Look, another A-Rod piece

By Joe Pantorno

That elbow pad is ridiculous.

I tried to hold off and not conform to all the other blogs and sports news sites that are so adamant about this Alex Rodriguez debacle. But last night was too good and I finally caved.

Think about it. This guy cheats, lies, spits in the face of the game and his own organization and yet, Ryan
Dempster comes out the bad guy when he plunks public enemy no. 1. I don't know about you, but I find this all disturbingly hilarious and irritating at the same time. Which led me to the conclusion that Major League Baseball is a joke. Whether it's the higher up's or its umpiring (don't get me started), it's all a complete joke.

Girardi coming dangerously close
to knocking out the umpire.

*Side note- I don't agree with what Dempster did entirely. You get one chance, hit or miss, the message is sent. Joe Girardi has the toughest job in sports right now trying to back up and show support for Alex Rodriguez. He had every right to be as angry as he was and he certainly did not deserve to be ejected. I've gained so much respect for him these past few weeks.

I was on twitter last night (@JoePantorno if you want to follow), sharing my views and whatnot and I had Yankee fans and haters alike interacting with me which was quite fun. I was rather surprised, not angered, with some of the reactions and support that they were giving him. Opinions are opinions, and no one deserves to be vilified because of them, even though at times I am, but hey, that's the nature of the business.

I heard things like, "let the lawyers deal with the law and let the players play ball." Or, "he is following the MLB's law." Here's the thing, THERE SHOULD BE NO LAWYERS HERE. It's a game! There should be no appeals process, there should be no way, no how, that an "alleged" cheater can just go out, facing a 211 game suspension, and play until the end of the season. The league's word should be final, end of story.

I can understand why SOME (not all) Yankee fans are getting behind A-Rod. They are a significantly better team with him in the line up. They were getting nothing from their third basemen and he has provided an absolute spark.

Explain this to your kids, gentlemen.

The other reason is to just piss Red Sox fans off, which I completely understand.

And let's get something clear. I'm not doing this just because it's Alex Rodriguez and not because he is a Yankee. I am aggravated by this because no cheater should ever be able to keep playing with so much evidence stacked against him. Doesn't matter if it's Nelson Cruz or Jordany Valdespin. If you're in the Major Leagues or AA, if you're a cheater, you have no room in my baseball.

But this whole thing is a joke and my respect for baseball, which started dwindling after the 2002 All-Star game (look it up if you don't remember), is plummeting. There's a lesson here and changes need to be made to this whole scenario. If there is absolute evidence and cases are beyond reasonable doubt, the punishment handed to a player is the end all, be all.

Yeah, I don't know how this happened either Bud.

I'd tell Bud Selig to take notes, but I don't know how much this guy really does anyway. Let's just hope he knows what state he is in right now.