I found Alex Rodriguez’s statement to the press today regarding his use of performance-enhancing drugs disingenuous and self-excusing, rather than the admission, apology and a recommitment to playing clean that he should have delivered.

Granted, he was just 25 and had been pampered and kow-towed to for his baseball skills for a decade at the time he decided to use “bole,” a steroid-laden injection from the Dominican Republic. But, coming from a guy who has earned more than a half billion dollars playing a game, the words he spoke only prove he’s still living in his pampered bubble.

We are not to talk of this after today, he said. Well, fuck you, Alex. It’s really hard to point to you on the field without having to offer my kids a warning that, dumb as a post and rich as you are, you are not a kind of example to follow. You have claimed a high ground and failed to defend it with the kind of courageous honesty to be expected from a “hero.”

It might have hurt more to simply admit he was trying to improve his game at any cost, including his health and the integrity of the game, but it also would have been the right thing to do.

In this age when kids are going to have to explain their youthful mistakes that were captured by friends and posted to MySpace and Facebook, A-Rod set the example of blaming youth rather than acknowledging he had to grow up. If kids come away from this thinking that anything can be justified by youth and the lack of a higher degree of education, we’re looking at a future where few people will even need to feel they have to exercise self-control and behave responsibly.

A-Rod: Lou Gehrig you ain’t. The Iron Horse made the most of his life and death, setting an example of integrity and dedication to hard work for his team. You, A-Rod, don’t deserve to sit at the grown-up table.

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