In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.
Rodriguez’s name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball’s ’03 survey testing, SI’s sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.
When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. “You’ll have to talk to the union,” said Rodriguez, the Yankees’ third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, “I’m not saying anything.”
That’s a shame if it’s true. I remember him from his time on the Mariners; he was a fan favorite as well as a great player.
The media will blame it on George Bush.
Intercessor
No, no, no-Madonna is positive for steroids and it has somehow rubbed off 😉
I agree with #1–let’s see how this develops over time. And easy on the cynicism please.
[i] The media will blame it on George Bush [/i] —#2
And your political bedfellows will look for a way to blame it on Obama.
Excuse me, but why does a nation of fat, lazy TV addicts give a tinker’s damn over the judicious and successful use of steroids by a professional athlete?
#5..In your rush to judgement on my politics (which may or not be correct by the way) it is apparent that you are unaware that George Bush was the co-owner of the baseball team that A-Roid was on when he tested positive.
Intercessor
Intercessor [#7]: I had not thought of that connection between Bush and A-Roid. Bush had been president for a while when the scandal finally broke. And there are plenty of other baseball magnates to blame, notably including the players’ union (which should be utterly ashamed of itself) and the owners.
I was going to chastise Irenaeus when I came here, but I see Intercessor started it. Oh, come on, Intercessor. The article says A-Rod tested positive in 2003. At that time Bush was U.S. President and so far as I know he didn’t have an interest in the baseball team any more, and if he did, it would have been in a blind trust, wouldn’t it?
Millions of Americans commit slow suicide each year indulging in alcohol, tobacco, and refined fats and sugars. A-Rod will likely be a svelte, fit 50-year old at the same age many of his peers will be so fat and/or hypoxic they can’t even tie their own shoes.
Just glad to see we have our priorities straight here.
Maybe or maybe not, #10. Anabolic steroids can have serious side effects, and A-Rod and others are playing with their lives when they take the stuff.
Katherine,
Steroids, like anything else, can be abused and there are plenty of bodybuilders with ruined kidneys and enlarged hearts who can attest to that. However, the judicious use of anabolic steroids is not harmful. It is actually beneficial for people who push their bodies to the limits of performance.
Geesh #11..it must be Monday because the sardonic humor meter is registering less than ZERO. I must have entered a humor free zone.
As to #10 please tell that line to the widows of Ken Caminetti and Lyle Alzado. Illegal drug use must never be tolerated…period. Drug use W/O (no that does not stand for Women’s Ordination) a prescription I equally disapprove of which makes me a modern miracle to have that view and to have been confirmed as an Episcopalian.
Please..please try to have a good day.
Intercessor
Okay, Intercessor. But it’s so soon after this was all totally out of control, and it worries me even when it’s a joke, because some people take it seriously.
I agree that Major League Baseball has not taken the drug use seriously enough, to its discredit.
[i] The judicious use of anabolic steroids is not harmful [/i]
Many (though not I) might say the same about the “judicious use” of marijuana as well as narcotic painkillers.
PS to #15: Not to mention amphetimines.
[i] Anabolic steroids can have serious side effects, and A-Rod and others are playing with their lives when they take the stuff [/i]
They’re also setting quite an example for aspiring athletes who have neither their maturity nor their access to expert medical care.
If the system takes a laissez-faire attitude towards performance-enhancing drugs, then it in effect pressures serious athletes to take them: that which is not prohibited becomes mandatory.
Marijuana IS beneficial when used judiciously, as are narcotic painkillers and amphetamines. And red wine. And beer.
Corn syrup, on the other hand, has practically no redeeming qualities; and it’s [i]subsidized[/i].
I wonder if Curt Flood would have thought again before he sacrificed his career in the 1970’s so that these frauds could be multi-millionaires and subverted what was left of fair play in what was America’s greatest game and cultural definition. Ty Cobb wore extra long spikes to gore all who stood in his basepath…but you knew it and the opponents knew it…he was hated, but respected for his God given talent. These players will just be hated.
Intercessor