All Things Bubba

I hardly know what to make of this. It's a preview of Selena Roberts' book about A-Rod. It claims he used steroids for much longer than he admitted - from his high school years to his time with the Yankees. There's also stuff about his sleeping around, and even a claim that he was stingy with the tips at Hooter's.

Man, he really comes across as a jerk in that article. All the money he makes, and he’s a lousy tipper?

Except when he’s tipping pitches. The media is all excited about the new 'roid revelations, but it's the allegation that he tipped pitches to opponents that I can't get over. Supposedly, he did it in lopsided games, where it wouldn't change the outcome. He did it with the understanding that they would return the favor.

Holy jeez. That’s a terrible thing to do to your pitcher. Besides, there’s no such thing as an insurmountable lead in baseball. It ain’t over until the last out is recorded.

I'm appalled. If the game is really lopsided, there’s probably some kid or journeyman on the mound, just trying to stick in the big leagues. And A-Rod, whose job and immense salary were safe no matter what his batting average, was throwing them under the bus by tipping pitches? Just to pad his own stats?

It's almost Black Sox-ian. And so mind-boggling selfish I can hardly wrap my head around it.

At this point, we don't know what proof there is. But...Roberts' previous allegations about A-Rod turned out to be accurate. While his against her...weren't.

If this turns out to be true, I don't think I'll be able to root for A-Rod, no matter what laundry he's wearing.

And yet...I find myself feeling oddly sorry for him. He's got wealth and talent and the kind of life we all dream about, but despite all that, he strikes me as a basically pathetic figure. He wasn't doing it for personal gain. His motivation appears to be insecurity. It's like he doesn't believe the real A-Rod is good enough. So he juiced, even though he was one of best players in the game even without juicing. And he threw his teammates under the bus for a few points of batting average that wouldn't matter to anyone but him. Despite that photo of him kissing himself, I don't think he likes himself very much.