Sitting in a conference meeting and I get a buzz from my
phone in my pocket. What could it be? A
text? An email? I scramble to reach into my pocket. You’ve all done it before, you’re
sitting in class and you don’t want the teacher to see you sneaking a phone
check or she’ll snatch your phone? Having
the opportunity to take a glance, I look down and think ‘this better be worth
the phone check.’ It’s a “ESPN Scorecenter” update; “MLB-Yankees Alex Rodriguez struck out in his second at-bat for the Triple
A Scranton Humingbirds.”
You’re kidding me right? I needed an update for that?! A-Rod,
you continue to amaze me. If you’re a sports fan and you aren’t from the New
York area, you’ve got to be sick of hearing this ongoing Soap Opera. Check that, even if you are from New York and you’re a sports fan you’re sick of this story. Let me use some baseball terminology for you
on this:
Strike One- In December of 2007, the Yankee’s agree
on a contract giving A-Rod a 10-year $275 million dollars gift. About three years
past his prime, the Yankee’s do the thing they do best and throw HUGE money at
old Hall of Fame players out of their prime.
A-Rod is now the richest man ever to play the game of baseball. Though they had some nice players, the Yankee’s
put all their eggs in one basket and pray that he takes them to the World
Series. Baseball is NOT a one-man sport.
You can’t have one stud and surround him with some jokers and expect to win
games. Derek Jeter and the crew are no
slouches, but I think you catch my drift.
If you need more examples, just look at our boy Albert Pujols. The Yankees put themselves in a tough
predicament right off the bat. If A-Rod
doesn’t continue to perform up to these standards, they’ve lost $275 million.
Oh, and he’s got to do it for 10 years! Obviously that didn’t pan out.
Strike Two- After many performance-enhancing
allegations made toward A-Rod, in 2009 he decides to come clean about being
dirty on 60 Minutes to Ms. Katie Couric. Remember that? The sports world was focused solely on what
A-Rod was taking, who he was hanging out with, A-Rod’s cousin who was supplying
him with the juice, etc. Okay, we get it
ESPN! He took steroids, he admitted it, move on and see how he plays now. It’s like ESPN hired TMZ to hide in bushes
and see what A-Rod was eating for breakfast.
Of course his game suffers, muscles shrink, and injuries are bound to
set in. Once deemed the next Mr.
October, A-Rod strikes out and blows his post-season reputation.
Strike Three- The Biogenesis Report comes out and on
August 5, 2013 the MLB suspends A-Rod for 211 games (the rest of the season and
next year), mainly for lying about his of performance enhancing usage. A-Rod at the time was recovering from surgery
and working on his rehab. Look, I’m no
baseball expert and I’m certainly not in the Yankee’s front office, but it
sounds like some high school, “he-said-she-said” cattiness going on with the Yankee’s
management and A-Rod. Some say, A-Rod wasn’t ready to play when he got hurt last
year, but the Yankee’s made him play. Now they don’t want him to play at the
beginning of this year, but they owe him tons of money, so they hope the MLB bans
him for life. It’s so stupidly confusing
that I’m tired of keeping up with the story.
He’s apparently snitching on other players in the league for using? No wonder Ryan Dempster threw three inside
pitches after finally pegging him in the shoulder on national TV, I would too!
What we need to recognize as fans is that this story is
getting old. A-Rod is a pre-Madonna, he
wants to be treated as such and he and his overpaid people (agents, PR
specialists, dope-dealing cousins) need to get out of the media spotlight. I don’t care what he did in the minor leagues
in his rehab stint; I don’t care what he’s doing legally (or illegally), what
is he doing on the field? Trying to keep his pinstripes clean, because he’s
certainly not producing the 10-year $275 mill status. He’s not a great baseball player anymore, and
when he was, he was allegedly cheating. Is
it just me, or should we really just not care anymore?
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