A-Rod tests positive for steroids
 

[URL="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489597,00.html"][COLOR=#0066cc]Report: Baseball Star Alex Rodriguez Tested Positive for Steroids in 2003[/COLOR][/URL]

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What a waste. Think about it -Bonds, A-Rod, McGwire, Clemens, Palmeiro... all may not make the Hall Of Fame. Crazy. Some of the most prolific players ever to play the game.

On a side note, A-Rod testing postivie adds to the growing circus that is the Yankees, which I love. Pettitte, Giambi, Clemens, now A-Rod... what a buncha cheats.

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At this point you almost have to assume everyone in baseball juiced during the height of the steroid era.

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WHO CARES?? Enough of this steroid crap already. As Matty said everyone was doing it. The freakin bat boys were probably doing it. Why does the media get a hard on eveytime someone gets caught doing steroids?

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[quote=GMScud;525715]What a waste. Think about it -Bonds, A-Rod, McGwire, Clemens, Palmeiro... all may not make the Hall Of Fame. Crazy. Some of the most prolific players ever to play the game.

On a side note, A-Rod testing postivie adds to the growing circus that is the Yankees, which I love. Pettitte, Giambi, Clemens, now A-Rod... what a buncha cheats.[/quote]

If everyone was doing it how is it cheating?

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[quote=GMScud;525715]What a waste. Think about it -Bonds, A-Rod, McGwire, Clemens, Palmeiro... all may not make the Hall Of Fame. Crazy. Some of the most prolific players ever to play the game.

On a side note, A-Rod testing postivie adds to the growing circus that is the Yankees, which I love. Pettitte, Giambi, Clemens, now A-Rod... what a buncha cheats.[/quote]

Didnt arod test positive when he was with the Rangers?

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[quote=hooskins;525734]Didnt arod test positive when he was with the Rangers?[/quote]

And? It creates doubt about if he was juicing while wearing the pinstripes. In '03 when he tested positive he hit 47 homers and won MVP. I'd say that's motivation to repeat the behavior.

A-Rod was the player who everyone said was the "natural." Ever since all this steroid crap game to light, how many times have you heard A-Rod applauded for being one of the few who does it all without juicing? He was supposed to be the guy who would take the taint (and asterisk) off the home run record when he breaks it. Not anymore.

Say "who cares" all you want guys. This is a big deal.

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[quote=Mattyk72;525726]At this point you almost have to assume everyone in baseball juiced during the height of the steroid era.[/quote]Curt Schilling said pretty much the same thing on his blog(sorry, no link). He wants all 104 or so players that tested positive back in '03 named. He says if you don't start naming all the players it makes all the players guilty by association.

It bothers me even more that he won the MVP that year. Great example to set A-Rod. I lost most of my respect for you when you demanded that 1/4 billion $ contract a few years ago. Now.....F...A-Rod.

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All this makes Ken Griffey Jr. look better and better every day

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I liked baseball better when 30/100 homeruns/rbi's a season was considered pretty darn good. More hit-and-runs and stolen bases make a much better game than watching some guy jog around the bases.

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I'm going to miss middle aged pitchers!

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What's even "sadder" is the reputation that Canseco is building because of the allegations coming out. I don't know the exact context from his book, but Canseco said he did everything but inject A-Rod when it came to steroids.

But here's what stands out to me:
[quote]Baseball's drug policy prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, but there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003.[/quote]
Why prohibit it if you aren't going to penalize someone for it?!?!? Baseball turned a deaf ear until the public outcry came about, and now these players are going to be the scapegoat. The guys who have taken steroids would have had solid careers anyways, but decided to get that extra edge, and up until 2004, while it wasn't allowed, there was no penalty for it, so why not try to take advantage of the system? It's sad that they resorted to it, but baseball shot themselves in the foot over this.

And as SS said, these allegations make guys like Griffey, Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez (career .312 hitter), and Fred McGriff look better and better for what they've accomplished.

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MLB is a joke, has been for a very long time. Do people really care about the "sport" of Baseball? I always thought people went to the games to get a nice suntan, drink and socialize with friends?

I hear Manny wants to opt-out of his contract, I wonder if he's on the list?

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Well, A-Roid admitted it. At least he was smart enough not to deny. McGwire, Palmeiro, Clemens- all denied it, and they're all jokes now. Pettitte admitted to it right away and no one cares anymore.

[url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AlkohURAvKFrPYTWAP1RN385nYcB?slug=ap-rodriguez-steroids&prov=ap&type=lgns]A-Rod admits using performance-enhancers - MLB - Yahoo! Sports[/url]

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[quote=GMScud;525938]Well, A-Roid admitted it. At least he was smart enough not to deny. McGwire, Palmeiro, Clemens- all denied it, and they're all jokes now. Pettitte admitted to it right away and no one cares anymore.

[url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AlkohURAvKFrPYTWAP1RN385nYcB?slug=ap-rodriguez-steroids&prov=ap&type=lgns]A-Rod admits using performance-enhancers - MLB - Yahoo! Sports[/url][/quote]

cover up is often worse than the crime. Smart of him to just admit it

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[quote=saden1;525913]MLB is a joke, has been for a very long time. Do people really care about the "sport" of Baseball? I[B] always thought people went to the games to get a nice suntan, drink and socialize with friends[/B]?

I hear Manny wants to opt-out of his contract, I wonder if he's on the list?[/quote]

That's certainly why I go. I could give a rats ass about baseball. I can watch baseball on tv for about 3 minutes and then I have to turn the channel. I hate this time of year. Not a damn thing to do on Sundays.

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[quote=SmootSmack;525943]cover up is often worse than the crime. Smart of him to just admit it[/quote]

No doubt. It probably wasn't a tough decision to make either. Every player that has openly admitted it has pretty much been forgiven. If he just denied and denied it would have turned into circus, and he would be dodging questions about "suspected use" the rest of his career.

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I like baseball.

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im a huge yankee hater and was pissed off when the news first broke but after hearing his "apology", i accept it with no lingering hatred towards him that wasnt there before this story came out.

im glad he did what he did (even if he said he never did roids in an interview a year or so ago and only came clean after getting caught; not on his own will and conscious) and im sure his agent and team is aswell. if you come clean about doing roids when alot of people were doing it (1990-2005) then this fan gives you a pass.

of course, i might change my mind come opening day when im going to be within earshot of arod.

go skins!!

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This is pretty funny: [url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Play-by-play-of-the-A-Rod-interview-plus-pics-a;_ylt=AguC.N9KBePjhR2QuRzH3.05nYcB?urn=mlb,140217]Play-by-play of the A-Rod interview, plus pics and commentary! - Big League... - MLB - Yahoo! Sports[/url]


Gammons fumbled the interview a bit, and A-Rod doesn't seem too contrite to me. It's more an "I'm sorry I got caught" situation.

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To A-Rod's credit, for lack of a better term, he admitted to using in 2001 and 2002 as well when all he was accused of was 2003

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Adding to the joy

[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090210/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/tejada_steroids]Shortstop Tejada charged with lying to Congress - Yahoo! News[/url]

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[quote=GMScud;525759]And? It creates doubt about if he was juicing while wearing the pinstripes. In '03 when he tested positive he hit 47 homers and won MVP. I'd say that's motivation to repeat the behavior.

A-Rod was the player who everyone said was the "natural." Ever since all this steroid crap game to light, how many times have you heard A-Rod applauded for being one of the few who does it all without juicing? He was supposed to be the guy who would take the taint (and asterisk) off the home run record when he breaks it. Not anymore.

[B]Say "who cares" all you want guys. This is a big deal.[/quote][/B]

[B]It's not a big deal cause everyone was doing it and steroids don't help you as much as you think it does. Why do people get so mad about this? The pitchers were doing it plus the pitchers cheated all the time. They scuff the balls, spit on the balls..they did all kind of stuff. But for some reason when the hitters do steroids everyone freaks the hell out. It's almost comical to me. Most people don't even really know how steriods work yet those are the first ones to call ARod a cheater. [/B]

[B]Do you know how many football players currently take HGH? I'm going to guess it's a big number cause you can't test for it. Does that bother you? Do you know how many football players took steroids before they tested for it? Yet no one seems to care about football. Only baseball. Why? [/B]

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[quote=skinsfan69;526149][/B]

[B]It's not a big deal cause everyone was doing it and steroids don't help you as much as you think it does. Why do people get so mad about this? The pitchers were doing it plus the pitchers cheated all the time. They scuff the balls, spit on the balls..they did all kind of stuff. But for some reason when the hitters do steroids everyone freaks the hell out. It's almost comical to me. Most people don't even really know how steriods work yet those are the first ones to call ARod a cheater. [/B]

[B]Do you know how many football players currently take HGH? I'm going to guess it's a big number cause you can't test for it. Does that bother you? Do you know how many football players took steroids before they tested for it? Yet no one seems to care about football. Only baseball. Why? [/B][/quote]

Not sure why you bolded everything but...

1. Everyone was doing it is a bit of an overstatement

2. I would agree that the pitchers were probably more guilty overall than batters

3. It "matters" more in baseball because baseball is much more about the history of the sport and the numbers attached to the sport. People don't care as much about 47 games as they do about 56 games. When those numbers are tainted it leaves a bad taste (or something like that)

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Although I won't go as far as skinsfan69, I feel this is getting a bit blown out of proportion. Yes, it is a shock because A-rod was suppose to be the "clean" posterboy.

But honestly, some of what he was saying is pretty true. A decent amount of people were dabbling with the gray-area of performance enhancement during that time, and baseball(specifically the comish) turned a blind eye to it. NFL NBA and others were much tougher on steroids and to claim ignorance on Bud's part is just naive.

Yeah it's wrong to take those enhancements, but if you don't have clear punishments for them what is going to stop someone? Their morality? Bullshit; money, pressure to perform, fans, etc. will drive you to do things like that without even thinking about it. It is easy for us to sit here and crucify Arod, but we can't even begin to know what we would do in that situation.

Leagues have to be on the cutting edge of testing, because what they pretty much encourage being the best and winning. People will look for an edge, and it's the comish's responsibility to keep on researching new drugs and finding way to test for them.

Arod doesn't get a free pass, but don't blame him for all this mess. Partly the fan's and mainly MLB's fault. Plus there are probably tons of ball players out their who have used some kind of steroid in the past, maybe even more goody-good arod types.

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As for the HOF debate, I think it's way too early. We will see Arod's full stats and maybe make a judgment then.

Also it is hypocritical to vote ANYONE from this era into the HOF without an asterisk. How do we know they took stuff or they didn't? Just because it hasn't come out, doesn't mean they didn't do drugs. If you don't vote AROD in, don't vote in anyone who played in the late 90's to the early 2000's.

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[quote=skinsfan69;526149][/b]

[B]It's not a big deal cause everyone was doing it and steroids don't help you as much as you think it does. Why do people get so mad about this? The pitchers were doing it plus the pitchers cheated all the time. They scuff the balls, spit on the balls..they did all kind of stuff. But for some reason when the hitters do steroids everyone freaks the hell out. It's almost comical to me. Most people don't even really know how steriods work yet those are the first ones to call ARod a cheater. [/B]

[B]Do you know how many football players currently take HGH? I'm going to guess it's a big number cause you can't test for it. Does that bother you? Do you know how many football players took steroids before they tested for it? Yet no one seems to care about football. Only baseball. Why? [/B][/quote]

It's a big enough deal for you to angrily make an entire post in bold letters. LOL!

Anyway, I respect your opinion. But my opinion is that when the best player in the game (and one of the greatest ever) tests positive for steroids, aka cheating, it's a big deal. Just like it would be a big deal if Johan Santana was scuffing balls, David Ortiz was using too much pine tar, or Albert Pujols was corking his bat.

Also, the Mitchell Report fiasco, Jose Canseco, and the precedent set by morons like McGwire, Palmeiro, and Clemens have turned stuff like this into a bigger deal. It's a total media circus. For the past two days you might as well have renamed ESPN the A-Roid Network. Hell, he was on the front page of the friggin Wall Street Journal. So yeah, it's a big deal.

Your question as to why people care more about performance enhancers in baseball than football is an interesting one. Maybe because baseball is a sport totally obsessed with it's own statistics, and steroids beef up (no pun intended) the stats? I don't know. I'm sure plenty of players all over the place take HGH, and that does bother me. But what am I gonna do, stop watching sports?

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I'm angry at the baseball players who aren't taking steroids.

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[quote=Duffman003;526205]I'm angry at the baseball players who aren't taking steroids.[/quote]
There weren't many apparently.

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[quote=GMScud;526203]David Ortiz was using too much pine tar[/quote]
This made me LOL...too much pine tar...Who are you? Tim McClelland? Billy Martin?

Unfortunately in this day of 24/7 media, this is bound to be blown way out of proportion. Plus add on the fact that baseball is using these guys as a scapegoat, and trying to clean up their act after the fact.

Asterisk or not, this is an era of baseball. It's not a clean one, but it is what it is. Instead of trying to be angry at the past, go forward with a cleaner conscience. The fact that baseball had [I][B]no penalties[/B][/I] in place at the height of players taking Steroids goes to show you that the brass and players union either knew about it and turned a blind eye (while football continues to develop very strenuous testing) for the sake of rating and popularity, or the powers that be (Bud Selig, Donald Fehr) just don't know what in the hell they are doing.

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[quote=skinsfan69;526149][/b]

[B]It's not a big deal cause everyone was doing it [/B][/quote]

cal ripken jr wasnt doing em and thats one of many reasons why he gets shown so much respect.

but to a point i agree with you; if a roided up pitcher is throwing to a roided up batter, wheres the uncompetitive advantage? the only guy who gets screwed is the guy doing it the right way.

go skins!!

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[quote=BDBohnzie;526318]This made me LOL...too much pine tar...Who are you? Tim McClelland? Billy Martin?

Unfortunately in this day of 24/7 media, this is bound to be blown way out of proportion. Plus add on the fact that baseball is using these guys as a scapegoat, and trying to clean up their act after the fact.

Asterisk or not, this is an era of baseball. It's not a clean one, but it is what it is. Instead of trying to be angry at the past, go forward with a cleaner conscience. The fact that baseball had [I][B]no penalties[/B][/I] in place at the height of players taking Steroids goes to show you that the brass and players union either knew about it and turned a blind eye (while football continues to develop very strenuous testing) for the sake of rating and popularity, or the powers that be (Bud Selig, Donald Fehr) just don't know what in the hell they are doing.[/quote]

Well, you kind of misquoted me- I said "IF David Ortiz was using too much pinetar...."

I don't disagree with you, especially the part about Fehr and Selig being idiots AND turning a blind eye to steroids. I'm not really "angry" at the past per se, I guess disappointed is a better word.

But in today's world, if anyone expected a mild reaction to A-Rod testing positive for steroids... Well, that's just not very realistic.