"Say it Ain't So, Alex!"

Time flies, and when it does not, it is our nature to devise ever more creative ways to make it seem at though it does. After less than a month, CNN and others are in full-throat mode trumpeting President Obama’s “First One Hundred Days.” Of course, with the Country and much of the world watching his every move since November 4th, if you count back to the Election, it really has been 106 days.

To his credit, President Obama repeatedly reminded all who seemed inclined to forget, that we have only one President at a time, and his term did not begin until January 20th, or 29 days ago. In spite of how busy the President has been, keeping up with his much talked about BlackBerry, hosting his White House Super Bowl Party, fitting in hoops where he can, and oh yeah, shepherding historic legislation that he called, "the most sweeping economic recovery package in our history," through a prickly and reticent Congress, today’s conversation will be other-focused. Take a well deserved break Mr. President, from this page anyway.

No, this story is about baseball. Well, not exactly. To be more precise, it is really about Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, familiarly known as A-Rod. The 33 year-old is baseball’s highest paid player. In 2007, he signed a 10-year, $275 million contract that will add another $30 million if he breaks the all-time home run record of 762. His current contract, the richest in the history of baseball, breaks the previous record amount of $252 million, which he also held.

If you are a baseball fan, or especially an A-Rod fan, you know that Rodriguez is no stranger to controversy and media scrutiny. Obviously his salary draws major league attention. It also does not hurt his paparazzi appeal that he plays for the (love 'em or hate 'em) New York Yankees. Of course as an avid and life-long Dodger fan, I hate 'em!

Besides playing in New York, and earning nearly as much money as a small Country, A-Rod has gained notoriety for his stats (he is projected to break Barry Bonds’ home run record/more about that later). He is a 12-time All-Star, a 3-time American League MVP, and 2-time Golden Glove winner. However, with the Yankees, he has also garnered a reputation for less than stellar post-season play. Throughout his career, he has worn the nickname The Cooler, because teams have often played poorly (cooled of) when he was with them, only to get hot when he left.

In July 2007 Jose Conseco said he would publish a second book detailing drug use in Major League Baseball, and called Rodriguez a hypocrite. On February 7, 2009, just a few days before the start of spring training, Sports Illustrated reported that A-Rod had tested positive for two anabolic steroids, testosterone and Primobolan, during his 2003 season playing shortstop for the Texas Rangers. During that season he also won the American League Most Valuable Player award for the first time, hit his 300th career home run (47 that year), and earned one of his ten Silver Slugger Awards.

Two days later, February 9, in a widely view interview with ESPN’s Peter Gammons, A-Rod copped his ‘Roid use, blaming “an enormous amount of pressure to perform.” Yesterday, he called a press conference in Tampa, Florida, and discussed the matter with reporters, in front of many of his Yankee teammates.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is reviewing the situation to determine whether punishment will be forthcoming. While this is an unfortunate situation for one of baseball’s icons, it should be even more sobering for the sport of baseball itself. In just my fourth blog commentary, 513 days ago, I discussed briefly the Barry Bonds situation. But before Bonds came Jose Conseco, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa. Some allege Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are on the list that will be included in former Senator George Mitchell’s report on baseball players using performance enhancing drugs.

When I wrote about Bonds, he had just broken Hank Aaron’s longstanding Home Run record, 755, a couple of weeks earlier. As I noted earlier, A-Rod is on pace to break Bond’s record. Unfortunately, it may not matter. Apparently one of the actions the Commissioner is considering is invalidating Bonds' records, including the home run mark, and reinstating Aaron as the leader. Such a move would also likely have detrimental ramifications for A-Rod’s records chase, and possibly at least a portion of his career. The established precedent for players found to have used illegal performance enhancing drugs is a 50-game suspension.

Baseball was one my father’s passion, and his favorite sport. It was the first sport I was exposed to, and the only sport I played on an organized level. I still have fond memories of watching games with my dad, and of playing sand lot and Little League ball. I remember watching the transplanted (from Brooklyn) Los Angeles Dodgers play, declaring them my first official favorite team…one of the special treats I shared with my first role model, and visiting Chavez Ravine (Dodger Stadium).

That Field of Dreams was sown many years ago. The Dodgers are still my favorite Baseball team, but baseball is no longer my favorite sport, and has not been for quite sometime. Basketball holds that distinction now. Still, when I reflect on the memories etched across the canvas of my mind; a summer’s eve, my dad, me, and a Dodger’s game, Sandy Kofax or Don Drysdale working on another no-hitter, Maury Wills stealing home, first Walter Alston, then Tommy Lasorda, making the managerial calls, all I can think of to say is, “Say it Ain’t So, Alex!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/13/60minutes/main3617425.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/sports/baseball/18vecsey.html?_r=1&ref=sports

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/

http://grg51.typepad.com/steroid_nation/2007/07/is-jose-canseco.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3894847

http://www.mndaily.com/2009/02/09/rod-steroids

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/the-inside-job/2009/2/9/a-rod-took-steroids-felt-under-pressure-to-perform.html

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/02/10/shaq.arod.ap/index.html?rss=true

http://blogs.nbcsports.com/home/archives/2009/02/wait-arod-did-steroids-no-way.html

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-sparod0208,0,5938733.story

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3153129

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Wills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Koufax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Drysdale

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Alston

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Lasorda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bonds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_McGwire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Canseco

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Sosa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Pettitte

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Clemens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_J._Mitchell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Selig

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gammons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A1vez_Ravine