I'm willing to give Alex Rodriguez another chance.
(Wow, what a surprise! Yankee-lover Schultz is giving A-Rod a free pass.)
No, it's not what you think.
You know when you're a kid and you get in trouble with your parents or at school, they always ask you to tell them exactly what you did? Then you come up with some ridiculous story that you think you can pass off as truth, but your parents/teachers/principals see right through it? I remember being told "Ok, we're going to give you a chance to change your bullsh*t story." That's what I'm willing to do with A-Rod. I'm giving him a chance to really come clean, and here's how.
PETER GAMMONS: What is the Truth?
ALEX RODRIGUEZ: When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.
Quiz: where is a tougher place to play - Texas or New York City? A-Rod says that he stopped using performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, BEFORE he was traded to the Yankees. Are we supposed to believe that there was no pressure in New York? No weight of the world on top of me in New York? No need to perform at a high level in New York?
PETER GAMMONS: You're saying that the time period was 2001, '02 and '03?
ALEX RODRIGUEZ: That's pretty accurate, yes.
"Pretty accurate?" What does that even mean? If I said that you wear too much makeup, frost your tips, and dissolve away in every clutch situation, would that be "pretty accurate?" Gammons is giving you a chance to give him a time frame, so give him one. What's the difference between taking peformance-enhancing drugs five years instead of three? Be completely accurate.
Putting on a nice sweater and extra hair gel won't save you this time A-Rod
PETER GAMMONS: What kind of substances were you taking? ALEX RODRIGUEZ: Peter, that's the thing. Again, it was such a loosey-goosey era. I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions. And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using.
This is a guy that brings his own lunch to the Yankees clubhouse. He lives in the gym during the offseason. Yet, he didn't know any of the performance-enhancing drugs he was taking? Just live Bonds, this explanation is completely bunk.
PETER GAMMONS: Now, you mentioned the Katie Couric interview. You were asked if you ever used steroids, human growth hormones or other performance-enhancing substances. You said no, flat-out no. In your mind, that wasn't a lie? ALEX RODRIGUEZ:At the time, Peter, I wasn't even being truthful with myself. How am I going to be truthful with Katie or CBS? Today, I'm here to tell the truth, and I feel good about that. I think my fans deserve that.
If you weren’t being truthful with yourself then, why should we believe you’re being truthful with yourself now? Your fans deserve a truthful explanation now, but didn’t in 2007? Nobody forced you to take that interview with Couric. If you didn't want to tell the truth, then you shouldn't have done the interview in the first place.
PETER GAMMONS: One of your goals all along has been to be in the Hall of Fame. Do you think a player who has tested positive or admitted to taking illegal substances is disqualified from Cooperstown? ALEX RODRIGUEZ:I hope not. I hope not. I mean, I think every case is different.
Answer the question: Yes or No. "Yes Peter, because all the players of this era were doing it along with me" or "No Peter, because I cheated and feel like m ny numbers were skewed because of it."
PETER GAMMONS: What do you think the drugs that you took, 2001 through 2003, what do you think it did for your performance? ALEX RODRIGUEZ:I'm not sure. I know that I've always enjoyed hitting in Texas. I think it's a wonderful place to play. It's a great place to hit. But I don't know ...
A-Rod's Power Numbers during his admitted performance-enhancing drug use:
2001: 52 HR, 145 RBI, .622 SLG, 1.021 OPS
Career Averages in “non-steroid” years: 39 HR, 119 RBI, .574 SLG, .965 OPS
It’s pretty easy to figure out. Your home runs were way up as were every other statistical power category. In other words: yeah, it helped you.
PETER GAMMONS:For the good of the game, would you like to see all those 104 names released from the positive tests in 2003? ALEX RODRIGUEZ:I don't have any interest in any of that. I mean, obviously I would defer to Major League Baseball, the commissioner's office, and the union to deal with those matters.
I appreciate him not throwing his fellow players under the bus, but I would’ve rather seen A-Rod be honest. An honest answer: Absolutely I want to see the other 104 names released. Why did I get singled out? Why were only my rights violated? Why does everyone else’s name get to remain a secret while my career is trashed?
Bottom line is that A-Rod's hand was forced. He had to come out and admit to what we already knew. However, you only get one chance to come clean and tell the whole truth, and I don't believe that Rodriguez did that. Now that he's already admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs, why can't he tell us what he used and when?
A-Rod gave into the pressure. He did something selfish to help himself that he thought he wasn't going to get caught for. Instead of reading a bunch of pre-meditated attorney-influenced garbage, Rodriguez should've been 100% truthful. Because of that, he blew his chance.
We're all make mistakes.
We're all human.
I wish A-Rod would've shown that he was too.
SHOOTING THE REST OF THE SPORTS WORLD:
Swish: Los Angeles Lakers
If there was any question as to who the team to beat in the NBA is, the Lakers gave a resounding answer: it’s us. LA went into Boston and won an overtime thriller over the Celtics, then handed Cleveland their first home loss of the season in convincing fashion. Perhaps the most impressive fact about the back-to-back wins over the East’s two best teams was that Kobe Bryant didn’t play particularly well in either contest. Bryant averaged just 22.5 points, and shot just 18-46 (39%) from the field. We already know what the Lakers are going to get from Kobe, but what really makes them a Championship favorite is the play of Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and the supporting cast. Both Odom (20 pts vs. Boston, 28/17 vs. Cleveland) and Gasol (24/14 vs. Boston, 18/12/6 vs. Cleveland) were outstanding in the road wins, which ran their overall record to 39-9.
Kobe has been able to take a backseat to the supporting cast lately
Brick: Darrell Reid
In an incident eerily similar to the Kenton Keith situation from a year ago, Darrell Reid was arrested in an altercation outside a club over the weekend. When asked by police to leave the parking lot of the Oxygen Lounge on the northeast side, Reid reportedly said, “I don’t have to, I play for the Indianapolis Colts.” Ah, the magic words. Though the Marion County prosecutor’s office dropped all the charges, it’s still not a good idea for Reid to be mouthing off to police. Luckily for Reid, he is much more useful to the Colts than Kenton Keith was. He has been a special teams standout for a few seasons (especially on kick coverage), has dabbled as a starting fullback, and adds much needed depth at the defensive tackle position. Reid does have a previous arrest for marijuana possession in 2007, but I doubt the Colts will part ways with him after this latest incident.
Air Ball: Devan Dumes
What’s the old saying? Once is an exception, two is a couple of anomalies , but three is a trend? Devan Dumes became IU’s first certified hot-head since Him (the legend with the red sweater that is), after his antics earned him an ejection from last weekend’s loss at Michigan State. I remember a couple of weeks ago at Northwestern that Dumes threw a nasty elbow at Craig Moore during a scrum for a loose ball. I gave him a free pass at the time, but almost everyone universally agrees that Dumes’ THREE elbows on Saturday are completely unacceptable. I didn’t get a chance to watch Dumes in high school but judging from my roomate’s testimony (he’s sort of an expert), Dumes had the same anger issues during his time at Decatur Central. The timing is especially a shame considering that it was his 27 points that helped topple Iowa and get IU their first Big Ten win of the season just days before. Give kudos to Tom Crean and IU for doing the right thing and suspending Dumes indefinitely. I’m not sure if he’ll play on Sunday, but I would be more comfortable if he would sit against Illinois as well. There’s no place for elbows in the rebuilding process.
Swish: Indiana Pacers
Though controversial at the end, the Pacers still got the job done on Tuesday night, dispatching of division-leading Cleveland 96-95. From watching it live and watching replays, I don’t think either of the calls in the last 0.8 seconds were fouls. If anything, Granger’s foul on LeBron was much more clear than LeBron’s foul on Granger. However, you have to give credit to Jim O’Brien for forcing the officials' hand by calling the same exact play on his end. If you pair the win over the Cavs with last week’s win over Orlando, then the Pacers have beaten two of the East’s best teams in a matter of days. In fact, the 2008-09 Pacers – owners of a 21-32 record – have wins over the NBA’s four best team’s: Lakers, Celtics, Cavaliers, Magic. Go figure.
Funny LeBron, I had a similar reaction when the Pacers actually beat the Cavs...
Brick: Indiana Pacers
The Pacers gave up 119 points to Washington, who won their 11th game on Sunday night. Add the Wizards onto the list of other putrid teams that the Pacers have lost games to – like the Clippers (12-40), Grizzlies (15-36), Timberwolves (17-34), and Warriors (18-35).
The Shots Fantasy Update:
Dubinsky def. Yes Sir! 7-2
D’AntoniMR (explicit) def. Wrigs, 7-2
So Yes Sir! might’ve sunk into 10th place (out of 12 teams), but there could be a chance that I’m about to climb out of it. Why? Because I pulled the ultimate d**k move by waiting on a trade proposal for 9 days before pulling the trigger on it once the player that I am trading got injured. The proposed deal was Hinrich, Crawford, and Aldridge for Millsap and Jason Terry – who just had hand surgery earlier this week and is out indefinitely. The 7-2 win in my other league launched me from 7th to 4th and put in me a good spot for the 2nd half of the season.
I rushed to hit the "ACCEPT" button when finding out about Terry's surgery
Wii Golf Superstar, 120-point week – 3rd place
There were no star performances, but a nice consistent effort from my foursome with seventh-place finishes from Luke Donald, Charley Hoffman, and Bubba Watson. On to Pebble Beach!
Dry H***ing is Racing, Fantasy NASCAR
I haven’t quite locked into my lineup for Sunday’s Daytona 500, but I’m really thinking this is the year that Tony Stewart breaks through. First impressions include Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, and AJ Allmendinger but I’ll take a few more days to think about it.
The Shots What to Watch this week:
NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Friday
This even has been a roller-coaster ride for me during my lifetime. As a kid it was awesome (Kenny Walker, MJ, Dominique) and starting about ten years ago (when they cancelled the contest) it started getting really lame. Now it seems to be back on the upswing, with former champs Dwight Howard (2008) and Nate Robinson (2006) each returning to action this year.
UCLA at Arizona, Saturday
Two weeks ago, this wouldn’t have been a game worth wasting your time over. But, since Arizona came back from life support against Houston (trailing by 8 with 1:30 left and rallying to win in overtime), they’ve rattled off four straight wins to climb back into NCAA Tournament contention. Meanwhile, UCLA may be 18-4, but they haven’t beaten a single team that is currently ranked in the Top 25.
Daytona 500, Sunday
Um, duh.
Pittsburgh at UConn, Monday
This is possibly the only time we’ll see two #1 seeds square-off in the regular season. UConn is really, really good, and Pitt is really (but not yet really, really) good. I don’t think further explanation is necessary.
The Shots YouTube Clips this week:
Sports-related –
It’ll look better when he’s wearing the home jersey instead.
Non-sports related –
This never stops being funny.
The Shots Chick Pick this week: Kaley Cuoco
Yes.
See you next week.
You can listen to Derek every weekday in The Zone from 3-6 PM on XL 950!
