8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MLB
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009
Rodriguez admits to steroid use
Yankees' star says he faced pressure to perform when he was with Texas Rangers
In this video frame grab provided by ESPN, Alex Rodiguez is interviewed by ESPN's Peter Gammons on Monday. Rodriguez admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003, saying he did so because of the pressures of being baseball's highest-paid player.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY RONALD BLUM Associated Press
NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez, the player who would restore integrity to baseball's home run record, admitted Monday to using performance-enhancing drugs.
The All-Star third baseman said in an interview with ESPN that he used steroids with the Texas Rangers for three years, from 2001-03, in an attempt to justify his status as the game's highest-paid
player after signing a 10-year, $252 million contract.
"Back then it was a different culture," Rodriguez said. "It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive, and I wanted to prove to everyone that, you
know, I was worth, you know — and being one of the greatest players of all time."
"You know, I'm just sorry. I'm sorry for that time. I'm sorry to fans. I'm sorry for my fans in Texas."
He said he quit after 2003, his first of three AL MVP seasons, because "I've proved to myself and to everyone that I don't need any of that." He was traded to the New York Yankees before the 2004 season.
ALEX RODRIGUEZ
Yankees third baseman
The admission came two days after Sports Illustrated reported on its Web site that Rodriguez was among 104 names on a list of players who tested positive for steroids in 2003, when testing was intended to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball.
The results weren't subject to discipline and were supposed to remain anonymous.
"When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and
perform at a high level every day, Rodriguez said.
"And I did take a banned substance and, you know, for that I'm very sorry and deeply regretful. And although it was the culture back then and Major League Baseball overall was very — I just feel that — You know, I'm just sorry, I'm sorry for that time. I'm sorry to fans. I'm sorry for my fans in Texas. It wasn't until then that I ever thought about substance of any kind."
Rangers owner Tom Hicks said the admission caught him by surprise.
"I feel personally betrayed. I feel deceived by Alex," Hicks said in a conference call.
"He assured me that he had far too much respect for his
own body to ever do that to himself. ... I certainly don't believe that if he's now admitting that he started using when he came to the Texas Rangers, why should I believe that it didn't start before he came to the Texas Rangers?$^4$
The 33-year-old Rodriguez ranks 12th on the career list with 553 homers, including 52, 57 and 47 in his three seasons with the Rangers. He is 209 behind Barry Bonds' record 762.
Now, though, he's on top of a much different list — the highest-profile player to confess to doping, joining teammates Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte.
Rodriguez's admission is in stark contrast to the denials of former teammate Roger Clemens and Bonds.
Bonds, a seven-time MVP, is scheduled for trial next month on charges he lied when he told a federal grand jury in 2003 that
he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.
Another federal grand jury is considering whether to indict seven-time AL Cy Young Award winner Clemens on charges he lied when he told a congressional committee last year that he never used steroids or human growth hormone.
SI.com reported Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone.
"It was such a loosey-goosey era. I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions," Rodriguez said. "And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using."
Rather than hold a news conference, as Giambi and Pettitte did for their confessionals, Rodriguez chose the controlled setting of an interview with ESPN, one of Major League Baseballs television partners.
ESPN was scheduled to broadcast the full interview later Monday.
Monday's ESPN interview directly contradicted a December 2007 interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," when Rodriguez said "No" when asked if he had ever used steroids,
human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance.
In his 2008 book, "Vindicated:
Big Names, Big Liars, and The
Battle to Save Baseball," Jose
Canseco claimed he introduced
Rodriguez to asteroids dealer.
Canseco, who has admitted using steroids, subsequently said he had no knowledge of any drug use by Rodriguez.
"They are looking in the wrong places," Canseco said in a text message to The Associated Press. "This is a 25-year cover-up. The true criminals are Gene Orza, (union head) Donald Fehr and (commissioner) Bud (Selig). Investigate them, and you will have all the answers."
Sports Illustrated said that Orza, the union's chief operating officer, tipped off three players in September 2004 that they would be tested. Orza has repeatedly denied that he tipped off players, saying he merely reminded them late in the season that if they had not yet been tested, baseball's drug agreement required them to be tested by the end of the regular season.
Orza, who has been widely criticized by media since the Sports illustrated report, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he didn't care what the media said.
"I know the facts." Orza wrote.
PGA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tiger Woods, shown here with his wife Elin Nordegren, announced on his Web site Monday that he and Elin had welcomed a boy, Charlie Axel Woods. The Woods family also has a daughter, 2-year-old Sam Alexis.
Woods welcomes his second child
Baby named Charlie Axel Woods
ASSOCIATED PRESS
On the day Tiger Woods usual- ly hosis a trophy at Torrey Pines, the world's No.1 golfer was busy with the birth of his first son.
Woods announced on his Web site early Monday that his wife, Elin, had given birth to a boy, Charlie Axel Woods. It is the couples second child following the birth of daughter Sam Alexis in June 2007 on the day after the U.S. Open.
"I also want to thank our doctors, nurses and the hospital
"Elin and I are thrilled to announce the birth of our son, Charlie Axel Woods, who was born on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009," Woods wrote in the statement. "Both Charlie and Elin are doing great and we want to thank everyone for their sincere best wishes and kind thoughts. Sam is very excited to be a big sister and we feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.
staff for their personal and professional care. We look forward to introducing Charlie to you at the appropriate time, and again thanks from all of us for your kindness and support."
The 33-year-old Woods is a six-time winner of the Buick Invitational, where he also won the U.S. Open last summer for his 14th career major. That was the last tournament he has played because of knee surgery a week later that ended his 2008 season. He is expected to return before the Masters, possibly as early as the Accenture Match Play Championship on Feb. 25.
He wrote in a newsletter last week that his return to golf would depend largely on the birth of his second child.
Woods was the only child born of his parents, Earl and Tida Woods. He had said after his marriage in 2004 that he looked forward to having more than one child.
---