Palladino: Sadly, The Kids Have Followed A-Rod’s Example
As always, the problem with our performance-enhanced athletes is not the indiscretion of usage, but the lies that come afterward.
The problem with domestic abuse is not the indiscretion of beating one's wife or girlfriend, but the inconvenience it causes NFL teams.
Like an ever-growing web, the public fibbing doesn’t just brand the liars as untrustworthy, unseemly and worse. It also swallows up their followers as well.
And I base this one absolutely nothing.
Saddest of all are the kids who idolize the steroid-tainted players who loudly proclaimed, “I didn’t do it! I didn’t do it! I didn’t do it!” until it was proved beyond all shadow of a doubt that they indeed did it.
I'd argue that the neverending stream hackish articles from adults who possess less maturity than said children are the saddest part of players having used PED.
It is a technique that politicians have used for ages. Richard Nixon (“I am not a crook!”) resigned once the Watergate jig was up. Bill Clinton (“I did not have sexual relations with that woman!”) was impeached over his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. Michael Grimm just won a third term in the House of Representatives while pooh-poohing a 20-count indictment for tax fraud.
Breaking news: Politicians, many of which possess sociopathic qualities that mirror those of serial killers, often do immoral things! It's quite lazy (albeit predictable) for Palladino to single out politicians and steroid users as being the lone subsections of society that will lie to avoid punishment. How many adulterers happily confess to cheating on their partners when confronted with mere suspicions of guilt? And you know who else will lie through their teeth with surprising consistency? Kids.
Mendacity works for them, and adults have come to accept it as a systemic element of politics. Note the phrasing. Not systemic flaw. Systemic element. It’s just their way of doing business, of keeping a job.
Yes, no one has a problem with politicians lying. Excellent strawman.
Fair enough.
What?!
But these athletes’ lies go beyond adults who should demand better of their public servants but remain silent.
Yes, athletes lying about using steroids is so much worse than politicians bullshitting their way to election only to screw over their constituents.
The kids follow the lives of their heroes quite closely through the celebrity magazines and sports pages. Whether consciously or not, they pick up on the personality traits and quirks. They wear their hats like them, buy the costume jewelry that makes them look like the real article, purchase the sneakers with their names on them.
I kid. I'm sure that Palladino has a black friend and isn't making any sort of wrongheaded commentary on athletes like Ken Griffey, Jr., Allen Iverson, and Colin Kaepernick.
And they mimic the most reprehensible aspects of their personal behavior.
You couldn't be more right. I mean, all of the players on my baseball team are constantly abusing women, shouting racist epithets at the concerts they attend, and trafficking cocaine in obscene amounts. It's a real problem when you're trying to plot out a Little League lineup.
Teachers see it in the classroom every day. Any miscreant who gets caught red-handed trying to destroy a desk knows that the requisite first words out his mouth are “I didn’t do anything.” Once challenged because, well, the teacher was looking right at him as he dug his pen into the desk top, a retort of “You’re crazy, you must be seeing things,” immediately follows.
Based on a real story from the brain of a crazy person.
Should the teacher persist, that educator’s boss may well receive a note from the student’s parent claiming persecution.
It is the A-Rod Complex — a complete and total rejection of accountability. For every action, there is no reaction except for denial.
And you see, until Rodriguez started denying steroid use, children never lied and always took full accountability for their actions. It was a regular Mayberry it was. Pretty powerful stuff from an athlete who has rarely been that highly regarded by New York fans thanks to not being teflon Derek Jeter.
“I didn’t do it.”
“I didn’t do it.”
“I swear I didn’t do it.”
I can totally see A-Rod saying this! Same goes for if you told me it was a "quote" from anyone else on the planet, but especially A-Rod. It's the repetitiveness that makes this column so awful, er, I mean let's know know that this is a Rodriguez original.
I can totally see A-Rod saying this! Same goes for if you told me it was a "quote" from anyone else on the planet, but especially A-Rod. It's the repetitiveness that makes this column so awful, er, I mean let's know know that this is a Rodriguez original.
Alex Rodriguez did that for months until the DEA gathered so much evidence against them that he reportedly couldn’t help but turn stoolie on his drug supplier and cousin in return for immunity.
You mean the drug supplier, Tony Bosch, who is headed for prison for distributing illegal steroids to teenagers, among other misdeeds? The same individual who was paid by MLB to sling mud at A-Rod and was supported by the league despite being a felon guilty of crimes far worse than anything Rodriguez has ever done? Self-interested reasons or not, I'd pretty sure that we should be commending A-Rod for narcing on this guy, not condemning him.
Roger Clemens continues to proclaim his innocence even though the evidence, including bloody gauze and syringes, points the other way.
Here I was thinking that writers were no longer fixated on Roger Clemens' ass.
You mean the drug supplier, Tony Bosch, who is headed for prison for distributing illegal steroids to teenagers, among other misdeeds? The same individual who was paid by MLB to sling mud at A-Rod and was supported by the league despite being a felon guilty of crimes far worse than anything Rodriguez has ever done? Self-interested reasons or not, I'd pretty sure that we should be commending A-Rod for narcing on this guy, not condemning him.
Roger Clemens continues to proclaim his innocence even though the evidence, including bloody gauze and syringes, points the other way.
Here I was thinking that writers were no longer fixated on Roger Clemens' ass.
Ryan Braun, like Rodriguez, took a PED suspension and then squealed to the feds for immunity in the same Biogenesis case.
Braun's overall behavior has been scummy, but, again, it's positively hilarious that steroids users are being deemed worse than the dealer who, I repeat, SOLD ILLEGAL DRUGS TO KIDS! Given that the conceit of this column is about caring about children, this is hilarious.
But before the Brewers slugger accepted his 65-game suspension in 2013, he first eluded a 50-game suspension by calling into doubt the chain of evidence surrounding the PED test, and then cost a sample collector his career when Braun argued he breached protocol.
Again, what Braun did to cover his own ass was not at all respectable and he fully deserves blame for the degree to which he smeared Dino Laurenzi's name. (By the way, why are folks like Bosch and Laurenzi not mentioned by name? Oh, right, the target audience for this garbage only knows maybe ten people involved in the game of baseball.) However, there were legitimate issues with the collection and transfer procedure, which is why Braun's appeal was upheld. It's amazing how many people don't care that without procedures to ensure the integrity of samples, folks with the integrity of Bosch or Bud Selig (too soon?) could manipulate results to nail anyone that they wished to scapegoat.
Braun's overall behavior has been scummy, but, again, it's positively hilarious that steroids users are being deemed worse than the dealer who, I repeat, SOLD ILLEGAL DRUGS TO KIDS! Given that the conceit of this column is about caring about children, this is hilarious.
But before the Brewers slugger accepted his 65-game suspension in 2013, he first eluded a 50-game suspension by calling into doubt the chain of evidence surrounding the PED test, and then cost a sample collector his career when Braun argued he breached protocol.
Again, what Braun did to cover his own ass was not at all respectable and he fully deserves blame for the degree to which he smeared Dino Laurenzi's name. (By the way, why are folks like Bosch and Laurenzi not mentioned by name? Oh, right, the target audience for this garbage only knows maybe ten people involved in the game of baseball.) However, there were legitimate issues with the collection and transfer procedure, which is why Braun's appeal was upheld. It's amazing how many people don't care that without procedures to ensure the integrity of samples, folks with the integrity of Bosch or Bud Selig (too soon?) could manipulate results to nail anyone that they wished to scapegoat.
Braun was more than welcomed back by the Milwaukee faithful. They have him a standing ovation in the opener, and he rewarded them with 19 homers this past year.
Barry Bonds was cheered throughout his tenure in San Francisco, even after he was rained with boos at literally every other stadium in the NL. Plenty of Ravens and Vikings have publicly backed Ray Rice/Adrian Peterson despite public evidence of their criminal behavior. Fans can often be very, very stupid. Not sure why the "19 homers" statistic was stuck in there as if it was impressive, considering that it the former MVP's power was in massive decline this year. OMG, could it be because Braun is no longer on steroids?!?1!
Barry Bonds was cheered throughout his tenure in San Francisco, even after he was rained with boos at literally every other stadium in the NL. Plenty of Ravens and Vikings have publicly backed Ray Rice/Adrian Peterson despite public evidence of their criminal behavior. Fans can often be very, very stupid. Not sure why the "19 homers" statistic was stuck in there as if it was impressive, considering that it the former MVP's power was in massive decline this year. OMG, could it be because Braun is no longer on steroids?!?1!
His real gift to the young, however, remains his abject innocence regarding PEDs, until he couldn’t help but admit it.
Wait, I thought that the children had already learned to lie about everything due to Rodriguez? What use do kids have for two of the same thing? Now Josh Brent showing them that it's awesome to drive drunk and kill a teammate in a car crash, that's a true gift and one that I'm sure will be emulated by everyone.
Wait, I thought that the children had already learned to lie about everything due to Rodriguez? What use do kids have for two of the same thing? Now Josh Brent showing them that it's awesome to drive drunk and kill a teammate in a car crash, that's a true gift and one that I'm sure will be emulated by everyone.
Deny, deny, deny.
Rodriguez, Braun and all others who have failed to accept responsibility for injecting and ingesting PEDs have passed along that philosophy to impressionable youth. Our leaders of tomorrow have listened to them more closely than any civics teacher. They have taken copious notes.
As opposed to the leaders of yesterday that you mentioned, like Nixon and Clinton, who lied their asses off due to what exactly? Oh, man, it's because Pud Galvin wasn't alive to come clean about his imbibing of monkey testicles as a performance enhancer, isn't it?
As opposed to the leaders of yesterday that you mentioned, like Nixon and Clinton, who lied their asses off due to what exactly? Oh, man, it's because Pud Galvin wasn't alive to come clean about his imbibing of monkey testicles as a performance enhancer, isn't it?
In an age where accountability and integrity has become ever more important, it has become ever scarcer.
It’s a shame.
Nothing says accountability and integrity like someone writing yet another screed claiming that an athlete is corrupting children while simultaneously offering zero real evidence or doing anything more than acting like Helen Lovejoy.
It’s a shame.
Nothing says accountability and integrity like someone writing yet another screed claiming that an athlete is corrupting children while simultaneously offering zero real evidence or doing anything more than acting like Helen Lovejoy.
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