A-Fraud Says It’s So
So it turns out that Alex Rodriguez was lying when he categorically denied using steroids, and while the rabid faithful of the New York Yankees will doubtless give him a pass after his confessional interview on ESPN, Nike may not be so forgiving.
Nike is the big name for A-Roid, paying him a cool million a year in a five-year deal that ends this year. When Nike signed the deal in 2005, it simultaneously revealed that it was cutting another steroid star, the Yankees’ Jason Giambi, from its roster. Pepsi had a deal with the slugger it already opted not to renew.
“Say it ain’t so, Joe,” a young fan supposedly implored Chicago White Sox slugger Joe Jackson as he left a courtroom after the infamous Black Sox trial that revealed details of the Chicago ballplayers’ collusion with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. No such tearful scenes are likely to be repeated outside Yankee Stadium. But A-Rod might be waving a wistful goodbye to endorsement money – $10 million a year in pocket change, compared to his Cadillac salary.
The revelation and the mea culpa come after he signed on with the William Morris Agency last year to brush up his image after reports that he’d been cavorting with
Madonna. But philandering among pro athletes has at least as long a tradition as substance abuse.
And if you’ve got a 10-year, $275 million deal with the Yankees, why worry? It’s just the integrity of pro baseball that’s at stake – and A-Rod and his teammates will be reminded of that by fans in every ballpark they visit this season.
The larger problem for Major League Baseball is the specter of the 103 other unnamed ballplayers who also tested positive for steroids at the same time A-Rod did in 2003. It revives an evil spirit that baseball execs figured they’d exorcised with the release of last year’s steroid report – which relied heavily on the ruminations of noted use-and-tell author Jose Canseco, who initially tarred A-Rod with the ‘roid brush.
More than a few baseball fans – and a few marketers – will be repeating those somber words, Say it ain’t so, when the other shoes inevitably drop and more star’s names are named in this latest chapter of baseball’s steroids saga.
