NEW YORK – Alex Rodriguez admitted Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-03, saying he did so because of the pressures of being baseball’s highest-paid player.

@TBO

Did you hear that? It’s the millions of broken dreams of little leaguers all over the world who have just joined the Phelps-wannabes in what may be the most devastating 2 weeks for role model athletes. Both similar stories, yet the repercussions could be much greater for A-Rod. AR is someone who has been revered as a model athlete and personality of MLB, gliding his way into the Hall of Fame. Now he may join Barry Bonds as one of the most questioned athletic careers in MLB history. Phelps had gotten off easy, being that his incident happened after the Olympics, not leaving any question to his performance in Beijing or the fact that marijuana would have little or a negative effect on his athletic performance. Steriods will tarnish A-Rod’s legacy and continue to devastate MLB’s public appeal. At least we can all forget that he’d been hooking up with Madonna now, although I’m sure that’s what he’d prefer we’d be talking about. The positive side to all of this is that up-and-coming athletes will realize that every day it will get harder to pull this stuff off, and hopefully raise the standards and expectations of all sports.

P.S. Since the 2004 ALCS, this doesn’t surpise me. He cheated then and now we know he cheated way before then. Like my ex-girlfriends say “Once a cheater, always a cheater.”

I’m sure all the Yankee fans will have a sweet message for A-Rod that may go something like this: