My dad gave me an interesting article to read on Alex Rodriguez, who if anyone does not know plays third base for the New York Yankees baseball team. I followed Rodriguez (who’s nickname is A-Rod in the baseball world) when he played for the Seattle Mariners. He is an amazing player to watch and has exceptional talent. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player in the American League in the year 2003 by Major League Baseball. He won this award while he was playing for the Texas Rangers which caused problems for Rodriguez because he chose to go to Texas, and leave the Mariners, for a 252 million dollar contract. A lot of people felt Rodriguez cared more about the money than the game because of that choice.
What Egan wrote about to the New York Times had part to do with that choice of Rodriguez. Egan said his young daughter admired Rodriguez too and he felt Rodriguez was a great role model for her to look up to, 10 years ago. Egan said Rodriguez made it a point to preach to children that money does not mean everything and it is about the love of the game. Egan feels Rodriguez mislead his young followers, especially since he got his contract bought out by the Yankees owner George Stienbrenner to get him out of Texas to play for the Yankees “Dynasty.” Egan finds it sad now that his daughter’s once hero is as obsessed with the money he claimed his life was never about.
Is Egan right? Or why should Rodriguez be chastised for taking the money that most people would take? This seems to be a dilema on ones morals. Is A-Rod merely a poster child for people to hate on because they are jealous or because they feel he is more about his personal wealth than the love of the game?
This is where my dad found the article:
GUEST COLUMNIST; A-Rod And Me
July 7, 2007, Saturday
By TIMOTHY EGAN (NYT); Editorial Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 13, Column , 759 words
July 7, 2007, Saturday
By TIMOTHY EGAN (NYT); Editorial Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 13, Column , 759 words
7 comments:
IN case you don't know, A-Rod is his nickname and plays for the Yankees?? Holly dumbing it down Batman.
A-Rod is loving the spot light and does not wish to go back to the abyss of a mid market again.
Outside of a meta debacle finish to the season, he's in pinstripes for the remaining part of his career.
On the money issue, A-Rod was willing to take less money to leave Texas, but the union would not allow it. - So, it is not all about the money - he just wants to win a championship.
I can't get mad at A-Rod for taking such a huge contract, the problem lies with baseball for not having a salary cap. Sure, money doesn't always buy championships, but it sure does help. I can't imagine a world where a sport like football wouldn't have a salary cap. A small market team like Green Bay would never be able to compete and be the classic NFL franchise like they are (even if I do despise them). Until baseball gets a salary cap, signings like A-Rod are going to continue to get bigger and bigger as the years go by.
A Rod contract was one of the biggest sports contracts in the history of sports, of course there will be some sort of jealousy. Is he over paid? Are you joking, YES, I mean that money should be going to heart surgeons or something. But from what I gather, he's a great player, he's built a commodity out of himself, and cashed in, how can we turn against this guy,its the American dream. It's not like the guy isn't playing the same sport every season, he just switches teams, in all fairness, it's nice to be able to se him play on al the corners of the nation, he sould be shared, so fans can watch him in person. Because if they are a fan of the sport, they will enjoy watching a great player play, whether he is on their team or not.
"IN case you don't know, A-Rod is his nickname and plays for the Yankees?? Holly dumbing it down Batman."
What is with the bashing? You must be one of the immature people that call themselves Yankee fans. This is a classroom debate class in which not every student knows sports and their stars. Don't be a douche bag the way you are, this is a learning enviorment.
All that aside, I d not blame Alex for taking the 252 million dollar contract at all. What really bothers me is that he whined about the Team he signed with and demanded to be traded before his contract was even up. He wanted to go to a winner, not the loser that he knew he signed with. Thats my problem.
But hey look, guess what the Yankees have not done since A-Rod has joined them??? Won a World Series!!! Good move A-Rod.
The A-Rod debate is an interesting one with a number of layers to it.
One thing that has not been discussed is the involvement of the players association. I won't go into detail here, but as a baseball follower something to keep in mind is that the players' union is always pushing for its players to accept as large a contract as possible. Whenever you hear that a player has signed at a "hometown discount" to remain with a certain team, he has also received an earful of pressure from the players' union (and his agent) trying to test the market for more value. For example, Mark Buehrle just re-signed with the White Sox and there were rumors the union was going to void the contract since they knew he was worth tens of millions of dollars more on the open market.
While I'm at it...
Sure, A Rod is all about a championship. Witness how he signed with the Rangers saying that the reason he didn't sign with the Yankees was because he wanted to beat the Yankees. Two last place seasons later, his tuned certainly changed.
Witness how he blatantly cheated in the ALCS game six, karate chopping the ball out of Brandon Arroyo's hands.
Witness how he waffled back and forth between playing for the US or the Dominican Republic in the Baseball World Championships, trying to decide which team had the better chance of winning.
The guy is a freakin' awesome baseball player, but he's also a freakin' weasel.
Jonathan Farrow and Rip City 2007 -
It is laughable, if it weren't sad, that in order to point out the alleged maturity level of one - you display your own.
Way to keep the language level for a classroom debate class at a high standard - - douche bag. (you're words)
#1 - this is a public blog which means that postings are free for all to opine on. They may not coincide with your own, which you are free to counter with.
#2 - if that is how PSU is preparing you to interact with those that you don't agree with, then I would further suggest that is yet another example of tax payer money down the tubes.
#3 - is there not a minimum level of base knowledge that should be assumed when covering a topic?
#4 - wait, forget point #3, I just re-read a few comments, and remembered that this being a by product of PSU, outside of its members showing its amazing ability for adjectives, that I should not assume any level of intellectual capacity.
My mistake.
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