Touchdown: A-Rod redux

As a colleague here at Veritas once remarked, “the only way out of the fire is THROUGH the fire.” Regardless of how he may be performing in the execution, Alex Rodriguez is following the right overall crisis communications strategy in trying to turn the page on his steroid-using past. The exclusive interview with an ESPN reporter from whom he would get a fair hearing was the right first step; and this week’s news conference at the New York Yankees’ training camp in Tampa was another one. By letting a mass assembly of the sports reporters who will cover him all season have at him now, he can take his lumps and then credibly pronounce the issue dealt with once the baseball season gets down to business. Finally, by agreeing to become the first celebrity spokesperson for the Taylor Hooten Foundation, established in memory of a young man who died from steroid use, A-Rod is showing that he intends to walk his talk as well.