I’m not quite as cynical as you, Steve. I DO believe he could have taken something without knowing exactly what it was if a trusted teammate or trainer (who care about what goes into their bodies too) gave something to him. It could have simply someone saying “this is what I gave Pudge, Juan, and Raffy, don’t you want it?” I don’t think A-Rod necessarily had to ask for the chemical make-up of the product because he cares about his body so much.

Also, the whole “pretty accurate” thing. A-Rod was probably just nervous and stumbled over himself. If he thought about that question, he probably wouldn’t answer the question like that again. And maybe it started in the off-season preceding the 2001 season and was technically in 2000 (say Nov, Dec.)

Although I think his word choice is poor, I do believe there was a different atmosphere with PEDs back in 2001-03. Everyone was doing them without shame and they were obvious in the locker room. Now, PED users and distributors have probably gone somewhat underground. But when everything was out in the open, why wouldn’t A-Rod try something that everyone else on his team was doing? I’m sure it was “loosy-goosy” back then.

None of this excuses what A-Rod did, but I think the interview came off as poor because 1) A-Rod was nervous and 2) much of it was scripted. When A-Rod stumbled from the script, it made him look bad. In a situation like this (where one is prone to make mistakes) I find it hard to indict A-Rod because of some poor wording or less than precise answers.

He would have been much better off doing his best Borat impression and saying something like “If Ms. Roberts were here right now, I would say to her ‘Listen pussycat, smile a bit’ and nothing more.”
——-
made me laugh out loud at work…everyone looked @ me lol
——

say does anyone remember when the beef between a-rod and jeter actually started? was it 01?

I haven’t posted a comment here in quite a while. I’ve given up on arguing, expecting him to concede points on Cashman and anything else he may have a negative spin on – with respect to the Yanks.

That said, Steve is 100% correct here with his post, I feel he has been balanced and he even agrees that the manner how the information was obtained and leaked wasn’t right. However, it was leaked, it’s a fact and ARod has admitted it. Those are the facts, all we can do is listen to ARod’s explanation and say if we believe him or not.

I watched that interview, I don’t find anything he said as genuine and forthright. I don’t believe him and I sincerely feel more is going to come out now, the cat is out of the bag people, hide the women and children cause this will soon become “an A-Bomb from A-Roid”.

I could care less about PEDs, but I do find it interesting how he handled this and just like anything he touches, he botched this up too.

I am willing to make a bet that more comes out, that we find out he did roids in his Mariner and/or Yankee years. At that point, he’s a liar and his character is shoved down the annals of Bonds, Clemens, Caminiti, and Benito Santiago’s of the world. That doesn’t mean he isn’t great, that just means we have a liar manning 3rd base.

Isn’t it great to bash Jeter and say how he should be more accepting of ARod now? Jeter never changed, Jeter’s character was the same all throughout and he didn’t feel the need to show Yankee fans that he was willing to kiss ARod’s ass. In the end, that logic proved to be the right one.

If we find out Jeter was on PEDs, too. He’ll have to suffer through the same consequences, I’ll stay consistent – this has nothing to do with Jeter or ARod. But this has everything to do with ARod’s very flawed make-up and character.

9 more years!!!

When he comes up to bat, I’ll still root for him to help the Yanks. In the end, I ain’t gonna stop being a Yankee fan.

the benefit of the doubt*, my bad.

I think Steve is flippin’ flapjacks crazy about bashing Cashman, but I had pretty much the exact same thoughts as him when I watched the interview as well. I think a lot of other Yanks blogs have put blinders on as far the confession is concerned. Giving a guy who confessed to cheating because he was backed into a wall with the only other choice being reviled like Bonds and McGuire the the doubt is a pretty asinine. Woodstock reference illustrates Rodriguez’s comments on the whole GNC / what kind of substance portion of the interview well.

I personally don’t care what he did or didn’t do before becoming a Yankee. He will never be the ‘true’ home run leader now in my mind, when/if he breaks the record(s), but he’ll be a heck of a lot of fun to watch approach and pass them. I mainly hope he hasn’t done PEDs since joining the Yankees, and won’t ever again, so keeping fingers crossed for the time being on that.

I understand your cynical take on this, but I’m starting to think you are cynical about everything besides Ruth, Gahrig, Mantle, Maris and Donny..oh and Mo. I’ve been reading a bunch of blogs on this and your post is so negatively driven that is giving me a bad taste in my mouth. I really find it hard to believe you’re a Yankee fan. You sound like you work for espn. I understand this is your blog, your point of view, but I wonder if you really feel this way of if it’s just to get more traffic. Everything is so bitter. I, for one, will give him the benefit of the doubt. If he says 2001-2003, fine, I’m ready to move on. I won’t forget this and I will never feel the same about him as a player, but I’m willing to give him a chance to prove himself or bury himself with out betting against him.

Knowing what we know about Alex’s fragile ego (some from Torre’s book, natch), I might tend to believe Alex would use PED’s for the pure reason of wanting to fit in or because someone convinced him it was the right thing to do.

Dare I speculate that the reason he may have stayed away from the juice in Seattle was the influence of Piniella and/or Griffey, who has managed to keep his nose clean through this entire mess.

Who would that guardian angel have been in Texas? Palmeiro? Ivan Rodriguez? Ken Caminiti? Looking at the names on those Rangers teams in that time period, I wonder if PED’s weren’t on the same table as the cold cuts in the post-game spread….