It’s odd to sit and watch A-Rod speak about his use of illegal use of a banned substance. However, its good to see him fessing up to his mistakes openly. I understand that he used steriods, and I understand that it was wrong. On the other hand, it was illegal to Major League Baseball, and was available over the counter. The substance itself was not illegal. What really strikes me is that numerous people want to crush A-Rod because he took performance enhancing drugs, yet the same people think that Micheal Phelps made a simple mistake when he took a hit from a bong. Could someone please explain this to me.

A-Rod took this substance in private. As a matter of fact, he even stated that he knew very little about the substance, wasn’t sure if the substance would work, and was not aware if he took the correct dosage to achieve the “proper” results. Nevertheless, people are outraged about him injecting this “energy enhancer”. A-Rod seems to be sorry for his mistake. Though I wonder what he thought he was getting through a syringe? Maybe he thought it was Redbull concentrate.

Phelps, on the other hand, goes to the Olympics to represent his country and openly breaks the law in a public setting (or at least public enough to get caught). Yet no one discusses taking his medals for the misrepresentation of American athletes. No one seems to care because it isn’t related to his sport. I wonder if people would overlook A-Rod if he said that he smoked marijuana in order to mellow out before getting stuck with a needle. I believe that people would be outraged with him. Not only would they throw him under the bus I think they’d put it in reverse and hit’m twice.

I’m not trying to say what should or should not take place. But it seems to me that the reason A-Rod is in over his head is becasue he took a substance that affected his performance on the field; while Phelps took a substance that had nothing to do with this swimming and effecting him and was a private choice that some people would say effected no one else. Are people upset because A-Rod has tarnished his integrity or because the record books may need an asterisk? It seems to me that people are more concerned about the numbers in the books than they are about the morals of a person. Good job America!

I’m glad A-Rod realizes he will have to regain the trust of the people around him. I hope that he will work with the MLB in order to have better testing and to take the testing into other sports. If someone is truely sorry they will try to make sure that others don’t make the same “mistakes”.