A- Rod admits to steroid use in 2003

[greg683x]

A wise angle to take by Arod

Yes sir... It's clear he wants no part of what happened to Bonds and Clemens.

This should bring closure to the "steroid era".

I highly doubt it.  I know for sure it wont be any form of closure for me.

[CelticsWhat35]

People like to hate Alex because he is filthy rich, good looking, and the best baseball player in the world. However, he did the smart thing and he should be forgiven with time.

You forgot "cheater".

And he may be forgiven, but if Barry Bonds isn't allowed into the HOF, A-Rod shouldn't be either.

[yall hate]

People like to hate Alex because he is filthy rich, good looking, and the best baseball player in the world. However, he did the smart thing and he should be forgiven with time.

I'll disagree with everything except the filthy rich comment.

[EatSleepBreatheGreen]

I took psychology in college and one of the first things they taught me is how to tell when someones lying. In the first interview with Katie watch his eyes. Hes blinking like crazy when answering the questions. Then on the new interview today he is still blinking, but then when asked the tough question he opens his eyes in a "i cant blink too much, so im going to act surprised" kind of way. Hes a BSer, baseball between the mid 90s to the early 00s will forever be tainted. And Arod is the tip of the iceberg.

On a lighter note, now we have something to yell at Yankees games in Fenway.

A-ROID, A-ROID, lol too easy

[Toine43]

'Twas the right move for A-Rod to make.

However, I hope no one here is naive enough to actually buy what he is selling. In terms of years 2004-2008 and beyond, A-Rod should be considered guilty until proven innocent in the court of public opinion.

[Finkelskyhook]

But Alex, I thought you said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVcqLt9sJLs&feature=related

Now what am I supposed to believe? 

I'm definitely not rational in my approach to this, but [dang] do I love watching ARod squirm.

Which is exactly why I said his answer was BS.  he is likely still using HGH.

What BS.  I seriously hope the HoF voters remember his blatent lies and keep him out of the HoF.

Come on, guys.  Alex wasn't being honest with himself; how could he be honest with Katie Couric?

Katie is about as honest as she is smart.  Alex was trying to reduce himself to her level.  That's impossible.

As I said many times.  If Rodriguez was wearing a Boston uniform, the take in this blog would be 180 degrees different. But with a Sox board member doing the steroids "investigation" none of this would have ever leaked out... .

All that said, Alex is a bright guy and saw that the Pettitte model worked like a charm.  It won't work quite tha good for him, but it will work.

[crownsy]

If people kill Barry Bonds in the media, then I expect A-Rod to get killed too.  If Barry Bonds doesn't get into the hall of fame when his time is up, then A-Rod shouldn't get in either.  I hate the fact that some people are actually trying to defend A-Rod through out this.

A-Rod isn't a African American who is unfriendly or dismissive of the World wide leader and sports media in general, so i expect the treatment will be much, much different and have alot more "andy pettie" than "barry" about it.

Is easy to cruxfiy someone in the press when you've hated them for years. What bonds did is inexcusable and he deserve's what he gets, but the national media is just as big a fraud for the different ways they handled more "friendly to the media" types (im looking at you andy and most of the mitchle report) as opposed to thier gleeful assassination of bonds for the same behavior.

Cheating should be cheating, and the "scumbag meter" shouldn't be influenced by how much you get on your knees in front of sportswriters to please there ego.

But it is, so ESPN will treat this like it is, a sad case of a pro athlete caving to what everyone else was doing, rather than the baseball anti-Christ the've made barry out to be.

[MBz]

I agree Crownsy.  I didn't want to bring much of it up on here as I wasn't sure if it was the right spot to do so, but that's ultimately it comes down to a lot of what you said.  Also, I'm not sure if a Red Sox came out if people here would feel differently on the matter.  If I found out David Ortiz did steroids, I'd feel the same way about him as I do A-Rod. 

[fairweatherfan]

The baseball HOF is a museum that chronicles the history of baseball. Steroids, for better or worse, are part of that history. The appropriate measure is not to bury baseball's head in the sand and forget that Bonds, ARod, Rose, or whoever simply didn't exist. They should be in there, warts and all, and let the public decide how to view them. The only fair way to do the Hall of Fame is to let all that would qualify and put them in a separate wing or something. They'd have to make some notation about the era in the organization of the Hall.

If they played in the 90s and 00s, they should be in with the caveat that "this was the era that encouraged the proliferation of performance-enhancing substances. View accomplishments with that in mind" etc. or something like it.

The HoF is for the most talented members of the sport.  If you are cheating to become that, then you shouldnt be rewarded. Tainted numbers dont belong among the clean ones. and while you may not be able to determine all of the dirty athletes, you should be able to exclude the dirty members that you can identify

Yes, but that's very difficult to determine.  For example, at this point it looks like Bonds won't get into the HOF, at least for the first several years of eligibility and possibly forever.  But there's no denying he had 1st ballot HOF talent and numbers even prior to steroid use.  Similar deal with A-Rod though it seems he started using younger.  

How should voters account for that?  Is keeping out steroid guys to punish their cheating, or because it clouds our ability to judge whether their natural talent alone would have gotten them there?  

If it's the first, we probably have to keep out the better part of an entire generation of players, or start making decisions based on pretty sketchy factors like likability and whether they've admitted it (like Giambi vs Bonds - not that Giambi's a HOFer, but you know what I mean).  If it's the second, how the heck do we determine that?

[CelticsWhat35]

The baseball HOF is a museum that chronicles the history of baseball. Steroids, for better or worse, are part of that history. The appropriate measure is not to bury baseball's head in the sand and forget that Bonds, ARod, Rose, or whoever simply didn't exist. They should be in there, warts and all, and let the public decide how to view them. The only fair way to do the Hall of Fame is to let all that would qualify and put them in a separate wing or something. They'd have to make some notation about the era in the organization of the Hall.

If they played in the 90s and 00s, they should be in with the caveat that "this was the era that encouraged the proliferation of performance-enhancing substances. View accomplishments with that in mind" etc. or something like it.

The HoF is for the most talented members of the sport.  If you are cheating to become that, then you shouldnt be rewarded. Tainted numbers dont belong among the clean ones. and while you may not be able to determine all of the dirty athletes, you should be able to exclude the dirty members that you can identify

Yes, but that's very difficult to determine.  For example, at this point it looks like Bonds won't get into the HOF, at least for the first several years of eligibility and possibly forever.  But there's no denying he had 1st ballot HOF talent and numbers even prior to steroid use.  Similar deal with A-Rod though it seems he started using younger.  

How should voters account for that?  Is keeping out steroid guys to punish their cheating, or because it clouds our ability to judge whether their natural talent alone would have gotten them there?  

If it's the first, we probably have to keep out the better part of an entire generation of players, or start making decisions based on pretty sketchy factors like likability and whether they've admitted it (like Giambi vs Bonds - not that Giambi's a HOFer, but you know what I mean).  If it's the second, how the heck do we determine that?

As much as I hate A-Rod, I have little doubt that he would become one of the best hitters of the game had he not used steroids.  But he did.  And there has to be a price to pay for cheating.  And that starts with the HOF.

[KungPoweChicken]

People like to hate Alex because he is filthy rich, good looking, and the best baseball player in the world. However, he did the smart thing and he should be forgiven with time.

You forgot "cheater".

And he may be forgiven, but if Barry Bonds isn't allowed into the HOF, A-Rod shouldn't be either.

In my opinion, A-Rod's situation is completely different than Bonds'. When he breaks Bonds' home run record he will be forgiven and celebrated. He is presently condemned, but he will be the future hero and liberator of the steroid era. If he is not then baseball is botching the difference between right and wrong, and the game will clearly have no integrity left.

[CelticsWhat35]

People like to hate Alex because he is filthy rich, good looking, and the best baseball player in the world. However, he did the smart thing and he should be forgiven with time.

You forgot "cheater".

And he may be forgiven, but if Barry Bonds isn't allowed into the HOF, A-Rod shouldn't be either.

In my opinion, A-Rod's situation is completely different than Bonds'. When he breaks Bonds' home run record he will be forgiven and celebrated. He is presently condemned, but he will be the future hero and liberator of the steroid era. If he is not then baseball is botching the difference between right and wrong, and the game will clearly have no integrity left.

Hahhahahahahahhahaa.  I almost wet myself.  So a cheater is somehow the "hero" of the steroid era???  Good one.

[yall hate]

The baseball HOF is a museum that chronicles the history of baseball. Steroids, for better or worse, are part of that history. The appropriate measure is not to bury baseball's head in the sand and forget that Bonds, ARod, Rose, or whoever simply didn't exist. They should be in there, warts and all, and let the public decide how to view them. The only fair way to do the Hall of Fame is to let all that would qualify and put them in a separate wing or something. They'd have to make some notation about the era in the organization of the Hall.

If they played in the 90s and 00s, they should be in with the caveat that "this was the era that encouraged the proliferation of performance-enhancing substances. View accomplishments with that in mind" etc. or something like it.

The HoF is for the most talented members of the sport.  If you are cheating to become that, then you shouldnt be rewarded. Tainted numbers dont belong among the clean ones. and while you may not be able to determine all of the dirty athletes, you should be able to exclude the dirty members that you can identify

Yes, but that's very difficult to determine.  For example, at this point it looks like Bonds won't get into the HOF, at least for the first several years of eligibility and possibly forever.  But there's no denying he had 1st ballot HOF talent and numbers even prior to steroid use.  Similar deal with A-Rod though it seems he started using younger.  

How should voters account for that?  Is keeping out steroid guys to punish their cheating, or because it clouds our ability to judge whether their natural talent alone would have gotten them there?  

If it's the first, we probably have to keep out the better part of an entire generation of players, or start making decisions based on pretty sketchy factors like likability and whether they've admitted it (like Giambi vs Bonds - not that Giambi's a HOFer, but you know what I mean).  If it's the second, how the heck do we determine that?

As much as I hate A-Rod, I have little doubt that he would become one of the best hitters of the game had he not used steroids.  But he did.  And there has to be a price to pay for cheating.  And that starts with the HOF.

Also, remember:

Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.

Seems like he fails integrity and character.  And well, not sure if you get sportsmanship points for slapping an opposing pitchers hand away from tagging you, or yelling I got it to distract a fielder while rounding the bases...

oh and contributions, well I think his lack of clutch performances and failure to win when it matters are well documented.

[rondofan1255]

I hope A-Rod gets criticized to the same degree as Bonds was.

[LB3533]

Who cares about this crap anymore?

Baseball didn't care if its own players cheated, why should we?

If all these players cheated and there are quite the few, then it is really cheating?