ESPN has a write-up of some things Alex Rodriguez told Peter Gammons.
"When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez told ESPN's Peter Gammons in an interview in Miami Beach, Fla. "Back then, [baseball] was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. I wanted to prove to everyone I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.Have at it. Does this absolve him of any wrongdoing?
"I did take a banned substance. For that, I'm very sorry and deeply regretful."
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"Overall, I felt a tremendous pressure to play, and play really well" in Texas, the New York Yankees third baseman said. "I had just signed this enormous contract I felt like I needed something, a push, without over-investigating what I was taking, to get me to the next level.
"I am sorry for my Texas years. I apologize to the fans of Texas."
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"The more honest we can all be, the quicker we can get baseball [back] to where it needs to be," he said.
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"It wasn't a real dramatic day. I started experimenting with things that, today, are not legal," he said, "that today are not accepted ... ever since that incident happened, I realized that I don't need any of it."
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He said the culture earlier this decade of taking performance-enhancing substances was "prevalent." "There were a lot of people doing a lot of different things," Rodriguez said, noting that he wasn't specifically pointing out the Rangers.
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"I had never heard anything since," he said. "Whatever I was experimenting with in Texas might have been OK."
6 comments:
Nope.
Saying "I'm sorry" doesn't make it go away.
It doesn't absolve him of anything, but it was the correct, most respectful thing to do. It's the best shot he has towards moving past this whole thing.
It doesn't absolve him, but it could be worst. He's not Roger Clemensing it. Yeah, I made that a verb.
It definitely was the right thing to do. I just don't know if I buy the whole 2001-2003 thing at this point.
Look....he made a mistake and he admits it...no one is perfect and we should move on...He isn't Bondsing it or like andrea said he isn't Clemensing it. He admitted it, its over. Hes moving on, so should we...
Well, at least he admitted it, despite his earlier statements (re: "60 Minutes") to the contrary. I hope it's a case that he is sorry for doing it and not sorry because he got caught! This needs to be put behind him now, for better or worse. What does he need to do? Go out lecture the kids about the dangers of using performance enhancing substances? He may get continually hounded in the time ahead any time he has a good or bad game.
It did bother me that the networks had to headline their evening news with this thing (and President Obama chiming in, to boot) when there are too many other things to be concerned about at the moment!
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