So now Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, having been exposed as a steroid-user, comes out and admits he used.
What's really got him in trouble, of course, is that he in 2007 said directly in a CBS interview that he had never used.
But really none of this is the big issue here. There unfortunately are plenty of big-name baseball players who've done this--claimed they never used, but then have it come out they did--Rafael Palmeiro, Andy Pettite, Mark McGwire, etc. Baseball has already taken a hit from this. This just adds to it.
The interesting question to me, then, is this: with this ARod revelation coming out now, shortly before the beginning of spring training--will baseball suffer from it? You know, right now you have to say: no. People have known about steroid and other banned-substances use in baseball for some time now. Yet TV ratings continue to hang in there, attendance at major league games continues to hold steady or rise, and there remains plenty of interest in MLB. People are definitely cynical about big-league ballplayers and who and what they're about. But they continue to love the game.
I don't know if that's such a horrible thing. Why forsake such a great game just because some of those who play it can't be honest? But, I'll also continue to say what I've said before--if baseball wants steroids and other substances out of the game, then they've simply got to have very tough testing, and everyone involved in the game has to agree to it and stick with it. I wonder if all the millionaires involved in this game can all pull together and achieve that goal. Because it would be a shame to ruin such a great game and great business.
