I am finishing up this 9.5 hour interview with A-Rod right now and I have too much to say on the issue, I had to start writing.  OK, so basically, Sir Pink Lips says this:  1. He felt pressure to be great when he got to Texas. 2. He was stupid. 3. People should be very upset with him. 4. But, really, people should still love him. 5. He was naive.  6. That bitch from Sports Illustrated is really pissing him off. 7. He’s “sorry”. 8. He was selfish. 9. He still thinks he should be in the Hall of Fame. 10. He was stupid.

OK, I think that pretty much sums it up from A-Rod’s side of things.  Now let me interpret a little… 

 Of course he felt, pressure to succeed when he was in Texas, the man was making 1/4 of a freakin’ billion dollars.  Let me tell you something though, you do not sign a contract like that and expect to fly under the radar.  It’s just not the way it works.  So, you’re not buying any sympathy on that one, bub. And yes, you say you’re sorry, and you were stupid, and selfish and etc. etc.  The fact of the matter is though, he is only sorry that he got caught.  As cliche as that is to say, in this case it is absolutely true.  Still, at the same time we cannot crucify him for not coming clean earlier.  Any one of us put in his situation would have done the exact same thing he did.  Not to say we would have taken the drugs to begin with… But had we taken drugs, and not been caught, we would not just go around telling the likes of Katie Couric and the rest of the American public about it.  A-Rod was and is one of the greatest baseball players of not only his time, but of all time.  Are any of us naive enough to think that had he not been caught, he would have just volunteered the information to tarnish his image and legacy irrevocably?  It is silly to think that he would or should have done something like that…

…Lots of things bother me about this interview.  The main thing is that this is just A-Rod being A-Rod.  And by that I mean, this is the same guy we always see trying desperately to be liked.  His contrition is forced, and his apologies are barely believed.  And on top of it all, all of it masks the real reason he decided to give this interview: to try to save his legacy.  He argues 3 or 4 times during the interview as to why he should still be considered a great player.  He sites 1996 and 2007, saying they are his best years, and he was clean during them.  While it is debatable that these are his best years, he also assumes that we can take him at his word that he was clean in his Seattle days.  Personally, I would tend to think in 1996 he was clean, but who the hell knows anymore.  

As for his legacy… I really still think the man is one of the greatest of all time.  You want to put an asterisk next to his numbers, I suppose that’s your prerogative.  But the bottom line is then, you need to put one next to about 15-20 years worth of numbers.  Because everyone, pitchers and hitters alike, was using the stuff.  Some were just unlucky enough to get caught.  I’d like to believe guys like Albert Pujols are clean, but in my heart I know where there’s doubt, there’s probably a reason.  As for A-Rod, his 3 best years in terms of OPS were 2007, 2005 (while testing was in place), and 1996 (presumably before he started using).  As he campaigned during his interview, he has been quite consistent over his career.  And it can be argued that his increase in power while he was in Texas is as much a product of the park he played in as it was the substances he ingested.  If the man stopped playing baseball today, he would have my vote for the Hall of Fame.

That’s pretty much all the rambling I have in me for now.  I won’t get started on the whole “I didn’t know what drugs I was taking” thing (give me a break.  America is dumb, but we’re not that dumb).  And I don’t really wanna get into “WHO’S TO BLAME FOR THIS DEBACLE!?!”.  Because personally… it’s the players, the trainers, the managers and owners that looked the other way, the reporters who never reported it (and were in the locker room all the time), and the fans who watched in awe as balls soared out of stadiums at record paces.  We looked the other way, and we continue to look the other way in other sports (namely football).  So how can you blame a guy like A-Rod when he can get $250 mil and we continue to pay to watch him play.  Not that I condone it, but I can understand it, and I can certainly move on from it.  It has been a shitty couple of days for baseball, but at the same time, it’s not the end of the world.  I really think we need to stop the steroid witch hunts, and just move on.  At this point, we get it, lots of good players did the shit.  Now, I’d prefer to not know any more.  I’ll just let my imagination do the rest.

On a lighter note… With Pettite, Clemens, A-Rod, Sheffield, Giambi, Knoblauch?, David Justice?, Jeter???  … were there any Yankees that weren’t juicing?  Is Torre on roids?  What about George?  Is that why he was so ornery all the time?

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Fresh off of his “One-upping” of the Kobester, Knicks fans around the world are slobbering more than ever at the thought of Bron Bron in the blue and orange.  Like sugar plums dancing in their heads, so too do visions of  a 6′8″ freak of nature physically overpowering everyone in his path in the midst of dominating whenever he so chooses.  Believe me, no one wants to see LBJ in a Knicks uni more than yours truly.  But, for my money, I’d still take Kobe any day of the week.

There’s something indescribable about watching Kobe at his best.  It’s poetry, without words (I think they call that something cheesy like “poetry in motion”).  It’s fun.  It’s the kind of stuff that makes you want to watch him torch your favorite team over and over again, because he’s just that good.  It’s like watching Michelangelo chisel David from stone, without having to look at a statue of a big naked dude.  I know there are a lot of people out there that don’t like Kobe, either because he rapes women, or he bashes on Shaq, or for whatever reason they can come up with.  But, I just can’t help but love the guy.  He is now on the plus side of sixty points 3 times.  His Airness only made it there 4 times… and never broke 69.

As for the King… I mean… he’s great.  He can put up 50+ points and still do all the things necessary to make his teammates better around him.  I’m sure you’ve heard him referred to as a “facilitator” about a gillion times on ESPN.  And as I said- bring the guy to New York.  Do it yesterday.  I can’t wait for it…  He’s just not as nice to watch though.  When I watch him, I feel like he could be as good of a wide receiver as he is a small forward.  He could easily be dominating whichever sport he desired, and it just so happens that basketball was his choice.  Kobe was born a basketball player.  Lebron was born an athlete.  Which one would I rather have?  No fuckin clue.  Which one would I rather watch?  Kobe… any day of the week.

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I just got finished watching the latest epside of How I Met Your Mother.  To my surprise and disgust, it seems the show has unabashedly and unremorsefully ripped me off.  The character Marshall refers to himself as “Vanilla Thunder” during his days of playing basketball.  It is well known that I have been referring to David Lee as Vanilla Thunder for at least 2 years.  I am shocked, appauled, but mostly, I am hurt.  Pure disregard for my cleverness, creativity and quite frankly, my feelings.

…This isn’t over, How I Met Your Mother… not by a long shot.

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-I have never in my life re-watched a game in which a team that i root for lost (aside from the week 17 loss the Giants had to the Patriots last season- and only because it came with my Giants Championship DVD set). Yet, as I type this, I am watching the MSG replay of tonight’s Knicks-Lakers game. Not only am I watching it again, and not only was I rooting for Kobe the 1st time around, but I find myself rooting for him again in the replay. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. 42.2 seconds left in the 1st half- the MSG crowd is chanting “MVP” as Kobe stands on the line (seriously??). I believe my Kobe-love has been well documented before on this board, but allow me to reiterate. The guy is downright filthy. Even though certain people are clamoring for a Knicks playoff run (myself included), I can’t help but enjoy watching the man do amazing things, even if they come at the expense of the Knickerbockers.  61!?  That is a ton of fuckin points.  And 20-20 from the line is also kinda silly.  Let’s see if Lebron can drop 70 on Wednesday…

- I know Derek touched on this earlier today, but I’d like to take a different stance on the whole Michael Phelps smokin’ dope scandal.  As Jim Rome would say: Pha-nominal. Hy-sterical. My first thought… i bet that dude could take it down.  The lung capacity must be out of control, and he could probably smoke any one of us under the table.  My second thought… at least he was smokin a bong (and a Roor no less) and not some pansy-ass little pipe.  If you’re gonna go down, might as well do it in style.  My third thought… haha what an idiot.  Oh well, I could think of plenty worse things he could have done.

-  So, I guessed the right score for the Super Bowl.  I just had the teams flip-flopped.  I’m still impressed with myself.  And i better not hear Santonio’s catch from last night compared to Tyree’s catch ever again.  It was a nice catch, but come on…

- I clearly spoke too soon on the Oliver Perez situation.  Nice job, Omar.  Now let’s go get Manny.

- Did i mention Kobe Bryant is really really really good?  By the way, you heard it first here, at The Shockey Brigade.  Look out for that Kobe fellow… you’ll see…

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