You have to be kidding me.............

So, what was your first thought when you heard the news that Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids in 2003? Was it extreme disappointment? Was it absolute shock? Maybe there was a twinge of satisfaction knowing that someone you believed to be a phony was suddenly proven to be just that.
Me? My response was simple: "You've got to be freakin kidding me."
I'll be honest, I didn't expect this revelation when it came to A-Rod. I just didn't think his involvement would stay silent for this long. Plus, he just didn't seem to fit the profile. Yes, he's bigger than he was when he first got called up, but the kid was 19 when he broke into the majors with Seattle. Anyone you know look the same at 33 as they did at 19? Hell, Derek Jeter looks a lot bigger now than he did when he first came up and, really, NO ONE is suspecting him of having used.
A-Rod's production also didn't shoot up off the charts Bonds style. He ALWAYS had power and by his 22nd birthday while playing in Seattle, he was smacking 40+ homers a year. It wasn't too hard to imagine that, with a little more maturity and better understanding of how to play the game, he would be able to hit 50 before long.
But drama follows the Fraud around like flies on the ass of a donkey. Some of it is simply a product of his fame and has little to do with his own personal actions. Much of it is a direct result of his bad decisions (going to a strip-club all night with a woman NOT his wife, giving and interview where he slammed his supposed best friend Derek Jeter, constantly referring to himself as a "family man" only a few months before divorcing his wife, while she was pregnant, and striking up a relationship with the corpse formerly known as Madonna).
It is just too much.
As great a player as he is (his statistics are unquestioned) the guy just seems like a dark cloud hanging over the entire franchise. And now, another black eye, courtesy of the $300 million man.
We can talk about what this means for A-Rod's legacy, how this adds yet another nail into the coffin of this steroid era of baseball, what baseball, and Yankees, are feeling now knowing that their eventually statistically "savior," who was going to restore order to a record book Barry Bonds had helped rip apart, is just another cheater waiting for his turn in line.
For me, the only feeling I have is one of exhaustion.
I'm tired of steroids and finding out, every year, that another icon of the sport was propped up, at least in part by illegal drugs. I am tired of having to forget so many parts of the last 15 years and erase from memory the amount of joy I took in watching men seemingly at the height of their physical prowess doing things I could only dream of. I am tired of players on the Yankees making it so hard to root for the team. What a difference between the dynasty teams - who won with such professionalism and resolve that they were admired even by the most staunch Yankee haters - to now, when, as a Yankee fan, you feel ashamed at times to be rooting for some of the players taking the field.
I am tired of not being able to simply watch the season of baseball unfold without constantly having to think about whether what I am watching is on the up and up. And now, mostly, I am tired of A-Rod and his act. I'm tired of hearing people make excuses for his failed attempts to be anything more than a stats machine when big hits and guile are required. I am tired of his off-broadway production that includes everyone from Jose Canseco's wife to Madonna now to steroids. I am tired of the Yankee season being many times secondary to A-Rod's own personal story.
After his historic 2007 season I was firmly in the camp of those who wanted A-Rod to come back. How, I asked, would you be able to replace his production? Love him or hate him, the man was surreal when it came to his statistical dominance. Yes, he was a liability when it came to the playoffs, or any big spot in the season at the plate, but the Yanks needed someone to help them GET to the playoffs, and no one could do that better than Alex.
Now? I have to think I, and a lot of other fans, were just flat out wrong. The Yanks don't need this crap. They don't need this circus sideshow. And they certainly don't need yet another guy who is going to be brandished as a cheater who put himself ahead of the game of baseball.
But A-Rod is here for another 9 years and it doesn't appear that the games and the drama are going to be leaving his side anytime soon.
Enough is enough. No homeruns and RBI's is worth this.
A few more thoughts on this whole mess:
*As sick as I am as a fan of A-Rod's antics, can you imagine how absolutely pissed his teammates are right now? Every question the next two months will be "Hey (insert Yankee players name), what do you think about Alex and his failed drug test? Did you ever see Alex use? Did you know he was on steroids?" I'm sure Jeter, who simply wants to play the game on the field and go home, is just thrilled knowing that his spring will yet again be dedicated to answering questions about A-Rod. I think this is the season that someone snaps and can't take the Rodriguez questions any longer.
And how about Joe Girardi? GI Joe had a hard enough problem handling the media last year. His post-game press conferences were dripping with tension by the middle part of the season. How is he going to handle the incessant "Joe, what do you think of A-Roid" questions (which, I'm sure, will be phrased much differently).
*While I was surprised by this disclosure, I have to admit it makes sense when you think about it. First, A-Rod is, by all accounts, obsessed with his place in baseball and his legacy. Using steroids certainly cemented Bonds' place on top of the record books, why wouldn't A-Rod consider plunging in head first? And as far as morality goes, I know one doesn't have to do with the other, but is it such a huge stretch to believe that a guy who cheated on, and then eventually divorced his wife only a few weeks after the couple had their second child would be willing to cheat at the game of baseball? Of course not. I mean, cheating on your wife with a beat up old hag of a pop star while she is pregnant is just, well, what celebrities do, right? That's just a crime of passion, but when it comes to the integrity of the game, you can't question his values.
*Why is it that every steroid user who seemed to pass through the Bronx is described as "former Yankee" such and such? I mean, do you really think Yankees when you think Kevin Brown or Gary Sheffield? These guys stopped in New York for basically a cup of coffee. Clemens I can see. Pettitte, obviously. But I even heard Jose Canseco described as "former Yankee". Are you joking? I couldn't even tell you the year the Yanks got stuck with that eye twitching, homer-head loser.
I know the Yankees had their fair share of guys who used roids, but most of them did while on other teams, or were only really passing through the Bronx in their careers. It just seems like yet another example of anti-Yankee sentiment. Steroids is BASEBALL'S problem, not the Yanks.
*Whenever I hear a revelation like this I truly do appreciate Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera even more. Could one, if not both of them be implicated down the road? I guess at this point it is a possibility, but I think it is safe to assume that they are clean. In an era in which it seems even the most talented players were cheating in order to make themselves even better, Jeter and Rivera have put up hall of fame resumes on their talent and workethic alone. Jeter has never been a homerun hitter. Rivera was a failure as a starting pitcher. Evidently it didn't bother either one or push them into the steroid culture.
These guys are guys you feel good rooting for. I hope Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia, even though they are not homegrown, elicit a similar comfort level.