All of the above, perhaps.
IMHO, the problem, A-Rod is trying to do what no human being has ever been able or ever will be able to accomplish, and that is to be loved by EVERYONE, because no matter what you do, or how well you do it, there're always some who will dislike you, envy you, hell, even hate you, and using steroids to improve your numbers to be the best player in baseball because you want to be loved by the fans, other players, the media, and live up to that ridiculous contract was never the answer, however, since it was common practice at the time he "was" using, perhaps he is a bit of a victim of circumstance, but if he was, why not just man up and admit it a la Giambi or Pettite?.
Why A-Rod refuses to acknowledge that he is less than perfect and makes mistakes like any other human being would is beyond my scope of comprehension, but hey, we've seen bigger idiots (Barry Bonds says hello) who think themselves to be even more super-human than A-Rod, yet even he never came as such a fake, plastic, and childish person........so much for a role model for the next generation, forget his steroid use, it's everything else about that makes him less of a role model and more of an avoid-model.