Say it ain't so Alex.

"I have no respect for Alex Rodriquez. Alex Rodriquez is not the man that people think he is" ~Jose Canseco~

I heard someone say recently that "Jose Canseco is a lot of bad things, but he has never been proven to be a liar." Now it is looking like it's A-Rod, and not Canseco who deserves A-merry-ca's collective wagging finger . Not because he allegedly took steroids in 2003. (Incidentally that was the year he won the American League MVP award) No, A-Rod deserves our scorn because he did a Bill Clinton and lied to our faces about ever taking steroids. He looked Katie Couric and A-merry-ca in the eye and said he never touched the stuff. Now it seems, according to very credible sources, that he did.

Now let me say for the record that if it was a matter of him just taking roids I could care less. It has never bothered me when baseball players take steroids because I just don't think it affects the skills needed to play the game at a higher level that much. Besides, it's their bodies, and if they want to suffer the consequences that come with roiding up at some point in their lives, that's on them. They are big boys who know what's at stake. Any person with a vote for the Hall of Fame who doesn't vote in Barry Bonds and even A- Rod, for that matter, is a stone cold idiot. If you are going to leave someone with the kind of numbers that these guys have (steroids or not) off your ballot when you vote for the Hall you shouldn't have a vote. It's the baseball Hall of Fame, and if there were no rules against steroids in the game when these guys took them, then what's the problem? From what I can see and hear both pitchers and hitters were roiding up back then, and I am guessing that there is a huge iceberg under there that everyone is afraid of.

But field, baseball is A-merry-ca's game and the Hall of Fame is a special place, we can't just let anybody in. Why? We let Ty Cobb's openly racist ass in. Not to mention that boozer, Babe Ruth. And guess what? They both deserved to be there. Just as Bonds, Clemens and A-Rod deserve to be there as well.

But I serioulsy digress, this isn't about baseball skills and how roids affect your ability to play the game. This is about a potential liar and fraud being exposed once again to A-merry-ca for what he truly is.

For the next few days you will be hearing a lot about A-Rod's alleged steroid use, and most A-merry-cans will be shocked that one of the people who they see as one of baseball's golden boys (unless you are a part of Red Sox Nation, of course) could be touched by the evils of steroids.

First Madonna, now this. What's a Yankee and a Yankee fan to do? But as we saw with Michael Phelps recently, our heroes aren't always who they seem to be on the surface.

It's why we loved AI in this town, warts and all. Because he was exactly who we thought he was and he didn't make any bones about it. You might not like what he stood for, but you knew who he was, and what you were going to get from him. Sadly, with guys like A-Rod, you never really know who he is. They are always so packaged and presentable in order not to disappoint the highest bidder. Because here in A-merry-ca, perception is reality, and agents, owners and players all know that.

Oh well, I hope A- Rod can survive the fire storm that's sure to come over the next few days. I hear he is a pretty sensitive guy. Hey, at least he will have Madonna's shoulders to cry on.