2009-02-19T13:41:49-05:00 2009-02-17T23:34:34-05:00 134 2009-02-17T23:34:34-05:00 1 14 10 2009-02-19T13:41:49-05:00 10 PA rjk Port Allegany 710553 136 what do ya think? once a season, whether it involved MLB, the NFL, NHL or NBA, we the fan chose not to attend a game. not one! to let the owners see what it would be like not to sell a ticket or concession. to let the so called professional athelete see what it would be like to play in an empty stadium. a quiet, empty stadium. to inform them just how fragile professional sports truly are. to let them know who's responsible for all their success. to remind them, once a season, who has more control of their world, their money, then they could have ever dreamed. to let them know we are in control! the fan! the fanatic! 4402331 2009-02-19T09:14:19-05:00 12 GA aardvark_hunter Acworth 697467 135 HAHAHAHA. I just realized that 24 or 25 looks ancient and mature to all the 13 year olds posting here. I'll bet a lot of you actually look up to professional athletes and think that they know what they are doing. They are no smarter than the average person, and act a lot dumber because they've been cut too much slack since they were kids, and concentrated on developing their talent rather than learning anything, including how to live. This whole article and the thread following it are a laugh and a half. He cheated, along with most of the power hitters and pitchers in MLB for at least a 15 year period. It must have been obvious to him and the others that he was EXPECTED to cheat by the hypocrite Selig and his owner clique to pump up revenue. Selig was the main cheerleader for the McGuire/Sosa/Bonds et al fraud. I'm also sure Arod was pissed that he was deprived of MVP awards he deserved that were won by 'roid users. He still cheated himself. The real hr leaders are still named Aaron, Ruth, Maris et al, and now Arod won't be among them. Guess what, kidees? It's al not very important and boring. Other useful lessons o be learned from this are that people like agents and PR men who make a lot of money are not usually very smart, just successful aggressive crooks. I lover it that a former Mets clubhouse assistant is sought for interviews and taken seriously as an expert on steroids. What is he, a graduate of the Towelboy Institute for Medicine and Better Living through Biochemistry? 4396735 2009-02-19T03:52:51-05:00 73 CA Fastball Temecula 572744 134 Aroid lied, lied, lied, and lied some more. What makes you apologists for him think he told the truth at the press conference? Apology my butt! Pure stagecraft and more lies. Throw the bum out and all the other 103 violaters with him. I don't care who they are or who they play for. Change the game so that cheaters are severely punished (banished) for their crimes or lose baseball for good. Are you listening Mr. Selig? 4395851 2009-02-18T21:47:34-05:00 2 CT dcam34 Southington 13067 133 The majority of sportsriders are turning this whole Arod steroid story into a National Enquirer or Star scandal story. Don't these morons have anything better to write about instead of disecting every little comment from Arod. My God! People get a life! 4393905 2009-02-18T20:17:01-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/644/179/thumb/tiger-woods.jpg 418 MO KemoSabe- Tiger is back Union 644819 131 I didn't think it was as big as some are making it to be..... but seriously, can't we just play baseball!!!!???? 4392828 2009-02-18T21:25:10-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/708/958/thumb/NorkaBearImage2-1.jpg 1049 Guide Bear 709598 I didn't think it was as big as some are making it to be..... but seriously, can't we just play baseball!!!!???? 132 in 46 days my man! 4393626 2009-02-18T20:17:01-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/644/179/thumb/tiger-woods.jpg 418 MO KemoSabe- Tiger is back Union 644819 131 I didn't think it was as big as some are making it to be..... but seriously, can't we just play baseball!!!!???? 4392828 2009-02-18T16:44:07-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/692/054/thumb/garanddrink.jpg 151 PA JaCee Paradise 692694 130 The sports writers will sensationalize this until another pigeon target comes along (maybe when Ms Roberts has her book release) -- until then ARod needs to keep his mouth shut and just play baseball. If he plays well thats all that needs to be said so long as he keeps clean. My money says Selig will not do anything to address the records and stats during the steroid era -- but it will be curious to see how HOF voting goes when these guys get to that point. 4390352 2009-02-18T15:09:22-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/641/069/thumb/085.jpg 754 OH sagecreek 641709 to the many people who think Arod should be suspended: dream on fools. and if you think that 'list' covers the extent of players who've used, you are all sadly mistaken. try at least 1/2 of all active players. then there is the issue of the minor leaguers. talk about pressure to make the bigs! probably was or even still is more wide spread in the minors. 126 so what do you suggest, we just ignore it and move on, that head in the sand approach encourages the cheaters - if you want to make baseball clean you need to make the punishment severe with no exceptions - ONLY then will integrity be restored - this current situation is going to take a huge toll on the game if it's not reversed, check out attendance in the coming season...many fans have had it with baseball, throw in the weak economy and it doesn't look good. 4388448 2009-02-18T16:28:41-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/708/958/thumb/NorkaBearImage2-1.jpg 1049 Guide Bear 709598 so what do you suggest, we just ignore it and move on, that head in the sand approach encourages the cheaters - if you want to make baseball clean you need to make the punishment severe with no exceptions - ONLY then will integrity be restored - this current situation is going to take a huge toll on the game if it's not reversed, check out attendance in the coming season...many fans have had it with baseball, throw in the weak economy and it doesn't look good. 129 i didn't make any suggestions on what to do about it. certainly am not taking the head in sand approach. just pointing out that way way more than 104 are using. 4390067 2009-02-18T10:00:49-05:00 2 IN FoeFive Indianapolis 710709 61 Im pretty sure theres alotta suppliments for sale right now, that will be illegal in a few years... you cant punish somebody for breaking a law that wasnt illegal at the time, lets be honest athletes play ball. they're not chemist so if your gonna blame anybody, blame the proffesional sports environment that treats athetes like livestock instead of men. Lets be honest most owners only care about steroids because the public cares. in reality if most owners would personally inject the roids with there own hands if it meant more home runs and higher attendance, hell if they could theyd prolly keep theyre players in stables. Dont just blame the athletes everybody looks for an edge or there would be no need for gnc. dont just look at the athlete but the environment that breeds that kinda pressure..... I thought sports were suppose to be fun..... I dont see too many smiley faces nowadays. You cant make a-rod the fall guy for a system that reeks of corruption and hypocrasy. Until Owners, managers, trainers, media etc, consider how they mighta contributed to the problem, get off A-Rods bat. 4381918 2009-02-18T15:26:56-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/193/718/thumb/IM000263.jpg 414 CO LA Riva Pueblo West 194018 Im pretty sure theres alotta suppliments for sale right now, that will be illegal in a few years... you cant punish somebody for breaking a law that wasnt illegal at the time, lets be honest athletes play ball. they're not chemist so if your gonna blame anybody, blame the proffesional sports environment that treats athetes like livestock instead of men. Lets be honest most owners only care about steroids because the public cares. in reality if most owners would personally inject the roids with there own hands if it meant more home runs and higher attendance, hell if they could theyd prolly keep theyre players in stables. Dont just blame the athletes everybody looks for an edge or there would be no need for gnc. dont just look at the athlete but the environment that breeds that kinda pressure..... I thought sports were suppose to be fun..... I dont see too many smiley faces nowadays. You cant make a-rod the fall guy for a system that reeks of corruption and hypocrasy. Until Owners, managers, trainers, media etc, consider how they mighta contributed to the problem, get off A-Rods bat. 128 Hey MoeFoe, anabolic steroids are illegal and have been illegal for a long time. They are not supplements. 4388824 2009-02-18T12:22:59-05:00 9 IN Cheaters Never Win Carmel 346571 So, if I steal something today and it's not found out about for say, 6 or 8 years, and I fake cry and aplogize and say I was young, stupid, naive, blah blah blah, the judge should say, oh you poor little girl, you have suffered enough, go, be good, don't do it again. He knew what he did was wrong or he wouldn't have hid it. It's like a little boy whole steals a piece of candy and hides in the closet to eat it. He doesn't realize that when he's caught his hands are still sticky and he just makes a bigger mess by trying to wipe them off on his pants. I really don't care who he plays for or played for. ANY player who takes an illegal substance should pay the penalty, whatever they may be as set by MLB. Can you imagine if you were a legitimate player, not taking illegal substances and trying to compete in the market with these cheaters, who are getting all the big deals because they cheated? I'd be pissed. 102 You are exactly correct. The only problem is there was no penalty for taking steriods during the time frame which he took it. So now what? He took it. It was wrong. He got caught. He appologized. This is the point where we move on... 4385188 2009-02-18T15:11:58-05:00 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/641/069/thumb/085.jpg 754 OH sagecreek 641709 You are exactly correct. The only problem is there was no penalty for taking steriods during the time frame which he took it. So now what? He took it. It was wrong. He got caught. He appologized. This is the point where we move on... 127 We move on BUT his home runs during the juiced years don't count...why do you believe him when he gives beginning and ending years for the drugs...can't believe he left the pressure behind when he left Texas. 4388575 134 <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/25021/arod.jpg" alt="Arod" width="298" height="400" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">A-Rod's news conference was confusing and incoherent.<br />AP</div> </div> <p>Easily the most amazing part of <strong>Alex Rodriguez</strong>'s press conference Tuesday afternoon was that his confusing and at times incoherent message was carefully designed by a group of professionals who make their living advising public figures in these types of crisis situations.</p> <p>For the past week Rodriguez has been advised by a team that includes his agent <strong>Scott Boras</strong>, talent agent <strong>Guy Oseary</strong>, publicist <strong>Richard Rubenstein</strong> and a company that specializes in crisis management called Outside Eyes. It's probably the greatest example that over thinking, over analyzing and over staffing an apology creates more problems than it does solutions.</p> <p>Any time you have a room full of people who spin things for a living, you can easily forget that the goal isn't who can come up with the best talking points ("young," "stupid," "na&iuml;ve," "curious") but who can craft the most believable, heart-felt apology.</p> <p>Watching Rodriguez open his press conference by reading a prepared statement from a few sheets of crumpled papers he had no doubt rolled up nervously was like watching a child tensely read a book report on a book he hadn't actually read.</p> <p>It wasn't so much that the words he was reading clearly weren't his, but that when he had a chance to speak from the heart he continued to be dishonest and contradict himself on basic questions on which he should have simply come clean. For example, he apologized for taking performance-enhancing drugs and for being secretive in doing so, but later said he didn't know what he was doing was wrong. When he was asked if he didn't know what he was doing was wrong, why was he so secretive, he said, "I knew what we were taking was potentially something that perhaps was wrong. I really didn't get into the investigation, perhaps like I would've."</p> <p>"Potentially" and "perhaps" wrong? That's almost as bad and evasive as privately apologizing to <strong>Selena Roberts</strong> for publicly slandering her but refusing to apologize publicly.&nbsp;</p> <p>Responses like that will do more harm to Rodriguez down the line than any failed drug test. The American public has a short attention span and is surprisingly forgiving to those who offer genuine, heart-felt and believable apologies. If Rodriguez had said he knew what he was doing was wrong and was old enough to know better but simply wanted to gain an advantage, he would take some big hits but eventually moved on. Now, I'm not sure anyone knows what to believe with Rodriguez, who is not only thought of as a cheater but a liar.</p> <p>Throughout his press conferences he kept saying that he was "24, 25" when he was injecting himself with performance-enhancing drugs, as if to say he was too young to know what he was doing. The truth is if he was taking testosterone and Primobolan from 2001-03, that would mean he was more in the range of 26, 27, 28. That means he was a 10-year veteran who was two years away from his 30th birthday when he allegedly decided to stop taking these drugs. We're supposed to believe that he was some young, stupid, na&iuml;ve kid who was making an amateur mistake with his cousin? We're also supposed to believe that a man worth $250 million was secretly injecting himself twice a month for three years with drugs his cousin brought over from the Dominican Republic but he didn't know what he was doing was wrong and wasn't sure what the benefit was?</p> <p>Again, it isn't surprising that Rodriguez would continue to dig himself deeper into a hole. It's amazing that he hired a team of professionals to help him shovel.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>One of the strategy points of Outside Eyes, <a href="http://www.outsideeyes.com/strategy.php">according to its Web site</a>, is "Message Development" and it states, "You have one shot to answer the question "What do you do?" Does your answer leave a confident, memorable first impression? Outside Eyes prepares clients to say everything they need to say and nothing they do not. We make sure your 'elevator speech' is concise, compelling, and effective."</p> <p>I don't know who worked on Rodriguez's "elevator speech," but whoever it was woefully failed in helping him with his "one shot to answer the question." His answer didn't leave a confident, memorable first impression and his speech was anything but concise, compelling and effective.</p> http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/396/7/thumb/markazi_arash.jpg 118 CA Arash Markazi Los Angeles 3987 51241 <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/25021/arod.jpg" alt="Arod" width="298" height="400" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">A-Rod's news conference was confusing and incoherent.<br />AP</div> </div> <p>Easily the most amazing part of <strong>Alex Rodriguez</strong>'s press conference Tuesday afternoon was that his confusing and at times incoherent message was carefully designed by a group of professionals who make their living advising public figures in these types of crisis situations.</p> <p>For the past week Rodriguez has been advised by a team that includes his agent <strong>Scott Boras</strong>, talent agent <strong>Guy Oseary</strong>, publicist <strong>Richard Rubenstein</strong> and a company that specializes in crisis management called Outside Eyes. It's probably the greatest example that over thinking, over analyzing and over staffing an apology creates more problems than it does solutions.</p> <p>Any time you have a room full of people who spin things for a living, you can easily forget that the goal isn't who can come up with the best talking points ("young," "stupid," "na&iuml;ve," "curious") but who can craft the most believable, heart-felt apology.</p>