http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2009/0507/1224246053404.htmlOh my.
Even the Irish talk about America's team.
It's open season on A-Rod and his accuser
AMERICA AT LARGE: SELENA ROBERTS’ book came out on Monday. A day later, down in Tampa, where he has spent the past two months rehabilitating a surgically-repaired hip, Alex Rodriguez hit two home runs in an “extended spring training†game. Speculation has it that the major leagues’ highest-paid player could rejoin the New York Yankees as early as tomorrow night in Baltimore, writes GEORGE KIMBALL
It’s a move that, from the Yankees’ standpoint, can’t come soon enough. A team whose $200 million payroll ranks as the highest in baseball has struggled this far to an undistinguished 13-13 record. Worse, having unveiled their sparkling new $1.3 billion home in the Bronx just a month ago, the Yanks are 6-5 at home, and the television people haven’t yet figured out a way to show pictures of pitcher and batter that don’t also reveal an embarrassingly high number of empty seats behind home plate.
You could chalk it up to misfortune that the completion of the New Yankee Stadium happened to coincide with the collapse of the global economy. Raising the ticket prices to $2,500 for those seats probably wasn’t a great idea in the first place, and before April was out the team had already slashed the prices on many of its more expensive tickets.
Rodriguez’ absence from the line-up was even less predictable, as was the fact that his torn hip labrum coincided with February’s revelation, and his subsequent admission, that he had tested positive for steroids while in the employ of the Texas Rangers in 2003.
In any case, his team-mates are eagerly anticipating his return. In the best case he could be the A-Rod of old and immediately elevate the Yankees’ performance on the field. And at the very least he will immediately become such a lightning rod for media attention that the rest of his team-mates will be spared daily interrogation about their position in the standings.....
After which is a discussion of the veracity of the authoress of the tell-all.
Roberts has declined to offer substantiation on the grounds that she is protecting her sources. That high-minded principle would be more persuasive had it not been for her role a couple of years ago when, in the employ of the New York Times , she more or less led the charge in a highly-publicised “Duke rape case†that turned out not to be a rape case at all.....
