Pete Rose Is Disappointed in A-Rod

In these troubling times, where you can't simply follow the game of baseball without hearing about steroids everywhere you turn, we could all use a moral compass so that we can have something to tell our children. When it comes to the Alex Rodriguez saga, Pete Rose, who was banished from baseball for betting on games while he was a manager, is happy to provide us with that moral compass.

"Being my good and close friend, I was disappointed about A-Rod's admission."

Yeah, he should have waited until he had a book to sell, right Pete?

"I really thought A-Rod and Junior (Ken Griffey Jr.) were two of the greatest players out there today who were clean." (...)

"There was 700 tested and only 104 were found positive," said Rose. "A-Rod said that was the culture back then and I don't believe that.

"I understand him saying he had pressure on him after signing a $252 million contract (with Texas) to do well.

"Pressure? A lot of us are understanding in these times that pressure is signing a $250 contract, not $250 million."

Or putting $250 or $2,000 on the Reds and hoping that Tim Birtsas and Kent Tekulve can hold that sixth-inning lead, or something like that. Yeah, that was pressure.

By the way, Rose speaks Thursday at the Miami Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Perhaps he'll educate them on the dangers of steroids. (Good for Rose, but excuse me while I clean up all the irony dripping on the floor.)