By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the Star Magazine story about Yankees shortstop Alex Rodriguez allegedly playing and hosting $500,000 poker games in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami in which cocaine was openly used and thugs threatened players over their gambling debts.

Now, as Major League Baseball investigates A-Rod’s involvement, New York Daily News writer Jim Rich threw Celtics free agent forward Troy Murphy and other professional athletes right under the bus along with Rodriguez. Here’s the passage from Rich’s column entitled “Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez playing poker is only a big deal because he has proven to be a lightning rod”:

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