Alex Rodriguez tests positive for steroids and now ADMITS it

[SandraC]

Well he needs to help facilitate something. There needs to be some kind of conclusion to this whole mess. It's to the point where it can't be swept under the rug anymore. If that means a strike by the players, so be it.

MLB needs to institute a new, tough as nails guideline with no gray areas. If a player tests positive, that's it, he's banned for life. This is ruining the sport. It's approaching an area that is beyond repair.

I like the sentiment, but it will never happen. You make it sound like MLB or Bud Selig can just make rules about steroid use. Anything and everything about steroids needs to be collectively bargained with the union.

I assume 'banned for life' means his contract automatically becomes null and void as well. The players would go on strike for 15 years before agreeing to this. You're talking about the union agreeing to potentially forfeit billions of dollars for their constituents. This is one of the strongest unions on the planet, and they don't care about the game, they care about getting the most they can for their players.

If congress hadn't stepped in Orza and Fehr would STILL be doing what they did in the 90's...walk into a collective bargaining session, and the first time the word steroids is used, pack their bags, say thank you very much, and walk out the door. The union had zero interest in allowing any kind of testing whatsoever.

If MLB walks into the next collective bargaining session and mentions Olympics-level testing, the union will do the same thing...walk out the door. You can't blame Bud Selig for that.


Sandra

 

[salsadancer7]

I like the sentiment, but it will never happen. You make it sound like MLB or Bud Selig can just make rules about steroid use. Anything and everything about steroids needs to be collectively bargained with the union.

I assume 'banned for life' means his contract automatically becomes null and void as well. The players would go on strike for 15 years before agreeing to this. You're talking about the union agreeing to potentially forfeit billions of dollars for their constituents. This is one of the strongest unions on the planet, and they don't care about the game, they care about getting the most they can for their players.

If congress hadn't stepped in Orza and Fehr would STILL be doing what they did in the 90's...walk into a collective bargaining session, and the first time the word steroids is used, pack their bags, say thank you very much, and walk out the door. The union had zero interest in allowing any kind of testing whatsoever.

If MLB walks into the next collective bargaining session and mentions Olympics-level testing, the union will do the same thing...walk out the door. You can't blame Bud Selig for that.

Sandra

Very true to everything you say....but let's be naive to think that the owners nor the league office is innocent in any way shape or for. EVERYONE had a vested interest in keep it hush....and the owners MORE than most because the "chicks love the long ball" mentality was bring back asses into seat and spending TONS of money. The knew full well that no-hitters, great defensive and the perfectly executed hit-and-run is not gonna bring the casual money into stadiums...so as long as the home runs were flying and the cha-ching was a cha-chinging...it was the baseball version of "the code".

 

[HD MM]

The only thing is you have to cross out BABE Ruth also! No greenies can be used anymore no coke, no booze!!

Yeah right. If anything, those are performance hindrances more than they are performance enhancers. With that said, if Babe was all jacked up when playing the game on those drugs and booze, it's amazing he was able to do what he did. Could you imagine if he was sober?!

 

[iceturkee]

First of all, my post about "I made a mistake" was made in general, not just Rodriguez, and I stand by that. I refuse to lump everything under the sun as a "mistake." Secondly, do you actually believe that Rodriguez came clean about everything? He just flat out avoided Gammons' question about who introduced him to steroids, and the stuff he was taking wasn't bought from GNC. And do you actually believe his all his claims about Selena Roberts stalking him and being cited for trying to break into his apartment? If that stuff was true, we would have heard about it. I don't give a damn about somebody's apology. That doesn't change the fact that you did it. I mean, I sort of get the feeling here, that just because he admitted it, his stats are more acceptable than McGwire's, Clemens', Bonds', Sosa's, et al. To me, that's nonsense.

in defense of my former collegue........mike and mike did have a copy of a miami police report which stated roberts was talking with the security guard where arod lives thursday but wasn't cited. thursday was the day she was in miami trying to get a comment from him and eventually found him at the gym.

i don't for one minute belive shs stalked him or sensationalized the story to sell her book due out in may. unless, the success of new york went to her head (and i'm not saying it didn't), i think she was only doing her job pursuing a tough story.

i dabbed in investigative reporting briefly and i will tell you i think i let way too many people off the hook too easily. you have to be a hard a@@, you have to be relentless. otherwise, someone else will write your story for you.

i think that mentality has potentially ruined many a good journalist. some have become so obsessed by getting the scoop, that they forget their principles.

 

[HD MM]

Watching him lie to our faces in the Couric interview makes me not believe him in this interview. Somewhere down the road he may rationalize what he said to Gammons, just like he rationalized what he said to Couric.


Sandra

Exactly.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

[salsadancer7]

in defense of my former collegue........mike and mike did have a copy of a miami police report which stated roberts was talking with the security guard where arod lives thursday but wasn't cited. thursday was the day she was in miami trying to get a comment from him and eventually found him at the gym.

i don't for one minute belive shs stalked him or sensationalized the story to sell her book due out in may. unless, the success of new york went to her head (and i'm not saying it didn't), i think she was only doing her job pursuing a tough story.

i dabbed in investigative reporting briefly and i will tell you i think i let way too many people off the hook too easily. you have to be a hard a@@, you have to be relentless. otherwise, someone else will write your story for you.

i think that mentality has potentially ruined many a good journalist. some have become so obsessed by getting the scoop, that they forget their principles.

ICE...no offense to your former collegue...But IF she did NOTHING wrong, there would be no police report. Maybe the word stalking might be a tad over used, considering we now live in the world of 'gotcha media' when it comes to celebrities....MAYBE the word stalking has been water down a bit. But IF you have a police report filled out on you, UNLESS you are witness to something, you did something you were NOT suppose to do.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

To me Orza and Fehr tipping off players to when test were going to be, is a bigger deal than A-rod taking steroids. The union and owners both turned a blind eye to this and should be held accountable.

Apparently, tipping off players wasn't the only thing Orza screwed up here. This is even worse, A-Rod's* whole mess probably might never have come to light:

The test results would have been destroyed if Gene Orza, the union’s chief operating officer, hadn’t been trying to find false positives among the 104 positive samples, SI.com said, citing three baseball sources familiar with the process.

Orza wanted less than 5 percent of the samples to be positive to avoid triggering testing with penalties for the 2004 major-league season, SI.com said.

Bloomberg.com: North American

 

[salsadancer7]

Apparently, tipping off players wasn't the only thing Orza screwed up here. This is even worse, A-Rod's* whole mess probably might never have come to light:



Bloomberg.com: North American

This could be the begining to the end of the Players Union. And the owners smelling like a rose....

 

[HD MM]

This could be the beginning to the end of the Players Union. And the owners smelling like a rose....

Yep. I can see that happening too. If Selig can't get a handle on this mess, the government could surely step in.

 

[salsadancer7]

Yep. I can see that happening too. If Selig can't get a handle on this mess, the government could surely step in.

Well...I think there is nothing wrong with looking out for the players....I have ALWAYS sided with the players because fans do not come to see owners play...and I have this bad taste about owners holding cities and states hostage for new stadiums....bit when the unions does things like what I have been reading about Orza and Fehr....then it's time the union either dissolves....which I doubt, or a MAJOR SHAKE UP in who is running it. I truly believe the players union in the NFL has done it best. NOT PERFECT, but best.....

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Well...I think there is nothing wrong with looking out for the players....I have ALWAYS sided with the players because fans do not come to see owners play...and I have this bad taste about owners holding cities and states hostage for new stadiums....bit when the unions does things like what I have been reading about Orza and Fehr....then it's time the union either dissolves....which I doubt, or a MAJOR SHAKE UP in who is running it. I truly believe the players union in the NFL has done it best. NOT PERFECT, but best.....

I always thought unions were supposed to act in the best interest of their members:

SI.com: Had the survey samples from 2003 been destroyed in a timely fashion, as they were supposed to be under the drug testing plan, there would have been no seizure by the federal investigators and thus no physical evidence that led to Rodriguez. Where does the responsibility fall on what seems to be an extraordinary breach of duty?

Roberts: I couldn't pretend to know what is going through Alex's head, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is not only angry at the news, but also at the Players Association executives for not destroying the testing information. Why didn't they burn the samples and put the results in a wood chipper? They've never answered to that issue. Our reporting, I believe, was as revealing of the union as it was of Alex. There are a hundred players on that list who have to wonder: Am I the next to be named?

Q&A on Alex Rodriguez steroids report - Selena Roberts - SI.com

 

[HD MM]

I'm wondering how many different players are listed in this "secret list" than was already exposed by the Mitchell Report in December of 2007?

 

[salsadancer7]

I always thought unions were supposed to act in the best interest of their members:



Q&A on Alex Rodriguez steroids report - Selena Roberts - SI.com

So did I. So the question to me NOW is...WHO leaked the info and WHY? Could this have been done on the part of MLB to bring down the union or at the very least cause such a problem that the players are forced to pick new leadership??
I would NOT rule this past the owners...look what they did to the commissioners office with a lame duck commissioner that made MORE most players. I mean only 3 players, A-Rod, Jeter and Giambi, made more money than filet-of-human commissioner....

 

[stmcld]

Then I guess the spokesman for the Miami Beach police department was lying.

He stated she requested entrance to his home on Star Island which has only ONE ROAD to get in and get out at the entrance of the island. They asked her if she was expected, she said no and they told her she must leave....the security guard told the Miami Beach police she refuses to leave private property and she was tress passing. The Miami Beach police showed up and escorted OFF the island without further incident.

The report was from the policeman who responded according to MLB network who stated he was holding a copy of the police report as he interviewed Selena Roberts. Why would he lie? She seems to have the documentation and the police report to refute what he states. Again, who are you going to believe? Someone who has already lied to you a few times or someone who seems to have the evidence to support her story? A lot of police departments require a report for any response. This seems to be the case with this also.

 

[BlackHitachi]

Yeah right. If anything, those are performance hindrances more than they are performance enhancers. With that said, if Babe was all jacked up when playing the game on those drugs and booze, it's amazing he was able to do what he did. Could you imagine if he was sober?!

Yea well the booze maybe but still not legal. Does not take away from that!! Also he did not play against some of the best ball players in the world some of the population could not play! So again why should his records stand?

 

[televisionarchives]

No matter what happens now Arod is toast. He will still play but he won't be looked at as a "natural" player ever again.

 

[HD MM]

Yankees stand by Rodriguez after doping admission

I can say this. I believe Arod was told when he was going to be tested again. And they protected him. I'm watching the coverage of it now and I know that Arod is not telling the whole truth. Just the part that he got caught on. If I believe my source, and I do, you are going to hear more. And it's not going to be pretty . He's hearing that the Yankees might move him.

LOL. Yeah right.

First off, no one else on the planet can afford A-Roid's mammoth contract. Secondly, the Yankees sure as hell aren't going to eat his $275 million contract either. Tell your "source", he's not going anywhere.

We shall see won't we.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Yankees were disappointed to learn that slugging third baseman Alex Rodriguez had used performance enhancing drugs earlier in his career but would stand by him, the team said on Monday.

Rodriguez, reported by Sports Illustrated to have tested positive for steroids and testosterone in a confidential 2003 survey, admitted to ESPN on Monday that he used banned substances while with the Texas Rangers before joining the Yankees in 2004.

"We urged Alex to be completely open, honest and forthcoming in addressing his use of performance enhancing drugs," the Yankees said in a statement on Monday.

"We take him at his word that he was. Although we are disappointed in the mistake he spoke to today, we realize that Alex, like all of us, is a human being not immune to fault.

"Alex took a big step by admitting his mistake, and while there is no condoning the use of performance enhancing drugs, we respect his decision to take accountability for his actions.

"We support Alex, and we will do everything we can to help him deal with this challenge and prepare for the upcoming season."

Rodriguez, 33, is in the second year of a 10-year, $275 million contract that makes him Major League Baseball's highest paid player.

Yankees stand by Rodriguez after doping admission - Yahoo! News

What does "your source" have to say about this?!

 

[cosmo_kramer]

The report was from the policeman who responded. Why would he lie? She seems to have the documentation and the police report to refute what he states. Again, who are you going to believe? Someone who has already lied to you a few times or someone who seems to have the evidence to support her story? A lot of police departments require a report for any response. This seems to be the case with this also.

Exactly. A-Rod* said during the PG interview he had the police report(s) to back up his claims against Roberts. Wouldn't it have been great drama if he actually showed them to Gammons?? If the reports were as incriminating as A-Rod* said they were, I sure would have...

 

[Skyhi]

Exactly. A-Rod* said during the PG interview he had the police report(s) to back up his claims against Roberts. Wouldn't it have been great drama if he actually showed them to Gammons?? If the reports were as incriminating as A-Rod* said they were, I sure would have...

Whether he was correct or not regarding the facts, bringing up the reporter was pathetic on A-Rod's part. He was playing the "poor me" card to garner sympathy in an interview where he should have been contrite and apologetic. It took away greatly from the genuineness of what he was saying and made me think that he is completely full of crap.

 

[SabresRule]

He was playing the "poor me" card to garner sympathy in an interview where he should have been contrite and apologetic.

Still, it's better than playing the "deny, deny, deny card" Clemens did a year ago that went all the way to Congress.