Lame Sports

Love/Hate-Rod

By Jason Levy

You have to love (or hate) Major League Baseball. Even after the season is over, the national pastime still dominates the back pages across America. The Hot Stove League is in full swing, as experts and fans pontificate where players will sign and which players will be swapped in an effort by teams to look good on paper.

But the name baseball fans will see ad-nauseam this winter is that of the alleged great one, Alex Rodriguez. I say alleged because while everyone agrees few ballplayers in history have his talent, A-Rod has yet to showcase said talent when the situation matters most. October is a cruel month for Mr. Rodriguez, where his super human stats from the regular season turn into a tease on the hometown fans.

“Winning isn’t everything, it’s how you play the game.” That’s what many parents tell their young little leaguers that baseball is all about fun. But A-Rod would say “Winning isn’t everything, it’s how much you get paid to play the game,” as he and super-agent Scott Boras set their sights on A-Rod’s second record breaking contract.

As a fan of one of the teams with an A-Rod curiosity, the Mets, I honestly don’t know how I would feel about seeing a #3 Rodriguez jersey in blue, orange, and white. After their wretched September, the Mets (and their fans) should be open to all ideas on how to improve the squad. But is he worth the (at least) $300 million over eight to ten years that he will command? Is any player worth that? Especially when what the Mets need most of all is pitching, pitching, and really good young starting pitching. If A-Rod does come to Flushing, would he be willing to move to first base, so David “Face of the Franchise” Wright doesn’t have to shift positions?

But more importantly, can I accept A-Rod as a Met after four years of aiming my vitriol at him? Of all the Yankees of the past four years, no one suffered more of my and most of the Yankee-haters scorn than did Rodriguez. Everything he does seems like a calculated plan between he and Boras and a staff of public relations gurus, only they’re not doing a good job of crafting the A-Rod image. If they were, adjectives including selfish, oversensitive, stat-obsessive, and sore-thumb would be no where near his name. His lack of a championship doesn’t help his cause.

It’s almost impossible to say this of a (soon to be) two-time MVP winner, but Yankees fans never embraced A-Rod. They won championships before he got there with their own megastar shortstop, Derek Jeter, beloved by all Yankees faithful. In his tenure, the furthest the Yanks got was game seven of the ALCS, but that was after blowing a 3-0 lead to the hated Red Sox. Even when swarms of young Yankee lovers started donning #13 jerseys, Rodriguez never found a comfort zone. How many other “best players ever” has this happened to?

Unfortunately, this saga will drag through the holidays. I’d be shocked if Rodriguez signed before January. Fans of the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Cubs, Angels, Giants, and Dodgers will be kept waiting to see if A-Rod takes their team’s money. Whoever does pony up the dough, don’t think it means a championship parade will be coming to your town. Alex Rodriguez is no champion. It’s amazing that a man who could end up with over $500 million from baseball won’t have the one thing every ballplayer dreams of. Maybe he can buy one of Jeter’s rings.

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