Kids, there are no such things as heroes, only a few individuals that make you think someday you can be one. Alex Rodriguez was never a hero. He has not been well liked since accepting a 252 million dollar contract to play with the Texas Rangers. A lot of his former teammates don't exactly speak glowingly of him. He cares too much about his image. Fans of his own team boo him.Yet, now people's anger towards Alex is mixed with a strong dose of disappointment. It seems weird like being upset at Darth Vader for smoking pot. The reason for this disappointment goes beyond Alex's personality. People are angry at Alex because he was baseball's great hope. He was the one who would break all the records that were broken by "dirty" players. Now, he's one of them.
Should you really be surprised? It's not the 40 and 50 home runs per season, steroids or not he's always had the ability to do that. The one consistent part of Alex's personality is that he tries too hard. He tries too hard to be liked, tries too hard to fit in, tries too hard to be great. Steroids were widespread in the game at that time and he felt it would give him an edge. Little did we know back then how it would all play out. Fans look at steroids now as everything that's wrong with baseball, but the truth is that steroids saved baseball. After the player's strike in 1995 baseball was struggling to regain fans. Then came 1998's home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and everyone fell in love again. I think we all knew what was going on. These guys looked like linebackers not baseball players. Who cared? Games were finishing 10-9 with 4 or 5 homers per game. The stadiums were filled, TV contracts were signed, and revenues went through the roof. We all knew, but nobody wanted to admit it.
Fast forward to 2009. Alex Rodriguez took steroids. Should you be that surprised? He's no hero, but he's no villain either. He's just a baseball player. What's sad about this is that Alex probably didn't even need the steroids. He's won two MVPs since MLB instituted a steroid testing policy including one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history in 2007. In a couple of months Yankee fans will only care about one thing; a World Series. They know if that's going to happen they'll need A-Rod to play well. If he does, they'll forgive him. If he doesn't, they'll get creatively mean. I don't know what can be taken away from this mess. I guess Mr.T said it best, "Just Say No."
3 comments:
He's playing for the texas rangers in the future?
No. He signed a 252 million dollar contract with Texas in 2001. He opted out of the contract after the 2007 season and signed a new contract with the Yankees. He'll be a Yankee for 9 more years.
for me it's not so much that he took steroids but that he lied. and so you're right...he's now one of them. his faults may make him more human but where do you draw the line?
Post a Comment