Photo via JASON SZENES/EPA
According to the New York Daily News, Alex Rodriguez is “Para-roid” about the latest PEDs accusations swirling around him. He believes Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees are conspiring against him in an effort to Pete Rose him from the game. This is all according to anonymous sources, of course.
It’s now one week since A-Rod was linked to PEDs, again. No one’s seen nor heard a peep from A-Rod, except for a statement released on his behalf, in he which he denied the claims.
Is A-Rod’s public lack of denial an admission of guilt? I don’t think so.
A-Rod has a tattered reputation for lying and cheating. Why look for him to shout his innocence from the mountaintops? Would A-Rod playing the victim card truly make a difference or change your opinion of him? Maybe if he hadn’t already lost every shred of credibility, he’d be deserving of the benefit of the doubt. But based on his past, which is full of deceit, no matter how hard A-Rod tried to convince us of his innocence, he’d fall short. No one wants to believe he’s a reformed liar or cheater. He’s so disliked, people want those labels to stick forever. Once guilty, always guilty. Anything A-Rod did or said to prove the contrary would be met with hostility and media backlash.
You know who did proclaim his innocence in a demonstrative fashion, early and often? Lance Armstrong. And we recently saw how that worked out for him. After years of denial, Armstrong finally admitted to doping for the majority of his career. Even when his teammates snitched and USADA banned him from cycling, Armstrong adamantly denied the accusations. He went so far as filing a lawsuit against USADA to reverse the ban. While it was a losing effort, and there was mounting evidence against him, Armstrong maintained his innocence repeatedly and arrogantly. Yet, it wasn’t until he began to collapse under the weight of his own lies, did his truth finally emerge.
If we’re to take one thing away from Armstrong’s situation, it’s that desperate people do desperate things. And after living a lie for so long, you’re twisted mind turns lies into truths. It’s possible that A-Rod is innocent. Maybe the Miami New Times linked his name to PEDs because they figured he’s an easy target. A-Rod’s disliked by so many, it’ll be easy to convince the world he’s juicing again. Our word against his. However, it’s highly unlikely they’d do such a thing knowing MLB would further investigate their reportings.
Unfortunately, we’ve all been down this road with A-Rod before. Fair or not, the court of public opinion has already submitted their judgement. He cheated once before and he’s capable of doing it again.
A-Rod’s in a precarious situation. If he remains silent he’s guilty, and if he speaks up proclaiming his innocence he’s guilty. A damned if you do, and damned if you don’t situation. And yet, he has no one to blame but himself.
