sports radio rounds as they talk about scooping this story. In my opinion, they should stop by their lawyers’ offices to begin their case to defend their sources leaking confidential information.

A-Rod doesn’t owe anyone – not the Texas Rangers owner, not the Yankees, not the Commissioner – an apology, except the fans. And he did that in a pretty decent act of contrition in his interview with Peter Gammons the other night. You could tell on his face that he was upset, both for doing it and for getting caught (illegally – I just can’t let the leakers go, on this), but he said he was sorry, said he’ll move on, which is what we all need to do when it comes to the issue of baseball and steroid use. It’s old news, the game is moving on, their stiff banned-substance policy in place. But some are stuck in the past. The players can’t be suspended, they can’t be fined. I will say that it would be a great gesture if A-Rod donated some of his earnings from 2001-2003 to charity (he is being honored soon for his $3.9 million gift to his school). He has the money. It would be a good gesture and maybe it would help restore his character amongst the writers.

My guess, though, is they might extend a hand of goodwill to him, but are just as likely to write that giving away the money is just a stunt to help his image. These knuckleheads want it both ways, will write the angle that they think will get them the most readers and have no regrets. It’s lazy. I am not outraged at the players at this point. I’m outraged at the outrageous response.