Today in silly A-Rod arguments

Jon Paul Morosi writes that Alex Rodriguez shouldn't be in this year's All-Star Game, even though he's worthy.

It's not that he doesn't have the numbers, because he does, and Morosi points out that the numbers should be the thing.

It's not even the PEDs, as he notes that his fellow Biogenesis list members Nelson Cruz and Jhonny Peralta were elected starters, by the fans -- many of whom I'm sure would throw A-Rod out of the game if they could -- this year. (That whirring noise you hear in the background? That's the selective outrage machine. Don't worry; you get used to it after a while.)

No, in addition to the fact that no one elected him to the game -- which I'm sure had nothing to do with the selective outrage -- the problem is that he'll be (cue drama-sting music here) ... a distraction.

"If A-Rod had been named to the All-Star team, he'd dominate much of the pregame discussion in Cincinnati. Would the debate draw greater attention to this year's Midsummer Classic? Perhaps. But it would drain plenty of oxygen from what people who love the game should be discussing: the tremendous influx of young talent to the sport.

The All-Star Game has a complicated identity: It determines home-field advantage for the World Series, yet its heritage is as a summertime exhibition for fans. It's supposed to celebrate the greatest players in the game, while also leaving room on rosters to honor breakout stars of the first half. In some years, the Midsummer Classic does an admirable job of satisfying its many constituencies. In other years, it doesn't.

But in 2015, with a new commissioner and evolving sports preferences in the U.S., it is paramount that MLB leverage its All-Star Game into a stage for Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant and Joc Pederson, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado. We need to learn more about their stories. By now, we're familiar enough with the tale of Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez." 

If Alex Rodriguez was selected to the All-Star Game, he would be a story, and oh by the way, he should be. After all, he missed an entire year because of a suspension to come back and play any better than anyone expected. And so far, he has managed to do it without (so far) doing anything dumb.

But "dominate much of the pregame discussion," to the point where Trout, Harper, Bryant and the other great young stars of baseball would be overshadowed? Now who would be responsible for that if it happens?

Between Monday and Tuesday, the whole of the baseball media is going to decamp in Cincinnati. Surely MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage, and I'm guessing the various Fox Sports networks will give the game quite a bit of airtime, since their network is covering it. ESPN will probably also make an appearance.

And while they're there, they can literally cover anything they want. They can devote hours to Brock Holt if they want to. They can spend as much time as they like on the guy who's banned from the game for life but is still being allowed to participate in the festivities in spite of recent reports that he bet on baseball while he was still playing. (And Alex Rodriguez is a distraction?)

As for the game itself, A-Rod is a DH. He wouldn't be in the field and likely wouldn't get more than a couple at-bats, so the only time anyone would have to talk about him is when he hits. Sure, he could do something huge with his at-bats and be chosen MVP, except that wouldn't happen even if he hit grand slams every time.

In other words, Alex Rodriguez would be as much of a distraction as Morosi and his fellow media members let him be.

Alex Rodriguez "meets the press"

The scene -- New York Yankees spring training in Tampa, Florida.

The event -- Alex Rodriguez, back from a 162-game suspension, addresses the media.

"Thank you all for coming today.

I would like to start by saying that it's great to be back. I have always loved baseball, but a year away from the game has caused me to realized I love it even more than I thought, and I hope to earn my spot in the Yankees' lineup and help the team win another World Series.

That being said, I understand that I've made a lot of mistakes, the biggest being using performance-enhancing drugs. All I can say about that is that I'm sorry, and my time away from the game caused me to realize how selfish and foolish I was.

Looking forward, all I can do is try to be a better man.

I know one issue that has come up is the bonuses I am set to receive for reaching certain home run milestones. Because I realize it would be wrong for me to accept them, I have asked the Yankees, and they have agreed, to use the money toward funding scholarship for underprivileged children in New York and Miami. Those kids deserve the money more than I do.

I also realize that as I say this, none of this matters to any of you, as you probably have your stories about me making another phony statement already written, and are just looking for quotes from me to fill it in.

I am well aware that my original sin was not using PEDs, but having the unmitigated gall to sign the contract the Texas Rangers put in front of me. I have been able to do no right in your eyes since then.

Therefore, I can admit to using PEDs twice when David Ortiz -- who was a nobody before he took them -- has never admitted them, and you fall all over yourselves about how wonderful he is while I'm scum. I also know that I've just helped you write your stories, as now I've 'ripped' my 'friend David Ortiz to take heat off' myself.

Therefore, it was OK in your eyes for my own general manager to curse me out for daring to say that I'm ready to start playing again without wondering what his motivation might be.

Therefore, it was OK in your eyes for Major League Baseball to have had such a desire to come after me for Biogenesis that it would purchase stolen documents and for former Commissioner Bud Selig to never answer for how his office handled the investigation.

Therefore, it was OK in your eyes to not point out that I got a longer suspension because of everything I had done, while apparently everyone else involved in Biogenesis except for Ryan Braun must have been caught having done only one thing and for the first time in their lives.

So you know what else is OK? For you to write and say whatever you want. Because you know what else I've realized in the last year? There's nothing I can do to make you happy except retire immediately and never be seen again.

I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions, but too bad. I'm out of here. Go talk to Ortiz instead."




    

Confessions of a bad fan

So ... some stuff happened in the Yankees-Red Sox game last night.



This nutter from Joe Giradi is one of the best I've ever seen. Joe
Torre would have sat on his behind and hoped the power of his
calm would make everything stop.

From that moment on, I wanted the Yankees to get even, even if it meant CC Sabathia would have been immediately thrown out, thanks to the stupid way umpires implement the warning rule, which has the effect of giving one team a free shot ... or two, or three, or four.

CC, don't waste your ejection on some scrub. See if you can hit one of Ortiz's needle marks. Plenty of targets! #Yankees #RedSox
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) August 19, 2013

I've made my thoughts on David Ortiz known more than once (and had a heated chat with my Red Sox fan mother-in-law about it over lunch yesterday), so I'll spare another rant. Instead, I'll leave it to The Captain's Blog.

I'd love to know what Ortiz thinks when he sees how Arod is treated. Wonder if "there but for the grace of the media go I" crosses his mind.
— The Captain's Blog (@williamnyy23) August 19, 2013

I shouldn't be proud of wanting to see a player I don't like on a team I don't like getting hit by a pitch and being upset when it didn't happen. (Even though I understand there really was no right time during the rest of the game to do it, I'm a believer that if you wait until the "right time," that time may never come up.)

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was when, during the middle of the game, I turned to Mrs. Last Honest and said ...

"I don't even care if the Yankees win this game. I just want to see Ortiz get hit." 

Yes, I prioritized retaliation over winning a game, a game that would have won a series over the Yankees' bitter rivals, at a time of the season when the Yankees need every win they can get. Mrs. Last Honest didn't really say much of anything, but I could tell by the look on her face that she thought I had lost my mind.

And I kind of had. In that moment, I became the guy I hate, the guy I wrote about at the end of the game, when the Yankees were on their way to victory.

Just so you know, #RedSox fans won't care if they lose this game. A-Rod got drilled. That's all that matters. #Yankees
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) August 19, 2013

I'll try to be better next time.

Why I defend Alex Rodriguez

My pals Pizz and Gardner were having a few yuks-yuks about this morning's story on Deadspin regarding Alex Rodriguez being able to turn anything he touches into crap, or what I call the Sadim touch (it's Midas backwards). From the article:

"Could an athlete have been in a worse (non-murder division) situation than A-Rod found himself when he woke up this morning? He wants nothing more than to be adored and admired for his talent and he is The Worst Person Who Ever Lived as far as most people in and around baseball are concerned. The sport he loves is trying to kick him out for the rest of his life."

As the world prepares itself for an A-Rod suspension with a fervor that I can only compare with being near physical arousal, I frequently find myself defending him, not from the potential charges against him (although I can't wait to see Major League Baseball defend a suspension in front of an arbitrator or in court), but against the vitriol spewed his way.

On the day Aaron Hernandez appeared in court, Alex Rodriguez has been cast in the role of the greatest villain in sports.
— The Captain's Blog (@williamnyy23) July 24, 2013

Now why would I do such a crazy thing?

First, I'll confess, it's because he's a Yankee. Now, I won't reflexively defend every Yankee over everything, but my first instinct is to take the side of one of their players. (And along with that, I continue to be infuriated that David Ortiz remains celebrated to this day; it's kind of a thing with me.)

But it's not just that. It's that I don't feel the "punishment" fits the "crime."

@AnthonyDiMoro good lets see that narcissistic prick punk out of there.
— Alonzo Spencer (@TheAlSpencer) July 24, 2013

I'm not saying I kicked the crap out of him for that, but he blocked me to make me stop.

I have no illusions about Alex Rodriguez. He's a narcissist. He's an admitted steroid user, and may have done a lot more performance-enhancing drugs than what we know about. He was at least accused of cheating on his former wife. Of course, this makes him different than ... how many people in MLB clubhouses? The fact that Madonna may have been one of his paramours? (Then again, it's Madonna, so maybe not.)

But does he ever have a way of screwing things up! I'd list as many as I could remember, but Sports Illustrated did a nice job of chronicling some of his not-so-greatest moments, although I'm still not sure why anyone should be embarrassed about one of the most-famous actresses in Hollywood feeding him on national TV during the Super Bowl, and I'm not even a Cameron Diaz fan.

So sure, he's a dope. He does one dumb thing after another. But are there any stories about him being mean, like Barry Bonds? Yet he's treated like Bonds, and only slightly better than Michael Vick or Aaron Hernandez. I do think people are willing to admit he never ran a dog-fighting ring or allegedly killed someone ... if you insist.

I've always thought the biggest problem with his personality relates to the Deadspin article ... that he cares so much about his image, and is lousy at cultivating it. The opposite example (of course) is Derek Jeter, who I would say is as image-conscious as A-Rod, but without the capacity for idiocy, which engenders him a lot of goodwill. Seriously, would Rodriguez ever have gotten away with this?

As I wrote previously, I think it all starts with the Texas contract, and everything since then has been shot through the prism of him being a bad guy by people who are angry about it. It's so bad that one of the other pieces of the A-Rod canon is that he refused a trade to the Red Sox, even though it's not true (it was the union that blocked it) and he has never gotten credit for moving to third when he was traded to the Yankees, even though he was a better shortstop than Jeter.

For the last word on the topic, I'll leave you with Will Leitch.

Alex Rodriguez is too dumb, self-absorbed and self-destructive to go away. This is sort of a reason to root for him. http://t.co/cJxaYQ5OKZ
— Will Leitch (@williamfleitch) July 25, 2013

The trap Alex Rodriguez should avoid

Thanks to Buster Olney, I learned this morning that Bob Klapisch was concern-trolling about Alex Rodriguez, writing that if Alex Rodriguez really loves baseball, he would just confess about steroids and Biogenesis. (Given the use of quotation marks in Klapisch's tweet linking to the column, I'm inclined to believe he thinks A-Rod is full of it ... surprise, surprise, surprise.)

On A-Rod and his "love" for the game. http://t.co/3wz26qMYW4
— Bob Klapisch (@BobKlap) July 21, 2013

To Klapisch, and anyone who agrees with him, I say "Screw that" and "Why should he?"

If Alex Rodriguez sat down with a reporter tomorrow and came clean about everything -- the steroids between 2001 and 2003, anything he might have done since then, Biogenesis, all of it -- would it help him? Would baseball fans and media say, "Wow, that Alex Rodriguez is really a stand-up guy! Good for him! I hope Bud Selig takes it easy on him now."

Ummmm...no.

Alex Rodriguez will continue to the the pure embodiment of All That Is Wrong With Baseball, which he has been not since he admitted to taking steroids, but since he had the unmitigated gall to sign the contract that Tom Hicks offered him in 2000.

Unlike someone like Andy Pettitte or Jason Giambi -- who Klapisch cited as a role model for Rodriguez to follow, conveniently forgetting that Giambi's saving grace was not the admission, but people liking him -- between the steroids, the amazing ability to step on whatever rake he can find (this being but one example) and his postseason troubles (see below), he is hated enough so that his reputation will never recover.

As for a-rod's readiness, he appears to be in postseason form. today 3 strikeouts in 4 at-bats
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 21, 2013

Remember, this is a guy who got ripped by his own team for saying he was ready to play games again.

Visit from Dr. Kelly over the weekend, who gave me the best news - the green light to play games again! http://t.co/RuzfXOJjHI
— Alex Rodriguez (@AROD) June 25, 2013

I also found this note in Klapisch's column revealing.

"In his heart, however, A-Rod knows exactly why Selig is obsessed with excising him. It’s because Rodriguez was once christened as the game’s savior, clean and hardworking, the very medicine baseball needed after Barry Bonds ensured the game’s Holy Grail – the all-time home run record – was fraudulent."

And if you think that's just my opinion and people will forgive Rodriguez if he just admits to what he did, let me remind you that he did it once before, and it got him nowhere.

Meanwhile, you have Ken Rosenthal carrying on the idiocy that people really shouldn't judge David Ortiz for having been on the list of players testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, a benefit of the doubt that no one on the list has gotten because Ortiz is well-liked.

Re: Ortiz. Tested positive at time when there were no penalties for PEDs. Tests were supposed to be confidential. I view him less harshly.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 20, 2013

Folks, I know I may be splitting hairs on Ortiz. He never admitted to PED use, unlike some others. Just view his circumstances as different.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 20, 2013

Let me rephrase that: Ortiz did not admit to intentional PED use. And players were less vigilant then, with no penalties in place.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 20, 2013

Last thing on Ortiz: I respect all opinions on this. Hard to know what is right, what is wrong. I don’t pretend to have all the answers.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 21, 2013

Why Ortiz’s positive test and others in 2003 cannot be viewed as definitive. It’s complicated, but read this story. http://t.co/cc5942qAU1
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 21, 2013

Again, I respect everyone’s opinions. But there were issues with 2003 list that could not be explained in 140 characters. Story helps.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 21, 2013

I have an idea. Alex Rodriguez should confess what he did (again, by the way) when David Ortiz confesses to what he did.

Which means it will never happen.

Dreaming of a Jeter comeback

I had an awesome dream last night. You want to hear about it?

Of course you do.

Cue the harps.

I'm flipping through the Twitter machine, checking a little news, a little sports, the big U.S. Senate election here in Massachusetts yesterday.

And then I saw it, with a picture and everything, from Derek Jeter himself:

"Visit from Dr. Kelly over the weekend, who gave me the best news -- the green light to play games again!"

Wow! If that's true, it's awesome. Jayson Nix has done a nice job at shortstop in Jeter's absence, but still, this is Derek Jeter ... star, captain, talisman. (Why, yes, I do let English soccer terms slip into my dreams. Why do you ask?)

So I keep reading, and there's Yankees GM Brian Cashman confirming the news. Jeter would probably start his rehab stint in Tampa, first as designated hitter, then moving to shortstop. If all went well, he'd move up to Trenton for a few games, and then Scranton. Barring any setbacks, he might be back in the Yankees' lineup in a couple weeks, maybe even for the Twins series the weekend before the All-Star Break.

During the Yankees TV broadcast, Michael Kay and the gang are naturally stoked, and John Sterling is absolutely out of his tree on the radio. I'm pretty sure he even missed a catchphrase or two.

After the game, Jeter is all anyone wants to talk to Joe Girardi about, even though the Yankees won on a walkoff homer by Ichiro.


My fellow Yankees fans are also going nuts, knowing that the main man could be back before too much longer.

"Maybe this is the start," I think. "Jeter comes back, then A-Rod, then Granderson, then maybe Teixeira (spoiler alert: no). They've been pitching well, and if that keeps up ... ."

Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" comes on. No, I haven't asked Mrs. Last Honest if she chose it as her alarm for that reason.

Wow, that was quite a dream. It was like the dreams I still have a few times a year where I'm convinced I have a term paper due the next day, and I have to wake up to remember I haven't had any term papers due since 1996.

That tweet from Jeter seemed so ... real.

Exhibit A for Alex Rodriguez's defense

So the baseball world has been in a bit of a tizzy over the news that Tony Bosch was going to cooperate with Major League Baseball's investigation of his former Biogenesis of America clinic and the hefty suspensions that could result, also known as "YYYYEEESSSS! THEY'RE FINALLY GOING TO GET ALEX RODRIGUEZ ... (and Ryan Braun, and a bunch of other guys)!"

Hell, it's so bad, I'm not even sure Yankees fans have had A-Rod's back, although their fondest wish in that regard may not come true.

But as the details of the story game out, I started to think people who were assuming the players would have the book thrown at them about 20 minutes ago should pump the brakes a little bit.

After all, any suspension is going to be met with an instant appeal, and given the severity, I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually hit the courts. When it does, Major League Baseball's lead witness will be a guy who only agreed to cooperate if he could be indemnified against liability, have the lawsuit against him dropped, be provided security and have a good word put in with anyone who might charge him with a crime.

However, I understand those things happen sometimes, that bad guys agree to become state's evidence to prosecute a larger crime ...

... but then came this.

When (Alex) Rodriguez rebuffed Anthony Bosch's request for money, believed to be in the hundreds of thousands, the self-styled "biochemist" turned to a strange bedfellow -- MLB.

In the most-charitable explanation, Bosch was desperate, tried to get help from Rodriguez and agreed to take MLB's deal when that didn't happen. In the least-charitable, as Mrs. Last Honest described it this morning when I told her about it, it could be blackmail.

Either way, probably not good for the ol' credibility for a guy who might be viewed as not exactly credible anyway.

To be clear, I think it's entirely possible that Rodriguez, Braun and the other Biogenesis clients were getting performance-enhancing drugs. I am also not a lawyer, nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. I don't even watch a lot of courtroom dramas on TV.

However, if Braun can get a suspension overturned because the person who collected his urine didn't ship it out fast enough, it's possible that a decent lawyer (and A-Rod's and Braun's, at the very least, will likely be far better than decent) can make a certain A-to-B-to-C connection between "witness went to player for money," "player said no," "witness went to Major League Baseball" and that it might actually work.

How to fix Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez's life hasn't been great lately -- not hitting, benched, rumored to have been trying to score with a female fan during a game (to which I say, dude, your girlfriend looks like this ... stop) and perhaps headed to Miami.

However, if he wants it, I have a way to make things better for him. I can't fix his swing, but I can fix his image.

The first thing he needs to do is pick a cause, and no, "Alex Rodriguez" doesn't count. He hasn't had to face down a deadly disease, but I'm sure there is something near and dear to his heart.

Secondly, he needs to find some way to symbolize this cause, something that says to everyone, "I support what Alex Rodriguez is doing."

Then he needs to publicly raise tons and tons of money, preferably something in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to make real headway toward whatever he's trying to do.

He also has to understand there will be critics. After all, he's not a particularly popular guy (hence my need to give him advice on improving his image), and he did use steroids. But here's the great thing about being the man behind a cause that makes tons of money (and if he does get traded to Miami, and the Marlins beat the hated Yankees in the World Series, so much the better) ... if he does that, the drugs and perceived personality flaws can be explained away with "Everybody did it!" and "Look at all the good he did!"

You're welcome, Alex.

My problem with what Reggie said

So Reggie Jackson said a few things lately that have gotten people's attention -- that there are a bunch of Baseball Hall of Fame members who don't belong there, that "no Hall of Famer will attend" the induction ceremony if anyone linked to performance-enhancing drugs is elected.

And yeah, he had some stuff to say about Alex Rodriguez.

"Al's a very good friend," Jackson says. "But I think there are real questions about his numbers. As much as I like him, what he admitted about his usage does cloud some of his records."

The Yankees are somewhat displeased about Reggie's comments about A-Rod, while Keith Olbermann is somewhat displeased about the way the Yankees have handled the situation.

As for me, Reggie was my first favorite player from when I was a child, and since his birthday is a couple weeks before mine, seeing the annual reminder that he's getting older makes me feel a little bit older, too. I don't particularly agree with his comments, especially that he seems to have the same tunnel vision about cheating as so many people have, which is especially funny coming from Reggie, given his history with Gaylord Perry. (I tried to find the video with the water bucket, but I couldn't.)

But he's entitled to have his opinion, and I'm entitled to disagree. What really bugged me, however, is what he said about Andy Pettitte.

"The question is going to be a guy like Andy Pettitte, who admitted that he got involved for a while, but who is so universally respected in the game. I think he'll get in, but there will be a lot of [members] who won't go."

Would Reggie? Jackson takes a deep breath.

"He's an awfully good friend," he says. "I've known Andy since he was 20. I'll leave it there."

Andy Pettitte used performance-enhancing drugs. He may not have done enough to look like a cartoon character who could throw a ball 200 mph, but he did them.



But people like Andy Pettitte (including me, by the way), so Reggie backpedaled just a bit. It's easier to dump on Alex Rodriguez (or Barry Bonds, who is also mentioned in the article); after all, no one likes him.

In other words, Reggie is like so many other people when it comes to PEDs -- get all high and mighty when it comes to someone unpopular, because that's safe, but it's a different story when it comes to someone who's well-liked.

Varitek's cheap shot and the myth of 2004

In case you hadn't heard, the greatest and smartest catcher of all time is going to call it quits (and we'll conveniently forget it's because the Red Sox didn't want him any more, much like the Yankees didn't want Jorge Posada), so the tributes are rolling in.

"From afar, he was everything you want a guy who wears a 'C' to be," (Red Sox manager Bobby) Valentine said of the longtime Red Sox captain. "He was a man's man, he was a big hitter when needed, he was the leader of the pitching staff. [Pause] He was able to beat up Alex, all that stuff. He was exactly what he was supposed to be.''

"He was able to beat up Alex." Cute, Bobby. It's that kind of talk that almost made me miss Joe Morgan on ESPN.

But until I no longer draw breath, in spite of what Joe DeLessio may think about it, I'm going to remind people ...

,,, Varitek kept his mask on. It was a cheap shot.

As bad as that is, there's one other thing people get completely wrong about the fight. From the Gordon Edes article linked above.

The moment is one many Red Sox fans point to as a turning point in the rivalry with the Yankees.

The turning point was that day, but it wasn't the fight. I watched the game, but went back to the box score to remind me of some of the details. The Yankees were up 3-0 when the fight happened, and although the Red Sox went up 4-3, the Yankees got six runs in the sixth to make the score 9-4, and after the Sox got four back in the bottom of the inning, the Yankees got another run in the seventh to make the score 10-8.

Then Bill Mueller hit a home run to win the game for the Red Sox ...

... off Mariano Rivera.

Let's say, however, that Rivera got out of the ninth. The Yankees would have been 10 1/2 games ahead, with Red Sox Nation saying, "Save us, Derek Lowe! Save us!" If the Yankees won that game, they would have been 11 1/2 games ahead, and all the talk would have been "What prospects can we get for Nomar?" and "When will Francona get fired?"

Instead, the Red Sox took two out of three, and the Yankees lost a chance to make them quit. On the season, the Red Sox won the season series 11-8, including two big ones at the end of the season. Even though they didn't win the division, the Red Sox knew they could beat the Yankees, and they knew they could beat Rivera ... which I think was the biggest difference between 2003 and 2004.

Maybe they knew those things ahead of time, but if they didn't before, surely they knew as soon as Mueller's home run cleared the fence.

And Jason Varitek's glove in Alex Rodriguez's mush had nothing to do with it.

This Ryan Braun story has now officially ticked me off

I like Bonnie Bernstein, and I always have, but seeing her Facebook post about Ryan Braun's appeal made me want to pull my hair out.

After writing that Braun has always been a good player, so unless he was using steroids from the beginning, he hasn't needed to enhance his performance, she added this: 

"I tend to be a big picture person, and while I don't know Braun personally, everyone I've spoken with who knows him or covers him senses he's a high character guy. He's no dummy , either. With the exception of one 'B' in advanced-placement chemistry, he pulled straight A's in high school. Despite being a blue chip baseball prospect, he chose to attend the University of Miami on an academic, not athletic, scholarship."

Not long after that, I turn on MLB Network to hear Bob Costas, the arbiter of all morality in baseball, talk about how he has heard about Braun being an impressive, intelligent guy.

To which I ask:

What in the orange bloody hell does being a nice, smart or otherwise impressive guy have to do with taking steroids? Or do only jerks do it?

Ever since the Braun story first broke, there has been a concerted interest on the part of some people in the media for Braun to be cleared because he's popular. (For the record, I have nothing against Braun, not like I have against David Ortiz, who also tested positive but has gotten away with it because people like him.)

I've already made the Nyjer Morgan reference, since he's a teammate of Braun's who is wildly unpopular, but old Tony Plush may not be big enough potatoes. Since the University of Miami came up, let's talk about a guy who could have gone there, but didn't, but their baseball field is actually named after him.

Yup, that guy. I believe he wrote a nice check to the university, and they named the field after him as thanks.

Take everything Ryan Braun, his lawyer, his PR guy or anyone else attached to him has said, and attach Alex Rodriguez to it.

He'd be laughed at and ridiculed, and you and I both know it.