Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 17, 2009 
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One of the Yankees, can’t remember who, is going to have a press conference today. Seems like a lot of teammates will be going.
Mark Teixeira checked in for camp and said the steroid culture in Texas never enveloped him. This notebook also has updates on CC Sabathia and Jose Molina.
Mike Borzello, one of A-Rod’s friends, believes he will overcome this.
Pete-
Good morning. As an old time Yankee fan, I just want to say, again, that you do a terrific job with this blog.
This attached article contains a vote as to whether a teammate will support him publicly and privately, support him publicly and hate him privately, or hate him publicly and privately.
Personally if I were his teammate I’d support him publicly, and reserve judgement on how I felt about him privately, until I saw what he does to not only be a good teammate, what he does on the field,if he reforms, and if he contributes his ill-gotten and tainted wealth to set up a worthwhile charitable foundation.
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....ince_.html
I just hope Arod comes 100 percent clean . so it leaves the media with little or nothing to drag out .
8 days till first spring training game !
What more can A-Rod possibly answer for questions that weren’t posed already by Gammons ?
He’d be better off to throw the media for a loop today by answering all stupid questions in Spanish. Only sensible and realistic questions answered in English.
I won’t be home to watch the circus today, so I guess I’ll either have to wait for the re-airing or settle for the re-hashings.
Frankly, I don’t think I can take much more. As a Yankees fan, I know I’ll have to deal with this story for as long as ARod is on the team and that’s a really long time. After today, I intend to do my part to “clean up the landscape” a bit by not typing one more word that has to do with ARod that isn’t directly connected to in-game performance. I see no value in any further discussion about his many flaws and foibles and I don’t want any part in perpetuating the fascination with off-the field stuff.
But, for today, it would be impossible not to be involved in this – I don’t even know what to call it. Frankly, not only am I not expecting a good outcome, but I am dreading what ill-advised utterance falls from his lips. I am getting quite jaded, no?
Pete -
Thanks for all the great coverage you’ve been giving us on spring training stuff. Right now, that is like manna from heaven, even though keeping the focus on that seems like an uphill battle.
Is Cano going to be at the press conference (if yes, picture please) after getting into better shape over the winter. I know that all over it’s reported that the two are friends but everytime Cano is asked about Alex he says the two haven’t been in contact with him. So what makes the two friends if they don’t speak to each other when they’re not at work? Anyway, good luck to Alex and hopefully (there’s nothing wrong in hoping) this is the end of this whole story. (added by Mobile using Mippin)
Arod needs to get everything out, whatever it is, just get it out.
Then everyone can move on.
I really think he is going to have a MONSTER year.
Alex:
Will you return the 2003 MVP award?
Will you offer to return part of the money you took from Mr. Hicks in 2001-2003?
If you do these things, it would tell me you are really sorry for what you did.
I hear Arod has his professional handlers/public relations folks counseling him in droves. It sounds like we’ll hear a prepared speech followed by him sticking to carefully crafted responses.
That is too bad. I think he should take the Pettitte route and answer the questions and lay it all out. People might then actually have some respect for him rather than more doubts. It seems that Arod always has to seek advice rather than speak for himself. He needs to grow up.
That said. Go Yankees. Let the games begin.
ALEX Rodriguez spent Valentine’s Day weekend without Madonna, but he didn’t lack for company. Friday night, the embattled Yankee slugger hung out with Ingrid Casares at Scarpetta, a restaurant in the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, but he played the field Saturday. By day, he was photographed with model Melissa Britos; at night, he went on a date with “three hot chicks” to Prime 112, in South Beach, as Britos hung solo at the Louis Bar & Lounge at the Gansevoort South. “He left with the stunning blonde at, like, 3 a.m.,” our spy said.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02.....155518.htm
Good boy Alex-release your inner Derek Jeter.
Sigh-I’m so not looking forward to 1:30pm. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this isn’t a disaster.
wonder which one of arod’s agents tipped the post that hed be there with the girls?
able21 -
ARod has such a history of saying the wrong thing that I’m not sure he should be given free rein at the press conference today. As long as his script hits all the right notes and is as inclusive as possible as to the particulars (because there are some things that, really, he should not answer), he’s probably better off.
ARod is not Andy Pettitte and the situations are not the same, either.
I understand the media despises A-Rod, but Joel Sherman questioning whether Alex has a heart is just way over the line. Now he’s not even a human being? I could easily question whether the mediots themselves are human beings, being that most of them don’t have hearts and none of them have brains. Sherman also assumes that the support coming from his teammates is because they are being good footsoldiers, not because they care about Alex. This is ridiculous – mediots hate Alex and the assume everyone else does, too. Sheesh.
That’s just dumb fan hypobole and nothing more.
When you can quantify how his numbers were enhanced by juicing you would have a point.
Since you can’t, that suggestion reeks more of wanting to wanting to get your pound of flesh from him rather than offering a logical punishment.
Today’s circus is for two purposes. One, it gives the media their moment to pound him. This is as much about their photo ops as it is about getting answers.
Pete outlined well in the other thread what he should do. Ironically, if he did everything Pete suggested, he will still get crucified by 90% of his audience.
What does he need to accomplish today? He needs to satisfy the only two factions that REALLY matter today…..the organization and his teammates.
He has to make sure he gives the organization and his teammates a reason to believe in him again.
He also has to make sure his trevails do not bring down the entire team.
That, and nothing else, has to be his priority today. Of it is, he and the team gets through this. If it isn’t, and this lingers all year, he is toast in that locker room.
IMO, he has to avoid that scenario at all costs.
S.A., why does it matter who Alex spends his time with? This is exactly the kind of thing I don’t care about (no offense intended). Why shold he be made a prisoner of the hotel room because of the media? They will write nasty stuff about him anyway, so he might as well just live his life.
Doreen – your response is well intended and I understand it fully. But sometimes, and I think this is one of them, it isn’t about saying things the “right” way. Sometimes you salvage the day by speaking from the heart. There are many, and I am one of them, who thinks this is that kind of day for Alex. But I think the smart money will bet he does otherwise, because he can’t speak for himself.
SJ, I agree. Forget the media – who cares about them? Ignore what they write and that’s 99% of the battle. He can’t be genuine very likely because he’s constantly taking hits to his core persona – that’s why he puts up a shell (this is my interpret ation, admittedly). I hope he’s honest, but I also don’t need or want to know ALL the details.
betsy, arod has 5 agents to keep him IN the paper. he cant complain that he’s being followed when it was likely one of his agents that told the post that he’d be there.
Pete did lay out the best route for ARod to take. Contrition and honesty are vital.
Things get very dicey, however, if there is anything more to this story than what we already know. Roberts has already implied that there is.
I hope reporters ask ARod about his pre-2001 and post-2003 PED use, including HGH use, and he unequivocally denies using any PEDs whatsoever in those time periods.
Any ambiguity in those answers and ARod’s juicing habits are guaranteed to be a hot topic for the foreseeable future.
First off, he can’t do it like Andy.
Andy Pettitte is just a guy. He’s not the best player in the game. It’s two entirely different universes.
He needs to read a specific statement, giving specific answers to some unanswered questions, take some additional questions for 20-25 minutes, and be done with it.
The WORST thing you can do is have jim answer an hour’s worth of questions.
Just because some folks want to see a public execution, doesn’t mean you have to give it to them.
Chien-Ming,
If ARod’s handlers are making sure he gets in the paper, he should fire them. He’s not exactly getting positive press.
Betsy February 17th, 2009 at 8:36 am
S.A., why does it matter who Alex spends his time with? This is exactly the kind of thing I don’t care about (no offense intended). Why shold he be made a prisoner of the hotel room because of the media? They will write nasty stuff about him anyway, so he might as well just live his life.
================================
Oh, I don’t think it matters. As long as the women are 18+, go have fun Alex. Just glad to see he is not depressed or anything!
But gossip like that is gonna get reported. I would rather read about this mindless stuff than some new steroid allegations or Bud’s idiotic ramblings
Doreen – your reply is well intended and I understand your thinking. But some occasions, and I think this is one of them, calls for speaking from the heart. Many want to hear something other than Arod’s robotic responses. I don’t want this to come off sounding like that.
P.S. somehow my first response disappeared in byte land, so if it shows up, this is a substitute.
you didnt think he hired them to keep him OUT of the press did u?
you didnt think he wore that cravat to the madonna concert orange bowl hoping nobody had a camera did u?
Betsy,
It’s not just the heck with the media. It’s the heck with the fans too. Both of those factions sometimes are as fraudulant as he can be.
He has to serve only two factions. His employer and his teammates. That’s it. Those are the people he “owes”.
He does right by them, everybody else will come around.
Doreen:
“Frankly, not only am I not expecting a good outcome, but I am dreading what ill-advised utterance falls from his lips. I am getting quite jaded, no?”
No, you are not jaded. This is Alex being Alex; you are seeing him the way he really is so you are not jaded. Like some many other people dealing with Alex, even from afar, at some point you just refuse to remain in denial.
Alex is permanently detached, because of his freakish talent and money, from so many of the consequences that shape ordinary mortals and keep them in line. I’m sure that not having a father in the picture left him with some blind spots about being a different kind of man than he is. But at some point the excuses aren’t valid anymore. That said, he’s not a monster and the team should rally around him, even if just to show him that this is how good people respond to trouble. The team also needs to preserve its season and keeping Alex functional is a key.