This story appears in ESPN The Magazines September 5 NFL Preview Issue. Subscribe today!IT SOUNDS SO inconceivable, naive, delusional, but it was only a decade ago that Alex Rodriguez was the antidote to a ruinous generation of drugs and greed. He was the choice of the really smart baseball men, such as Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman, both of whom traded for him, and a paralyzed commissioner such as Bud Selig, who tolerated Barry Bonds holding the home run record because sn enough Rodriguez would shatter it and make the game whole again. He would make them clean.Alex Rodriguez only made it worse. The Golden Boy wasnt so golden after all. Following a bizarre week in which the Yankees held a retirement ceremony for him even though hed never announced he was quitting, Rodriguez was discarded without much care. Even the pregame celebration before his final game as a Yankee was curtailed by thunder, lightning and rain, fitting for those who found him less of a True Yankee than the rest. That wasnt thunder, former Yankees player and coach Lee Mazzilli said of the biblical thunderclaps that preceded the downpour. That was George. The Yankees 1996 championship team was being honored the next day, but for Rodriguezs night, only Mariano Rivera joined him on the field. Former teammates Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter were not present. Neither was his old manager, Joe Torre. Thats called a message pitch.Point the blame at Rodriguez, who admitted using PEDs, but no amount of reveling in his inglorious end can undo the enormous collaborative effort that has created baseballs current dystopia. Rodriguez, along with Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire, is part of the Mount Rushmore of discredited legends that represents the true legacy of the steroid era: It isnt that they arent in Cperstown. Its that nobody cares.The all-time home run list was once led by the most recognizable foursome in sports -- Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson. That leaderboard std for nearly 30 years, until Bonds, who hit his 500th and 600th home runs just one season apart, passed Robinson in 2002. Sammy Sosa hit 60 home runs three times and won the home run title in exactly none of those years. While baseball tk the money and laughed at warnings that it was undermining itself, the consequences would be felt later, with Rodriguez amassing 3,000 hits, 2,000 runs and 2,000 RBIs -- something only Aaron had done -- but leaving the game utterly uncelebrated, inside baseball and especially out.The Rodriguez epitaph will be a one-sided story about the phenom who was part of the top millionth percentile of talent and blew it all. Yet Alex Rodriguez will in the end be no different from the industry in which he performed for the past two decades, a game that has lost its way, seemingly intent on undermining all that made it special.The game, like A-Rod, tk the money (it is now close to a $10?billion industry), ignored the spread of steroids and lost out on the gd stuff. Its records are now as worthless as those in the league it is so envious of, the NFL. It decides which team will host the most important games of the World Series based on an exhibition game. It plays its championship in the worst weather because its leaders refuse to compromise on money and adjust the schedule. It plays at least one game every day between teams that play under two sets of rules. And because baseball cannot decide whether it wants to be truly modern, the games leadership allows it to stand weakly in the middle, playing a full season of baseball, simultaneously rewarding and penalizing teams for not coming in first place by staging a one-game playoff, as if the baseball season were the NCAA tournament.Baseball wants the world to be proud of its drug-testing program. Meanwhile, it deals with an All-Star team of steroid-tainted players who thus far need a ticket to enter the Hall of Fame -- Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, Manny Ramirez and most certainly Rodriguez -- by disciplining virtually none of them and hiring nearly all -- laying the weight of accountability on the Baseball Writers Association of America. If not knowing himself was the self-destructive fatal flaw of Alex Rodriguez, it makes perfect sense that he felt so much at home playing major league baseball.Clearance Adidas Superstar UK . But what about the officials? Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle. Wholesale Adidas Superstar UK .Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. http://www.clearancesuperstaruk.com/ .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar tk over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. Adidas Superstar UK . The Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers all won on Sunday meaning the Rangers will host the Rays in a play-in game on Monday. Adidas Superstar UK Outlet . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days.RENTON, Wash. - As?Seattle Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls went through eight months of rehab following a season-ending ankle injury, one former teammate he had in his corner was Marshawn Lynch.A lot of encouragement, Rawls said. Hes been having my back for a long time now and just making sure Im in really gd spirits.I tk a lot from him, just how he approached the game from the mental part and just leading me off the field as far as different things as far as being in the NFL or making business decisions or talking to different people or trying to help me get a regimen of taking care of my body as a rkie.Rawls returned to practice Tuesday for the first time since suffering a broken left ankle and ligament damage in December. He went through warm-ups with his teammates and caught passes from the quarterbacks during the beginning part of practice.As the team split into positional groups, Rawls went to a side field with a trainer. With his helmet off, he got in his running back stance and tk off in sprints that ranged from 10 to 40 yards. The session lasted about 15 minutes, and Rawls was an observer for the rest of practice.Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has maintained all along that thhe team will proceed slowly with Rawls and wont rush him back.ddddddddddddWere going to be careful, Carroll said. Theres no need to rush him at all. A very violent ftball player. He needs time to get ready to play the way he does, so were going to take however long that is. I dont really have a schedule at this point.Carroll added that the team has not made a determination yet on whether Rawls will see any action in the preseason.Overall, though, the team continues to believe Rawls will be ready for Week 1 of the regular season. Hes in position to replace Lynch as the Seahawks primary ball carrier.He was willing to work at it at the levels that we could barely understand, Carroll said. He was so vicious about the workouts. The stuff he was doing to prove to the trainers that he was ready, the hops and the jumps and the bursts and the continued work over a long period of time, it was unreal. I dont think theres anybody in better shape than Thomas. He put himself in great, great conditioning. Itll be hard for us to help him maintain that level. Hes worked so hard. ' ' '