The A-Roid Circus

  If you're not a baseball fan than you probably haven't been bombarded with the saga going on inside the Yankees clubhouse. The team's expensive third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted last week of using a banned performance enhancing substance during the 2001-03 seasons while he played for the Texas Rangers.

  Yesterday was his first pubic comments since the SI.com report and ESPN interview came out. Sportcenter was hyping the press conference all morning saying that the team was even turning away some media.

  As I backed out of the garage to take Benjamin to school my cell rang. One of my clients called with a last-minute request to cover the presser which was scheduled to begin in 4 1/2 hours. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

  I quickly turned the car around and headed back to the house to devise a plan of coverage for Benjamin. Luckily for me my mom was able to take off the afternoon to pick him up from school and watch him until I got home.

  I arrived at Steinbrenner Field about 45 minutes before the event started. I could tell it was the usual "Made for TV" event that follows the NY media. There were over 150 members of the media shuffling around the stadium waiting for A-Rod to walk out.

  I will give the team credit for one thing. They decided to pool the video feed of the actual press conference which gave the still photographers a little more room to get their shots.

  My feeling on the whole story of Rodriguez getting caught (which is really what it's all about as so many players at the time were taking PEDs) is that I don't think he really came totally clean. It seemed to practiced and prepared. He reverted back to what seemed like scripted responses that could easily fit several questions. He left somethings unanswered which isn't smart to do with NY writers. They like to irritate the soar.

  Look I think that MLB, and professional sports in general, are guilty of being greedy. In the late 90s all sports were enjoying huge successes and didn't give a damn about the fans. They kept jacking up the rates on everything from tickets to jerseys because they had a monopoly. Now that everyone's disposable income is either gone or closely watched the sports leagues are nervous. They now realize that they aren't as recession-proof as they thought.

  I hope that all players have changed their ways but I'm not naive. The bottom line is it's a business and everyone is trying to get an edge over their competition.