An Alex Rodriguez prediction

MSNBC -- among other news outlets -- is showing signs of obsessing over Alex Rodriguez' steroid use.

Here's betting that their coverage doesn't spend much time on the fact that Rodriguez' test results were supposed to remain confidential, and the labor relations implications of the fact that they didn't. Millions of employees across the country are subjected to drug testing, presumably with some assurances that the results will be private. If employers don't keep those assurances to millionaire baseball players, why should anyone think they will be any more careful with a minimum-wage-earning janitor? What consequences will there be for Major League Baseball's failure to keep Rodriguez' test results confidential?

Rather than merely focusing on the fact that someone who was already one of the 2 or 3 best baseball players in the world used steroids for a few years, news reports -- particularly those that don't appear in the sports pages -- should keep in mind that there's more to this story than what Alex Rodriguez did, regardless of what you think of him. Maybe they could sprinkle in the occasional privacy expert among the indignant sports radio hosts.