Meet my new best friends. Their names are Jeremiah Thomas, Alex Newton, Noah Szilagyi, Will Halbert, Josh Lowell, Amanda Stanton, Tyler Haberman, Daniel England and Jack Matchinsky.
They’re the next generation of baseball fans, and they’re not happy. In their world, namely the sixth-grade class at Eldorado Elementary School in Highlands Ranch, it’s either/or. You’re either cool or you’re not.
Which brings us to Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod, cool or not cool?
One gave him a cool, two a not cool, and six made up their own category: cool until he took steroids. Two listed A-Rod as their favorite player until he began playing with needles. The most popular player among the nine? That would be former Rockie Matt Holliday.
Until Monday, I wondered how much all these stories about steroids resonated with the next generation. I wondered if kids had heard of BALCO, if they knew about steroids’ effects, why ballplayers used them, that kind of stuff.
Whoa, do they know. Next time I need to do a fact check on ‘roids, I’m heading back to Eldorado.
So, I asked one of them, what do you think of steroids?
“Shrinks your man parts,” he said.
Said another: “Players take them at the end of their careers because they’re getting older and they think it makes them stronger. That’s why Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens took them.”
“It ruins your body,” said another, “and it ruins your reputation.”
Oh, you mean A-Rod?
“He’s running around with Madonna because he’s second fiddle to Derek Jeter. He feels the pressure to be a better player than Jeter. That’s why he took steroids.”
Then there’s my personal favorite: “I knew Barry Bonds was taking steroids. His jaw muscle looks like a bicep.”
Now for the good news, commissioner Selig. From the sounds of things, baseball will continue to thrive despite itself. Yes, these young fans are disappointed in A-Rod and all the others who’ve sold their souls. But not enough to keep them from asking their parents to take them to Coors Field this summer.
And when they become parents, they’ll take their kids to the ballpark too. On one condition, Mr. Commish.
Said one Gen Nexter: “I won’t go if anyone is cheating. That’s what it is, cheating.”
The bottom line?
“It’s still the same. One player isn’t going to make me like baseball any more or less.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
