Finally, Major League Baseball came down with their Biogenesis suspensions. Two weeks after MLB
popped Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun for the season, they suspended multiple players including All-Stars like Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz and Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, but the biggest fish of them they fried was New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. MLB handed Rodriguez a 211 game suspension putting him out for the entire 2014 season. A-Rod plans to appeal and continue playing for the Yankees until it's officially over.
People are criticizing Rodriguez's decision to not lay down, but what does he have to lose at this point? The man is 38 years old and baseball is trying to make the biggest example out of him. Even if he sounded like a robot at his press conference Monday, A-Rod is fighting for his baseball life.
Rodriguez is 38 years old meaning he does not have much time left in baseball. The former MVP is in great shape and could probably well into his 40's at least in a backup role for some team if they want him in the coming years. But taking a baseball year off his life means he will not come close to some of the records people expected Rodriguez to set in the early part of his career. The records mean something to A-Rod, but what might be more meaningful is trying to stick it to MLB and Bud Selig.
In a rare case, a player is challenging the establishment. Rodriguez honestly does not give one shit about what the MLB is trying to do and he is calling them out for it. He will likely appeal plus go to federal court if need be, and based on the evidence, Rodriguez will probably be suspended for some games but nowhere near the severity Selig wants at this point. This is the cherry on top for Selig's legacy hoping people will forget he let the steroid era happen to rebuild baseball after the 1994 strike, and people will because most these days live in the moment versus looking at it from a wide lens. Selig wants to be the man who stood up to steroids and PEDs even when he did not during the late 90's, a time worse than today.
People love to assume these athletes are taking steroids which might be true for some of them, but it is categorically wrong. PED's could be things to help come back from injury, avoid slumping, keeping your focus (Hi NFL players!), and multitude of other ways to gain a slight edge. People have to realize these people are not bulking up and looking like superhumans playing baseball as they did in the late 90s and early 2000s. Could Rodriguez done steroids at some point of his career? Yes, but to generalize him as a 'steroid user' could not be more wrong. Personally, I feel steroids died when the Mitchell Report and new testing came out because that's what the drug tests were looking for and the players needed to find a new edge that would not show up in the tests.
There are some who say Rodriguez has cheated since high school, the same has been said for Braun, and that is a wild, damn near slanderous assumption. There is no proof to think neither of these players were juicing during their high school career. High school kids do juice and there are significant consequences at times, but there is no actual proof either of these players did such things. There needs to be more of a focus on using factual evidence versus wanting something to be factual to get your agenda across to the masses.
The endgame with Rodriguez is still unknown. He will keep playing baseball and get booed across America. He does not care though as he could plug his ears with wads of cash if he truly wanted. At different points of his career, Rodriguez took the crown of the most polarizing sports figure and he is back at the top of the throne for the late summer of 2013.
Charlie.
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07.16
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Another edition of Tapping The Keg podcast. Mitch and Charlie start off discussing the latest from the Ryan Braun situation. Mitch calls some of the things Braun does this week 'gutless' while Charlie does not need an apology. Our new Packer segment titled the PPR talks about Johnny Jolly and his chances with the team, Jermichael Finley and the rest of the tight ends, and who is the odd man out with the running backs? We move to baseball talking about cheering Alex Rodriguez among other things involving the New York Yankees. Yasiel Puig is also mentioned after his wild week. We finish with a story from Charlie about motorboating... which kind you ask? You have to listen to find out. 
