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Rafael Palmeiro: Cheater or idiot?

Apparently, Kenny Rogers attacking cameramen isn’t enough. Another of my favorite Texas Rangers has bitten the public relations dust, this time the usually squeaky-clean Rafael Palmeiro.

Palmeiro tested positive for steroids. His defense is he didn’t know the stuff he was taking had steroids in them, and that next time he’ll get his pills from a “licensed physician.”

So let me get this straight — our options are to believe that Palmeiro is either an idiot or a liar. Great.

Let’s assume we believe Palmeiro’s word at face value. That means that a man who relies on his body for his career is putting weird stuff into it — stuff he can’t identify. That’s not very bright for anyone, but a professional athlete who knows steroids are banned, who knows how important it is to have a body in perfect condition? Uncanny. It blows my mind.

Or, we can assume that Raffy is lying, and that he knows perfectly well what he’s putting into his body. Even better. It was suggested on the radio that Raffy was having a subpar season statistically, and then suddenly, halfway through it, gets caught with steroids. Someone wanting his edge back?

It sucks to have to be suspicious like that — that suddenly Jose Canseco might be the one with the credibility. Canseco had named Palmeiro in his book as a player who he personally injected with steroids. Most people shrugged that off; Palmeiro didn’t have the giant bodybuilder look that Canseco, McGuire, Bonds, Giambi had. And Palmeiro was always a good guy, from what I heard — upstanding in the community, good with the fans, etc. But now I find myself accusing him of wanting an extra boost (insert your favorite Viagra joke here).

I wish he hadn’t put himself in a position to be held to that kind of scrunity. I think everyone believed him when he said at the Congressional hearings that he never used steroids, “period.”

Today, that statement is, that he’s never “intentially used steroids.” Disappointing.

Mon August 1st, 2005 9:16 pm

Filed under National, Texas Rangers