Fumble: A-Fraud still can't walk the walk

One of the other things that cheers me, besides the resumption of meaningful golf events like this week’s World Golf Championship, is the start of Major League Baseball spring training. Alex Rodriguez is still the man of the hour given his steroid use confirmation, coupled with former Yankees manager Joe Torre’s great new book that really rips Rodriguez. As Torre’s book points out, the word on Rodriguez is that he was essentially “a fake,” someone who’d say one thing to the media and then act another way. And, sure enough, Rodriguez demonstrated that again this week. As the New York Times put it, A-Fraud “employs a startling number of advisers and image consultants, yet he continues to do things that defy common sense.” Namely, after a game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Florida, Rodriguez left the ballpark in an SUV driven by his cousin, Yuri Sucart. It’s the same cousin he threw under the bus when he claimed Sucart acted as his drug smuggler from 2001 to 2003, bringing him steroids from the Dominican Republic and even injecting him. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman, who probably wonders about the long term nightmare he signed on for when he acquired Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers, was blunt when asked about it by reporters. “It’s been handled.” Rodriguez can spit out key messages just fine, but he will continue to be believed a fake until he learns to walk the walk. A good lesson for us all.