Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/index.html

bfd?

"Bidirectional Forwarding Detection", a network protocol for detecting faults in networks?

steroid finger-wagging and tut-tutting does not amuse me, I guess :\

¯\(°_o)/¯

¯\(°_o)/¯

There was some essay by Lewis Lapham that sardonically suggested legalizing all performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, because since the rest of American culture had evolved to become manufactured and staged, so why shouldn't the national pastime follow suit?

pretty tired of lewis lapham's endless decline of civilization shtick. dude needs to either disembowel himself in the mall of america or stfu imo

PARDONS FOR ALL

Ha, yeah. I only brought it up because I thought the notion of flipping things around and promoting the use of steroids and the like was fun to think about.

Canseco called this one out I believe when the Mitchell Report came out and he wondered why A-Rod's name was missing...

Results 1 - 10 of about 3,750,000 for "alex roidriguez". (0.24 seconds)

Was it Cowherd who said he was "certain" A-Rod has never used steroids?

MLB Network coverage of this is hilarious.

SHOCKING

bosscat
(3623)

Joe: It is good to see that someone is finally asking whether the MLBPA should be held responsible for allowing their players to be outed like this.

In late 2002, I worked for an agent and one of our clients asked us to get more information about the upcoming drug testing. Gene Orza was incredibly condescending in explaining to us that a positive test could never be used against a player because no personally identifying information would be kept. Guess that didn't work out for ARod or anyone else. The MLBPA's high-priced lawyers should have known this information could not be kept confidential if subject to a government inquiry.

I share this story because I think the players must take a long, hard look at the leadership of its union. The players have not been helped at all by the union on this issue. In fact the MLBPA's arrogance has continually put the players in a horrible position as it relates to the whole PED issue.
Feb 07, 2009 11:21 AM

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,790,000 for a-roid. (0.08 seconds)

yeah this kinda falls under "who cares" imo

Results 1 - 10 of about 12,300 for asterisk-roid. (0.23 seconds)

i guess David Eckstein is gonna make da Hall!

the worst side effect of 'roids

http://wschowa.com/abrimaal/araceum/unid/logoias.gif

lol this is wonderful can we get jeter next

i'm squarely in the 'dont care either way about steroids' camp but if jeter ever tested positive my entire world would be turned upside down

dude was/still is my hero

So... you do care about steroids then.

(As a cycling fan I say fuck anyone who dopes in whatever sport. Fuck their careers and fuck their place in the history books. Cheats, the lot of them.)

And Richard Justice agrees with me.

mars2001
(28654)MLB has outsourced enforcement to the Associated Press.

Feb 07, 2009 18:55 PM link rating: 4

Mark, first, do you know Willie Mays was said to have used liquid amphetamines late in his career?

More to the point, your standard (cycling, lol) should mean that means no one from 1985-2004 should go in the Hall. Ever.

Anthony Rieber of Newsday:

I double-dog guarantee you that one year a new Hall of Famer who got away with it will stand up at his induction speech and everyone will celebrate how he did it the clean way, and we will never know the truth. That he wasn't clean at all.

Here's what I know: With or without steroids, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were three of the greatest players in baseball history. They competed at a time when a good number of players opposing them were also using steroids, and they were still by far the best.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-sprieber0209,0,5327125.column

Alex Rodriguez - age 33 comparables:

Sammy Sosa, Ken Caminiti, Bobby Grich, Dave Winfield

With or without steroids, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were three of the greatest players in baseball history.

i never get this line of reasoning because those three guys didn't need steroids to be the greatest. we're not talking about some schmuck who's trying to start the year on the major league roster instead of in AAA.

without steroids barry bonds and roger clemens were two of the greatest players in baseball history - with steroids they were the two greatest players in baseball history

also clemens got hot stuff rubbed all over his balls by some dude

roger clemens was certainly not the greatest pitcher in baseball history! top 20? top 30?

^hall of fame either way

I think by the numbers he's the best post-WW2, which, if you accept that athletes are getting better all the time, makes him the best. (kinda like Babe Ruth, arriving in a time machine from the 1920s, would be lucky to make a 2009 major-league roster)

top 30 o_O

One thing I love is about the coverage is that there is anachronistic anti-revisionism going on... ie, in Stark's article:

"He was the one man on the planet with the chance to resuscitate the greatest record in sports. He was the one man on the planet with the chance to rebuild his sport's sacred bridge to the glory days. And now he'll never get that back, no matter how many more home run trots he makes."

In 2003 Bonds had 613 HRs...

There's also this naive undertone that A-Rod began juicing in 2003... c'mon now!

jayson stark is a moron obvs, but i still think this story sucks.

let's import a nonjuiced NFL player who can hit to RESUSCITATE BASEBALL

Neon Deion?

^^^ would pay to watch

yes morbs that really cuts to the heart of the issue.

What "issue"? Why, precisely, should I care about steroids in baseball?

i'm not saying one should or shouldn't care but there's a smugness to some of the "who cares" contingent (and i'm not talking about morbs or anyone here) with the subtext that anyone who does care is a naive retard.

but people experience fandom in different ways. i care fuck all for "the history of baseball" but some people love that shit and alltime records and whatnot; those people probably care about steroids. i like baseball on a micro level and think there is (or should be) an essential honesty in the pitcher/batter matchup so yeah i care a bit about steroids.

What "honesty"? How does integrity feature into one guy throwing a ball and another guy trying to hit it?

They have a testing system and penalties now (as flawed as they are, ie, guys are using undetectable stuff and will whenever they can). A "violation" at a time when there were NO PENALTIES is not one you can apply the "Hall of Fame ban" to, and remain reasonable.

What "honesty"? How does integrity feature into one guy throwing a ball and another guy trying to hit it?

― nosotros niggamos (HI DERE), Monday, February 9, 2009 11:41 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

are you being serious with that second question?

morbs, that's exactly right. however, i could really give a rat's ass about the hall of fame. it's just annoying to me to think that when a batter faces a pitcher, that batter may (without anyone's knowledge) be taking substances that make it more likely for his fly ball to become a home run than had he not been taking those substances.

i dont know abt personal integrity but the lol uneven playing field in baseball (tho more due to lack of a salary cap than steroids imo) has def hurt mlb - cause u know games are dependent on rules having some integrity

xxp: more pitchers than hitters have been caught abusing PEDs since the testing began.

This isn't a baseball slam, btw; I am hard-pressed to think of a single sport where I am concerned about the impact of alleged performance-enhancing controlled substances because I see them as an acceleration of something that is already happening anyway. People are becoming bigger, stronger, and faster by virtue of the wealth of our society and our obsession/insistence on "eating properly"; we know so much more about nutrition now, plus our livestock sciences are so thoroughly inundated with a myriad of substances to increase food production, that it seems that throwing in steroids is not going to give you an appreciable boost insurmountable by anyone else. Even if it does, if everyone else gets access to the same substances, it levels the playing field again, so I don't really see it as an issue. The people involved are adults; if they want to decide to do this, they are well within their rights. If they get caught and there are penalties, they will pay them. I still don't think they're "ruining the game". The game is the game; it always has been and it always will be. Players change all the time, records shuffle all over the place and it doesn't matter because 100 years from now someone else will be atop that leaderboard whether steroids are involved or not.

the lol uneven playing field in baseball (tho more due to lack of a salary cap)

Salary cap likely wouldn't work in MLB. Maybe someone can find that Prospectus bit a couple weeks ago that explained why.

I also want to point out that unless you're dealing with identically-raised clones, there will always be an imbalance between pitcher and hitter regardless of the use of steroids. I think people have a completely warped idea of what steroids actually do; they aren't magic make-you-perform-better pills.

im sure they could work something out doesnt have to be a hard cap - basketball has the whole bird rights system - just something where the rich teams dont take all the good players - obv they already have revenue sharing and the thing w/draft picks but its just not enough

dan they are basically magic make u perform better pills - obv yr starting w/a baseline talent - but theyll give a guy w/warning track power big home run numbers every time

Also guys, and this is important, Alex Rodriguez is a gigantic preening douche, and something embarrassing and 'image'-sullying has happened to him so let's keep our eyes on the prize and enjoy this as a cause for celebration.

otm

Stark and others who are so precious about the damn records: OF dimensions, mound height, balls and bats, playing surfaces, DH, number of teams, length of schedule, and uh, oh yeah, racism -- all things that have had equal or greater effect on "hallowed" records than steroids.

Many xposts, nosotros y (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) particularly OTM.

theyll give a guy w/warning track power big home run numbers every time

this is OTM. baseball is affected by this more than, say, basketball, where strength is important but doesn't translate so instantly into tangible results. the tiniest augmentation of force applied at the moment of impact has a big consequence. yes you still have to be able to hit major league pitching, which is beyond the grasp of 99.99 percent of the population, but if you can do that, bigger muscles translate directly into better hitting performance. it doesn't help with running or defense so much though and could actually hinder them (in the Old Days, ballplayers were leery of weightlifting because they were worried about becoming "musclebound")

David Wells (A PITCHER) stated that "25 to 40 percent of all Major Leaguers are juiced".[2003]

José Canseco stated on 60 Minutes and in his tell-all book Juiced that as many as 85% of players used steroids, and that he credited steroid use for his entire career.[2005]

they are basically magic ... theyll give a guy w/warning track power big home run numbers every time

icey (and Tracer), u mad. read The Juice by Will Carroll. Also note the number of warning-track players on the assorted Dirty Lists who stayed just as mediocre as they were.

i am SO glad we're having the same arguments for the 5000th time, too, fuckin' Slap-Rod

if it didn't work they wouldn't do it

yeah, just like Wade Boggs eating chicken every day.

lol i may hav been a bit ott w/my every time assertion but basically "icey otm"

who else has come to believe that 40%-70% of All-Star caliber players in the '90s and early '00s were "doing it"?

It was the environment of MLB in the era. Deal, or be Bob Costas.

don't steroids also heal you faster from nagging injuries- and prolong your carreer? or is that HGH?

anyway, come up with some hard and fast rules about it. apply it evenly and be done with it. more homeruns don't make baseball any more interesting to me

Deal, or be Bob Costas.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, February 9, 2009 12:18 PM (40 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

omg which path 2 choose :O

There are "hard and fast rules." All the shitstorm around Bonds, Clemens and A-Rod is based on Pre-Penalty Era leaks to the media.

notice Curt Schilling uncharacteristically lunging for the spotlight:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2009/02/08/2009-02-08_curt_schilling_i_want_all_the_names.html

I know there are tools in every sport but why is it that the baseball tools are the tooliest (standing exception made for Terrell Owens)?

http://cache.thephoenix.com/i/OldBlogs/SoxBlog/schilling-curt-main.jpg
i want all the names

OMG schill is the bestest

can schill make an appearance in the peyton manning movies

Also guys, and this is important, Alex Rodriguez is a gigantic preening douche, and something embarrassing and 'image'-sullying has happened to him so let's keep our eyes on the prize and enjoy this as a cause for celebration.

― Safe Boating is No Accident (G00blar)

even if you don't care about steroids, please think of this and all the laughing, pointing children

btw i'm not a scientist and i just sort of can't get mad at steroids users now. these days i would just be slightly more impressed if i found out for 100% certain that some dude who averaged 45 HR a year for awhile never did use any PEDs. i guess i do think that steroids help some of these guys, but probably only the already good or great players. steroids can't really help you make solid contact or take a walk, so if cesar izturis started juiced he might hit 2 more HR per year but then he would still be only hitting 3 HR per year.

juicedjuicing

yeah, just like Wade Boggs eating chicken every day.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, February 9, 2009 12:15 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^ pretty strong zing

boggs invented obp by eating chicken fyi

nothing's changed, argues Tim Marchman (note "no one has ever presented credible evidence proving that performance-enhancing drugs make athletes better at playing baseball"):

http://www.slate.com/id/2210814/

In the end, no matter how much the shrieking moralists might like to pretend otherwise, drug use hasn't done much harm to baseball at all. In their day, genuinely likable players like McGwire and Sosa were held up as real paragons of virtue and saviors of a benighted sport; the destruction of their reputations and the actual admissions made by equally likable players such as Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte haven't damaged baseball a bit. You can prove that more or less every great ballplayer is an outright fraud, but you can't make anyone like baseball a jot less for it. It's still an open question whether this fact will ever settle in: People don't care much more about whether their favorite ballplayers take drugs than they care about whether Michael Phelps likes to get high. In the meantime, expect Alex Rodriguez to hit a lot of home runs and to be hated by everyone who watches baseball—exactly what would have happened had SI never run its report at all.

is there any way to actually prove or disprove the effects of steroids on performance other than statistics? serious q.

casting everyone who thinks steroids have damaged the game as a shrieking moralist is no more insightful than shrieking moralizing

uh

uh what

i would argue that most ppl in column 1 tend to come with more science than those in column 2, but yes we've had this discussion before

OK so then there are two options:

1) PEDs make athletes better at baseball. well this sucks because not every baseball player uses PEDs and so the game is unfair.

2) PEDs do not make athletes better at baseball. ok wtf you morons stop taking them! why am i supposed to feel better about this?

Honestly everyone in the who cares camp should be arguing for full amnesty for players who used (and continue to use) provided they admit it publicly.

I also want to point out that unless you're dealing with identically-raised clones, there will always be an imbalance between pitcher and hitter regardless of the use of steroids.

again, are you serious w/this?

having to deal w/peoples opinions abt steroids has def damaged the game - like me for instance i dont even really like baseball - i just came here to lol @ arod and now im engaged in this redundant argument - now in my mind baseball=inane hand wringing

nice1 canseco

You can prove that more or less every great ballplayer is an outright fraud

If this guy can back this statement up he'll be set for life

xpost well yeah this is the problem--previously i could lol at arod for plenty of perfectly valid reasons but w/this i would technically have to lol at like 200 other guys as well.

lol the world brody http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:xqDSIkAyxTmQiM:http://microscopiq.com/images/mushroom-clown-ps3.jpg

like me for instance i dont even really like baseball

we could tell when you mentioned "salary cap"

and perhaps by the "magic make u perform better pills" thing

mets sux

call me blinky...

arod supposedly being interviewed by gammons later today

yah i'm with morbz on the 'doesn't really make u better' idea. like someone said above 'roids are designed to shorten recovery times and yeah build muscle mass but until i see some real evidence that shows an appreciable change in the ability to PLAY BETTER, i'm not going to care that much. (not that no one should care--for example i think it sets a shitty example for kids, considering how terrible roids are for yr body and the fact that most kids who take roids in HS arent going to amount to anything in pro ball.)

it's like, a pitcher putting vaseline on the ball will be able to manipulate the ball better and thus have a real, tangible, DIRECT advantage on a micro level; a batter (or pitcher obvs) taking roids might have more muscle and might be in better shape than he would have, but it's an indirect advantage and doesnt necessarily make him better at baseball. does any of that make sense?

That makes perfect sense.

i think that's a bit naive. i think PEDs make better players better... but it can't turn a nobody into a superstar... except for ken caminiti.

guys strength is super important to hitting fyi

But it's not of primary importance, which is why Gabe Kapler never hit 20 HR.

btw, Gene Orza denies tipoff angle.

“It’s not true,” Orza said in an e-mail message. “Simple as that.”

“It makes juicier stuff to suggest there were tip-offs,” Orza said about the SI.com report. “But there weren’t.”

He added: “I don’t care about the press coverage. It’s irrelevant.”

I was amused to see former NY Times hack Selena Roberts was apparently the lead SI reporter on this when Costas interviewed her on MLB. Wow, her AND Jon Heyman, SI really scoops up the best and brightest these days.

but it could be just a coincidence that bonds had the best seasons ever at an age when players are typically over the hill that mcguire et al were roided to the gills when they were breaking records etc etc

if yr good at baseball and want to hit the ball harder steroids can help

well what's he gonna say? "yeah i completely tipped those guys off." xp

ice cr?m... you're buying into a lot of mythology dude.

o plz enlighten me

If you can't hit the ball, bulking up after taking steroids will not help you.

If you can hit the ball, bulking up after taking steroids may or may not help you.

i-rod's career to thread

yah i'm with morbz on the 'doesn't really make u better' idea. like someone said above 'roids are designed to shorten recovery times and yeah build muscle mass but until i see some real evidence that shows an appreciable change in the ability to PLAY BETTER, i'm not going to care that much.

beyond statistics, is there any way to actually prove if it makes a player better or not? i mean tbh looking at the stats on bonds or sosa or mcgwire and then assuming that they started using steroids around a certain time, it makes perfect sense for people to believe that their subsequent "best of all time" kinda seasons were assisted just a little bit. i mean sammy sosa was, despite his HR power, a pretty mediocre player up until 1998.

like i said i can't get too pissed off about this stuff but there is some proof there, in a certain way. i'm not going to do anything other than ¯\(°_o)/¯ at this point though.

If you can't hit the ball, bulking up after taking steroids will not help you.

If you can hit the ball, bulking up after taking steroids may or may not help you.

― nosotros niggamos (HI DERE), Monday, February 9, 2009 2:26 PM (33 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

im not sure why people always bring up the 1st part of this formulation as its completely moot cause were talking abt guys getting an edge over other players who CAN hit the baseball

icey, we're not denying that numbers for certain players were very likely inflated, but it's a fog. There's no "control group" -- ie, no players can ever be proven "clean" -- so ppl who claim that Player X's use of Substance Y affected his output by Z-factor are just whistlin' Dixie.

i mean are people so far gone on this thing that they're now saying that strength only has an indirect relation to hitting? any one physical factor only has an indirect relation to hitting. no one is suggesting that big muscles create bat speed and hand/eye coordination but come the fuck on. how many weird spiky brady anderson in '96 seasons would you need to see to conclude that this has impacted games on the field?

eckstein is clean!

but morbs is otm

(xpost)

so because it's a fog we're just going to say it is what it is? i understand that to a certain point but i would like to see that list of 104 because it will increase my understanding of exactly what has been happening to the game.

this isnt a court of law or a peer reviewed journal - i just looked at the aging comically inflated bonds demolishing the record books and lold @ the farce - sometimes things are pretty easily seen and understood that dont offer the right circumstances for statistical or forensic or whatever analysis

i don't hate on the roiders because i guess the draw of taking the shit is the massive contracts, and i can sorta understand, but i feel for the really excellent players who don't take shit and get outclassed stats wise

will it? Waht about the guys who've been dodgy enough to pass tests but have still been using "something."

http://www.femmefan.com/site/images/lookerspics/lookers2/Brady-Anderson.jpg

well yeah it would be ridic of anyone to assume that we will fully understand the so-called steroid era but i would prefer to see this stuff start coming out, that's all.

btw I know that sports is 'the Toy Department' of life but the media vocab on this issue is so McCarthyite it's crazy.

icey:

the mythology is that power hitters/HRs = the steroid problem in baseball. 70%+ of the PED busts since the MLB began enforcing have been largely mediocre middle-relievers, speedy 4th-outfielder types... not exactly making the difference in the outcome of the game.

the other thing that the media perpetuates is that steroids = muscle/bulk. there are far more skinny, lanky PED abusers in MLB than bulky sluggers. steroids do not automatically inflate your biceps and neck. when used in conjunction with weight training, yes steroids help you gain muscle mass. but the media oversimplifies it so that bulky slugger = roids. while there's some correlation, it is not 1:1.

yah well there are a lot of mediocre middle-relievers in the world and most peds are not anabolic steroids - but steriods do build muscle mass thats what theyre for mr myth buster

a-rod admits in an interview w/ peter gammons tonight on ESPN. his reasoning is "when i got to texas i was young and naive and felt like i had the weight of the world of my shoulders and i wanted to prove everyone right"

His voice shaking at times, Alex Rodriguez met head-on allegations that he tested positive for steroids six years ago, telling ESPN on Monday that he did take performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers during a three-year period beginning in 2001.

"When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez told ESPN's Peter Gammons in an interview in Miami Beach, Fla. "Back then, [baseball] was a different culture. It was very loose. 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.

"I did take a banned substance. For that, I'm very sorry and deeply regretful."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3894847

all is forgiven alexander...

someone please ask madonna how this has affected a-rod's junk

but the media oversimplifies it so that bulky slugger = roids. while there's some correlation, it is not 1:1.

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Monday, February 9, 2009 2:44 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this may be true but yr and morbs et al confusion at why people are focusing on the most successful players is def on some aspie shit

i'm just saying you bought into the mythology dawg. no need for a dude who posts 5000 msgs a day on her to start throwing out the "aspie" card... ;-)

im just saying that yr definition of mythology is based on some psychological disorder is all

so the Rangers' clubhouse at that time was Steroid Heaven. Anyone have anything to ask Mark Teixeira?

wow *jaw drops* at him admitting it, dont know what to say really

i mean i assumed he did it and all, it's just...i cant believe he's admitting it

what else can he do, stonewall after seeing what it got Sosa and McGwire?

yeah icey, we know WHY they're focusing on the biggest stars. It's a nation of morons, and sports fans are the biggest of them all.

yeah you're right

enlightening discussion on first & ten, as always

I was going to crack a joke about cjbaseball.com reactivating, but it looks like it has never not been active (including today).

http://www.cjbaseball.com/

Canseco was right all along... that's the greatest part.

Danny Bonaduce bout excepted

http://deadspin.com/5149914/alex-rodriguez-admits-to-using-a-banned-substance

Gammons/A-Rod video

yeah icey, we know WHY they're focusing on the biggest stars. It's a nation of morons, and sports fans are the biggest of them all.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, February 9, 2009 3:01 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

or cause those players have more or less the biggest impact

i love how a-rod (or his people) borrowed last week's Michael Phelp's apology almost word for word.

i always figured a-rod would admit it, ever since i heard the story initially. the dude would never allow himself to get caught up in the games that clemens and bonds have w/r/t denials and evidence suggesting that the denials are lies.

I wonder how Madonna feels about this new A-Rod information.

I think it was an incredibly savvy move for A-Rod to admit it.

will Bud still be commish when A-Rod passes Bonds, and will he stand up with his hands in his pockets again?

incredibly savvy? it's pretty obvious that admitting something has worked better than denials for people in his situation.

yep. I still give him props as much I hate gay-rod. certainly looks better then mcgwire/bonds/etc now.

(obviously I am praying Alberticus is not in the 104.)

if it didn't work they wouldn't do it

― Tracer Hand, Monday, February 9, 2009 12:14 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well, this is patently false. athletes of every stripe do all kinds of dumb bullshit IN CASE it could help them, not because they know for sure it will.

dan they are basically magic make u perform better pills - obv yr starting w/a baseline talent - but theyll give a guy w/warning track power big home run numbers every time

― WATERSLIDE MANSION (ice cr?m), Monday, February 9, 2009 11:56 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if this is the case then why have all the big name hitters who were implicated been guys who were ALREADY sluggers? where are the undersized shortstops beefing up their power numbers? why are most of the guys implicated no-name relief pitchers? nigga u r just MAKING THIS SHIT UP

I know there are tools in every sport but why is it that the baseball tools are the tooliest (standing exception made for Terrell Owens)?

― nosotros niggamos (HI DERE), Monday, February 9, 2009 12:29 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i was wonderin this myself recently, it seems like a greater percentage of baseball's all-time greats are also all-time dbags - it is a mystery

(obviously I am praying Alberticus is not in the 104.)

― bnw, Monday, February 9, 2009 1:16 PM (47 minutes ago)

;-)

my understanding is that baseball players are well-known as the dumbest of all pro athletes, dunno why that is but it may have something to do with the douchiness

hey guys it's ji

As of 5/3/2007:

Homerun average (HR/AB)
1) Mark McGwire - .094
2) Babe Ruth - .085
3) Barry Bonds - .077
4) Jim Thome - .074 (active)
5) Albert Pujols - .072 (active)
6) Ralph Kiner - .071
6) Manny Ramirez - .071 (active)
8) Sammy Sosa - .070 (active)
8) Harmon Killebrew - .070
10) Alex Rodriguez - .069 (active)

sosa not active...

dan they are basically magic make u perform better pills - obv yr starting w/a baseline talent - but theyll give a guy w/warning track power big home run numbers every time

― WATERSLIDE MANSION (ice cr?m), Monday, February 9, 2009 11:56 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if this is the case then why have all the big name hitters who were implicated been guys who were ALREADY sluggers? where are the undersized shortstops beefing up their power numbers? why are most of the guys implicated no-name relief pitchers? nigga u r just MAKING THIS SHIT UP

― my heigl-lohan girl (who's also latina and half-jewish) (cankles), Monday, February 9, 2009 5:02 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

sry there are way more desperate no name relief pitchers in the world than famous power hitters - and yah bonds et al were already sluggers who had not until they started juicing broken any home run records

sounds like ure... agreein w/me 8-) *puts feet up on desk*

;-)

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Monday, February 9, 2009 4:04 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark

I know, I dread the shasta blowback. D:

where are the undersized shortstops beefing up their power numbers?

brian roberts did have a magical 2005

Is this a "Steroid User Tearfully Admits to Being Yankee" situation?

plus our livestock sciences are so thoroughly inundated with a myriad of substances to increase food production, that it seems that throwing in steroids is not going to give you an appreciable boost insurmountable by anyone else.

Awesome! Pump a sirloin full of steroids, then eat it! Take that, testing!

I also want to point out that unless you're dealing with identically-raised clones, there will always be an imbalance between pitcher and hitter regardless of the use of steroids.

DO THIS NOW. Dan, you're full of grebt ideas today/yesterday.

I kind of just want baseball to turn into this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/Base_Wars_cover.jpg/256px-Base_Wars_cover.jpg

A-Rod's voice is quavering a little bit as he talks about all the fans he's probably lost.

http://pinstripedbible.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/02/what_to_make_of_arods_confessi.html

quavering because he knows "can't miss nothin that you never had"

God, this dude is such a liar.

Haha, he is not pleased with "that lady from Sports Illustrated".

He really is one of the most immediately dislikeable personalities in professional sports. He makes Kobe Bryant seem positively luvable, which is exceedingly difficult.

well this took quite a turn while i was away.

a-rod is playing on his negative public image to try to get forgiveness this, which would be hilarious if it wasn't completely fucked. the idea of this guy ever being "naive" is so laughable.

lol base wars was sweet

as Sandomir sez in NYT today, Gammo isn't exactly Mike Wallace (never asked how often he used, let him wriggle out of the who and the when).

my understanding is that baseball players are well-known as the dumbest of all pro athletes

You and icey CAN start an I Don't Love Baseball board, y'know. srsly, I've heard guys from the other sports and it's at least a tie. And the other guys are armed more often.

dude a person can love baseball and think that a lot of players are unredeemable douchebags

irredeemable, unless of course you are disappointed that you can't turn in old douchebags for $$$

speaking of, POTUS 44 sounds a lot like POTUS 43 both on "state secrets"/ rendition and mealymouthed platitudes about steroids in baseball

do you think the POTUS actually gives a fuck about steroids in baseball right now?

Neyer OTM:

Have you seen the interview? (Congrats to Mr. Gammons, by the way.)

I've watched it a couple of dozen times now, and I have to say, things don't start out too well for Mr. Rodriguez. Not when Mr. Gammons' first question is, "What's the truth?"

When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.
Back then, it was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive. And I wanted to prove to everyone that, you know, I was worth, you know, being one of the greatest players of all time.

And I did take a banned substance. And, you know, for that I am very sorry and deeply regretful. And although it was the culture back then, and Major League Baseball overall, um … was very … I'm just, I just feel that, um … You know, I'm just sorry. I'm sorry for that time. I'm sorry to my fans. I'm sorry for my fans in Texas. It wasn't until then that I thought about a substance of any kind, and since then, I've proved to myself and to everyone that I don't need any of that.

If you're not trained, reciting a script is terribly difficult for most people. I tried it once. I tried to memorize a 250-word commentary about baseball and failed miserably. And in this clip, you can see exactly where Alex Rodriguez loses track of his place in the script. You see those ellipses up there? That's where A-Rod forgot what was he was supposed to say next. So instead, he paused, got a little verklempt and returned to his No. 1 talking point: He's really, really sorry.

Sure. He's sorry he got caught. Everyone's sorry when he's caught. But you're really sorry only if you think that what you did was wrong, and I don't believe that any of these guys really believe they did anything wrong. A different culture five years ago? The culture today is exactly the same as it was five years ago. The only thing that has changed is the penalty for failing a drug test. If you want to know the culture, look no further than the ridiculous percentage of players who have a doctor's note that allows them to take stimulants (under the guise of controlling their ADHD or whatever).

The culture is exactly what it's always been: If you ain't cheating, you're not trying. And it ain't cheating if you don't get caught. Rodriguez tried, and now he's been caught. The next step is damage control, full of apologies and admissions of youth and stupidity. (And, of course, it's obvious that he's now a mature and thoughtful adult.)

Asked whether the steroid use took place only from 2001 through 2003, Rodriguez responded, "That's pretty accurate, yes."

Pretty accurate? So maybe there was a little bit in 2000? What about 2004, and maybe just a dabbling in 2007?

And when Gammons asked him which drugs he used, there came this whopper: "Peter, that's the thing. I mean, again, it was such a loosey-goosey era. I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty for being arrogant, of being naive, not asking all the right questions. To be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using."

Rodriguez -- earning $25 million and surrounded by a bevy of agents, advisers, trainers and God knows who else -- didn't bother knowing which drugs he was using? For (at least) three years? He's obsessed with his performance … and yet, for three years he'll stick any old thing into his body without a thought?

Please. I understand the public relations angle of this thing. But now you're just insulting our intelligence. Alex, I forgive you. But I would feel better about it if you'd told us the truth, just this once. Other guys were doing it, and nobody was getting caught, and you were just one of them.

If you ain't cheating …

thanks "harvard" perry

cad, I wd like to have heard the POTUS say "I don't give a fuck about steroids in baseball." But he doesn't give a fuck about civil liberties, so that's just a wish.

cad, I wd like to have heard the POTUS say "I don't give a fuck about steroids in baseball." But he doesn't give a fuck about civil liberties, so that's just a wish.

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, February 10, 2009 9:51 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm

yah guys i mean i would have liked that too but let's return to the real world mmkay?

read the news, icey

no wai

http://www.wackyplanet.com/aroid-t-shirt.html

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/wackyplanetshop_2041_50561562

LOL

http://www.zazzle.com/%22a+rod%22+steroids+gifts

email posted by NYT's Tyler Kepner (demonization balance):

I was a mom with two little boys when Alex first came to Seattle. He had no ego at all. We still have a dozen balls that he signed, which for all of his time in Seattle, he did for the kids during batting practice, before, and after games. Other players didn’t do this, and instead drove their cars directly into the Kingdome.

One day, there was an opportunity for fans to go down on the field and take pictures of the players from behind the rope line. My older son yelled to Alex to have a picture taken with him. The handlers said no. Alex ignored them, brought both my boys behind the rope, and knelt down with them. We bought two of his real rookie cards from a an old friend in New York, because no one there had ever heard of him, and the cards were eight bucks. He was my sons’ hero, along with Ken Griffey Jr.

The story saddens me. I believe that somewhere inside the Alex that now belongs to the New York Yankees is the young man who once played his heart out for the little boys in the stands, for his momma, and for the heart of the game. Maybe we can let ballplayers be ballplayers again, and forgive Alex. Maybe Alex can find his core again, and move forward. I took those same little boys to the Hall of Fame, and we hoped to go back someday and see A-Rod honored. I hope, perhaps naively, that this will still happen. As Van Jones says, sometimes we have to break down so we can rebuild.

find yr core again bro, move forward

anyway: no story here. Back to baseball.

at least he's admitting to it.

April 24, 25, 26
NYY @ BOS

tune in for some taunting, baiting and jeers.

i mean - you have to give him that much.
xpost

i'm seriously starting t feel sorry for the guy.
thanks guys.

at least he's admitting to it (after lying about it for 6 years and faced with a positive test leaked to the media underscoring any credibility he has left).

admitting to it, yet being unable to clearly state when he used or what he was using. yeah fuck that.

yah his admission was super half assed and likely bullshit

speaking from experience - once you're locked into a serious groove, it's pretty hard to know what you may or may not have put in your system.

sry, not believing a guy whose body was worth $252 million at the time couldn't even name some of the things he was putting into it.

ffs, just say testosterone and the other one that was in the media report and sound like less of a tard.

Doug Glanville:

So how did people get access to these records? And how can they just put the information out there for the world to see?

Therein lies the bigger problem.

I understood that when the federal government was looking for evidence in the BALCO investigation it might tread on players’ toes at some point. It seemed like all of baseball had become guilty by association once Ken Caminiti alleged that 50 percent of the major league players were on steroids. Or maybe the feds would be looking to catch players like Barry Bonds or Jason Giambi. The union and the league both knew that keeping these results privileged would be difficult. But for not one but four anonymous sources to leak this information, as is apparently the case with A-Rod, is unfathomable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/opinion/09glanville.html?pagewanted=all

Ex-A's Star Tejada Charged With Lying To Congress

watch out old man gonna grump on u http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:3jYbxQBHvw97uM:http://www.newsgroper.com/files/imagecache/span-50/files/chars/john-mccain.jpg

Not this old man.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3896888

"Everything I've read in the last few days is unfair and anti-union," Miller told ESPN.com Tuesday. "But that does not mean I agree that [union officials] are without blame. When they agreed on a testing program, I said, 'They're going to regret this, because you're going to see players going to jail.' "...

Miller said the timeframe is evidence that the union acted properly in its decision to cooperation with authorities.

"Under these circumstances, if you just ignore what's going on and you destroy records, you're running a terrible risk of being charged with obstruction of justice," Miller said....

"I have a personal belief that there's no such thing as a magic pill or magic injection. I don't know that there's any scientific evidence that there's a performance-enhancing drug. Players take it because they think it does. That's a far cry from saying that it does. Where is the evidence that requires testing?"

91-year old enters public debate; looks silly.

THE_REAL_SHAQ Ok i admit it i at performance enhancing frosted flakes 2 yrs ago, lol about 10 hours ago from txt

THE_REAL_SHAQ Is a rod done, whats goin on here, aggggggh, what iz da world comn 2 about 10 hours ago from txt

THE_REAL_SHAQ 103 players tested positive, do steroids really help, any drs on twitter about 10 hours ago from txt

really, Marvin woulda said the same things at 51.

Not Drew Sharp, but evidently worth putting near the top of the front page.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090210/COL10/90210013/Alex+Rodriguez+should+go+to+jail

rochelle riley does not sound like an old white man's name im shocked

glad we have shaq's take

Daniel Shaugnessy, man of restraint, says "All of this needling seems excessive."

lol of all people

"I say, why don't you unkempt hooligans leave those fine upstanding baseball players alone!"

44pitches says steroids eliminate need for effort, double your ability:

"The ones that have come out and admitted it, and are proven guilty, (their numbers) should not count. I've been cheated out of the game," Oswalt continued. "This is my ninth year, and I've done nothing to enhance my performance, other than work my butt off to get guys out. These guys (who took PEDs) have all the talent in the world. All-Star talent. And they put times two on it.

sure Roy we'll take your word for it; also delete the entire 1970s for bennies.

Daniel Shaugnessy, man of restraint, says "All of this needling seems excessive."

― Safe Boating is No Accident (G00blar), Wednesday, February 11, 2009 9:15 AM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^ He's probably worried Papi and Tek are on that list.

Neyer on Oswalt: "Oddly enough, he's giving Roger Clemens 'the benefit of the doubt' and has little to say about any other ex-teammates, a healthy number of whom must have been juicing right along with A-Rod and Rocket. ...Credibility is enhanced by consistency."

Say goodbye to your obvious juice-enhanced numbers, Nook.

YEAR HR
2004 0
2005 1
2006 1
2007 0

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spkeith116031539feb11,0,3511401.story

SNY analyst Keith Hernandez last night expressed anger and frustration over baseball's performance-enhancing drug culture, calling the era "tainted" and said, "anybody that did steroids" should not be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Speaking on "SportsNite," Hernandez made it clear that includes Alex Rodriguez, whose statement Monday that he did not know exactly what he took was dismissed by Hernandez. "I think that A-Rod knew what he was doing," Hernandez said. "I think that if you look at his teammates over there in Texas, it was a nest of cheaters."

Hernandez said "it all boils down to greed" and wondered whether he might have put up Hall of Fame numbers had he bulked up with steroids.

"I was 191 pounds my rookie year," he said. "If I had ingested steroids, I would have been close to 230 pounds. Now how much better would that have made me, 230 pounds without any body fat? And how many more home runs would I have hit?

"I hit 164 home runs . I probably would have hit over 250. I drove in 1,100 runs . I probably would have drove in 1,400. And I think that, along with 11 Gold Gloves, I'd be in the Hall of Fame."

o_O

argh retired baseball players are seriously the worst.

Referring to people as "Mex" in the USA

Am I getting the wrong impression here or is baseball culture a neverending cycle of statistics and "u mad"?

Welcome to ILB

hahaha, I was just about to say that. Welcome! ONE OF US ONE OF US

yah that should be the nu ILB descrption

would have been close to 230 pounds.

lol dude was close to this his last few years - fat, slow-footed fuck.
also, cokehead

DETROIT, U MAD

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Sunday, October 1, 2006 5:00 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

yah that should be the nu ILB descrption

Done.

^NO. srsly, music geeks laughing @ baseball fans?

yeah Keith, maybe your choice of PEDs is what shortened yr career.

Referring to people as "Mex" in the USA

also, his dad was from Spain, not Mexico. Ballplayer geography.

well he did specify "230 pounds without any body fat" xxxp

another actual tragedy of steroid headlines: "visitors" from ILE.

Hernandez provides some Rizzuto-like LOLs in the Mets booth, but he often comes across as a haughty dick.

you're seriously complaining about outsiders puncturing the sanctity of ILB?

seriously no, complaining yes, thats how I roll

understood

new board description is accurate and an improvement over anything using "LOL"

howev, if you want to summarize the last 5 years of PED debate for icey feel free (xp)

as Al Pacino would say, You're "mad", the whole TRIAL is "mad"

Yes, but as Charles Durning would say, "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!"

:)

via Neyer:

http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2009/02/what-impact-did-steroids-have-on-alex-rodriguezs-home-run-performance/

So, what were A-Rod's steroids worth? 2.37 home runs over two seasons, or a little over one home run a season. At least, that is the estimate based on the method I laid out above; however, it's probably best to say that there was no observed effect. It is possible that the steroids did give Rodriguez a boost, and this may have helped him through an injury or some other factor that my estimate does not account for. It's also likely that he hit more home runs than expected through random chance. Given the general swings in the play of the game, it is very difficult to separate true performance changes from random swings in performance. The deviation here isn't large enough to say much.

The important finding is that the statistical record doesn't reveal an obvious spike in home-run performance by Alex Rodriguez during the time when he admits to using performance-enhancing drugs.

so why do people do it?

*sigh* ?

Morbs OTM

i kinda want to believe they have a minimal effect because it would be pretty funny for guys to go crazy over the roids for no reason at all, but i just find sosa's '98-'02 run a little too unbelievable. at the same time, whatever.

players also seem to believe devoutly in clutch-hitting ability

"The important finding is that the statistical record doesn't reveal an obvious spike in home-run performance by Alex Rodriguez during the time when he admits to using performance-enhancing drugs." [my emphasis]

So the conclusion relies on the premise that A-Rod was telling the truth about his use being confined to 2001-03.

so the new thing is havin' "we can't prove the effects" blinders?

the old thing is "positive test = invalid career" blinders

both positions are equally awful.

"So the conclusion relies on the premise that A-Rod was telling the truth about his use being confined to 2001-03."

Wait wait wait you don't think A-Rod came off as completely honest and totally forthcoming in that Gammons' interview?!?! What guy did you watch?

"the old thing is "positive test = invalid career" blinders"

No one is demanding A-Rod return his salary, Morbs.

all i'm saying w/r/t this "scandal" is the whole notion of how we can't "prove" anything is true, i guess, but as much as i still got love for the guy, i can't forget that sammy sosa went from being tony armas w/speed for the first 6-7 years of his career and then turned out seasons willie mays, hank aaron, etc never even came close to (in certain respects). it's just a little "peculiar". but like i said, who can prove anything really?

alot of people (not here so much) are saying no HOF for ARod tho. sounds like invalidating a career to me.

xpost

no, but there are "no HOF vote" posturings aplenty. (xxp)

For the sake of argument, are we accepting that he's been "clean" the last 4 seasons because he hasn't failed a test? (yes, like anyone else he could be using undetectables.) He's been pretty HOF-caliber as a Yankee; so how much 'worse' would he have been 'unaided' in '01-03?

xxxposts galore
well actually, the study above seems to be suggesting, yes we can prove the effects, and in a-rod's case they're minimal. we can just compare his production in 01-03 to other periods in his career. but again, that assumes he wasn't juicing before or after that period.

which is a huge & key assumption, obv.

instead let's just assume he's been using HGH and Flubber since high school.

"For the sake of argument, are we accepting that he's been "clean" the last 4 seasons because he hasn't failed a test?"

Don't really see why anyone should accept this, frankly.

instead let's just assume he's been using HGH and Flubber since high school.

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:11 PM (29 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well thats def a more reasonable assumption than just believing he did it only during that time for which he got caught

basically the standard of "knowledge" we have to accept about 2004-08 is he HASN'T been using, cuz anything else is just Witchhunt City. maybe maybe maybe.

oh "reasonable," ridiculous

btw "that time for which he got caught" is just '03

"basically the standard of "knowledge" we have to accept about 2004-08 is he HASN'T been using, cuz anything else is just Witchhunt City. maybe maybe maybe."

I think basic standard here is for most people taking steroids = cheating and people don't trust people who cheat. If A-Rod doesn't like it, well fuck him.

why i think a-rod is telling the truth:

- the rangers were basically the roid version of a meth lab around that time, apparently
- maybe living up to that new contract was a good reason to do it in his mind
- he maybe would have stopped when he came to new york because ny was perceived as a little less, uh, "loosey goosey" when it came to steroids?

why i think he's lying:

- steroids were everywhere else too, apparently
- the new contract reasoning is bullshit, the guy didn't need to do more than he had previously in order to live up to it
- if he started juicing in texas to live up to the fans and the team's expectations, why would he stop in nyc, where expectations were so much higher?

theres totally not reliable data to conduct a statistical analysis - neyer is just playing in lol wtf ill give it a shot mode

well it's a good thing those other 103 names aren't coming out (maybe) so fans' list of who not to trust will stay short.

where's all the 'lack of trust' for Andy Pettitte?

dude pettitte has a close personal relationship w/god so thats all i need to know pretty much

icey, u who "does not like baseball," do you know what Neyer's whole identity as a writer is? He just became one of the first 3 members of the BB writers' assoc who built his reputation on statistical analysis.

i think that the perception is that sluggers and power pitchers are the types who already have an edge and the PEDs would just enhance those skills, whereas slap hitters and crafty lefties would use them just to deal with injuries or get a little more pop and therefore it's not as bad. i don't agree with this btw but this might be the reason.

where's all the 'lack of trust' for Andy Pettitte?

Andy took HGH after an injury, right? And A-Rod took the same stuff that Bonds took

it could be said that "i used hgh for a month after an injury" is more reasonable and plausible than "i used steroids i don't even know the names of for three years in a city where i've already alienated the fanbase and then just woke up one day and decided it wasn't worth it."

btw i think the general consensus seems to be that a-rod >>>> clemens, bonds, palmeiro, mcgwire, sosa as far as perception and damage to image for at least admitting it (though of course i guess he kinda HAD to)

i think that's a huge distinction in circumstance imo.

had he admitted it in the couric interview then yes, pretty fucking ballsy and renegade. however, after his name is leaked to an official test performed by MLB, he really had no choice.

whereas clemens, bonds, palmeiro, mcgwire, sosa never tested positive... or perhaps their names haven't been leaked yet.

and if a-rod didn't have their awful examples to learn from who knows what he would have done?

palmeiro did test positive!

omg hahaha, i forgot.

have any other big names tested positive since 04?

palmeiro did test positive!

but that was just a vitamin shot he got miggy tejada

biggest names i recall are mike cameron and jay gibbons, but maybe that was just for HGH?

man if raffy hadn't come back that last year to get 3000 hits no one would have ever known, right?

man - what happens if Pujols' turns out to be one of those 103?!

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p18/dathbgboy/JesseJacksoncryin.gif

btw, I am skipping the morning session of the NYC SABR meeting on Saturday so I don't have to listen to Kirk Radomski.

I'll be pretty surprised if Pujols isn't on there.

The training standard until the 1990s was that if Joe "Ducky" Medwick didn't do it in the '30s, then it shouldn't be done... Many teams even fined or suspended players if they were caught pumping iron. Weightlifting is now as much a part of every team's regimen as shagging fly balls.

Alex Rodriguez is set to be the next former slugger torn to pieces by columnists, fans and the sports radio blabbocracy. They all need to crack open some Michael Phelps medicinal magic and relax. Rodriguez may not deserve your pity, but he hardly deserves your scorn. Reserve that for the owners, political leaders and Bud the commissioner--who robbed our cities blind and distracted us with dingers so we wouldn't notice.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090223/zirin

xpost Really? I know 104 is a big number, but I have no faith that the dudes who tested positive in 2003 are anywhere near all the dudes who were juicing around that time. Like, didn't the players all know that serious (albeit anonymous) testing would take place that year? And don't forget there are cases like Bonds--who didn't test positive in those tests, but whose sample, when tested with newer technology, showed PEDs.

icey, u who "does not like baseball," do you know what Neyer's whole identity as a writer is? He just became one of the first 3 members of the BB writers' assoc who built his reputation on statistical analysis.

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:22 PM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yah i know who neyer is used to read him all the time when i liked baseball - my point was his tone in the article was ok imna base this on the lol assumption that we actually know when arod did drugs - and then u posted it all serious like to support yr typically contrarian pov

i really can't underestimate the whole psychology behind using them. i mean if you feel like everyone around you is using them and getting a leg up on you, maybe even making you look bad on the field, you're likely tempted to keep up with it. especially if you have other players around you who are telling you or advising you to give it a shot (as it were). so i totally understand and in some ways don't completely blame the players. the culture is what's fucked, not the individuals.

icey, yr reading of Neyer's tone doesn't compute -- the first thing after the quote is "Not a real shock here, folks." (of course we don't KNOW when he did drugs anymore than we KNOW how they affected his play)

couple of things:

everyone now knows the tired old thing about how ballplayers never used to do strength training, drank, smoked, and ate fried chicken everyday. I don't know what this has to do with PEDs. At this point in time, it's retarded to take a viewpoint that they're next in a logical progression or whatever.

there's plenty of blame to go around for players, owners, unions, and politicians. the culture was insidious and multifaceted. taking a stand for the players against the media/owners/mlb whoever isn't some clever contrarian position. if there are sides to this, it's the baseball institution vs. the baseball-loving public.

i totally understand why players use, and why someone who invested an extreme amount of effort in reaching the pinnacle of their profession would do something questionable to stay there. but this doesn't make it right and isn't an excuse. to me, the greatest tragedy of arod's positive test is that he was a guy who didn't need it.

No one said the progression was logical, just that people are doing different things now from what they were doing then.

well in that case, that is a salient and insightful point.

dudes been on goofballs n pixie dust sine jr high so theres really no way to know if he didnt really need it

actually morbs quoted that nation piece out of context. the author is actually trying to explain the home-run era through weight training, equipment, the strike zone, etc. etc.

ironically, these are the exact same arguments that were used to explain away big mac and sosa and that whole era by the players, owners, unions, and media members he is telling us are really at fault!

Your sarcasm underlines the reason for bringing it up in the first place; there are a ton of variables that have shifted over baseball's existence. There are cases where you can point out individuals who have done particular things that have given them gigantic advantages over other players. We have decided on a largely arbitrary level to call some of them "good" and others "bad".

I still think at this point in time, the impact of steroids on baseball is more of a cultural impact than a performance impact.

i dont know how you quantify that but the home run record smashing of the early 00s is certainly the perfect storm of both those aspects

on variables shifting, completely totally agree. this is why i think legacy, cross-era comparisons, "the sanctity of the HoF," and a lot of similar stuff is dumb.

so yeah, i'm not too concerned with "figuring out" how this affected past performance, which is a fool's errand anyway. i am concerned with making it so that, going forward, the game is as on the level as it can be regarding substances. and i think a big part of getting there is making those other 103 names public.

all records are broken in favorable environments

(ie Roger fucking Maris and the short RF porch in Yankee Stadium)

bill spaceman lee talked of getting shot up with all sorts of stuff after his starts in the late 60s, granted some of it may have been low-grade steroids like cortisone but still... red juice, bennies, greenies, whites, crosstops... these things were not of media interest back in the day so there's not as extensive coverage of it.

I mean even when McGwire got caught with the Andro in his locker... that was OTC at the time.

Removing Bonds from the all-time HR list???

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491644,00.html

should give the homerun crown to nomar imo

O_O

On Wednesday, news emerged that All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada might be deported to the Dominican Republic after pleading guilty to lying to Congress about using steroids.

haaah ok it was fun for a while but this is really going just too far

MIGHT isn't the same as being on the next plane out of here.

I'm guessing one of the reasons he pled guilty was in the hopes that it would avoid getting the boot.

is this the funniest offseason ever?

It's pretty awesome. Unless you are a Phillies fan. Then it must suck, but hey you won the WS you can't complain too much.

Unless you are a Phillies fan.

Or Braves. But otherwise yeah, Desperate Housewives with jockstraps, A+++.

this is why i can never leave baseball behind 8)

I don't find this last week remotely funny. Must be the "Arrested Development" generation's funny.

If Beelzebud suspends A-Rod, MLBPA needs to slap his ass w/ immediate suit.

not so great for O's or J's fans either, guys.

xpost

What's crappy for the O's? Didn't they manage to lift a bunch of talent off the Cubs?

http://students.ithaca.edu/~bwolfe1/lab11/images/yankees.jpg, http://refrigeratorlogic.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/red_sox_logo111.gif & now somehow http://www.scottdecker.com/sports/tampa_bay_devil_rays_logo_2.jpg

but mainly the yankees - sorry didn't realize they were that big!

OIC

Yeah sucks to be in that division.

you do have a point tho. at least the O's have been making moves as opposed to the J's spending the off season collecting freaks and oddities.

who did the o's get from the cubs, haven't been following anything

f. pie

rich hill

and the Indians got derosa

TAMPA, Fla. -- Bud Selig says Alex Rodriguez has "shamed the game," though the baseball commissioner indicated no plans to punish the three-time AL MVP.

wooow selig telling someone else that they have 'shamed the game'....

narcissism of small differences there

just out of curiosity... what exactly could we be charged with if we tarred and feathered Selig?

fyi, Will Carroll sez The list of 104 includes positive tests for substances that were not on baseball’s banned list. There’s reason to believe now that this included THG, DMT, and other designer steroids.

By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez might be suspended for admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs, Commissioner Bud Selig told USA TODAY on Wednesday.

Selig and Major League Baseball officials realize any attempt to suspend Rodriguez would be challenged by the players union since the penalty phase of the testing policy was not implemented until 2004. Yet Selig said he sent a memo banning steroids around 1997 and that it was illegal to possess them without a prescription.

"It was against the law, so I would have to think about that," Selig told USA TODAY's Christine Brennan in his first comments since Rodriguez's admission. "It's very hard. I've got to think about all that kind of stuff."

Either he's crazy (let's get not started on rewriting HR totals) or this is the dumbest trial ballooon in awhile.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2009-02-11-selig-rodriguez-suspension_N.htm

uhh... DMT is a psychedelic!

xpost

what next, taking away dock ellis's LSD no-hitter? where will it end

J.P. (JC): re: The record books. Wouldn't Bud have to reinstate Ruth as the career HR leader? Aaron used amphetamines...

SportsNation Keith Law: Ruth used booze. Reinstate Frank Baker!

(actually, Ruth broke Gavvy Cravath's record I think)

1 Barry Bonds 762 (juicer)
2 Hank Aaron 755 (tweaker)
3 Babe Ruth 714 (boozer)
4 Willie Mays 660 (tweaker)
5 Ken Griffey, Jr. (18) 611 (glum towards the end there, mood swings from roids maybe?)
6 Sammy Sosa 609 (juicer)
7 Frank Robinson 586 (not a good manager, probably a tweaker)
8 Mark McGwire 583 (lol)
9 Harmon Killebrew 573 (must have been a drunk)
10 Rafael Palmeiro 569 (loool)
11 Reggie Jackson 563 (works for the yankees, probably turned a blind eye to roids)
12 Alex Rodriguez (35) 553 (haha)
13 Mike Schmidt 548 (cocaine i bet)
14 Jim Thome (34) 541 (you know this guy was on something)
15 Mickey Mantle 536 (drunk)
16 Jimmie Foxx 534 (probably killed someone once)
17 Manny Ramírez (37) 527 (not nice to club staff, strange dude, smoked weed i guarantee)
18 Willie McCovey 521 (a lefty in that uniform is always suspicious)
Frank Thomas (8) 521 (volunteered to talk about steroid use, you think he's clean, but this was one of those "criminal shows up as witness to own crime" moments)
Ted Williams 521 (druggie)
21 Ernie Banks 512 (let's play two because i am HIGH AS A KITE)
Eddie Mathews 512 (drunk i'm sure)
23 Mel Ott 511 (this guy i'm sure just beat women all the time)
24 Eddie Murray 504 (dbag)
25 Gary Sheffield (19) 499 (juice)
26 Lou Gehrig 493 (he was on a shitload of drugs at the end there i bet)
Fred McGriff 493 (like he was clean)
28 Stan Musial 475 (heroin probably)
Willie Stargell 475 (cocaine)
30 Carlos Delgado (38) 469 (he was in toronto with clemens, do the math)
31 Dave Winfield 465 (meth)
32 José Canseco 462 (lol)
33 Carl Yastrzemski 452 (1970s = coke)
34 Jeff Bagwell 449 (a little roidy imo)
35 Dave Kingman 442 (cocaine, meth, everything i am sure)
36 Andre Dawson 438 (drugged up all the time because of the knees, fuck him)
37 Juan González 434 (like a balloon filled with roid juice)
38 Cal Ripken, Jr. 431 (that streak was completely thanks to meth)
39 Mike Piazza 427 (roids, weed, possibly gay?)
40 Billy Williams 426 <----your new home run king!

i endorse

21 Ernie Banks 512 (let's play two because i am HIGH AS A KITE)

lol

omg #26

*applauding furiously*

!

The Onion:

NEW YORK—After the records of players who used performance-enhancing drugs are carefully removed, statistics provided by the Elias Sports Bureau indicate that lifetime .255 hitter Craig Counsell was the best player of the past 15 years. "If you judge them on the basis of pure physical ability, you're left with Craig Counsell," said ESB representative Patrick Wondolowski, adding that Counsell's 35 career home runs narrowly beat out Quinton McCracken's 21 and pitcher Glendon Rusch's three. Upon hearing the news, broadcaster Bob Uecker lauded the Brewers utilityman as "one of the best I ever saw, if we're talking about those who I can say without a doubt never took steroids. He came this close to stealing a base off of Ivan Rodriguez, and I swear I heard him foul tip a Roger Clemens fastball. The kid could flat-out steroid-free play. One time he was playing third base and he caught a Rafael Palmeiro line drive—just caught it, right in his mitt." When asked about his Hall of Fame chances, Counsell dodged the question by asking if anyone had a few bucks so he could go buy a sandwich.

looooooooooooool omar

14 Jim Thome (34) 541 (you know this guy was on something)

Hahaha I always actually thought of Thome as more just kinda like

http://fruitfly.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/babyhuey.jpg

Also re: hilarious offseason, I can't believe there's been no talk of this bizarre Robbie Alomar AIDS lawsuit thing.

get thee to the hot stove thread for that

uh... check again.

xpost

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez might be suspended for admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs, Commissioner Bud Selig told USA TODAY on Wednesday.

Andypettitehuggingjasongiambi.jpg

MASSIVE xp

no way he gets suspended

During the past week, BILL MAHER is the only person (out of dozens I've seen) who has made these points/arguments on television.

(Best ones in bold.)

MAHER: Who cares?

First of all, I think that there are so many variables in the game of baseball.

KING: Sure.

MAHER: That...

KING: It's a hard game to play.

MAHER: No, I mean, from era to era. That this idea that, oh, Alex Rodriguez's records and Roger Clemens and whoever else is guilty, we should wipe them out. Barry Bonds now can't be in the Hall of Fame. His records are suspect.

Well, yes, things were different because they took steroids. I don't think that's more than when we didn't have night games...

KING: (INAUDIBLE)

MAHER: Or when there we're not...

KING: It's just (INAUDIBLE) throwing spit balls.

MAHER: Spit balls.

How about that there weren't black people in the game?

KING: Yes.

MAHER: I think that changed things a little.

KING: Right.

MAHER: Or the fact that they used to wear little mittens. I mean it was called a baseball mitt because it was only fitting over your hand.

KING: Yes.

Little mittens, LOL.

Those old gloves are hilarious, esp deadball era and earlier.

check out the old deadball era bat

http://mysite.verizon.net/cokerja/images/evers_johnny_1910_bat_1024x752.jpg

Louisville DBS ("Dead Baby Seal"): 26"/85 oz.

http://www.santafe.edu/~albers/personal/baseball/baseball.jpg

evers looking kinda inbred

that's the chance you take

http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/lk_popeye_slugger500.jpg

hey, Selena Roberts has an A-Rod BOOK coming out in April. I CAN'T WAIT

Tim (NY): Odds that (i) Selig tries to suspend ARod; (ii) gets away with it?

SportsNation Rob Neyer: (1:31 PM ET ) (i) 50:1 (ii) 100:1 ... whatever happens will be carefully orchestrated by all parties involved.

MJ (Edmonton): Let's say Arod finishes with 800+ HR. Do you think he makes the hall of fame?

SportsNation Rob Neyer: (1:59 PM ET ) He'll be there someday ... Wait! He just lost his composure! Must be the acting lessons from Madonna, the great thespian...

dammit, somebody tell Bonds -- CRY ON CAMERA, early and often!

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/as-it-happens-watching-a-rod/

Of course Swisher still wears open-top hats.

Tim Keown echoes my thoughts on this matter:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=keown/090217&sportCat=mlb

Is it "cheating" if there was no clear statistical benefit? I don't know if there's a meaningful answer.

It is cheating if he attempted to gain some benefit by engaging in prohibited activities.

I'm just most sickened by the "Judge me from this point forward" bullshit. Fuck you. I can't just call "reset" on my life - why the fuck should you? Because you are fabulously rich? Because you're a very talented athelete who may or may not have augmented your reputation because of the use of steroids?

Fuck off. No resets. Nope.

(BTW - I'm an Orioles fan. Just a disclosure)

where's that Brady Anderson apology?

"Is it "cheating" if there was no clear statistical benefit?"

If you copy off someone's test in class and that person gets an "F" is it cheating?

theres no clear statistical benefit because we dont have the information to do a legit statistical analysis - not because one has been done and shown no effect

ie we dont know who was using roids and when

where's that Brady Anderson apology?

I'm sorry for his sideburns. But he never tested positive, did he?

Fuck A-Roid.

If someone buys oregano thinking it's pot, is it still just to arrest them for possession?

Depends on whether or not they can cook.

if someone buys pot, smokes it, but fails to get high, are they still breaking the law?

yah

if a man eats another man, but its in the dream of a third man, is it right?

xxp: happened to me w/ shr00mz

it's ILB guests max & icey, ladies & germs.

anyway, it's nice to finally see some a Republican drug user talk about his drug use. lol did he actually say "I've come to take my medicine" yesterday?

^typed w/ sleep deprivation

The fake pot analogy falls apart quickly - potheads aren't playing a game where greatness is measured in statistics, and are not engaging in an activity that alters the ability of current players to compete against great stats of the past.

All they want is some chips and some video games.

lol im pretty sure the fake pot analogy was supposed to be a joke

POTHEADS play MINDGAMES

It's sort of a joke, but why do we treat the crime of cheating with so much more scorn than other crimes? Ugie Urbina murdered a guy and spent maybe two days in the media news cycle, with barely a "tsk tsk".

And among steroid users, Nook Logan and Alex Rodriguez committed the same crime and received immensely disproportionate scorn for it. Why does Alex Rodriguez receive a different de facto punishment for the same crime simply because he was more talented than Logan or others? Why is Bonds a pariah but Giambi is a good guy, when neither have ACTUALLY admitted to using steroids?

bcz the Holy Crusade is led by sportswriters/yakkers who are overwhelmingly envious, resentful, pathetic pricks.

its because people care abt baseball - urbina attempted murdered a guy and its just another fucked up story - if u fuck w/the game tho...

it's all about the media, dawg. nobody gives a shit about nook, the media likes giambi, everybody hates bonds, a-rod is the best player in the game to some people so people "care" more, etc

and obv people don't care about the NFL and its juiced phalanx of giants (small g)

"Ugie Urbina murdered a guy and spent maybe two days in the media news cycle, with barely a "tsk tsk"."

BECAUSE HE'S UGIE URBINA! Plus it happened in Venezuela.

"Why is Bonds a pariah but Giambi is a good guy, when neither have ACTUALLY admitted to using steroids?"

Because Barry Bonds comes off as a jerk whereas Jason Giambi comes off as a sweaty bug eyed freak.

the media only cares about superstars who are currently playing the game (unless your name is pete rose or one of the ex-future HOF roiders)

"and obv people don't care about the NFL and its juiced phalanx of giants (small g)"

Waah waah.

ppl really are surprised that nook fucking logan and a-rod are perceived differently and treated differently?

Dr Morbius is SHOCKED SHOCKED.

do people still rep for giambi? i thought he was a big fucking joke by now

also, A-Rod just sent another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. JESUS CHRIST

see what you get for when you vote for the RODMESSIAH

you're confusing media stars again dr. m

giambi is universally regarded as a nice guy and a-rod is universally regarded as a tool.

"also, A-Rod just sent another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. JESUS CHRIST"

You should always sign your posts JESUS CHRIST.

ppl really are surprised that nook fucking logan and a-rod are perceived differently and treated differently?

Never said I was surprised.

its kinda funny the contrarian crowd accusing everyone of hypocrisy are really the people demanding moral certainty when yr average fan is just miffed at some famous dude for fucking w/their entertainment

Why does Alex Rodriguez receive a different de facto punishment for the same crime simply because he was more talented than Logan or others?

btw urbina only attempted to murder a guy - its like a blown save - keep track

http://10.media.tumblr.com/zRBvFkBk3k2ub3mqohivc48Co1_500.jpg

Q:if Hilary Clinton and A-Rod got married what nickname would Dr. M. use to refer to the both of them?

A: RodRod

I don't think it's possible to look at those pictures of A-Rod and not hate him, frankly.

press conference shouldve included arod ripping his shirt off flexing his lol hueg muscles and yelling abt king kong

he needs me as his pr guy i will MAKE people like him

gifs of Muscular Superhero Baseball All-Stars published by MLB a few years ago to thread

I don't think it's possible to look at those pictures of A-Rod and not hate him, frankly.

uh, yes it is

I do find it funny that the Guitar Hero: World Tour commercial now features the most hated man in basketball, two drug fiends and Tony Hawk.

(granted not hating A-Rod may be predicated on being a passive Twins fan)

btw urbina only attempted to murder a guy - its like a blown save - keep track

mea culpa

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0217/mlb_g_arod5ts_134.jpg

a-rod is great at the blago/clinton face

I mean, I hate Clemens, Palmeiro, and Alex Rodriguez, don't get me wrong. I just prefer to hate them for substantial reasons like how they look, or because fuck them.

full disclosure: I don't hate on A-Rod all that much because he really resembles a couple of my cousins

kobe is a rapist not a dug fiend fyi xp

Allegedly.

wtf I thought I changed that to "a rapist"

more like he's a dig dug fiend

I am still outraged that Wade Boggs' daily chicken-eating let him win those batting titles.

kobe "rape" bryant

btw, the FDA lets chickens take "boli"

Anyway the point stands: "Guitar Hero: A video game for monumental douchebags (unless you skate, in which case you're probably pretty normal)"

judging from the commercial its more guitar hero: gay douchebag foreplay

You should always sign your posts JESUS CHRIST.

That would be a mortal sin + 50-game suspension

why are we discussing that commercial when there is a MORE effective Heidi Klum version of the commercial to be viewed?

You guys (GUESTS!!) obviously didn't read my solution to all this on the other thread.

like it

"I told this to the players: we're sitting there watching Rodriguez yesterday ... and my son finally turned to me and he says, 'Daddy, this guy is stupid.' That probably says it all."
—Diamondbacks executive Ken Kendrick, on the Rodriguez press conference.

"I like the fact more when he says he was stupid, not young and naive."
—Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, speaking to the media after A-Rod.

"It was a bad decision that may cost him on so many levels."
—Cashman

"The one thing he could have said was the fact he chose to do this to make himself better ... at what he does on the baseball field. That's the truth."
—Cashman, on what A-Rod left out.

"I don't think Alex is very good at communicating ... whether it's about talking about your game and the impact you had on it after hitting a home run or if he had a tough game at the park, let the team down. Anybody that's been in that clubhouse when he's trying to talk about success or failure on the baseball diamond knows that is something he is not very good at."
—Cashman

"I do have to fight that darker instinct in me. We have a peaceful and more tranquil training camp these days."
—Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, on gloating about the Yankees' A-Rod problem.

"I try to focus on what we have going here, and not so much the problems that they have down there."
—Lucchino

"I think often of the old baseball cliché that the best deals are the deals you don't make. Not only would A-Rod be a member of the Red Sox presumably, and Manny Ramirez would have been gone, given the success he had in '04 and '07, Jon Lester would have been gone, given the success he's had and his future. Another cliché: it's better to be lucky than good."
—Lucchino (Dennis & Callahan, WEEI.com)

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0227/mlb_yuri_arod_576.jpg

boli makes you cross yr legs and pucker.

http://graysmatter.codivation.com/content/binary/zoolander_face.jpg

Alex, you don't know what you're doing to my lens. You have a natural rapport with the camera. It's unbelievable. Some performers can make love to the camera. Garbo did. Monroe did. So could you. Could you take your top off, please?

http://goofybeast.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/fight_club1.jpg

Yankees teammates, Roberts writes, nicknamed Rodriguez "B---h T--s" in 2005 because he put on 15 pounds in the offseason which included round pectorals, a condition called gynecomastia that can be caused by anabolic steroids.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4114292

lol high school

"A-Rod "pitch tipped" when he played for the Rangers by letting opponents at the plate know which pitch was coming in lopsided games. A-Rod expected players he helped would reciprocate when he was having an off night and needed to get his batting average up."

Hahaha wow what a hateful screed this woman wrote.

and he only tipped 15% at hooters

Hated at Hooters: B---h T--s' Pitch Tips, Stiff Tips, and Eventual Comeuppance by Selena Roberts

lol!

I'm not going to read it, but this bitchfest at A-Rod's expense sounds super amusing. From page 322:

"Rodriguez had soon become obsessed with his steroid shrunk member. Desperate to correct the problem, he began madly ordering ever penile enhancement product he could find. Credit card records show that Rodriguez spent nearly $1,500 every month from August 2004 to January 2006 to a company called Big Trucks Inc (which includes among it's many DBAs SIZE MATTERS, YOU CAN MAKE IT BIGGER and MASSIVE JOHNSON MAKE WIFE HAPPY IMPRESS FRIENDS.)"

ok, that's funny.

this certainly strikes mee as the kind of socially conscious journalism I expect from Selena Roberts.

I wish Jeter would get caught doing something crappy so we get "Derek Jeter: The Dark Side of an Icon".

Derek Jeter would never do anything crappy--he's a saint, and a great defensive player to boot

You messed that sentence up: he's a saint, and a great defensive player to boot.

a-rod shouldn't buy shit he hears about in spam e-mail offers

BITCH TITS
BITCH TITS
BITCH TITS
BITCH TITS
BITCH TITS

From page 275:

"When Rodriguez was told by a ballboy that other Yankees players referred to him as "b---h t--s" and "shrinkey d--k", Rodriguez apparently buried and his head in his hands and began to weep openly. But sadness turned quickly to rage and he began almost immediately throwing bats, gloves and helmets around the Yankees lockeroom screaming "it's that f-----r Jeter that's doing all this. F--k that f-----g guy. I'm gonna get him. Him and that sweaty freak Giambi are gonna pay.""

:O

wow

Okay now you guys write some.

lol

i dunno, don't think i can top that one

good work.

hey, maybe alex will read this thread and feel bad

page 279

"When Rodriguez finally confronted Jeter, according to an anonymous trainer in the locker room at the time, Derrick denied any involvement with the nicknames. Teammates immediately cleared the room when Jeter began consoling the teary-eyed Rodriguez and caressing his chest. `When I overheard Jeets assuring Alex that his size didn't matter is when I got the h--l out of there. I quit shortly thereafter.' said the trainer."

xp actually he has. From page 175:

"Rodriguez was particularly troubled by venom direct at him on baseball message boards. "What did I ever do to Alex in SF or NoTimeBeforeTime," he was overheard saying at a popular Manhattan strip club nursing an Amstel Light, "why do these guys hate me? Is it because I'm too good looking?""

I'm hoping Selena's book includes as many spelling and grammatical errors as my posts do.

wow, that's awesome ARod reads I Love Baseball. . . maybe we can get him to post

page 220:

"Unlike other celebrities, including Dr. Phil and Kanye West, Rodriguez refused to post on the world-famous ILX message boards. A clubhouse source says that Rodriguez told him, 'Fuck ILX. Fuck Dr. Morbius. Fuck Steve Shasta,' although the same source says he caught Rodriguez laughing at the Excelsior thread more than once."

page 221:

"Sources close to A-Rod claim the hall of fame bound slugger would spend hours pouring over the ILE tipping thread, trying to make sense of it."

From page 400 (last chapter!):

"After being hospitalized for nearly three weeks (note: to correct a fistula), Rodriguez emerged from the hospital a changed man. Sources close to him claim Rodrigruez had stopped drinking, cut down on womanizing (although a brief fling with Miley Cyrus was reported in the Daily News), and oftening spent only twenty minutes a day admiring himself in the mirror. "He's a different person now," a close friend said, "it's like he cares what I have to say about stuff. He's not looking past you to check out his reflection in car windows. He's still shooting drugs into his groin though. Definitely still doing that."

http://patheticgeekstories.com/archives/archiveimages/derisionC.gif

"Rodriguez was particularly troubled by venom direct at him on baseball message boards. "What did I ever do to Alex in SF or NoTimeBeforeTime," he was overheard saying at a popular Manhattan strip club nursing an Amstel Light, "why do these guys hate me? Is it because I'm too good looking?""

haha, very Reggie Jackson-esque

On accusations of A-Rod using roids in high school:

“There’s no way,” Dodgers utilityman Doug Mientkiewiczsaid. “I was with him too much, I was with him for too long. Our team was together, like, 20 hours of the day. Every day. Even Sundays. And holidays. I spent like all of Christmas day with Alex one time. We went to the movies that day. Saw Forrest Gump. Didn't like it. Plus we took showers together. We slept in hammocks together. I saw every inch of Alex's body back then and I am a pretty observant guy. I think I would have noticed needle marks on his firm buttocks or rock hard biceps. Or testicular shrinkage. Naw he was clean back then. I'm sure of it. Positive.”

loool at these fanfics

so looking forward to "bitch tits" chants at Fenway during nationally televised broadcasts, this is going to rule

wtffffff

ha ha omg

that letterman bit was the 1st thing i thought of when b---h t--s broke

Alex Rodriguez was an insecure prima donna who made a clubhouse attendant load his toothbrush with toothpaste after every game in his three seasons with the Texas Rangers, a new book charges. The Rangers were also required to send a basket of food to the controversial All-Star's hotel suite during road trips, Sports Illustrated columnist Selena Roberts reports in "A-Rod." Many Texas teammates kept their distance from A-Rod, who they saw as a spoiled superstar. His relationship with other players didn't improve when Rodriguez joined the Yankees in 2004. His Bomber teammates regarded A-Rod as a phony and a hypocrite because he tried to project an All-American public image while pursuing a swinger's lifestyle. During a series in Texas, Roberts writes, A-Rod went to a sex club while his wife, Cynthia, pregnant with their first child, was at home in New York. Rodriguez also turned off teammates by bragging about wild nights with strippers - and by making clumsy passes at other players' wives and girlfriends.

I wonder what kind of toothpaste A-Rod uses.

Hey did you guys hear that A-Rod sez he's going to write a book about Selena Roberts in response. It's called "S-Rob". Apparently she's not well like by her fellow Sports Illustrated writers. Also she blows her nose really loudly. Talks with food in her mouth. Makes Sports Illustrated staffers bring her coffee in the morning. Apparently she's constantly complaining about her lousy sex life and was always trying to get Rick Reilly to take her out on dates.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball/article/selena-roberts-a-rod-and-impartiality/

http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-york-times-rod-hatchet-job.html

Yeah I think it's clear that the book is not going to be a balanced look at A-Rod: The Man, The Myth.

wow that blog spend a lot of time saying nothing

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/09/13/timesselect/roberts.184.jpg

you know i saw her on tv nine months ago
i was shocked in my minds eye she was a wiry black woman making it big at a big city newspaper

her eye fucked up

"Roberts was hated by the New York Times photographer who took her bio picture. "She kept trying to move the lights around and she kept mispronouncing my name on purpose," said Fred Conrad later, "she was won of the hardest people I've ever had to deal with. The green blouse she ended up wearing well that was like the fifteenth one she tried on and after every change she had to do another string of makeup applications to make sure 'that her complexion matched'." Conrad claimed the craziest part was that end of shoot she gave him her card and whispered that he should call him."

so looking forward to "bitch tits" chants at Fenway during nationally televised broadcasts, this is going to rule

― sanskrit, Friday, May 1, 2009 8:50 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

the signs pretty much wrote themselves

the boon to red sox fans was the first thing i thought of

wow that blog spend a lot of time saying nothing

not really

lol:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jeff_pearlman/05/01/arod.griffey/index.html?bcnn=yes

Less than a year ago, people were not merely speculating how many career home runs he would hit (800? 850? 900? 950?), but also how his name atop the all-time list would return Aaron-esque decency to a record book poisoned by Bonds' regrettable presence. Rodriguez was the Brad Pitt of baseball -- the pretty boy with chops who could carry a big-budget adventure through the summer.

Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous. Instead, Rodriguez brings to mind a slightly different fabled theatrical figure -- one who, 20 years ago, took America by storm. At the time, we fell in love with Spuds MacKenzie because the bull terrier brought spark and pizzazz to the otherwise mundane world of beer advertising. He was cute and funny and talented and engrossing.

Then, we learned the truth. Spuds, a lady-killer in ads, was actually a girl. Her real name was Honey Tree Evil Eye, and she didn't even like beer.

Turns out, ol' Spuds MacKenzie was nothing special after all.

Just another dog.

Selena Roberts book on Spuds was just brutal. Apparently he liked to tear up flower beds! And he once peed on a baby carriage. Other dogs didn't like him at the dog park, etc. . .

that's maybe the most hilarious sub-plaschke reach for significance i have ever seen

Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.
Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.
Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.
Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.
Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.
Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.
Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.
Now, with the latest revelations, the comparison to Pitt seems ludicrous.

I am excited to have this opportunity to say that I really hate Jeff Pearlman's writing.

the bull terrier brought spark and pizzazz to the otherwise mundane world of beer advertising. He was cute and funny and talented and engrossing.

wow i'm really happy i haven't bothered to track down his book on the cowboys yet.

Spuds MacKenzie was a dog.

A good dog.

A very good dog.

But every dog has its day.

And it was a day that we'll never forget, although Rodriguez hopes that we will one day.

Selena Roberts has done what nobody thought was possible -- she put that dog on a leash. And fed it apple juice instead of beer.

It turned out that the dog liked the juice. OH HO, SEE WHAT I DID THERE??

GUYS, THESE ARE PEARLS OF WISDOM!

I am going to learn to tell the fake excerpts from real

Why would you want to do that? Live in the mystery!

morbs, in the epilogue roberts writes about how, even though he wasn't very popular with his teammates, a-rod was very popular with his local crew of obama canvassers. one time, she writes, he treated them all to a showing of "i love you man"

Now see that's not at all credible.

"i love you man" is a metaphor for "the fun cooker".

"I worked out with him when he was 18. He could lift almost as much as I could"
Apr 30, 2009
Jose Canseco

"At 18, he could deadlift 300 pounds and his breasts were larger than some of my ex-girlfriends'. Me and Mark (McGwire) couldn't believe what we were seeing. He didn't need any help with his injections, he just fearlessly plunged these huge needles into his own oily, rippled ass without a second thought. Mark said to me one day, "that kid is the future of this sport". I rubbed my nipples and tried to laugh to laugh it off, but I knew he was right."

-- Jose Canseco, May 2, 2009

we thought spuds was fun. it turned out he was a chick. wtf spuds.

For her, a key insight into A-Rod's character comes with what some might call a fib: He tells people he hit with wood bats in high school because that's what the pros use, even though she found photo evidence he used metal.

SELENA ROBERTS, DID YOU WRITE WITH PENS IN HIGH SCHOOL?

Yes, I did.

WE HAVE OBTAINED PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE THAT YOU USED A PENCIL.

OK, there was this --

YOU HAVE TOLD WHAT SOME MIGHT CALL A FIB. WE FEEL THIS IS A TREMENDOUS INSIGHT INTO YOUR CHARACTER. (EVEN THOUGH IT IS POSSIBLE WE HAVE A PICTURE OF YOU USING A PENCIL THE ONE DAY YOU USED A PENCIL IN HIGH SCHOOL) IT IS APPARENT THAT YOU HAVE TOLD US YOU USED PENS AS A WAY TO PRODUCE THE ILLUSION THAT YOU WERE PERFECT IN HIGH SCHOOL, THAT YOU WERE SO PERFECT THAT YOU DID NOT NEED TO USE A PENCIL -- A WRITING INSTRUMENT WITH AN ERASER, AFTER ALL. YOU WOULD TRANSPOSE LETTERS, USE IMPERFECT GRAMMAR, AND MAKE OTHER MISTAKES AS YOU WROTE IN CLASSES. YOU USED A WRITING INSTRUMENT WITH AN ERASER AS A SAFETY NET -- YOUR ONLY BARRIER BETWEEN PERFECTION AND ABJECT FAILURE. YOU ARE A SAD, MISERABLE LITTLE PERSON.

But, I --

SORRY, GOTTA RUN. BOB COSTAS IS CALLING.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/07/26/alg_arod-kate.jpg

A-Rod went 0-for-4 Saturday - but he made it to first base anyway.

The randy Yankees slugger and stunning actress Kate Hudson put on a very public display of affection for the first time, locking lips during the team's annual family picnic.

Hudson, 33, was also spotted giving Rodriguez a big squeeze as the lovestruck pair canoodled following the Bombers' loss to the Oakland A's.

A-Rod's focus wasn't just on his flaming hot new gal pal. The Yankees star also spent time playing with daughters Ella, 1, and Natasha, 4, who were dressed in their Yankees best.

Notably absent from the family fest was A-Rod's ex-wife, Cynthia Rodriguez, whom he divorced last fall.

The very public smooching puts to rest rumors that Rodriguez, 33, and Hudson are just close friends.
Hudson, the daughter of Goldie Hawn, is believed to have met A-Rod last November in Miami.

Since then, she has been spotted slipping into Rodriguez's swanky midtown pad and cheering him on from the front row at several Yankees games.

The couple was first photographed together two weeks ago in Beverly Hills.

In recent years, A-Rod's exploits off the field have garnered as much attention as his slugging.

His rumored conquests include Madonna and a Las Vegas stripper, with whom he was photographed in a Toronto hotel two years ago while he was still married.

and a las vegas stripper? this guy