Standing By My Man

I suppose I couldn't just let this controversy pass on by without mentioning it. As it seems, my Alex (& yes, he's still my Alex despite this silliness) has admitted to using steroids from 2001-2003 while he was with the Texas Rangers. Whenever anyone has brought it up to me, I just say I don't wanna talk about it because I wanted to hear what Alex had to say for himself beforehand. Today he had an interview with Peter Gammons on ESPN, so now I think my time has come to comment.

I am in no way condoning what he did, but I guess he just felt pressure to live up to his contract. Maybe he realized it was the wrong thing to do & saw his numbers really weren't all that much better & gave it up when he came to the Yankees. I mean, at least he was man enough to admit it & not try to deny knowing about it or even worse, pin it on his wife like Roger Clemens did (although by the looks of Cynthia, I really wouldn't be surprised if she had some roid-rage of her own.) He's human, he made a mistake. He's not exactly a clutch player so I'm hoping this doesn't add more pressure to him. He said in his interview that getting this all out in the open was a good feeling for him & that "the truth will set you free". He did this to himself so we will just have to wait & see. If he does good, he will be cheered. If not, you can guess. He made his bed so now he has to lay in it.

What I wanna know is what about these other 103 players that tested positive? There is no doubt in my mind that there are plenty of other big names on that list but they are only singling out Alex. These were anonymous tests so he could probably sue the union if he wanted to for releasing that information because that's gotta be some sort of breach of contract. And why release it now? If they were going to do that then why wouldn't they have done it sooner? And why save it if you were never supposed to release it?

I get that baseball is a game of numbers so by him doing steroids, he taints those numbers. I really believe, though that if you take away those 3 years, those 156 homeruns & those 395 RBIs, his numbers will still be up there with the greatest of all time. He cannot be denied the Hall of Fame because of this. We romanticize the game of baseball & call these the "Steroid Years" & now the game is ruined. Let's be honest, though. Joe D & Mickey Mantle & Babe Ruth were not gods. If they had available to them what players have available to them now, they would do the same thing. I also have to wonder why it's such an enormous deal in baseball but steroids in football, nobody gives a shit about. Don't even try to say there aren't any in football because that's the funny thing I've ever heard.

Alex is my favorite player so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt & believing that he is not doing it anymore. I know how hard he works out, I mean I did often stalk him when he was working out at the U. I don't think he should be punished unless they want to punish every one of those other 103 players. If anything, take away his MVP award that year. He still won two more when he was clean. In fact, 2007 was one of the best seasons of his career. He is still one of the greatest players to ever play the game of baseball & this does not alter my opinion of him. Of course I am disappointed but I truly believe that he is sorry for what he did & you could tell that by how emotional he was. Everyone makes mistakes & I am willing to forgive. I will be cheering for him as I always do with my #13 jersey on come the start of the season.