A- Roid? Seriously?

He did it. In a sit down interview with Peter Gammons, Alex Rodriguez admitted that he was in fact guilty of using performance enhancing drugs during his time with the Texas Rangers from 2001- 2003. All I can say is ...thank god. As a Yankee fan, the last thing I wanted was for this dark cloud to be hanging over the head of A-Rod all season. The overwhelming media circus that would have ensued if he denied ever using them, or refused to comment about his alleged positive test would have made the past 5 years of media scrutiny seem like informal water cooler chat.

This was the best thing Alex could have done. For once he made the smart choice. He came clean, said he was sorry, and now wants to move on. You know what, it will. Not soon, but eventually the media firestorm will pass and Alex will be back to talking about if Derek and he still stay up late playing mystery date and eating rice krispie treats at sleep overs.

Aside from this being the smartest thing for Alex to do regarding the media, it also will make headway with the fans and Hall of Fame voters. This will go along way towards gaining the forgiveness of Yankee fans. Look at Giambi, he was able to win the fans even after admitting taking steroids. All Alex has to do is hit a couple game winning homers and he'll be fine.

The bottom line is that this won't change much. If you hated A Rod before, you'll use this as another reason to hate him. If you were a fan of A Rod before this...you still will be. As far as his Hall of Fame consideration goes, I wrote my opinion on that subject last week regarding Bonds and co. A Rod is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Since 2003, Rodriguez has been subject to rigorous drug testing and has not failed a test, unless he's still being warned by Gene Orza. He had the best year of his career, as well as one of the best seasons of any major leaguer ever in 2007, while being regularly tested.

Maybe I'm naive and he's simply moved on to a new substance to avoid detection, but I am inclined believe he has been clean since then. All in all I'm sick of all this. The book, the steroids, the talk of nicknames, and team payrolls. I am ready for some baseball...some real live actual baseball...who else is with me?