Steroid up'd

Alex Rodriguez is a professional baseball player who admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs between the year 2001 and 2003. I believe Alex Rodriguez showed poor judgement by taking said drugs, and should be penalized in some way, but what he did might have been what he felt was necessary to meet the expectations set upon him.

Alex Rodriguez claimed to take the drugs from the year 2001-2003. The article in states the MLB did not start to test for steroids in their players until 2003, and did not start penalizing them until 2004. As someone who claims to be under a lot of pressure, I could see where Alex would find it “in his best interests” to make sure he would be able to meet the standards that were put on him, because at the time the only real penalty that seemed to exist would be his own health.

Alex Rodriguez won three Most Valuable Player awards, one in 2003, 2005 and 2007. I believe despite his substance abuse these honours are deserved. One might argue winning such awards should go to a player who competes “legitimately”, but at the time Alex Rodriguez was, by popular belief, the best player in the league at the moment. Just like Barry Bonds recently set the homerun record, whether substance abuse is present or not, Barry Bonds did complete the most home runs.

I think Alex Rodriguez lacked honesty in his actions. Alex Rodriguez was in denial and was constantly changing his story to keep him out of trouble. I wouldn’t say Alex Rodriguez lacked integrity, because integrity really depends on what one person’s beliefs and opinion. One person may believe that substance abuse is morally wrong, while another might not.

I think Alex Rodriguez had reason to believe what he did was justified. Although I believe what he did was not fair or right, the MLB is not new to such actions from their players.