Alex Rodriguez has been the butt of everyone’s steroid jokes for years. But as a Redsox fan, I think the Yankees are doing him dirty.

Aaron Boone’s homerun off Tim Wakefield in the bottom of the 11th in the 2003 ALCS would still haunt the minds of Redsox fans today if the trade for Alex Rodriguez gone as originally planned.

Rodriguez, who bounced from Seattle to Texas and was subsequently traded to the Redsox after the 2003 season was seen as the piece that would put the team over the Yankee hill. But the MLB Player’s Union nixed the deal and the Yankees stole A-rod out from under the bright lights of Fenway Park.

This act of treachery lit Redsox nation with a “fck those motherfckers” fire that would continue to play out all season. The following summer of 2004, A-Rod stepped to the plate at Fenway, was hit in the back by Redsox pitcher Bronson Arroyo and it set A-Rod off.

But Redsox catcher Jason Varitek immediately stepped in with a face push for the ages, giving us a good baseball brawl that resulted in one of the greatest baseball photos of all time:

It’s widely thought this brawl led to the momentum change in the AL East equivalent to when a little brother suddenly becomes stronger than big brother. A-Rod would embarrass himself again when the teams eventually met in the ALCS with the infamous Game 6 glove slap in the middle of one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

The Redsox would go on to beat the Yankees and win their first World Series in 86-years. A-Rod’s reputation was never the same and he would continue to embarrass himself throughout the years with steroid allegations, lawsuits, a weird romance with Madonna and that questionable mirror picture where he’s making out with himself.

A-Rod is a complicated narcissist who’s obsessed with optics and desperately craves to be accepted.

But he’s also four home runs away from the 700 club—the most exclusive club in baseball’s history. Though the Yankees have celebrated other steroid users in the past, they refuse to let A-Rod have any kind of farewell tour or take the field in his last week for a team that has no shot at the postseason.

Which got me to thinking, “If you’re the GM of the Yankees, how would you have handled the A-Rod situation?” We polled the listeners of Helmets and Heels and the results show A-Rod has been getting slighted.

If then Yankees were this upset with A-Rod to avoid playing him this season, they should have cut him already. They could have cut him before the season, two months in or over the summer. But they’re choosing to be a bitter and vengeful ex instead. Which is ludicrous for a historic and global franchise who should always air on the side of rising above the petty.

You can listen to our full debate on this topic around the hour and 3 minute mark.

Also on the show, we talk our favorite Olympic stories, NFL hot topics and the usual studs and duds of the week.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SHOW

6:30- Studs of the Week
20:05- Duds of the Week
28:45- HOF game canceled,
35:46- Favorite Olympic moments so far
50:42- Will Blake Bortles flame out or flourish?
01:03:32- If you’re the GM of the Yankees, how are you handling A-Rod?