The media, led by Jayson Stark of ESPN, unleashed a vindictive attack on A-Rod accusing him of “crimes against the sport” and alleging that he ruined baseball. As Stark wrote, “So weep not for what A-rod has done to himself. Weep what he has done for the sport.”
Give me a break!
Why the fury? Why the anger? Said accused admitted crime accused of and faced his penalty—a lifetime of question regarding his legacy and public humiliation. Is that not what we wanted when this story first broke?
Apparently not. What Stark and others want to know is how were the steroids taken (injected or oral), what dates were they taken, what was the frequency, who administered them, where did they get them, how did they get them into the States, how much did they cost, what were the exact effects, and so on and so on and so on.
If this was an investigation led by Congress, I would be in favor of hearing the details. However, this is anything but that.
The hope was for Rodriguez to admit to his wrongdoing and apologize. It would then be up for the public to decide if they wanted to forgive him or not.
Nowhere was it mentioned that he has to give out all the details because the details do not matter. The guy cheated; simple as that. He took an illegal substance. The why and the how don’t matter.
(On a sidenote that I won’t divulge too much into until a later time, Stark and the rest of the baseball analysts are paid to follow everything there is about the sport.
It really tells me a lot about how intuitive they are if they could not figure out that steroids were the root of the homerun boom when McGwire and Sosa were knocking balls out of the park like it was nobody’s business.
They are guilty of protecting the sport that they cover by not bringing the cheating to the forefront when it was actually happening because at the time, it was helping the ratings that suffered due to the lockout.)
If someone admits to armed robbery, it makes no difference if his gun was black or gray. He used a gun to rob a store—that is all that matters. The little details are not of significance—especially if the accused is not trying to defend himself.
Responsibility of Journalists
After Stark unleashed on Rodriguez, the rest of the posse that is the sports media followed suit. Stephen A. Smith rips A-rod in his latest column for not coming out about his steroid use on his own.
Really?
Maybe it’s just me and the rest of the world has suddenly become morally correct and follow the WWJD mentality, but if I did something wrong and got away with it—knowing the consequences—I highly, highly doubt I would volunteer and turn myself in.
What’s in it for me? If I get away with cheating, then I got away. The whole point of cheating is to get extra help on something and succeed because of it. If you’re going to turn yourself in for cheating before getting caught, then you shouldn’t have cheated in the first place!
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