Lemon Juicer

It saddens me how much Alex Rodriguez's ego blurs the reality of his misdeeds. In my opinion, his initial suspension of 210-plus games (the remainder of the 2013 season, plus all of 2014) fit the crime. Instead of just accepting his punishment, A-Rod did everything he could to fight the suspension; he vowed to clear his name in spite of overwhelming evidence against him and a total lack of proof. Rodriguez's defense was like a bad high school essay: he had an opening and closing paragraph, but no body. After a quixotic fight against the system in which Rodriguez literally played out the first portion of his suspension --and to further salt wounds, he was actually somewhat productive in a close divisional race-- the remainder of his ban was upheld. His 2014 season is over and maybe his career is, too. He had become an injury risk to compliment his poisonous attitude, and the physical toll of such a long exile is almost irreversible. And yet, Rodriguez's multiple acts of hubris made his delayed amercement ring a little hollow; at this rate, a banishment at the scale of Pete Rose's seems more justified than ever.

A once-gifted athlete with a chip on his shoulder, in less than two decades Alex Rodriguez went from tolerable to disliked to outright inexcusable. He became a diva without an audience, an emperor without clothes. I would cap this with a cliched comment about how the mighty had fallen, but it's hard to tell whether A-Rod was truly mighty to being with.

Other notes:

+ How's Dad? He's been home for about three weeks now. In spite of demands from his family and several medical professionals, he is trying to manage without a 24/7 nurse. At the same time, we've arranged an occupational nurse and physical therapist to drop by at least once a week. He also spends nearly all day in a Barcalounger the corner of the family living room, because he's afraid he'll fall out of his twin long bed. (The old man is stubborn, and he's always been a little eccentric, but he has his pride.)

+ Democrats will rail on Chris Christie for Bridgegate. Republicans will rail on Hillary Clinton for Benghazi. Democrats will also wail on Ted Cruz for the government shutdown. In retaliation, the GOP will treat Joe Biden as a proxy of everything that's wrong with President Obama. Is these are our top contenders for the Oval Office in 2016, it is going to be a long 2 1/2 years.

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