This is not a defense of Alex Rodriguez.  A-Rod makes far too much money to feel sorry for and while I'm willing to forgive if he plays hard and the Yankees win, I and countless others won't forget that he has forever tarnished his image and any records he might "break" are forever tainted.  Having said that, the coverage of A-Rod is way overblown and bordering on the ridiculous.  And I would say that if it were any team other than the Yankees as well.

To the media, I understand it is your job to cover this story, yet a part of me is wondering what exactly do you want from this guy and others?  

First A-Rod has to issue a statement, check.  Then A-Rod has to do an interview and "come clean," check.  Additionally A-Rod has to do a press conference and answer questions from the vast array of reporters, check.

So A-Rod admits he's taken performance enhancing drugs and his legacy as a player has been forever tarnished no matter what he says or does for the rest of his entire baseball career.  That should seem good enough for the media... except that it's not.  Why not and why the media is still out for blood is beyond me.  When you have a murderer confess to a crime, does the story or evidence along the way really matter?  

A-Rod's legacy is done and likewise the coverage of him should be done.  "Oh but, well he's such a superstar, how can you not cover him?"  Well gee how do you think he became a superstar?  I'm not saying he's not a great player on his own, but if he's on a pedestal and ripped down, does anything he does from here on out really matter?  

And this is clearly an "A-Rod thing," just look at SI.com's Jon Heyman's comments regarding the issue:

"The real problem is A-Rod's story. It isn't as good a story as Pettitte's.

A-Rod obviously doesn't have a sympathetic story like Pettitte, who'd been dogged by painful elbow problems for most of his career, was hampered by a congenital defect in that area, and who had the misfortune to hang around with Roger Clemens. Pettitte is a sweet guy..."

Would you like for him to concoct a better lie for you Jon?  So if Don Mattingly with his ailing back had taken them to attempt to revive what would've been a Hall Of Fame career that would've been OK too?  Don't forget it wasn't too long ago that you guys were praising the regimen and work ethic of Pettitte and Clemens and bashing the burger/boozing David Wells and how did that one work out?

This reminds me so much of Pete Rose.  Rose was never convicted (nor were the players of the "Black Sox Scandal") of any wrong doing in a court of law.  Rose lied, then reporters said he had to come clean and tell the truth, Rose then admits he lied and tells the truth and gets slammed for lying and no praise for coming clean.  I don't feel sorry for the guy anymore, but his stats should put him in the Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately we're really self-righteous about these things in baseball, yearning for the "good old traditional days."  You know like when pitchers could do all kinds of things to the baseball and blacks and other minorities weren't allowed to play, you know those good old days?  

I'm not saying to turn a blind eye to it, I'm just saying that when the games start playing again, please, please, please, let me watch my baseball in peace!