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That is, in short, why I found myself rooting for him last night after he got beaned and booed in Boston.
Even if you assume that what A-Rod did was exceptionally unethical within the structure of professional baseball, there's no rational reason to get morally offended by it.
What he did was only "wrong" within the non-reality of the Major League Baseball universe. He never committed a real crime or harmed an innocent person. He never negatively affected your life or robbed you of something you once had.
He tried to get an unnatural edge to be better at baseball. Under the
That Curt Schilling — whose company bilked taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars — is ESPN's go-to guy on A-Rod moralizing is absurd. So is the idea that he and Aaron Hernandez are in the same class of alleged criminal.
A-Rod cheated in a way that harmed no one and has rational, understandable motivations. But the response from the league, opposing players, fans and members of the baseball media has been soaked with self-righteousness, as if A-Rod crossed an unspeakable ethical line ... which is the worst.
Troll on, A-Rod.