The American people? Seriously, the American people? By then, the delusions of grandeur had overwhelmed Alex Rodriguez to the point where the people by his side, the army of by-the-hour fix-it flacks with the sorts of fancy degrees he always wanted, understood they needed to feed his fallacies lest they find themselves unemployed. So he would talk to America, even if America already had judged him. Nobody cared that A-Rod still was processing his father abandoning him at nine years old, even if it helped define him far more than his swing or his glove. It was easy to ignore that, and if America does one thing, it's take the easy way out with A-Rod. Even if America is tired of the steroid blather, the Schadenfrod is overwhelming. After fruitless negotiations, Rodriguez and Major League Baseball couldn't settle on a mutually acceptable punishment for his alleged years of PED use, lies about it and feeble attempt at a coverup, and we're left with the mess of today: an unprecedented 211-game suspension, an immediate appeal by Rodriguez and his return to the field for the New York Yankees on Monday night in Chicago. The documents from the Biogenesis clinic first came to light in January, and along with testimony from founder Anthony Bosch, it left Rodriguez cornered and with a choice: accept a long ban, longer than any in history short of those expelled from the game, or fight via arbitration. [ Related: Alex Rodriguez suspended for 211 games for Biogenesis ties ] Best thing in baseball. People adored his talent. Drove Ferraris. Dated Madonna. America remembers Canseco for his biceps, his book called "Juiced" and his bonkers drug conspiracy theories with seeds of truth. And more than the home runs and baseball brilliance, it will remember Rodriguez for his needle-pocked fall. The severity of the punishment is the closest baseball will come to the death penalty, reserved for a face big enough to make the steroid Mount Rushmore. Rodriguez earned that spot alongside Canseco, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. A-Rod has spent more than half his life in this game, so abiding by his wish and judging him from that February day forward is not an option. He devoted his life to this sport, a life with seminal moments that barreled toward this conclusion, and this is the ultimate nadir. Just because he's playing tonight doesn't take away the truth about the man who once was supposed to be the clean home run king. Baseball no longer wants him. Makes sense to go back only because Rodriguez couldn't stop talking about it at his press conference, how young and stupid he was. The last time an 18-year-old played at this level was 1978. The same fame-industrial complex that leaves Justin Bieber thinking it's OK to spit on peopleand Amanda Bynes thinking it's OK to light driveways on fire helped turn Alex Rodriguez into the sort of megalomaniac who speaks to entire countries and thinks they listen. America listens today because of the money. All the money. Until now, the biggest contract in professional sports belonged to the NBA's Kevin Garnett: $126 million. The Texas Rangers doubled that for A-Rod. The Rangers eventually filed for bankruptcy and A-Rod kept cashing $2 million-plus biweekly checks, hitting home runs, producing at a historic level. [ Related: MLB's Biogenesis investigation leads to 13 more suspensions ] Yeah. There's probably that. Until then, Alex was still a kid, just 25 years old, single, and frighteningly myopic toward baseball. The Rangers are done with A-Rod. The fit was never right anyway. He chased the money, and everyone in Texas knew that, and with baseball and money there's this weird guilt foisted on those who make the most. A-Rod's scarlet letter is a dollar sign. On the contrary, during his three years with the Rangers he has hit 156 home runs, leading the league each season, driven in almost 400 runs and won an MVP award. He is the best player in baseball. One conquest alleged that a picture of a centaur hung above his bed – and it featured A-Rod's torso and head. For 10 years now, A-Rod has worn pinstripes. In the middle of the World Series between Boston and Colorado, Rodriguez informs the Yankees he is opting out of his $252 million contract. Rodriguez is immune by now. [ Related: Alex Rodriguez says he will 'fight this through the process' ] In truth, A-Rod hadn't changed. All season long, Rodriguez had traveled with his cousin, Yuri Sucart, and a personal trainer named Angel Presinal, who six years earlier had been banned from baseball clubhouses because he was caught with a bag full of steroids. The Yankees ignored that and every warning sign – A-Rod's predilection for providing the sort of headaches Advil cannot alone defeat, the dreadful history of players performing past their 40th birthday – ponied up the cash A-Rod wanted and are left staring now at a best-case scenario that includes three more years and nearly $65 million due an old, broken-down, serial PED user. A-Rod just won the World Series. There's a story on the Miami New Times website accusing Alex Rodriguez of receiving ludicrous amounts of PEDs from a quack in South Florida named Anthony Bosch. In his logbooks, Bosch refers to Rodriguez as "Cacique." It means boss. Rodriguez admitted to taking Primobolan from 2001-03 and also tested positive for testosterone. A month after the February 2009 press conference, Rodriguez needed hip surgery, and during this time he sought treatment from Anthony Galea, a Canadian doctor who later was caught with PEDs and pleaded guilty to criminal charges. No matter how untrue it was, Rodriguez felt like he needed more, and it guided his choices. [ Twitter: MLB players react to Alex Rodriguez's suspension ] The last year, even by A-Rod's standards, has been trying. His game collapsed in October, andYankees manager Joe Girardi pinch hit for him late in games and even benched in the playoffs. Rodriguez sent an Instagram photo of himself and his hip surgeon declaring he was ready to play. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told him to "shut the [expletive] up." Plenty of those who considered themselves the nuclei that kept the electron that is Rodriguez from straying too far were either pushed away or left Rodriguez. It's A-Rod, a girlfriend, one friend, a real-estate guy, his mom, his employees and an ocean of sadness saturating his world of defiance. Baseball gave Alex Rodriguez the longest non-lifetime suspension in history today. The penalty dwarfs the 65-game suspension given to Ryan Braun almost two weeks ago. Rodriguez wants to salvage as much of his salary as possible. Rodriguez wants to save his reputation by prevailing inside an arbitrator's chambers. Amid all of baseball's bullying, the Yankees' matching Rodriguez's passive-aggressiveness, the media's haranguing, the public's cries for a ban, he has not broken. [ Video: Alex Rodriguez's phenomenal fall from star to pariah ] It was an idle offer, for anybody who truly wants to be judged amends his behavior, and, if anything, A-Rod's has worsened. Most important were what seemed like throwaway words toward the end: "Baseball is a lot bigger than Alex Rodriguez."