With the recent revelation of Alex Rodriguez's steroid use and the flurry of media activity surrounding him, it prompts the question from so many angles...why do we care anymore? Baseball has long lost the moniker of "America's Pastime" having been eclipsed in every way by the NFL. Steroids have been an integral part of the preparation for football for decades, we ignore them cause we love the hitting. When the "greatest generation" and their offspring retreat to their field of dreams, they will ascend embracing the remaining enthusiasm for the sport. Young men today watch UFC cage matches and disappear for hours in their violent gaming worlds. The elevated attendance numbers baseball has enjoyed recently will end this year, with the dampened economy and never recover. Soccer dominates little leagues and will continue as our population broadly diversifies.
Cheating is rife, in every profession. Cheating is so prevalent and we so immune that people can't be bothered with anything less than Madoff proportions. Do we truly have any disappointment left? Our President lies, our students plagiarize...we can blame it on unusual expectations and the pressures of competition, but it's more likely a product of convenience and indifference. The bitter disappointment of being a victim of cheating will only create more cheaters.
In the scheme of things, Alex Rodriguez is fairly insignificant, he never wore the cloak of role model well. Baseball, in general, has served up a rather paltry exhibit of role models for a long time. Anyway, he can be thankful that the economy has tanked and the world is on the precipice of disaster. That won't keep him on the front pages very long.
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