This just seems gratuitous. Hot on the heels of Joe Torre's "A-Fraud" revelations, Sports Illustrated has published a story claiming that Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two different anabolic steroids in 2003.
In a story published today on SI.com that will probably not surprise the readership of this site but that will provide Around The Horn with weeks of material, Selena Roberts and David Epstein write that Rodriguez tested positive for both the anabolic steroid Primobolan and, in a surprising twist, testosterone:
Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.
Surprised? You shouldn't be if you've been listening to the one man who's, oddly enough, been right more often than not throughout this whole steroids issue, Jose Canseco. Last March, Will Leitch wrote about Canseco's book, Vindicated, in which Rodriguez is tied to steroids.
As for Alex Rodriguez, Canseco says he didn't inject Rodriguez, but that he "introduced Alex to a known supplier of steroids." Canseco didn't mention Rodriguez in the first book because he "hated the bastard." He was worried that people would have "questioned [his] motives" had he included Rodriguez.
Why all the hatred, you ask. Well, Canseco claims that A-Rod was trying to sleep with Canseco's wife. Apparently, even after Canseco had been nice enough to help A-Rod find a friendly steroids supplier, A-Rod kept calling Canseco's wife.
And, in case there's any further confusion about Canseco's true feelings, he ends the chapter by saying:
So A-Rod, if you're reading this book, and if I'm not getting through to you, let's get clear on one thing: I hate your fucking guts.
It's hard to admit it, but it looks like Jose Canseco was right again.