Despite the best efforts of my colleagues at the Daily News, ARod is not a pariah.

"The early but clear A-Rod lesson this spring is that if he can play, he will not be a pariah. Not among colleagues, and not to much of the public. As demonstrated by teammates indifferent to scandal, and fans willing to be dazzled by the pretty white sphere sailing across a diamond, this story will fade, if the man has any decent baseball left in him."

Do I detect sarcasm regarding the pretty white sphere sailing across a diamond?

Maybe I'm misinterpreting.

If you're being sarcastic, let me remind you that writing about the pretty white sphere is your job.


"This baseball world is a cynical place, and everyone has his or her agenda. Fans just want to see their team win. Load up the entire roster with steroids; as long as they are careful enough to avoid detection, and win the World Series, all is good. And believe me, many front office folks feel the same -- go ahead and cheat, if it helps us."

When you say "his or her" agenda, I can't think of a single prominent "her" that you would be talking about.

Brian Cashman knew which free agents were talking steroids -- his cost-benefit analysis included the likelihood they'd get caught. Joe Torre knew half the players on his Championship teams were on steroids. Bud Selig knew half the players in his league were on steroids.

I believe you, Andy Martino, when you suggest that front office folks in professional sports are OK with cheating.

If ARod could still hit 50 HRs, the Yankees would have fought his suspension. Because he can't still hit 50 HRs, they wanted their money back.


"As for players? Most would rather win than lose, but money is the primary source of pride and motivation. A-Rod has made more of it than anyone, which makes him a bigger winner than a scrub with three World Series rings, and a few million in the bank."

 Correct.


"Just this spring, I was talking to an ex-teammate of Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee, and mentioned that I felt bad for Lee because of his elbow issues and situation being trapped on a bad team.

The guy cut me off.

'He’s fine,' he said, meaning that Cliff got paid, so Cliff wins."

A multi-millionaire free agent baseball pitcher is fine.

He even went back to the Phillies on purpose.


"What does all this have to do with A-Rod?"

Not a heck of a lot.

Your newspaper is so obsessed with ARod, that everything has something to do with ARod.

But you go ahead and finish your spiritual epiphany. Just now, pro athletes became cynical and selfish. Just now, pro athletes started cheating. Just now, pro athletes put their own mercenary goals ahead of team and community and puppy dogs.


"It underscores the cynicism and selfishness everywhere in the game. In that environment, few are going to spend more energy generating outrage. They have their own cold calculations to worry about.

But if A-Rod strikes out on Opening Day, with the bases loaded in the eighth and the Yankees down one? Then, moral judgements will be swift, and will sound like this: BOOOOOOOOOO."

I think you should say amoral judgments will be swift. This isn't Church. It's kind of the point of sports. It's so easy.


The other day, while waiting in line at Dunkin' Donuts, the guy in front of me ordered three chocolate chip cookies. I noticed the worker reached into the cabinet and grabbed three oatmeal raisin cookies.

Quick: What should I do? Should I interfere and correct the mistake?

That decision is way more complex than rooting for ARod.


When you drive to work every day and approach a red light on a two-way highway. Do you get behind the car in the left lane or do you pull up into the right lane? Where you might block someone who is trying to turn right on red?

But what if the driver in the left lane is one of those filthy apes who waits until the light turns green before turning on the left turn signal?

I mean, you're going to get punished for doing the right thing ... you know this, correct?

You're going to pull into the left lane and then get passed by 12 cars because of the jerk-o driver whose turn signal is apparently too confusing to utilize while the car is idling.

Thanks, jerk.


Man, what a day. Now it's time to chill and root for my team.

The count is 3-2 on Garrett Jones and it's a tie game.

Prithee, whate'er shall I do?

Before I decide who I'm rooting for, let me peruse Garrett Jones's high school transcript, voting record, political opinions, medical history, civil and criminal record, his relationship with reporters, his commitment to the community, his leadership abilities, the names of his kids, his Instagram account, his bank account ...

Nah.

Just get a hit.

If you get a hit, it will make me happy.

I will take the edge off just a little bit.