When was the last time you believed a 5-year-old boy was really sorry for hitting his little sister? We let it slide because he’s 5 and doesn’t know better.
Alex Rodriguez just said sorry. In fact, he was “very sorry” for testing positive for steroids and testosterone. That sorry means less to me than the 5-year-old’s.
For a moment, set aside the tired lines: “I let down my fans,” “I’ve ruined my reputation,” “I’ve helped taint the game of baseball,” or the never spoken, but always applicable “I’m sorry I got caught.”
I’ll bet my life savings (which isn’t much, but hey, it’s all I got) that he’s not sorry he inked a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers. He can talk about how the pressures of the “loose” environment got to him all he wants. How he wanted to be the best. The dude wanted to get paid, and he decided to do that by any means necessary. Yes, A-Rod would have received more money than he knew what to do with regardless, but for the best player in the game to use steroids to help elevate that status even higher has monetary intentions written all over it.
Those ramifications for the padding of one guy’s wallet is scary too. If Rodriguez8212;possibly the most complete baseball player in history8212;is using steroids to keep his edge, it tells you exactly what the culture in baseball is in general. If everyone is trying to keep up with the Joneses, and the Joneses are using steroids, then that is the status quo.
Rodriguez is going to get big points for coming clean the way he has. Former teammate Andy Pettitte paved the way and proved what kind of a public relations move that path can be. It will save his name from being dragged through the mud, unlike a fat-headed former San Francisco Giant who was once of normal cranial proportions in Pittsburgh (who goes on trial in three weeks by the way).
Rodriguez further clouds the issue that Major League Baseball is still trying to solve. The game has no credibility. Every “Have you ever used illegal performance enhancing drugs” that is answered “No” is subject to skepticism.
“Sorry” doesn’t help any of that. Actions speak louder than words.
Every player who has used illegal performance enhancers has gained from it monetarily. If baseball players, or athletes in general, want that sorry to mean something, then show us how sorry you are, don’t just tell us. Every baseball player who is caught using illegal performance-enhancing drugs has cheated the game he plays and the fans who love him, particularly the young children.
If those players want a better PR move, they should voluntarily donate a handsome part of that padded paycheck and send it to one of two places. Start a foundation for kids against performance-enhancing drugs and start fixing this problem of athletic doping at the root. Next, a portion of that paycheck needs to go to a laboratory, or some other company that specializes in designing tests for the up-and-coming designer drugs.
At one time, these players were part of the problem. If they are really sorry, they will jump at the chance to become part of the solution. Informing children and making it harder to beat the system are two ways to turn a negative into a positive. At that point, sorry starts to mean something to me.
t.pizza@chronicle.utah.edu
