Lawyers, doctors & soundbites, oh my
This is where the Alex Rodriguez saga takes you now:
To an ambush on the "Today" show. To challenges and insults being ramped up by the parties through the media via Twitter. To interpretations of MRI exams.
This is not The Bronx Zoo II as much as The Bronx Zoo 2.0 — a real-time mud-slinging match in which about $100 million, the future of one of the most famous players in the game's history and the integrity of a commissioner and the most famous franchise all are in play.
Everyone insists on the need for propriety and due process and a quieting of all the barbs and attacks, yet no one seems willing to cede an inch, which simply has intensified the frequency and nastiness of the barbs and attacks.
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La CAGE A FULL: Alex Rodriguez is at the center of The Bronx Zoo 2.0, but (from left), Brian Cashman, A-Rod attorney Joseph Tacopina, Bud Selig and Randy Levine all have supporting roles.
Rodriguez's grievance against his 211-game suspension is not supposed to begin for another week or two, take all of September to play out and perhaps not produce a judgment from arbitrator Fredric Horowitz until November, maybe December.
As one person involved in the matter said: "It is a complicated case and it is going to take a while."
PHOTOS: POST COVERS A-ROD THROUGH THE YEARS
Which means we are nowhere near the last leak, piece of innuendo or how-low-can-you-go moment — and there is always the possibility Rodriguez will seek remedies in court even after Horowitz has ruled. A lawyer working on the case said yesterday: "If you see the finish line, let me know, because I don't."
There is no lack of conspiracy theories and reality-TV types fueling the anger and antagonism from the A-Rod camp, MLB, the Yankees and the Players Association. Each insists on radio silence, yet there is a heightening of rhetoric, accusations and attacks what now seems multiple times a day.
Yesterday, less than 12 hours after Rodriguez spoke after a win at Fenway about the need to lower the noise around the Yankees, his new pitbull attorney, Joseph Tacopina, embarked on a loud media tour that resulted in more friendly fire toward A-Rod than points against his adversaries:
l On the "Today" show, Tacopina said he would love to speak more specifically about A-Rod's involvement in the PED case, but was barred by the confidentiality language in the Joint Drug Agreement (JDA). MLB had heard that for the past few days and had enough, sending a letter to host Matt Lauer saying it would waive all the JDA provisions for A-Rod and the commissioner's office surrounding Rodriguez's entire time under the drug program. This, among other things, would allow MLB to make public a torrent of correspondence between A-Rod and Biogenesis' Anthony Bosch it believes details Rodriguez's voluminous usage of PEDs.
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