Bring me the head of Alex Rodriguez! Oh wait Family Guy is on....never mind.

So am I supposed to be surprised about Alex Rodriguez? Am I supposed to be mad, outraged, frothing at the mouth? Ehh. I guess I should, after all he tainted his legacy and tarnished his name, right? After all, the greatest player of our generation just got caught cheating. Well, I’m sorry if I refuse to give into the hate. Besides it’s pointless to get worked up. Like Derek Jeter just said on the MLB Network, “we all move on”.

Rodriguez is doing what he has to do, what his handlers are telling him to do. He went on ESPN and apologized. It will be a rough year for him, but if he puts up a .320, 50 HR, 120 RBI year then it will be forgotten. Well maybe not forgotten, but definitely moved to the back burner. We’ve seen it happen with Andy Pettite, Jason Giambi and Brian Roberts. We as fans are nothing if not forgiving. Heck, even in the vast canon of fiction surrounding the game there is a sense of forgiveness. I was watching Major League last night and even Jake Taylor was able to root for Roger Dorn at the end of the game -and that was after he threatened to “rip his nuts off”.

I would imagine the Yankee 3rd baseman gives one more major interview (Katie Couric or Maury Schaffer?) and then move on and refuse to talk about it. The interesting thing is how this will affect his career. The knee jerk reaction is to say he ruined his chances for the Hall of Fame. I’m not so sure about that. At 33 he’s got a chance to play another 5-8 years at a high level. After that a 5 year waiting period before his name comes up on the ballot and you’re looking at another decade before the votes are taken.

In this day in age 10 years is a lifetime. In the Internet Era everyone is already looking for the next big story. By the time his name comes up for voting I imagine most of the names will be out and we’ll have a greater look at the total picture of the steroid era. Not only that, but a lot of the old school writers, the ones who are spitting at the bit to flagellate him now will be out of the voting and hopefully replaced by a younger crowd who might be a bit more lenient to the steroid users.

I’m not a big fan of him. I think he tries to hard in everything he does. He doesn’t seem to be able to relax and just be himself, he has to be the perfect player, perfect teammate or the perfect person. So when he slaps a ball out of some ones’ hands or yells at a player trying to catch a pop up it just comes off as….I don’t know if phony is the right word, but something like that.

Looking back it’s probably not surprising that he tried steroids. With the largest contract in baseball I’m sure he did feel the pressure to be better than the best he could be. Knowing that there was no punishment if he did get caught why wouldn’t he try them? Should we let him off the hook? Of course not, but with what little we know of his personality as fans we sure as heck shouldn’t be surprised.

Do I give him credit for admitting and apologizing? No way. Admit it when you do it if you’re truly sorry not when you’re caught. My mom taught me that lesson when I was 8 years old. I doubt his sincerity as well. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and more jaded, but it strikes me all as damage control. He’s only apologizing because he knows it’s the best way to get it over with. The thing that gets me is that it will work, maybe that’s where the real tragedy lies.

The End of the World? Nahh just more fodder for the interwebs....

We are less than 15 hours away from baseball’s Armageddon or 15 hours away from a furious sounding that ultimately means nothing. At 2.00pm on Thursday December 13th, 2007 George Mitchell will release his long awaited report on the use of steroids in Major League baseball. The inquiry (or witch hunt depending on what side you’re on) has taken 20 months. Mitchell and his band of merry investigators have conducted countless interviews often meeting a less than shocking lack of cooperation from players.

What information is going to be released tomorrow? Reports on ESPN.com state that Mitchell places blame on the owners and the players association. They also state that he is going to recommend several changes including adopting state of the art testing procedures and educating players on performance-enhancing drugs.

Nobody cares about that information. Everyone wants to hear the names!

The common fan already knows that owners turned a blind eye towards the growing problem in the late 80’s and 90’s. They continued to sign the big checks as the players transformed themselves into linebackers. Could the players association have stopped it early on? Of course they could have, but why should they? There were no penalties and the free agent contracts kept growing at a staggering rate.

That’s all in the past and like Mark McGwire we’re not here to talk about the past. Let the rest of the media gnash their teeth and lament the loss of innocence in America’s Pastime. Will anything about the game change?

Ultimately no. The names will be released and there will be outrage in the media and sheepish excuses issued by the players. Some will say it’s a misunderstanding and others will issue carefully worded apologies through their agents. Then slowly it will fade to the background. Baseball won’t banish anyone and no one will stand up and admit, “Yes I took steroids, HGH, performance enhancing drugs, etc. so that I would be a better player and make more money”.

Will we be shocked by the names on the list? Only if Jason Tyner Ben Zorbist are on there. In this day in age should any professional athlete be above suspicion? No. Every GM should be losing sleep tonight thinking about how to spin the news if their top players are named. Imagine Andrew Freidman having to step up to the podium to answer questions about Rocco Baldelli receiving shipments of HGH and Stanozolol while he was rehabbing his various injuries over the past two seasons. Admit it, it’s not that hard to picture.

That wasn’t meant to drag Rocco through the mud. The popular outfielder fits the profile of players who’ve already been named. Rick Ankeil, Jason Grimsley and Jay Gibbons were all players who allegedly purchased the substances to help recover from major injuries. The point is that this is a very real case scenario that at least one team will be going through tomorrow. It’s going to be a public relations nightmare.

The release of the names will make good copy for a few days, especially now during a slow sports period. Experts will appear on your TV and scream about the sanctity of the game and the tarnishing of records. Then playoff football will roll around and baseball will take a back burner. The College Bowl Season, Super Bowl and College Basketball will draw more attention away and by spring training the Mitchell Report will be nothing more than a footnote. After all aren’t we still supposed to be outraged at Michael Vick and Don Imus?

So far this off-season it doesn’t appear that teams are shying away from players that have been linked with illicit drugs. Jose Guillen signed a 3 year $36 Million contract on the same day Major League Baseball announced he was going to be suspended for receiving $20,000 worth of steroids and HGH in 2003-05. On Wednesday The Houston Astros traded their entire AAA roster for Miguel Tejada whose name has been associated with steroids more than once. (ed note – the trade was for Luke Scott and 4 prospects).

There are also reports that Major League Baseball won’t punish any of the players named in the report. So the athletes can mumble their explanations about tainted vitamins or doctors’ prescriptions and talk about moving forward while they line up their next multimillion dollar contract.

In the end, batting averages and ERA’s will replace horse tranquilizers and estrogen injections on the front page. The airwaves will be filled with complaints about the Rays bullpen instead of cries to purge the records of the steroid abusers.

The demise of baseball has been predicted before. As always baseball will survive this. Just like it has survived the Dead Ball era, gambling scandals, drug scandals, work stoppages and Dane Cook promos. Like Terrance Mann said, “This field, this game: it’s a part of our past…It reminds us of all that was once good and it could be again.”