A-Roid

Alex Rodriguez took steroids.

SI.com broke the story that in 2003, 104 players tested positive for steroids. The reason it has taken this long for the results to be released is that they were never supposed to come out. These tests were taken to get an idea of how many players were using performance enhancing drugs (PED) and if there were enough players using, than baseball would implement steroid testing the following year, which they did.

None of the other 103 players have been named, and if SI.com was able to get one name - presumably the biggest, I'm sure they have the others. So why haven't the others been released? Because fans of baseball have come to the realization that the star players for a period of 10 years were on PED's. We've accepted it, we've moved on.

Do I care if A-Rod was on steroids in 2003 - not really. At this point in baseball history, we are all assuming that Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, or Giambi and the list goes on...they were all juiced up. A-Rod was the best of the cheaters. His stats were the best of the era, whether or not he was on the sauce. Does this mean he would still be the best player if no one was on 'roids, maybe, maybe not, but we'll never know.

How does this effect his and other users place in the history of the game? For those who choose the players to be enshrined into Cooperstown, I believe that he is royally screwed. They will hold this over him, like they will for McGwire and Bonds and he will have to pay admission anytime he wants to see inside the Hall. The risk that these writers run is that for the next 5 to 10 years the Hall of Fame ballot will be really thin with players, because most of the top players can be linked to illegal substances. I can understand their objections for admitting players who used PED's who have been caught using since 2004 when they became illegal, but is it right for them to pass judgement on players who used when there were no rules, that just doesn't seem right.

Fans around the league will have fun at Rodriguez's expense this year. The Yankees always draw the most fans when they arrive in visiting cities, so between the Madonna fling and now the A-Roid story, some of the signs that we'll see in the crowd might not be PG and we'll definately rival those at WWF (I refuse to call it WWE) shows.

So get your tickets now for May 12-14th.