Two months after scandalous scantily clad photos of him surfaced on the internet, Cleveland outfielder Grady Sizemore has finally publicly addressed the issue.  Here is the statement he gave the AP:

It’s tough, this is a situation where it’s a private matter and personal photos were stolen illegally. I’ve always tried to represent myself and the Cleveland organization as best as possible — and Lord knows, me without clothes on is not as best as possible — and to put everybody through this is a terrible feeling and I apologize to everybody.  I’m deeply sorry you had to see that, and I can only imagine the pain you must be going through.

This is a private matter, I never intended for any of this to get out. I mean, if you looked like me, would you mean for these photos to get out?  It’s so embarrassing and shameful, and I hate to have to put everybody through this, but in the end it just wasn’t meant to come out. It was meant for me and my girlfriend — who I thank God for every day that she’s the one person in the world who can stomach my hideous appearance — and it just happened to work out the way it did.

You always have to be careful, but this was something that was stolen out of an e-mail account. How could I possibly know some freak would go in there? It wasn’t like we intended for these pictures to go anywhere. We weren’t flying them anywhere. We weren’t showing them to friends. We wouldn’t have many friends if we did that, now would we? This was stolen out of an e-mail account.  Which you would think would be sacred.

I’ve put it behind me — since it’s stolen and private, private and stolen — and I’m looking forward to this year. And trying not to look in the mirror, obviously.

Certainly, Sizemore makes compelling points that he did not intend for the photos to get out.  Certainly no one is going to be calling him Tripod if he can maintain his modesty with the tiniest of teacups.  But he never addressed one of the main issues for some people — why would a grown man in the public eye feel the need to take such photos even if they were only meant for his girlfriend’s eyes?  Since the photos were apparently really stolen, I guess he shouldn’t have to answer that, but he can’t blame people for wondering.