Tag: PEDs

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Alex Rodriguez Has Become The Villain

Alex Alex Rodriguez has effectively turned himself into MLB’s public enemy number one. He is now Baseball’s Villain.

It’s been almost six months since we first heard about the Miami based anti aging clinic that was allegedly pedaling performance enhancing drugs to more than 20 MLB players. And here we are, waiting with bated breath to find out exactly how Major League Baseball will deal with these dopers. We have already seen Ryan Braun served with a 67 game suspension that will cover the remainder of the 2013 season. Now word is Nelson Cruz will be suspended this week. Braun’s suspension doesn’t hurt the Brewers because they are not in a pennant race. Cruz’s absence is much more noticeable for a Texas team that seems playoff bound.

But what about the big fish? The 1,000 pound marlin that Bud Selig would love to reel in and mount on his wall of shame. The word around the baseball universe is that the amount of evidence the league has on Alex Rodriguez far surpasses the amount they had on Braun. The analogy has been used that the league has “a skyscraper of evidence on A-Rod compared to a Lego they had on Braun.” It seems as though Bud Selig is absolutely fed up with Alex Rodriguez because insiders are claiming that Selig is getting ready to put the final nail in Rodriguez’s coffin.

Commissioner Bud Selig poses with child wearing an “A*ROID shirt.

The team A-Rod has hired to defend him has said that they will fight any suspension handed down to Alex. This was stated just after word had leaked that the commissioner’s office offered Rodriguez a deal. Accept a plea of a suspension for the rest of this season and all of next season and Selig would not seek to ban him for life. Now that it seems Rodriguez will fight the ban instead of taking the deal, Selig is no longer messing around. A-Rod could appeal the ban based on the collectively agreed drug policy and he would still be eligible to play during that appeal process. Selig wants to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The commissioner now plans to use the Collective Bargaining Agreement to ban Alex Rodriguez rather than the drug policy. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, according to Article XI Section A1b of the CBA, the commissioner has the ability to ban a player for life based on preserving the integrity of the game of baseball. In this situation, Rodriguez can still appeal but he would not be eligible to play through the process. Also, instead of having an arbitration hearing to decide his fate, A-Rod would instead be appealing to very man that enacted the punishment, Mr. Bud Selig. Needless to say, Rodriguez would lose the appeal.

A-Rod could then take MLB to court but at that time, MLB would move to ban Alex based on the drug policy, to which he could also appeal. So Rodriguez and the MLB would be locked into a court case and an arbitration hearing. So lets talk scenarios.

Best scenario for Alex: He wins the court case and the CBA ban is dropped and then the arbitrator rules in his favor for the drug policy ban. No way the arbitrator lets him walk with the mountain of evidence he has against him. He still serves a severe suspension but is able to attempt a return to the game after a certain amount of time and look to collect on the remaining $60-75 million left on his contract.

Worst scenario for Alex: He loses the court case so therefore the arbitration hearing is moot and he is banned from the game for life. Never being eligible for employment in any regard by Major League Baseball. Plus he loses the rest of his money and the Yankees get out of a major contract.

It’s hard not to ask yourself why this man would even consider fighting at this point. Selig isn’t f**king around.

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BRAUN SUSPENDED

The Miami Biogenesis Clinic scandal has seemingly reached its peak. Major League Baseball and former NL MVP, Ryan Braun, have come to an agreement. Braun has admitted to using PEDs and has apologized for letting everyone down. The plea deal will be in effect immediately and he will serve a suspensions without pay for the remainder of the season, about 67 games. The agreement between the league and Bruan does a lot to boost the credibility of Anthony Bosch. Bosch was the head of the Miami clinic.

All of this information is bad news for Alex Rodriguez who is believed to be up next to face the music. CBS Sports writer, Jon Heyman, was the first to break the Bruan suspension and he believes that we will see the same situation if not worse for Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez is now faced with a decision. He can either let the league take their action and accept or fight it or he can use his injury to state that he is physically unfit to continue playing at the professional level and retire to ensure he collects every dime of his contract. It seems regardless of what he decides, we will know soon.

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“A-Rod Should Shut The F*** Up”

Well, it took less than a week for Alex Rodriguez to cause chaos in Yankee Universe via twitter. The embattled star took to twitter two hours ago and announced that he was cleared to play in rehab games. Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York reached out to the Yankee GM Brian Cashman, and asked him about Rodriguez’s tweet. Cashman, who is known for being forthcoming with the media, did not hold back his feelings. He told Marchand;

“You know what? When the Yankees want to announce something WE will. Alex should just shut the f**k up. That’s it. I’m calling Alex now.”

Clearly Cashman is not very happy with the Yankee slugger. Even more clear is the fact that Rodriguez picked the worst time to join twitter leaving us all to question who he is taking advice from over at camp A-Rod.

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A-Rod Had No Intention Of Stopping

Friday morning, the Miami New Times again released information regarding Alex Rodriguez and his steroid use. Sources say A-Rod was spending $14,000 a month on steroids and was injected regularly by the head of Biogenesis of America, Anthony Bosch. Bosch has publicly denied treating Alex.

Sources also revealed to the Miami newspaper that A-Rod had an agreement in place with Bosch that would have Alex paying $12,000 a month for the next 4 years. Proof that Alex had no intent to stop what he was doing any time soon. Clearly, A-Rod does not trust his own level of talent. It also stands to reason that Rodriguez has likely used PEDs for almost all his career.

Alex again denied allegations Friday through a spokesperson. The evidence released was very damning to Rodriguez.

In a letter obtained by the Miami New Times from the BoA director, Anthony Bosch claims that Melky Cabrera owes him $14,000 including “a $5,000 bonus for making the All-Star Team.” The letter was addressed to Juan Nunez, a consultant who worked for agents Sam and Seth Levinson of ACES. ACES is the agency that handled Cabrera.

The Levinsons are currently under investigation by MLB but have been cleared by the players union. Juan Nunez has since been fired from ACES and could not be reached for comment.

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While Yankees Try To Void A-Rod, There’s Another Way Out

A source with knowledge of the situation has told the media that the Yankees are looking into at least 20 different ways to void the remainder of Alex Rodriguez’s contract. The source did not go in depth with information but one route is by claiming A-Rod accepted treatment from a physician not authorized by the Yankee organization. A definite violation of his contract. Another option is to try to void the contract based on the drugs he purchased. Let’s not forget what A-Rod did was not only against the rules, it was illegal. Not only should he be out of a job, he should be doing 3-5 in a prison somewhere.

Does this all sound good so far Yankee fans? Don’t get too excited. The Yanks face an uphill battle. Although a situation like this should allow a team to void a player’s contract, it most likely will not. The way the MLB drug policy was written was so that a team could not get out of a contract just because of a steroid violation.

The truth is, the rewards out-weigh the risks of PED use right now. Mainly because the MLB can’t just do what they want. These players are in a union therefore the MLBPA must agree to the drug policy. Recently, the two sides did come to an agreement on a much stricter testing system. One that includes random in-season human growth hormone testing. However, until the punishments get more intimidating, you’re still going to have players taking a chance.

Currently, the rules are for the first infraction, a player receives a 50 game suspension without pay. After the second infraction, the player receives a 100 game suspension without pay. Finally, the third infraction results in a lifetime ban from baseball. Three strikes and you’re out. This policy was a step in the right direction but it’s not there yet. A better policy would have a player suspended a full season for the first infraction and receive a lifetime ban after just a second infraction. Furthermore, a team needs to be able to void the contract of any player found guilty of breaking the MLB drug policy. If these rules were adopted, players would think twice about cheating.

Getting back to the Yankees, though they face a tough task of voiding the contract. The attempt shows that they are done with Alex and want him off this team and there maybe a simple way out.

A-Rod already admitted to using PEDs between 2001-2003. Now with the evidence suggesting use from 2009-2012, it becomes pretty clear that Rodriguez is not confident in his own ability without the assistance of banned substances. So battling back from a hip injury now that his help is gone could prove to be a very daunting task for him. Also, the fans and media haven’t exactly been his biggest supporters recently and now with all this going on, it makes sense that the fans and media will be brutal towards him if he does come back. Who would be in a rush to face hostility like that?

If Alex simply retired, the Yankees would be off the hook for the remainder of A-Rod’s contract but he would not earn another penny. However, if he were to find a doctor who stated that he was suffering from a career ending injury, he could walk away from the game with his $114 million owed to him. The Yankees would have to pay him in full but they can then turn around and cash in on the insurance policy they have on the contract and make at least 85% of the money back. It’s a win-win situation that is not so far fetched.

Alex has disgraced the Yankees as well as Major League Baseball. It’s time the game moves on and this could be how it happens.

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A-Rod Among Those Named in Doping Scandal

This morning, the Miami New Times broke a story of epic proportions linking Alex Rodriguez to performance enhancing drugs as recently as last season and as notably as 2009. The 3 month investigation into a Miami area clinic uncovered overwhelming evidence linking not only A-Rod but several other well known players.

The clinic’s client list includes Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzales, Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz, Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera and Athletics pitcher Bartolo Colon. In what is being called the East Coast version of BALCO, this most recent blow to Major League Baseball will likely have a lasting impact on these players.

More on this as the story unfolds.

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Lance Armstrong Argues Semantics With Oprah

I tuned in last night like many others, to see if I could forgive a man who used to command much of my respect. Lance Armstrong had a great chance last night to own it all. Oprah gave him the platform to take the bull by the horns and fess up to everything he was guilty of. That’s what I expected of him last night and I think that’s what Oprah expected. Sadly, Armstrong let us all down.

He admitted to using banned substances for every single Tour De France victory and for the first 15 minutes of the interview it seemed like this was going well. Then Armstrong took a weird turn, telling Oprah he never pressured a single teammate to do the things he was doing because he “never outright told them to use PEDs.” Oprah tried to make a point that Armstrong was the leader of his team and since he was so open about his steroid use, when he told a teammate that he wanted them to step up and do better, this pressure to take PEDs was implied. Oprah’s point was met by an argument over semantics. Armstrong conceded that he was supposed to lead by example but then pushed the fact that he never said the words “do steroids” so he was not guilty of pressuring anyone.

That was not the only time Armstrong claimed innocence based on semantics. Oprah asked him while he was doping, if he realized he was cheating. He answered with a clear and firm “no.” Oprah was blown away so she pushed the topic. “How could you not realize you we’re cheating?” Oprah asked. Armstrong then explained that he had looked up the definition of cheating and that it was defined as gaining an unfair advantage over an opponent or foe. He said that he never did that. Armstrong’s argument is that everyone else was on performance enhancing drugs so he never gained an unfair advantage.

Lance Armstrong struck me as a cheating spouse who was only owning up to what they were caught doing instead of owning the whole situation. I didn’t see his confession as genuine. Maybe it was just a sad attempt to stay relevant but he has attacked so many people for accusing him of things he really did that if he is not going to own everything and apologize to every person he sued, this whole interview is moot.

The topic of his ex teammate’s wife came up. Betsy Andreu had told people that she heard Armstrong tell a doctor that he had done a whole list of banned substances. Armstrong not only sued her for this but he called her a “crazy whore.” Andreu was under the impression Armstrong called her a “crazy fat whore.” Armstrong made a point of saying that he did call her a crazy whore but that he never called her fat. So I guess that makes it all better.

Armstrong didn’t lose all my respect by doing all the things he did. He lost my respect last night when he somehow confessed but still took almost no responsibility for what he did. He claimed it was all on him but everything he said last night leads me to believe that he still doesn’t see anything wrong with what he did.

Before I end this post, I’ll leave you with this final point. Mark McGwire used steroids to prolong a career of high production. A career where his home run and RBI totals were always high as long as he was healthy. Roger Clemens is without a doubt, one of the best pitchers to ever grace the mound. He used steroids when he saw his career starting to decline. He used them to keep an already very successful career going. Lance Armstrong would have been a nobody if he didn’t take PED’s. That’s the difference between him and every other great athlete that cheated. He built his career on lies.

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Lance Armstrong: Forgive Him or Forget Him

Oprah has wrapped her interview with alleged performance enhancing drug user, Lance Armstrong. In the interview that will air on Thursday, Armstrong admits to using PEDs throughout his career. The interview was two and a half hours long and Armstrong reportedly gets into details about when exactly he used PEDs and why but as of right now, there aren’t many details from the interview because their is a non-disclosure agreement in place since the interview will air on Thursday.

What’s the next step? Do we forgive what Armstrong has done? Or maybe we just forget about him forever. Well, I don’t think either of those answers are right. This man is not stupid. He was risking being charged for perjury but the statute of limitations has run out on that charge. We are not talking about a man who is desperately looking for forgiveness and will take whatever punishment he deserves. We’re talking about a man who is cunningly making his way through the apology tour to rehabilitate his shattered public image. The excuse that he did it because everyone else was too, that doesn’t make it ok. That just makes everyone else wrong also.

So his seven Tour De France wins were a lie. Actually, it’s unclear at this point if they were all tainted but even if they all are, does that mean that everything he’s ever done is tainted? Even Livestrong? No, of course not. Lance Armstrong cheated. He made a huge career altering and defining mistake. However, Armstrong created and helped lead an organization that has raised over $470 million for cancer research. That’s still pretty damn incredible.

So before you rip off your Livestrong bracelet and throw it in the trash, think about what that yellow bracelet means. Do you wear it because its going to help you win the Tour De France? No. You bought it because the money went to help someone with cancer.

I’m disappointed that Armstrong did PEDs but I would be much more disappointed if all that money didn’t go to an amazing cause. But it did. Don’t forget that.

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