The difference between Armstrong and A-Rod is down to charm and kind of charisma. A-Rod charm has carried him through this mess. Armstrong's fiery/fighter charisma was great when he was winning and battling cancer but hasn't translate well for image rehabilitation. The ironic thing is he has been much more honest than A-Rod has. A-Rod is still trying to pull the wool over the public's eye.

It wasn't that he used PEDs that will stain him forever it was that he threw his trainer under the bus and still to this day I haven't heard any kind of apology or acknowledgment of that. PEDs are dirty and stain the game that paid him so much but as a human being what he did to his trainer then and how he avoids the subject now can never be undone or forgotten. Sorry as a human he's in the same boat as Jane Fonda in my book. Can't wash that off.

I still don't know why MLB let's itself be represented by a liar and a cheat.

Sorry. Not buying it. A-Rod anywhere warrants an immediate channel switch. Stopped watching the Yankees when it was his good-riddance season. Not interested in seeing him anywhere, including the NY Times.

The buzzfeed platform for "news". pretty funny.....as for A-Rod, seems like a standup guy, and always thought a fine player. ....but it is baseball....a game.

well he may not be the "villain" any more but he is still no Derek Jeter. All those years as DJ's teammate was apparently just a big missed learning opportunity.

Cool. Born and raised in Washington Heights New York, went on to play for the local Bronx team. I wish him well. Glad to see a local guy go on to make it big. As for the rest, the tabloids and the bad press, whatever. Critics hate every one, so no need to ever listen to them.

Of course he now has "more clarity," because he's no longer playing, meaning he no longer needs PEDs to inflate his numbers and his contracts. To imply that this somehow means he's no longer a villain is ridiculous. He's a cheater for the ages, and doesn't belong on the air, and isn't worthy of being a spokesman for the game.

He was an $80M shortstop who cheated, made $450M, and paid $80M in legal fees for damage control. He represents everything bad about baseball, sports, celebrity and the current zeit geist. Shame on NYTimes for wasting its energy and ours on this bringer of asterisk-Pennants. As a Yankee fan and New Yorker, I say even if he donated his illicit gains, were lifetime banned from baseball and television, were banned from Yankee Stadium, Texas and Kingdome whatsis, I still say: "I got no use for 'dis guy."

Wait he isn't a villain anymore? Seriously, I always thought that A-Rod's biggest vulnerability was his need to be accepted and the accompanying always-a-source-of-friction that he seemed to be. Mopey and combative, ego-centric but easily wounded, it wasn't his SLG, BA that distinguished him, he was always defined by seeming petulant and childish. From my seat I always thought he made the prefect target for armchair bullies everywhere--the kid that gets kicked because he's the kid who's vulnerable. He was such an immensely talented player that was no fun to watch, because everything he did was ponderous heavy and wounded. I felt, and still do feel sorry for him.

Some great and supremely gifted athletes have irreparable and indelible stains on their character, e.g. Michael Vick (killing dogs), Pete Rose (gambling on his own team), Barry Bonds (doping) and of course A Rod. I don’t want to hear anything A Rod has to say about anything.

Woooow. I refer you to the SNL clip from the other day where Keenen as Kanye keeps trying to refer to himself as "Victim".

I worked as a celebrity chef in NYC and California so I know the scene and how people who are very famous and very, very, rich operate--on all levels. Acually, I got a university education, aside of my university education from NYU while working with them for over 15 years. My opinion is that A-Rod is still in total denial over what he did. I do think it caused him to crash and burn and get therapy and that he's, what's the word that is used so often these days, oh yes,"evolved" and I do not believe that he has more "clarity" today than before. That picture of him speaks volumes to me, not only his body language, but his facial expression as well. He said this about "Jenny from the block" I’ve never met anyone who’s more honest. She’s so authentic and genuine. Jennifer is a lot of things but authentic and genuine isn't one of them. For me they are a perfect fit. I know you wanted to show Jennifer how deep is your love, A-Rod. Buying a ring which is near 2.5 million, one which needs 4 body-guards to protect her ring finger does not jive with Jen being "authentic". Even if you have millions to spare, it says something entirely different to me about you, her, and your values. I couldn't wait to get out of LA and return to NYC. Then I couldn't wait to get out of NYC and come to Austria and tend my garden, breathe in the meadow flower air from the Alps. I guess I'm not going to get an invitation to the wedding now, A-Rod. I haven't a thing to wear. I wish you luck!

An excellent piece. I don't agree with the comments that continue to bash A-Rod. He was a great player, and perhaps like Roger Clemens, who was also a great player, was simply unable to accommodate to the fact that playing at the level he had known may no longer have been physically possible for him and so took PEDs to continue. He was arrogant at times as player, surely, but this interview sheds light on why he was that way. And there is no doubt that athletes at his level are often arrogant...I'm sure it's easy to be that way as they're generally lionized from an early age. There are, of course, great athletes like Roger Federer, who have always appeared to be very decent and emanate a lot of integrity. But athletes like Federer are, I believe, somewhat of an exception. Clearly A-Rod has learned a lot during these past years, and should be respected for these gains. It couldn't have been easy for him to arrive at the point he is now, so I say good for him.

It is disappointing to see some of the same media outlets & personalities that won't cut Lance Armstrong a break treat Rodriguez with such lazy deference.

Regarding that Macolm Gadwell New Yorker article suggesting that in any way Tommy Johns surgery and the use of illicit PEDS. Any equivalency is ludicrous. First of all, players are allowed to use many PEDS including NSAIDS and steroid injections without penalty. They do these openly as their use is not against the rules and can be acquired legally. TJ surgery is the same. The drugs A-Rod admitted to using were both against baseball rules and, by the way, could only be illegally obtained and therefore he and other users tried to hide their use. Trying to make them all the same is like saying using heroin because you have pain is no different from getting surgery to relieve pain. And New Yorkers are forgiving only of those whom they considered one of them. A-Rod and Keith Hernandez are both good announcers and were good ballplayers but were terrible humans. Both are self acknowledged liars (Hernandez not only admitted to lying about his cocaine use but his lies cost a players' union official his job). If they were associated with visiting teams, they'd probably be booed every time they appeared at a New York venue.

You must be kidding with this title, "A-Rod on Doping...and No Longer Being the Villain. A more accurate title is "A-Rod on Rope-A-Doping." He doesn't come clean here. Twice he's given the chance and he bobs and weaves. But okay, he's co-taught a course on reputation management at Stanford. Was Elizabeth Holmes a distinguished guest lecturer?

See the documentary “Screwball”. You will have a much better understanding of how much Alex got away with, yet continues to rake in the money. No respect for this guy.

Whatever. He'll forever be known as a cheater while playing and he'll be known as Mr J Lo as long as he's with her. ESPN standards for hiring are getting lower and lower.