It’s ridiculous, frankly. All of the hand wringing and dramatic anger about a report of a flunked drug test by one of baseball’s biggest names is beyond silly. It’s really as schlocky as the overwrought acting in a soap opera.
Call it Dynasty with A-Roid.
Or maybe “Dynasty” is the wrong soap for Alex Rodriguez to star in considering his teams have never won jack.
Anyway, perhaps it’s beyond cynical to not be surprised that the reports of a famous athlete allegedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Even guys who try to cultivate their image yet still make it so hard to for folks to like them like A-Rod fail to surprise. When the Sports Illustrated story surfaced reporting Rodriguez failed a drug test during his 2003 MVP season with the Texas Rangers, I almost yawned. Then again, who doesn’t slow down in traffic when passing a car crash? That’s certainly what we had here.
Yet A-Rod isn’t the typical wreck, apparently. Bob Costas doesn’t breathlessly indulge scribes on the tee-vee like he did on the MLB Network on Saturday for a fender bender. A-Rod mixed with methenolone, reportedly the same drug Barry Bonds tested positive for, is big news.
So why the cynicism?
Easy. It’s easy. They make it easy. When we’ve all been burned by the truth way too many times, cynicism might be the only ride left.
It’s kind of like the time when I was a teenager and spent two weeks during a summer working in one of my grandfather’s restaurants. I would never eat there, I told people, because “I saw what went on in the kitchen.” Though, to be fair, the place was ridiculously clean, it’s just that the basic act of food preparation is, in its essence, messy.