I’m not condoning what he did, and not giving him a total pass, but this is exactly what baseball needs.

“Back then, [baseball] was a different culture,” Rodriguez said. “It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.”

Before this story was released, everyone assumed ARod would lead baseball out of the steroid era because he was a clean player. From what I have read on espn.com, I believe he can still be that player, but for a different reason than we all thought. It seems that ARod is going to be the first baseball player to be totally candid not only that he took PEDs, but his motivations for doing so. I think this is a great thing and once the story of PEDs and baseball is out there and the general public has more of an understanding as to WHY these players did what they did, then I think we can finally begin to move on from the steroid era.

Seriously, how many people can honestly say that they wouldn’t have done what ARod did if they were in a similar position? I know we all like to think that our morals are built of brick and mortar, but it’s easy to say you wouldn’t take PEDs. It’s a much more difficult decision when you’re in the position these ballplayers are/were in.