#FORG1V3 or not to forgive seems to be the decision causing
the deepest divide I’ve seen among Yankee fans and the MLB landscape as
well. To the dismay of many, yes the
ARod circus is coming back to town after a full calendar year of absolute
quiet. Let’s get caught up on what the
man actually did or in many cases what he’s been accused of doing…..let’s just
say we know he did most of this stuff even though no real legal proceeding have
taken place and no physical evidence has been released to the public. OK:
After signing the then richest contract in the history of baseball to
play for the Texas Rangers, Alex began using PED’s to maintain his position as
the game’s elite talent (though it was natural ability that earned him that
contract in the first place). Knowing
full well that PED’s were an MLB wide pandemic at that time, the man was
running with the crowd. Superstars and
marginal players alike were looking for that “edge” and they all made a poor
decision to do so and MLB made a worse decision turning a blind eye to the
obvious. “Wow, 170lb Brady Anderson has
been averaging 14 HR and about 58RBI per season over his first 5 full seasons
and he just went 50/110 and is on the cover of Muscle & Fitness…..good for
him! I’m not at all suspicious.” For those keeping score Anderson slashed
17.4/60 for his final five full seasons. Yet this was the mentality of the people tasked to
enforce the integrity of the game. When
marginal players began producing elite numbers in a consequence free
environment, what were the elite to do?
Can’t beat em, join em…….or perish.
Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, Clemens, Palmero…..I’m not saying you should have
done what you did, BUT I UNDERSTAND!
ARod seemed to have
continued on this path fully enabled in an environment that looked the other
way for years until the unmasking of the steroid era. Lucky for the aforementioned Bonds, Sosa,
McGuire, Clemens and Palmero they were at the end of their careers when the
proverbial fecal matter was introduced to the fan. Alex was still in the prime of his career and
regarded as one of the top players in the game…..the active face of the PED
era, the era that essentially pulled baseball back to life from the 1994
strike, the era that MADE Alan H. Selig and was now a smear on the history of
baseball, the era that now had a face. ARod. Aloof and awkward, misunderstood and disliked
by many, wealthy and disconnected and he never did himself any favors along the
way but let’s face facts, he was the perfect scapegoat to attract the rage of
the under informed masses and the new torch and pitchfork community of social
media. So we’re mad at ARod for making
trouble for MLB (mostly orchestrated by vampire lawyers) in the wake of all this nonsense? I’m not saying he should have done what he
did, BUT I UNDERSTAND!
So in summary, in the simplest terms: A guy is great at his job. He gets a big promotion and a corner
office. Everyone else at the office
starts putting up massive numbers using dishonest methods but the bosses aren’t
rocking the boat because profits and revenue is booming. He does wrong and joins in and prospers with
the entire group. The company gets
audited and the dishonest practices are uncovered. Senior staff takes early retirement,
cooperate and owners claim they had no idea and the guy is now out on his
ass. Only in that scenario our guy can
pay a fine or do a little time and go back to work somewhere else. Alex is expected to do his time for life. I’m not saying he should have done what he
did, BUT I UNDERSTAND!
Now I have to
examine all of the rage and uproar over all of this, the likes of which I haven’t
seen since Kony (‘member him?). We know
what Alex did and we know what Alex was accused of so no need to rehash the
above paragraphs. Let’s look at the “victims”
of Alex’s “crimes against the game”.
THE FANS AND THE KIDS:
PLEASE! I have three sons and I
raise them to root for athletes but not put their stock in them. If you expect every athlete that puts up
stats to be Derek Jeter off the field, you are setting yourself up for a major disappointment. Imagine if there was Twitter and media
coverage like today in the day of Cobb, Ruth or Mantle! Kids should cheer for athletes on the field
and emulate their parents’ example.
Nobody ever gets into sports to raise my kids for me nor would I expect them to. now, if you’re over 16 and ARod let you down, you
need a grip on reality plain and simple.
I bought an Autographed 16x20 of ARod for like $400…..it’s worth $3
now. That’s on me, I goofed up. I’m not petitioning ARod on Twitter for the $397
I’m out now. He owes me nothing.
THE STEINBRENNER FAMILY & YANKEES ORGANIZATION: They aint starving….he didn’t “steal their
money”. He made their money back in
merchandise and ticket sales and the team was insured for his salary while he
was suspended.
THE GAME OF BASEBALL:
With a Hall of Fame full of wife beaters, racists, drug abusers,
gamblers and embezzlers who's not to say it’s Alex who is in bad company.
The biggest victim of Alex’s alleged crimes is Alex
himself. He was a first ballot Hall of
Fame talent, he was a living legend before this all came down. Now he’s lost over $25,000,000 in salary and
more in endorsements as no company will ever touch him again. He’d have made an amazing baseball analyst
some day, I’d imagine that ship has all but sailed. His name is forever a cautionary tale and a
punch line because of his action. Tell me
who ARod has hurt more than himself?
The rage itself is
just comical to me….everyone wants their pound of flesh from Alex for something
he did to us all. I have no idea what
but he somehow robbed us all of our innocence and we’ll never be the same and
he’s just soooooooooooooooo unlikable.
HE LIED TO US! He has no morality
and someone in his position has to be an idiot to lie and expect not to be
caught…..the nerve of this man!!! We
sure do have high expectations of people don’t we? It’s certainly not like an active US
president ever had an extramarital affair and then went on national television
(I’m talking every channel, you have to watch) and say “I did not have sexual
relations with that woman”. Only to get
caught in the lie and have to go back on TV and say he had lied to every
registered voter in America. Wait, that
happened??? Oh, it was just Clinton….we
like Willy, let’s give him a library, let him keep his job and revere the man
for life. Sure, it’s the job of every
politician to be a scandalous liar anyway…..I suppose that’s what we expect
more of our athletes. Athlete to
politician is an unfair comparison. It’s
not like ARod could hold a candle the morally upstanding citizens of the
NFL! Certainly guys like Ray Rice or
Adrian Peterson deserve our forgiveness before Arod. I mean all we have here is a four year old
being beaten black and blue by a tree branch and a woman getting knocked cold
in an elevator and having her lifeless body dragged into a hall way. Nothing compared to vile act that is taking a
pill that makes you stronger to play a game better and then trying not to get
caught….THAT is unforgivable! Okay, I
suppose we can’t compare a baseball player to the guys who play the inherently
violent game of football, certainly the fraternity of baseball could never have
excused such terrible behavior in the past.
It’s not like there is a recent group of HOF’ers and respected players
that were exposed in a cocaine ring in the 1980’s…..it’s not like an active
manager that was caught gambling on the sport and given a lifetime ban has
widespread support to be placed in the Hall of Fame, it’s not like an owner
ever paid a Mafioso to get dirt on one of his players and then go on to become
a loveable grandpa figure, could you imagine if the best player in the sport (now
a Hall of Famer) ever ran 12 rows into the stands to knock now on stomp on
(with metal spikes) a fan who happened to have no hands and when he was told
this he relied “I don’t care if he aint go no feet either.” Wait…..all that happened too? Damn…..I suppose haunting a guy who did what
Alex (we’re pretty sure) did seems kind of silly by comparison maybe?? If that's not enough, do me a favor and pull up your own resume.....is that all true to the letter or is there a little smear here and there that gave you a bump to land your current position? Let's call it a little performance enhancer to help your odds......
The label for fans
like me is “ARod apologist”. We’re the
ones who are wrong because we can put our cyber-torch and virtual pitchforks
down for a second and gain a certain level of perspective and realize how silly
and pointless it is to put so much effort into disliking someone. Honestly, he’s served his suspension, he’s
out $25M+ and he is owed the rest of the money on his contract anyhow….he might
as well have to take the field and try to earn some of it. If I’m Hal Steinbrenner I almost welcome this
circus. The Yankees are aging,
underperforming, overpriced and now that Jeter is gone….faceless. Tickets need to be sold and if all people
come out to do is take sides in the ARod war, it’s a means to an end. He has a $200M payroll and a mortgage on a
$2.5B stadium that’s five years old.
This is a transition period in the Bronx and if this is a distraction
from a couple of 81-81 seasons, so be it.
If Alex can help the team by playing well and maybe winning 92 and
getting a wild card bid…..even better!
As a Yankee fan I’m hoping for the latter and as a Yankee fan I’ll be
cheering for anyone who suits up to take the field to help my team win. If the worst he did is have frosted tips,
never say the right thing or be one of the hundreds and hundreds of players who
got caught up in a forgettable era, I can rise above my celebrity or wealth
envy, I can move past that he’s a bit of an unlikeable diva at times and I can
simply be a baseball fan, enjoy the game, root for my Yankees and above all……#FORG1V3
#FROG1V3™ - Bald Vinny……much love brother!
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