Chipper: steroid cloud will follow A-Rod

Chipper Jones says steroid questions will follow A-Rod, and A-Rod needs to answer them.
God, I need sleep.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/08/09/2007-08-09_atlantas_chip_shot_at_arod.html

 

PEDs have been part of sports forever and, in some form, always will be. What we seem to lack is understanding and a sense of perspective. Probably because personalities come into play and the discussion immediately goes from clinical to emotional. Feigned outrage doesn't cut it, though. I thought this Sally Jenkins column was one of the better ones I've seen recently on the topic:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080202497.html

 

Please do not use the change in physical appearance line. Does Nefi Perez or guys in the Tour De France look like they've taken steroids?
Do I think A-Rod has taken them? I have no idea, but the era he plays in means this will follow him fair or not

 

Ragu --
Sorry.
The "Bonds Created The Suspicion" -- aka "It's The Era." -- argument is journalistically unsound and morally obtuse. You are NOT REQUIRED to believe on suspicion. Nobody in this business is obligated to become part of a drug hysteria. Believe it when you see the evidence, and Chipper Jones should spend more time knocking up waitresses and less time running his mouth.

 

Perez tested positive for "a stimulant" (amphetamine), not steroids.

 

I think ARod is an unfaithful husband and image-conscious. I don't think ARod is a steroid user. I do think by dragging the Yankees' third baseman's name into the steroid story, Canseco is trying to guarantee sales of his new book.

 

Yankees-Braves will be a treat in this year's World Series.

 

No doubt some NY reporter asked him his thoughts about the Canseco/A-Rod thing. He's a fairly stand-up guy, so he didn't duck the question. And Chipper is absolutely right. He's not saying A-Rod juiced. He's saying he'll be hounded about it whether he juiced or not. The underlying idea is that every major league player is now under suspicion. No amount of testing or investigating by George Mitchell is going to change that.

I'm just waiting for the day when some reporter asks Chipper about his diet and exercise routine between the 1998 and 1999 seasons. I'm not saying he used PEDs, but it's a fact that he gained weight and added muscle between October 1998 and February, 1999. Up until 1998, he hit gangbusters up until about the middle of August and then faded down the stretch. So he added some strength to help him maintain his production through the complete season. I think he's clean, but how can we really know? Chipper himself may end up under the same cloud, though it won't be because he's chasing the all-time home run record. Bottom line is everybody is under suspicion.

Is any of that fair? No. But it's the way it is.

 

Once again, the tab headlines make this look like more than it is.

Chipper apparently was asked if there would be questions about A-Rod and steroids if he got close to Bonds' record and basically said, yes there will be questions about a lot of people, himself included



"There's going to be the questions because his name's been brought up," Jones told the Associated Press before last night's game at Shea. "If I had to pose a guess on A-Rod, I would say no. But I don't know. He's going to have to answer the questions. And that goes for everybody that approaches the number. It's just so farfetched, the numbers that those guys are putting up. And a lot of it comes from the era that they're playing in."


"Because I'm playing in the steroid era. Everything that I do is going to be judged. It's the same with a lot of good ballplayers that have put up a lot of good numbers in this era that did it the right way.
"Time is going to tell for a lot of people, until this Mitchell investigation is complete. And it's not just (Bonds and Rodriguez), but they're the poster children because they are the two best players in the game, or have been. It's inevitable. It's just the way things are now."

 

Oh. Chipper's probably jealous that A-Rod got some tail the fellow philanderers were eyeballing.

 

It doesn't have to be the way it is.
Nobody in this business -- or even in the sports blowhard business, which is different -- is obligated to hound people based on suspicion and nothing else. We choose to do that, usually for bullshit reasons. We aren't feathers in the wind here.