A-Rod graduated from a private college prep high school in Miami particularly renowned for its fine arts and baseball program. Just before he was to go to his first freshman class at the University of Miami, he decided he wanted to become a millionaire instead with the Seattle Mariners, and signed their contract. That by itself was a sign of his intelligence.He went on, of course, to become the first quarter-of-a-billion dollar player with the help of the savviest agent in baseball, if not all of sports, Scott Boras.
In short, A-Rod was never the country bumpkin he's tried to portray himself as over the past week after fessing up to a report that he used steroids. The ultimate proof: the publication-relations strategy he and his PR team successfully pulled off the past few days without most of us even realizing it.
I'm talking about the "cousin." It is, to quote those two Guinness brainiacs, "brilliant." Genius, really. Mensa-level stuff. A-Rod flipped the script. It is sports' version of the Twinkie defense.
For 24 hours, I thought A-Rod should demand back whatever he paid his long-time personal PR man, Richard Rubenstein, and the Newport Beach, Calif.-based PR agency, Outside Eyes, to handle his crisis. Not anymore.
The key moment from his spring training apology to the world that was once his oyster wasn't when he detailed how, and how often, he used steroids. It wasn't when he suffered that 37-second pause with lip quivering, apparently fighting back tears.
Instead, it was when he revealed that it was some cousin he wasn't going to name who started and facilitated his three-year long drug habit and concluded his mea culpa, part two, with a plea: "The only thing I can ask of the American people is to judge me from this day forward."
That was the set up to throw us all for a loop. We just didn't know it.
After all, A-Rod and his PR team figured correctly that most of us had become so cynical and suspicious about his whole steroids affair that we weren't likely to believe anything of what A-Rod had to say, save that he used steroids for some period of time. He'd already told 60 Minutes a few years ago that he was clean as a fresh needle when, we know now, he wasn't.
Why would we believe what he said now about only using steroids for a three-season period with one guy none of us ever heard of? Why should we believe that he wasn't, as Jose Canseco suggested, using drugs way back in the late '90s? Why should we believe that from here on out A-Rod wouldn't dare dabble with some rogue substance out there that is beyond detection methods that are available?
The answer to it all is "the cousin," identified on Thursday by ESPN as Yuri Sucart, a Miami man.
We haven't seen him. We haven't heard from him. But we know from a woman identified as his wife, and from several other people in A-Rod's personal baseball circle, that he exists.
The cousin has been A-Rod's Man Friday for a number of years. Now he is A-Rod's savior.
A-Rods Controversies
After a report is released that he tested positive for steroids during his AL MVP campaign in 2003, Alex Rodriguez admits to injecting performance-enhancing drugs obtained in the Dominican Republic with the assistance of his cousin during his time as a Texas Ranger. Click through to find out more about A-Rod's checkered past.
Chris Carlson, AP
Former manager Joe Torre's recently released book, 'The Yankee Years', included details of A-Rod's tumultuous stay with the Yankees. In the book, Torre claims A-Rod was known by teammates as "A-Fraud" and paints him as mentally fragile.
Ezra Shaw, Getty Images
Rodriguez's decision not to play for the United States at the upcoming World Baseball Classic put him in the middle of another firestorm. A-Rod chose to join David Ortiz's Dominican squad over the nation of his birth.
Kena Betancur, AP
There have also been rumors that Rodriguez dated pop star Madonna, with numerous reports of the two spending time together.
Jim Rogash, Getty Images
In May 2007, many called this slide into the Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia to break up a double play dirty, as part of the heated Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
Nick Laham, Getty Images
He filed for free agency during Game 4 of the 2007 World Series, drawing the ire of fans and officials. Some accused A-Rod of trying to grab the spotlight as the Yankees' big rivals were closing in on their second title in four seasons. He later re-signed with New York.
Jim McIsaac, Getty Images
The New York tabloids had a field day after the Yankees star was allegedly caught with a "mystery blonde" at the end of May of 2007. The woman was later identified as an exotic dancer, and his wife filed for divorce from him just over a year later, citing his infidelity.
New York Post
Things have been frosty for A-Rod and Derek Jeter since Rodriguez dissed his buddy by saying Jeter was "never your concern" when facing the Yankees.
Tony Gutierrez, AP
Despite being named AL MVP (48 homers, 130 RBI) in 2005, Yankee fans called out A-Rod by saying many of his homers came in meaningless situations.
Morry Gash, AP
A-Rod's awkward slap that knocked the ball from Bronson Arroyo's glove in the 2004 ALCS enhanced his reputation as a player who folded in the clutch.
Amy Sancetta, AP
He is A-Rod's savior because A-Rod needs for two things to happen right now. He needs us to believe he didn't use drugs before 2001, and he needs us to believe he can be trusted from this season on. He needs us to grant him enough credibility to, at best, be considered what he was -- arguably the best baseball player of his generation -- and save his induction to the Hall of Fame.
So he and his PR team decided to volunteer a cousin who we all figured was like "the friend" Michael Irvin said owned the drug pipe found in Irvin's car that Irvin said he possessed only with the intent of disposing to help his friend beat a habit. Irvin produced the friend under agreement that his identity not be revealed. Or maybe A-Rod's cousin was like "the friend" Chris Webber said left drugs on his person once that wound up getting him busted.
We've heard these defenses enough on COPS to know they don't stand up. Unidentified cousins and friends are like a fire alarm on the wall for the suddenly compromised -- break glass in emergency.
But A-Rod's cousin, it turns out, does exist. And his existence gets A-Rod not more steroids this time, but some old credibility back.
A-Rod said all he wanted from the public was their trust in him from here on. He produced the co-conspirator for his fraudulent years in the game. He does exist. There is reason, therefore, to believe in A-Rod for this season and beyond, if not the 2000 season on back.
A-Rod the A-Rube he is not.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-20-2009 @ 3:00AM
Bob said...
...and Norman Bates really did have a mother in the old house behind the hotel. Really. You can see her through the window when the sun hits just right.
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2-20-2009 @ 5:49AM
dinohealth said...
With all this "who is a witch?" that the Comish and owners of MLB haves us playing in order to avoid their responsibilities for this mess, I am inclined to say enough is enough. I think we ought to begin meticulous testing, enforce the rules, leave the past in the past, and go on with game. That means, yes, give all A-Rods in baseball a clean sheet from now on. Hang them if they are caught violating the rules in the future!
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2-20-2009 @ 8:11AM
Joe said...
Just like we shouldn't pay to go to games. We shouldn't keep reading the media's take and hype so as to keep things rolling and their jobs alive.
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2-20-2009 @ 8:56AM
Steve said...
On my list of concerns I cannot find baseball ...let alone Afraud's name. Baseball is a big money sport that most Americans could care less about. Alex has proven he is a liar, a cheater, and a failure as a husband. Greed has decimated the economy and it ruined baseball many years ago. There is no cure for stupid.
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2-20-2009 @ 8:56AM
legeagle2 said...
I think Blackstone must have meant "blundering" when he said brilliant. More and more interesting revelations are rising to the surface of our consciousness with regard to A-Rod's far-fetched tales. Turns out that the so-called "over-the-counter" drugs that he and his cousin were supposed to have purchased in Puerto Rico were not even available over-the-counter or by prescription. A-Rod was lying then and he's STILL lying to us all.
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2-20-2009 @ 9:56PM
drew031581 said...
dominican republic
2-20-2009 @ 11:39AM
asllwaysme said...
Aroid did not admit willingly he did drugs. He got caught and up to last month had denied it! So his supposed to be cousin took the rap? Give me a break. Teams have Doctors and trainers. Wonder what his cousine does for a living? Took it with injection? Dam, are we that dumb to belive this BS? Strip him of his records and the MVP should go to the runner up.Baseball is dirty!!!
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2-20-2009 @ 11:42AM
John Laverty said...
A-Rod is A LIAR!!!
I find this more disturbing than him 'using'.
He and his PR firm have concocted a dramatic rendering of 'POOR ME' and expect us to buy it!
No sale here!
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2-20-2009 @ 11:44AM
ROCCO RANDISI said...
For any one who still thinks this steroids isiue is just a yankee problem and not an mlb problem. Think again, have I got the ultimate bombshell for you, brace yourselves it is only going to get worse.
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2-20-2009 @ 11:46AM
sgdbaty13 said...
A-Rod is a cheat and a liar, end of story.
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2-20-2009 @ 12:10PM
Bob said...
Preview of the NEXT major press conference:
Alex Rodriguez, reading from another carefully prepared statement, "painfully" admits to the public, "I was wrong. It was stupid, maybe even childish, for me to go along with that OTHER company's advice to make fabricated stories to further muddy the waters, and once again mislead my long-suffering fans. I only did it for a short while, and will NEVER do that again. Starting NOW, I will tell you the truth." He stops, turns to the small army of "suits" behind him, who whisper a few things in Mr. Rodriguez' ears. Then, he turns back to the microphones, and states, "What REALLY happened in 2001 is...
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2-20-2009 @ 12:28PM
Dr. Zoidberg said...
A-Rod's pal, the tainted trainer: Steroid-linked friend is banned by every MLB team
BY Mark Feinsand In Tampa, Christian Red In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Michael O'Keeffe, Ian Begley, Teri Thompson, Jim Rich and Nathaniel Vinton In New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, February 20th 2009, 1:59 AM
Embattled Yankee Alex Rodriguez has had a long relationship with a steroid-linked trainer who's been banned from major league clubhouses, four independent sources told the Daily News.
Angel Presinal, who was banned from private areas of every MLB ballpark after an October 2001 incident involving an unmarked gym bag full of steroids, has been tight with the Yankee slugger dating back to his time with the Texas Rangers, several sources said.
A former New York-area scout says Presinal, whose named surfaced in the Mitchell Report, was with Rodriguez in New York and Miami as recently as this past fall.
MLB has warned players to stay away from him.
"He's an unsavory character," said a source.
Another source said Presinal accompanied A-Rod for the entire 2007 season, staying in the same hotel as the A.L. MVP, but in a separate room with the "cousin" Rodriguez pegged three days ago as his steroid source from 2001-03.
The cousin was identified Thursday as Yuri Sucart.
The source said Rodriguez avoided being seen in public with Presinal.
"He was around Alex in 2007," the source said of Presinal. "Every hotel they went to, he stayed in the same room with Yuri. You would never see Alex with [Presinal]. They would meet in one of their rooms."
The Mitchell Report, released in December 2007, described the investigation that followed the 2001 incident at a Toronto airport, first reported by the Daily News in 2006, where Presinal told law enforcement the bag containing drugs belonged to then-Indians star Juan Gonzalez.
Presinal was not around A-Rod and the Yankees during the 2008 season, the source said, but Sucart remained a constant presence around Rodriguez, at home and on the road.
"Yuri is his driver," the source said. "He takes care of him all the time. His clothes, his food; he's with Alex every day."
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was aware of Presinal's name but said that the exiled trainer had no official ties to the team.
"He's never had any association with the Yankees," Cashman said. "Whether he knows our players or has worked with any of our players, I wouldn't be able to confirm that."
A-Rod agent Scott Boras would not comment on his client's relationship with Presinal, who runs a gym at the Palacio del los Deportes in Santo Domingo. Presinal also did not return multiple calls.
"Several people have warned Alex about this guy," said a second source.
MLB began monitoring Presinal's relationships with players after the bag containing five ampules of anabolic steroids, the anabolic drug clenbuterol and hypodermic needles, was seized by the Canadian Border Service Agency in 2001.
Presinal was traveling with the Cleveland Indians, where he was Gonzalez's personal trainer at the time.
Agents notified Toronto police and Cleveland personnel, and they allowed the bag to be shipped to the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, where the club was staying, to see who claimed it.
A border agency seizure report said the man who picked up the bag was Presinal, then 48, a fitness trainer to the Dominican Republic's national basketball and boxing teams and the World Baseball Classic team.
In addition to A-Rod, Presinal has worked with some of the game's biggest stars: Juan Gonzalez, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon, Miguel Tejada, Adrian Beltre, Moises Alou, Jose Guillen, Ervin Santana, Ruben Sierra, Francisco Cordero, Jose Mesa and Juan Guzman, among others.
At the time of the Toronto incident, an emotional Presinal denied any association with steroids.
"I work with [young players] so they can become superstars. You can see how hard these players work. It's all clean work. And I always tell these kids that if they have a medical problem, to be responsible. Don't just talk to any doctor. Make sure you be careful. Don't get mixed up with any steroids or other stuff."
The seizure report said Presinal claimed the bag and everything in it belonged to Gonzalez, then an outfielder for the Indians and later a teammate of Rodriguez's in Texas.
Agents questioned both men for four hours before deciding they didn't have enough evidence to link the bag to either of them. Gonzalez and Presinal were allowed to go free, and the bag was confiscated.
MLB did an investigation after the bag was seized and banned Presinal from any area in a ballpark not open to the public.
"The Canadians [said] they don't have enough information to proceed criminally, for reasons that still escape us," Rob Manfred, MLB's senior vice president for business and labor, told The News in 2006.
MLB still monitors Presinal's whereabouts.
Steroids are legal in the Dominican Republic, but the U.S. can withhold visas from baseball players implicated in steroid use.
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2-20-2009 @ 12:50PM
ANGELO said...
A-Roid is a total coward by exploiting his "cousin", I wonder what Yuri's financial compensation could be for those services rendered? A-Roid is an even more despicable character if he expects the public to believe him while reading MALARKY from a script in his dismal attempt to appear sincere.
By the way Kevin, kudos for insulting our intelligence with such a biased article...rubbish!
A-Roid will sink along with the rest of the Steinbrenners overrated team.
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2-20-2009 @ 1:33PM
Dr. Zoidberg said...
David ortiz is dirty so is vladimir guerrero are those not big enough names to open every body's eyes. every MLB ball player is a suspect i would not be shocked if 95% of players are on some form of steroid. I only tell you all this so your not shocked and give up the game because your favorite player is on steroids. my favorite players are Orlando hernandez, Derek jeter, and Andy pettitte. when i found out pettitte was a cheat i was devastated i locked my self in my room for days and was only feeling slightly better when pettitte came clean at his press conference after long hard thinking IM in a better place now and it would not shock or upset me to find Derek jeters name on some list! there are four stages of fan disappointment when you find out your favorite ball players are on roids they are, 1.anger 2. depression 3. denial 4. acceptance,. I only tell you this because you are all cocky now but when your favorite ball players are on the list and you see it for the first time you will no what IM talking about and believe me you all will see that certain player on that list mark my words....
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2-20-2009 @ 2:05PM
Dr. Zoidberg said...
Vi dico tutto questo perché voglio aiutare voi. se mi ha dato una possibilità che si possa trovare una bella chat nice guy! Fidati di me i miei amici più palla i giocatori sono in qualche sostanza illegale e quanto prima vi rendete conto che il meglio. Di solito è caduta così difficile quando è ora di affrontare la tua demoni. Beh, è stato grande. Good bye i miei fratelli e sorelle. Che la pace sia con voi sempre, Che la Forza sia con Voi ....
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2-20-2009 @ 2:15PM
Dr. Zoidberg said...
Dont mich falsch, ich will auch ein sauberes Spiel, sondern können sich echte A-Rod und die Yankees sind nicht die einzige Mannschaft oder einen Spieler auf Steroide ....
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2-20-2009 @ 2:15PM
Icenive said...
If Presianl was banned from all mlb club then why didnt anyone(managers,teammates, owners, pr)notice him everywhere players hung out at(hotels,etc) that alone should have been cause for suspension of the player as they say your guilty by association, and if the MLB doesnt do something about it they are also going to be seen to the public eye as guilty by association also for permitting it.
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2-20-2009 @ 2:41PM
Dr. Zoidberg said...
Meine Großmutter, die sich mir in einer der größten diehard Yankees Fan's, geboren und aufgewachsen in Deutschland Herborn. Sie kam nach Amerika, nach dem 2. Weltkrieg. und nach Staten Island, NY.
Il mio grande grande padre è nato e cresciuto in Sicilia Corleone era una capra Herder. Ho anche antenati da Napoli Italia. my other ancestors are irish....
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2-22-2009 @ 11:10AM
YVONSILK said...
did anyone check the cousin's BANK ACCOUNT HMMMMMMM
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2-22-2009 @ 10:52PM
dan said...
What I find remarkable about all of the time and effort wasted by Blackinstone in this article about Alex Rodriquez is how he (Blackinstone) has managed to (conveniently) ignore the genuine newsstory of the blatant discrimination exhibited against Shahar Peer by the government of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE denied Peer a visa to enter the country to play in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. The reason for the denial? Peer is Jewish--specifically an Israeli Jew.
What a masterful exhibition of hypocrisy on the part of Kevin Blackinstone, who has made his reputation here on AOL and elsewhere in the sports reporting community for being the unofficial anti-discrimination watchdog of sports. You can be sure that if there is a racial angle in a sports story (one which allegedly victimizes African-Americans) to be found (and exploited) by Blackinstone, it will be. He will be the first, and often the loudest, sports journalist to play the discrimination card if he perceives an inequitable action being directed at a male African-American athlete. However, he apparently doesn't recognize that discrimination isn't just limited to actions directed at athletes of African-American heritage, but is also exercised just as viciously and sometimes more blatantly against ethnic groups and women. Either he doesn't recognize it--or he just doesn't care.
In either case, Blackinstone has just lost the entirety of the tremendous respect I had developed for him (because he DID have the brass to call out discrimination when he believed he saw it) by simply ignoring the whole incident in Dubai. I can only conclude that, in Blackinstone's perspective, discrimination is acceptable if the victim is female or Jewish, and that it is only unacceptable when the victim is black.
Shame on you, Kevin Blackinstone!
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