Today, I'm The Fool On The Hill

I've hated on A-Rod a lot in my short lifetime, but one thing I always said in-between slanders is that at least he never juiced. In fact, I almost hated him more for that "fact". As many baseball fans out there, this story has been at the forefront of my mind much more than I would like it to be since it hit, continuing to blasphemize (is that even a word?) the beautiful game I grew up with (striking 1994 from the record, of course). What bothers me the most about this juicing scandal in particular, however, is that with a lot of the other ones I knew something was up (Exhibit A: The exponential growth of Barry Bonds' head over the years). Not with A-Rod. Yet, I should have seen this coming from a mile away, even with interviews like this:



No, it's not his numbers that should have tipped me off. It's something he did that was much more extraordinary that has always boggled my mind:



Whether the incident above was caused by 'roid rage, naivete, or gross negligence, for anyone who has ever tried to knock a ball out of a grown Major League Baseball player's glove can attest, that shit ain't easy, and we all should have known the moment that ball came flying out.

It's okay A-Rod; 2004 was also a loosey goosey era in baseball. Yes, little Roddy, so was 2007, which is why it's okay that you yelled at those poor and innocent Blue Jays when you tried to cheat them too. I'm glad you pointed out to everyone that you're guilty of being naive, which of course would lead any normal person down the path of steroid use, uncontrollable ball slapping, adultery, and not asking questions. I mean, the last thing I would do in a situation where I was ingesting a foreign substance is ask a question. That would just be a waste of time.

Feeling naive in Madison.