“When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a baseball player and join a circus. With the Yankees I’ve accomplished both.”—Third baseman Graig Nettles, on playing for two-time World Series champion New York Yankees in the late 1970s, quoted in Kenneth McMillan,Tales From the Yankee Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Yankee Stories Ever Told (2001)

One of the more famously funny Yankee quips of my life-time and Nettles was hilarious and spot on... but now there's the circus that has mushroomed up around The Fall of the Player Once Respectfully Referred to as A-Rod and while it's served as distraction from the horrible (although could be worse) season the 2013 New York Yankees are suffering through with their faithful fans, myself very much included. 

But even losing series to sad-sack teams like the Padres is more entertaining than le Cirque d'A'Fraud that has become the back -- and front -- page story in the New York Daily News since... gosh, back when Billy Martin was punching marshmallow salesmen and threatening the same with his right-fielder, Reginald Martinez Jackson. 

So, while the other dirty dozen or so ballplayers are taking their lumps - and their suspensions - as of this morning A-Rod is the sole hold-out and the word is that he will be playing the hot corner for the Yankees tonight in Chicago versus the White Sox. The White Sox know all about lifetime bans (google/see: 1919 Chicago "Black Sox" scandal if you don't know of what I speak) and while Selig threatened A-Roid w/a lifetime ban as 'good for the game' although that does set the "ball-player" up for sympathy from people who buy his lies and don't want to see him separated from the $100M or so due to him from the Yanks.

It's been such a game of chicken -- although I really do get the distinct impression that MLB and Selig have the goods on A-Rod -- and now if Rodriguez does get to appeal his apparent 210-game suspension (the rest of 2013 and ALL of the 2014 season) who knows what shakes out? As a fan of the game and of the Yankees (both things that A-Rod claims as well, mind you) I would love to just see him gone and gone for good. At least Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (who kinda/sorta came out in defense of his former teammate) are no longer the most hated guys in recent MLB history.

One of the claims that MLB has against A-Rod (a great Yankee teammate apparently if ever there was one) is that he got other players using PEDs and when you look at the list of current, or former Yankee teammates on the list, well, you get their point:

Initially confirmed by FoxSports.com, the players to have agreed to the suspensions without the right to appeal are:

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Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesRangers All-Star outfielder Nelson Cruz is among 12 players who have reportedly agreed to 50-game suspensions for their roles in the Biogenesis case.

• Nelson Cruz, Rangers outfielder

• Everth Cabrera, Padres shortstop

• Jhonny Peralta, Tigers shortstop

• Antonio Bastardo, Phillies reliever

• Jordany Valdespin, Mets outfielder

• Francisco Cervelli, Yankees catcher

• Jesus Montero, Mariners catcher

• Cesar Puello, Mets outfield prospect

•  Sergio Escalona, Houston Astrospitching prospect

• Fernando Martinez, Yankees outfield prospect

• Fautino De Los Santos, free-agent pitcher

• Jordan Norberto, free-agent pitcher

Thanks for reading, now let's just PLAY BALL!
B.