BRONX ZOO: PART II

Oh man, there's a whole lot of chaos right now.  What do you want me to do... tell you that I am "thrilled" Alex Rodriguez got suspended?  Or, tell you I'm Gung ho for Alex to appeal officially? (Read HERE) Of course I'm not thrilled about any of it.

Look, we all know Alex is no angel, but let's face facts, at the end of the day, all this drama stains my New York Yankees.  I care more about my sons and their opinions on this stuff, AND whether or not my Yankees can continue to win.  It's a tough gig being a New York Yankee. It's like the Bronx Zoo: Part II and it seemed to have started when Alex showed up.

(In Photo: Billy Martin with Ed Whitson)
Sure, it's not the same as when Reggie and Billy were fighting, or those arguments between Billy and Ed Whitson, or disagreements between Thurman and who knows.  No, Part II of the Bronx Zoo is almost worse.  Back then, the players bitched at each other and it was comedy if you were a fan. But when they got out on the field, they won.  These days, we would have had better luck with a tree at third base and the cloud of PEDs around every corner is very disappointing.  The whole thing stinks... and it all goes back to my son's Alex Rodriguez card, still in purgatory (his sock drawer) until he determines if he should officially throw the card back in the garbage, or if he'll give him another chance.

(Read PEDs HAVE DESTROYED THIS GREAT GAME OF BASEBALL for context.) Look, I don't want my kid pushing to be the "next best thing" and deciding he wants to stick a needle in his ass because he wants an edge. That worries me.  Now, as a parent you hope you've provided good values and decision making skills in your child's mind, but peer pressure is a bitch and trust me... if you're not the best, in a moment of weakness, you may think a needle will take you to the top. When I was a kid in little league, that stuff wasn't talked about, in fact, I didn't even know about it at age 11.  These days, it's a different story.

Alex Rodriguez is an admitted cheater.  That's from back when he was interviewed on ESPN in 2009.  We know that for a fact.  Now, a few years later this comes up again and while the evidence against Alex is cloudy, there was wrong doing in some capacity.  OK fine, now Major League Baseball has suspended him for 211 games.  That's the rest of this season and all of 2014.  He violated drug policy and that makes sense, but last time I checked, Selig wasn't the Drug Czar, you know what I mean?  One thing I do know is that this whole mess, coupled with major injuries in the Yankee clubhouse and a losing streak... well, it bothers every Yankee fan right now... it truly is the modern day Bronx Zoo.  How do we as a fan base or a Yankee club, turn this whole thing around and become confident, dominant and clean? How I ask? I don't have answers, but I want them!

PEDs ruined this great game I love and the circus that MLB has put forth to "squash" something they ignored in the 90's seems like a crime in itself (Read BREAKING DOWN BUD SELIG'S STATEMENT  for context on that.)   I am absolutely convinced that MLB turned a blind eye then, when PEDs were rampant just to get the fans back to the ballpark. Why? Because the money was pouring in... baseball was back! So this is what confuses me... years later, Selig is now cleaning up the sport he allowed to get out of control in the first place? I mean, are you kidding? We're not stupid Selig.

So what happens now for Alex and for the Yankees? Alex appeals and he's done it formally and he plays until he's not allowed to play anymore.  The Yankees? They need to win.  We haven't been in a spot quite like this in a while.  We're not competitive. We're not confident. In fact, we're horrible and we're not even good at that.  But in the end, we still need to try to put up the best record we can.

4th place isn't a place I want to be in.  Geez... can we at least rally to take 3rd?

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