He said he had been "young and stupid." He said he didn't really know what he was putting into his body. He told the throng of reporters, with a straight face, "I'm here to take my medicine."
Irony aside, Alex Rodriguez faced the full media at the Yankees Spring Training Complex in Tampa today, holding a tightly choreographed news conference to discuss his steroid use.
2:00 p.m.
The first dramatic moment of the afternoon: After talking about how his cousin and he obtained the drugs and did them from 2001-03 and saying he "thought he knew everything" when he reached the big leagues at 18 – even though this was 7 years before his admitted use of PED's took place – Rodriguez mentioned his Yankees teammates.
With Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte looking on, Rodriguez stopped, speechless, for 37 seconds. He drank water once, tipped back in his seat, and looked over to his right as they sat on chairs like so many members of the press. He eventually said just two words under his breath: "Thank you." He appeared to choke up, or at least try to.
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2009.