Arod and Poker

So let me preface this with the fact that I dislike Arod as a player, not just because of the way he left Seattle but in the way he plays the game. As a fan it never seems like he gives a damn about anything but himself. However, I have to say that I don't see what the big deal is about him playing in illegal poker games that he can afford to participate in. Baseball is worried that he may get tied up with gamblers that would be able to leverage any losses of large amounts of money into him throwing games. I may dislike him as a player, but I do not believe that he is the type of person that would throw games.

Of course this may all be a mute point because baseball has yet to even discuss the matter with him, which should be coming in the next several weeks. Maybe that shows that baseball knows more about this then we know from the tabloid that reported it. If this was such a big deal wouldn't they have made more of an effort to get this interview on the front burner, Arod isn't playing right now, just doing rehab so scheduling a 1 hour meeting can't be that difficult. This looks like a case of all sides waiting for this to blow over. The only illegal part of the game was that he had to pay to get into the game. It's not like he can just walk into a casino, even into their high rollers lounge area, without someone letting it be known that he is there. Let the man play poker, he would really have to be a horrible player to lose enough money for it to be an issue.

Reportedly he had been asked/warned by the commissioner's office and the Yankees that he needed to stay away from those kind of poker games and if that is the case then someone should slap the back of his head and tell him to smarten up. He can go to as many poker games as he wants once he retire and lose/win as much money as he wants at that point. For all we know he is actually pretty good at poker and someone leaked the story so he would have to stay away from the games. Maybe he pissed off the wrong celebrity at one of the games because he won so much money, who knows? I can honestly say I don't care either way, he doesn't deserve a suspension because of this and he doesn't deserve any bad publicity either. We all know that some high profile sports celebrities feel that they are better than the sport and it's governing body (Steeler's anyone) and maybe that is all his is, he was bored and needed something to do so gambling with other celebrities seemed like the thing whether Bud Selig likes it or not. No matter what he really doesn't deserve the bad publicity he is getting over this one.