More on A-Rod

Kudos to A-Rod for admitting his steroid use immediately. He’s automatically a more sympathetic public figure than Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens.

Speaking of sympathy, that’s what I feel. Maybe it’s a romantic strain of Seattle sports fans, as a friend suggested earlier today, but I still have some soft spot for A-Rod. It’s more pity than anything, though. His marriage fell apart, he has a maddening inability to perform in the playoffs despite his historic numbers, and he didn’t even know which steroids he took in 2001-2003. Also, how could he have felt pressure to perform in Texas????

Here are some thoughts from Jayson Stark: A-Rod has destroyed game’s history.

Baseball will retain fans, though. Somehow we’ll stick around, perhaps because we really don’t care about the statistics or the individual players as much as these articles would have you think. We care about excellent matchups, heated playoff races, and exceptional performances from everyday players. We care about the moments in every game that we’ve never seen before. We care about the magic of a young prospect and the heroics of an old veteran. Of course we care about the great players and their records, that’s undeniable, but ultimately we care more about the game and its history.

That’s why baseball will endure, this season and the next.

~ by ericmonek on February 9, 2009.