Say it ain't so A-Rod (or should I say Ste-Rod?)

[GoesTo11]

"Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003"

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

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. "You'll have to talk to the union," said Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything."

[rockymountaindem]

1. As much as I can't stand Alex Rodriguez

(I hate the nickname A-Rod. It sounds like a character from the Bible, but I digress...)

As much as I can't stand him and love it when he utterly chokes in the playoffs etc., I can't help but feel that the entire recent era of baseball (which is already becoming known as the steroid era) is totally tainted. It think it's obvious that lots and lots of players were on the juice, and it seems kind of pointless to go after individuals when it was an entire culture of cheating.

On the other hand, when you consider that the home run record is probably the most sacred title in US sports, it does look really bad to see Barry Bonds take the title from Hank Aaron, knowing that Bonds cheated his ass off and Aaron didn't. I guess I'm just torn about this.

[Baikonour]

2. CNN and anyone reporting on this nonsense is wildly irresponsible.

I'm looking at you too, OP.

This crap is not news. It's just that - crap. Fluffer intended to keep the American public dumbed down and quiet, especially during the tumultuous times we're living in right now.

[burythehatchet]

3. what a bizarre comment

[Baikonour]

5. I can see by your avatar that you'd take my comment that way.

I don't care if you like baseball. Fine. Whatever. Just leave this kind of crap to the sports stations.

[summer borealis]

39. Agreed.

[liberalhistorian]

44. No, a very TRUTHFUL

comment.

[GoesTo11]

4. I guess you don't care what Madonna thinks of this, then?

In other news last night, the Dems caved and eliminated K-12 education from the stimulus package.

[liberalhistorian]

45. Oh, who cares what the Dems did

or if education is funded properly! I wanna know what Madonna says about A-Rod, although that's probably what she calls it, knowing her! :sarcasm:

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SidDithers]

8. Well said...

:applause:

Sid

[Baikonour]

12. ROFL.

Shall we have a penis measuring contest?

I wasn't aware that my post count reflected my general intelligence around here. My apologies, Mr. Strawman!

[11 Bravo]

18. Hmmm, undeclared gender clamoring for a penis measuring contest?

Your intelligence was not initially called into question, but you've certainly put it into play now, so I'll explain it really slowly.
Many of us who have been here for years find it exceedingly arrogant for a 2-day member to come into a thread and start belittling the topic as worthless. Perhaps you could start your own thread ... something along the lines of "I'm so fucking superior to everyone else because I find athletics to be frivolous". I guarantee you you'll find some takers, and you can all enjoy a myopic little circle jerk. Bye now.

P.S. I'm sorry you got cut from your junior varsity baseball team.

[Baikonour]

20. So, essentially..

You're saying my opinion, belittling or not, is of little import due to my low post count? Seems rather silly to me.

And yes, athletics are frivolous. You know what else is frivolous? Making silly pre-judgements about someone's athletic experience, or any pre-judgements for that matter.

P.S. - once I left 8th grade, I never played sports again.

I could make a sweeping generalization, based on the negative response I've received, that jocks and sports fans alike are oversensitive, swellheaded buffoons...but I won't. :)

[liberalhistorian]

46. Oh, for Christ's sake! Didja ever think that maybe

he was RIGHT and only saying what a helluva lot of us are thinking? Or is it only worth considering if one of us with a huge post count says it? This circle-jerk post count obsession on here is really getting very annoying. Not everyone who disagrees in the slightest here is a troll or a freeper or unworthy of consideration. Get a fucking grip.

And, yeah, he's absolutely right in what he says. This fucking sports obsession to the detriment of REAL news is really just fluff and unbelievably annoying.

[MineralMan]

23. No...post count has nothing to do with one's general intelligence.

However, not recognizing that not everyone considers the same topics to be of equal value does. Your opinion of sports stories is your opinion, of course, and you're welcome to share it here. However, for some, sports stories are of great interest, which is why there is a General Discussion forum on this site. General Discussion may be on any topic, you see.

Intelligence may be measured by how well a person understands their environment. The environment here allows people to discuss what interests them. With any luck, their discussions will not be interrupted by other posters who have no interest in the subject.

Coming into a discussion and telling the people involved with that discussion that they are mindless is not a mark of an intelligent person. An intelligent person would recognize that people do not always agree on what is and is not important. An intelligent person would understand that posting negative comments about those interested in a subject will not endear that person to the group he/she is attempting to join. An intelligent person would understand that trolling a discussion group to try to stir up controversy is not a mark of wisdom.

[Baikonour]

25. If you're occusing me of trolling, you're WAY off the mark.

I've been reading these boards for about a little while now, and it seems that people here like to throw around that word a bit too leniently. Someone who has an opposing viewpoint, as brash as it may be, is NOT a troll. If a person truly believes in what they are saying, no matter how they are saying it, that person is NOT a troll.

I'm not looking to endear myself to anyone or anything. It's the internet, after all. I'm here to share my opinion with others. If you can't handle a differing opinion, especially on something as frivolous as sports, I have to wonder what you're doing on a message board at all (a message board devoted to democratic politics, mind you), let alone the internet.

I should also point out that there are a lot of sub-forums here. Including a sports one.

[MineralMan]

29. Hey, good luck with all that, then.

See ya around.

[11 Bravo]

40. Only the pathologically narcissistic are unable to discern their own hubris.

In a single post you've declared that other posters are too lenient in their usage of a word you don't care for, that a topic some are interested in is frivolous, and that a particular poster has no business on an internet message board. All of this at a website upon which you haven't been long enough to know the first damned thing about. We have had our share of arrogant little shitstains over the years, but you may just have retired the trophy.

I will, however, tip my hat to you for meeting at least one of your goals. You have endeared yourself to no one. Well done.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

41. Author, Author...

:applause: :applause:

Seriesly!!11!!!1

Nicely done. I'd sacrifice a (non-essential) body part to be able to dissect, as you so eloquently termed it, "arrogant little shitstains" with such surgical precision.


Well done, Indeed.

[liberalhistorian]

47. Speak for yourself there.

I certainly have no problem whatsoever with what he said and I'm getting real tired of new posters getting jumped on 'cause they automatically don't agree with everyone's circle jerk on a thread and I'm getting sick of the post count obsession and I'm really getting sick of the goddamn sports obsession in this society to the detriment of real news and things that are really important.

[11 Bravo]

49. Yet here you are having responded on six separate occasions to a "fluff" post ...

about a "frivolous" subject. Surely your time would be better spent having very serious discussions with other very serious people, pausing only long enough to congratulate each other for being blessed with such superior and serious natures.
The topic of this forum is General Discussion. Yes, there is also a Sports forum, but occasionally a sports-related topic will leak into GD, perhaps such as when the highest-salaried athlete in professional sports is found to have broken the law. Deal with it, or better yet, simply avoid such threads. Besides, the world can ill afford for you to waste your valuable time responding to abject frivolity when there is so much serious musing to be done; so knit that brow and get to work. (As for me, my son has a game this afternoon and I wouldn't miss it for the world.)

[liberalhistorian]

53. I responded because it disgusted me seeing

a newbie being treated the way he was simply because of a low post count and because there was the assumption that everyone here should immediately bow to the sports altar and pile on the guy.

As for sports-I don't care who likes it, watches it, plays it, but I'm really sick and tired of having it shoved in my face constantly and being expected, generally, to follow along with sports worship. I was always into music, drama, reading, etc., and was constantly ridiculed for that and even told I could "get more dates" if I became someone else and pretended to know and like sports. I didn't care if people didn't like the arts or things like that, but I really resent them both ridiculing interest in the arts and literature and expecting me to bow at the sports altar. Growing up in Cleveland, which worships sports to the point of mania and anyone who doesn't feel the same way is un-American and suspect, sure as fuck didn't help. And the media's obsession with sports to the exclusion of truly important news, using it as a distraction, is really disgusting as well.

[11 Bravo]

54. No one on this thread ridiculed interest in literature or the arts.

You, on the other hand, seem pefectly comfortable in ridiculing anyone possessing an interest in sports. Your personal baggage is yours to deal with, but it shouldn't lead to the conclusion that all sports fans are fools interested only in "fluff" and "frivolity" to the exclusion of any other news. As for the newbie (for want of another word), for him to ridicule reporting of the A-Rod story as "wildly irresponsible" is frankly just fucking stupid no matter how many posts he has made. His two-day tenure simply highlighted his arrogance in calling out another poster (I'm looking at you, OP").
This story has been reported by the AP, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, the BBC, and any other news organization you can think of. It would have been "wildly irresponsible" for CNN NOT to have run the story because it is, in fact, news; and simply because you and the noob aren't interested in sports does not render it any less newsworthy.

[SixString]

14. 55 posts in 24 Hrs.

I got some catching up to do.

[JVS]

16. I'm looking at you!

[SixString]

21. Like what you see? N/T

[spanone]

17. bwahahahahaa it's reported...it's news...like it or not

[liberalhistorian]

43. Thank you!

Well-said. I'm really sick of this sports bullshit taking up huge newstime that should go to much more important matters. I remember Congress all up in arms about steroid use in baseball and holding fucking hearings and press conferences and whatnot, all the while completing ignoring the illegal and impeachable actions by the WH and its minions.

It makes me physically sick that useless jerkoffs like A-Rod are paid hundreds of millions of dollars and allowed to do whatever they want while being held up as a goddamn "role model", while those like my parents who worked very hard as teachers for forty years get very little in the way of compensation or appreciation. Disgusting.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. A-Roid would be better.

But while we are all a-flutter over the shocking revelation that performance enhancing drug use is common with professional athletes competing for the small number of huge salaries available to those with world class abilities...

Oh never mind. Carry on.

[GoesTo11]

9. That's good.

[11 Bravo]

10. "A-Roid"! That's better than good, that's perfect!

I will definitely be using that one!

[JonLP24]

11. I don't really care

When I took a class on "Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior." It said anabolic steroids does little to improve athletic peformance and then it said don't say that to the average sports fan or writer. The only problem about that text book is it didn't go further into explaining why it doesn't and I've never further researched the matter.

Though I don't really care what is going on, I was only a baseball fan during Griffey's prime. Other then that it bores me to tears.

Note: reposted from other thread because this one has more replies.

[11 Bravo]

13. You took the time to re-post from another thread just to tell us that you "don't really care"?

:shrug:

[JonLP24]

15. LOL yes

But not for that reason. I don't care about all this steroid scandal, though I was hoping someone would inform me on how exactly anabolic steroids helps you hit more home runs. I read basically 2 lines in my textbook that made the claim it does little to help athletic peformance but don't tell that to any sports fan or writer. That's pretty much the exact wording so it's intrigued me but not enough to do further research on the matter. Usually when I do I run into harmful affects and side effects. Stuff like that.

[Reverend_Smitty]

42. Steroids won't make you hit home runs...

I could inject myself with that stuff until my liver explodes and I still wouldn't get around on a 95mph fastball. The people who play professional sports are naturally gifted athletes who would be playing at a much higher level than you or me whether or not they took any drugs. Where the roids help and give unfair advantage is in a few areas depending on the drug taken. Pitchers will take them to repair muscle tissue and improve recovery times...they don't necessarily want too much bulk because it will lessen their range of motion and possibly alter their delivery. But if they can take a substance that will speed up the body at repairing damaged muscle tissue (something that happens to every pitcher because the mechanics of overhand throwing is very damaging to the body) they can pitch more often or prolong their career (see Roger Clemens).

Position players do want more bulk than the pitchers because if you have tree trucks for forearms, you can hit the ball harder than someone who doesn't. The downside to usage aside from increased risk of cancer, roid rage and shrunken balls is that juicing will make your muscles bigger but the tendons stay roughly the same size, which could account for so many muscle strains seen in the game in the past 20 years.

So basically if you are an average Joe and take steroids, the Yankees won't come calling anytime soon but elite athletes with steroids make them ever so slightly more superhuman. It's also a pretty bad example to be setting for young kids because the chances of them playing pro ball is almost non-existent even with drugs and it would be a shame for them to destroy their livers in the process.

[rucky]

19. Here's what I don't care about...

Professional athletes are supposed to be superhuman freaks whose job it is to entertain us. I don't care what they do to their bodies - they all know what they're getting themselves into when they shoot up.

[gratuitous]

22. So if they don't enhance performance

Why would anyone take them? Seems counter to the evidence at hand. If steroids don't have a positive effect on performance, why was everybody and his brother smacking baseballs into orbit for about 10 years? And why aren't they still doing it? And not just sluggers like skinny little Barry Bonds (take a look at photos of him from early in his career with Pittsburgh to see what I mean) Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmiero or Jason Giambi, but former banjo hitters like Brady Anderson (never hit more than 24 home runs in a season, except for 1996, when he clocked fifty dingers). Sure, there's the life-shortening, the shrinking testicles, and the infamous 'roid rage, but if they're not enhancing performance, why would anyone do anabolic steroids?

I'd be interested to know if there was another agenda your class had other than just drugs, society and human behavior.

[JonLP24]

30. I'm not refuting you

But when it comes to saying why would people be taking them?

Well sometimes people put cork in there bats but according to mythbusters the ball travels shorter then an uncorked bat and concluded athletes are risking their careers for nothing. So based on that you could ask, why do athletes put cork in their bats if it doesn't help them hit the ball further? Well according to mythbusters it doesn't but they do it anyways.

The roid rage is disputed but doesn't mean is untrue. I just haven't completely researched that.

I don't believe the textbook had an agenda, it was too basic to have one but very informative on all types of drugs and how they became illegal.

[flvegan]

24. Your teacher/class instructor is an idiot.

Certain levels of anabolic steroids can do a great deal to improve athletic performance if the initial ability to perform is there.

What I don't understand is why anyone gives a shit about performance enhancement in sports.

[JonLP24]

26. It was the text book

When it came to anabolic steroids it was mostly about congressional intervention, side effects, harmful long term effects, forms it is in. IE, pills, needles

[JVS]

27. If you don't bust asses when people use performance enhancers then you're fostering an environment..

where they become mandatory to be competitive. This is important for the same reason that any workplace safety regulations are important.

[flvegan]

28. It's too late.

It's already mandatory to use performance enhancers to be competitive for the most part. That environment is further fostered (in A-Rod's case) by waving $300 million dollars in his face to perform.

[JVS]

34. It's never too late to start busting asses.

[liberalhistorian]

48. Careful there with saying you don't care!

You'll have all the sports junkies and the wannabe jocks here on you like flies on sugar!

[Uzybone]

31. Are we suprised

I'm a die hard Yankee fan ...I'll support A-Fraud as long as he is in pinstripes but Ive always said 60-70% of baseball players were using performance enhancing drugs during the early 00's. Baseball should just accept the fact that most of its players were "cheaters" and move on.

The witch hunts against Bonds, McGwire and Clemens disgust me.

[MajorChode]

32. I never believed most players were using

Although I always suspected A-Fraud was.

[Romulox]

33. Funny how steroids in baseball is considered "no big deal" and yet we persecute Phelps.

[JonLP24]

35. I'm not the one

I don't care much about it but I certainly have become a huge fan of Phelps since then photo.

[Romulox]

37. People argued that we couldn't remove Bonds' records,

"because steroids weren't banned by baseball at the time."

OK. But they were illegal under state and Federal law at the time.

"I don't care much about it but I certainly have become a huge fan of Phelps since then photo."

Agreed. :smoke:

[JonLP24]

38. I agree about the records

But the argument should only apply to steroids. I would love to have Santonio Holmes touchdown taken back because of his pot arrest in November. :smoke:

[Seen the light]

36. This is why I stopped watching baseball early this decade

Roids ruined the game.

[BlooInBloo]

50. Who cares? They all used roids...

And because they all did it, no-one had an unfair advantage.

[shadowknows69]

51. The coverage is total BS

There are 103 other players that tested pos in '03 and A-Rod is all day news. I don't think the guy (or anyone really) is worth what he makes but this is a witch hunt without a doubt.

[leftofthedial]

52. A-roids

[DainBramaged]

55. Yup, here goes the DU morality police again

You should ALL be concerned about the release of PRIVATE RECORDS for the purpose of selling magazines, but of course, DU will ignore that little point and condemn A-Rod but conveniently forget about the 103 other players who used steroids in 2003.

DU, same a as it always is.