BUSTED!

That one word in the headline says it all. Alex Rodriguez, the pretty boy everyone thought couldn't have ever used steroids, and had played his entire career the right way, clean, reportedly tested positive in what was supposed to be a blanket, anonymous survey test in 2003.

Here's what we know based on today's report:

In 2003, when rampant steroid used in baseball had come to the forefront, the league was looking for ways to salvage the sport's image by implementing a testing program with stiff penalties for positive results. In order to determine this, the league tested each of the 1,198 players in the league at the time, anonymously, and if there was more than a 5% positive return, a testing program would be implemented the following year. The league and the player's union agreed that the names of any player's test who came back positive from this testing would be kept anonymous, with no penalties. Of the 1,198 players, 104 players tested positive, an 8% positive return, thus testing would be implemented the following season.

A year later, when the BALCO investigation began to take shape, federal investigators searched one of the California labs that was holding the samples and other viable information, with a search warrant. The warrant allowed them to seize information regarding 10 specific players as part of the BALCO investigation, and in the process, the list of the 104 players that failed that 2003 test was discovered. The original list was supposed to be sealed by a court order in California per MLB and the player's union agreement regarding the 2003 testing.

However, several sources told Sports Illustrated that one of those names on the list was in fact Alex Rodriguez. Those sources also claim that several players were tipped by the player's union's chief operating officer, Gene Orza, about unannounced, upcoming testing, a direct violation of the agreement between the players and the league. ESPN has confirmed all of this through one more source.

Now, I've never been a fan of Alex Rodriguez, but I've always believed in his talent as one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen. I never really had any suspicions that he used, or was using, performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). The stories I read, and videos I saw of his work ethics told me he was genuine, and his achievements came naturally from raw talent. So to wake up this morning and see two text messages sent to my phone with breaking news alerts that A-Rod had failed a test back in 2003, was a surprise to say the least.

But here's what bothers me most about it. Before today, there was no evidence that A-Rod was using PEDs. (The only real link between A-Rod and steroids was in Jose Canseco's first book in 2005, Juiced, in which Canseco claims plenty of players were using steroids and PEDs anyway.) In 2007, his name never came up in the Mitchell Report. He probably figured that since it hadn't, he was probably in the clear, and could say and deny whatever he wanted, knowing that the results of this 2003 test were anonymous and couldn't possibly make their way out to the public because they were sealed by a court order in California. So, several days after the Mitchell Report came out, in an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, she specifically asked him, "for the record," if he had ever used any steroids or any other PEDs, and he vehemently said "no" without any hesitation. And so, in light of today's report that he failed a test in 2003, he lied. To me, that holds more water in my pail than anything else.

I honestly really don't care that he took any PEDs, or even failed a test when there was no concrete testing for it, and steroids and PEDs hadn't been banned from the game yet. There were enough players using some kind of PEDs at the time that the playing field was leveled out anyway. (And I'm not talking about the 8% return mentioned above.) We already know based on information from the BALCO investigation when Barry Bonds supposedly started using. He was a great player, a great hitter for years before the suspicions came out. The same can be said for A-Rod, more or less. These are two great players who should not be punished in the court of public opinion for something when there were hundreds of players using PEDs. In my opinion, when the time comes, they both belong in the Hall of Fame.

But the fact is, and this is what irritates me more than anything, we now know he lied about it, and in the court of public opinion, that will hurt him more than anything else. Now, Alex Rodriguez will be labeled as a steroid user, and a liar. So the best thing A-Rod can do at this point to salvage what is now a tarnished image and reputation, as well a tarnished career, is to come out and publically apologize for lying in that TV interview with Katie Couric, and to admit he used steroids during his 2003 MVP season with Texas, and any other time, if in fact he did.

(A-Rod claimed in that inteview in 2007 that he had been tested "eight or nine times" and so far there's no evidence of any positive results. In fact, in 2005, when he and others were part of the WBC, every player was tested then, as well, but under international rules rather than MLB's rules. Any positive test would disallow a player from participating in the WBC. A-Rod played for Team USA in 2005.)

Earlier this morning, in light of the report, one of his former coaches, Larry Bowa, spoke on MLB Network about this, and about Alex: "Alex lets little things bother him. This is definitely not a a little thing, obviously. This is going to be weighing on his mind, how he's going to go about dealing with the media everyday, 'cause this is not just go on one day, this is gonna go on and on and on and on. It's not going to just end in Spring Training. It's going be an ongoing thing, and you got to be mentally tough, and hopefully Alex has gotten some mental toughness since he's gotten to New York 'cause he's gonna need it, and you know, he's a great kid. I'm concerned [how he's going to react to this] 'cause he's a sensitive kid."

Bowa couldn't be more right about A-Rod. All of that other stuff that's been going on with him, from cheating on his wife, to sleeping around with Madonna, takes a back seat to this. This just adds more fuel to the fire and his image. He isn't going to get away with keeping quiet, because if he does, it could be the worst damage he could do to himself and his reputation as a great baseball player, and this will no doubt drag on all season. Remember, he still plays in New York, the largest media market in the country, where the media is about as tough on anyone as any market in the country. And as Bowa added in his interview, he's going to have to face the media (and fans) in places like Boston, and the West Coast, where he will be crucified. Even in Texas and Seattle where he once played. A-Rod will not be able to run and hide from this. And he sure as hell won't be able to handle the backlash should he decide to deny it, or ignore it altogether.