Alex Rodriguez: The stupid factor
Alex Rodriguez has been in the news a lot lately thanks too his pursuit of the greatest contract in the history of American sports. The thing I find intriguing about the whole ordeal is that
people don't seem to be as disgusted by Rodriguez as they do by other athletes who have fought for enormous contracts. Why is this? It certainly isn't because he has demonstrated an easygoing and gregarious personality, or because he's played for everyone's favorite teams.
Is it possible that we aren't as hard on A-Rod because we suspect he might be a little stupid?
For a guy making 25 million dollars a year, he seems to get pushed around quite a bit. He never spoke up about wanting to get out of Seattle, and was bowled over with an incredible stack of cash. Then he got traded to New York and he didn't really want to play third base, but since his buddy Derek Jeter was playing short he switched positions. Now this offseason, he didn't seem like he wanted to leave New York, but agent Scott Boras elbowed him into opting out of his contract. For some reason, Rodriguez finally did what he wanted and resigned with the Yankees.
For whatever reason, this pattern of events tells me that he is not a strong willed person and is easily persuaded to do things that the conniving, smart people like Boras and the Steinbrenners want him to do. This all points to someone who is weak minded. Even when he was pointed back to the Yankees, it was after consulting with billionaire Warren Buffett. It's almost as if Rodriguez is the expensive plaything of conniving billionaires.
He seems timid whenever he is interviewed, and at this point in his career, it can't possibly be because he's shy, as he should be accustomed to having a camera in his face which implies that his timidity is because he is unsure of himself or what to say, almost as though he is worried about rocking the boat. It's as if he were a young child, blessed with enormous baseball talent. Would you have reacted the same way at 8 to being asked to leave home for a while, no matter how much candy was given to you? Sure, you'd leap at the candy, but secretly, you'd always want to be at home. He, and the hypothetical child would be too polite to speak up and would just enjoy the candy/money, even though its not what they really want.
So that's why I think Alex Rodriguez isn't as despised as his counterparts in other sports. Terrell Owens comes to mind as the closest example in another sport. At the time, he was the best at his position when he asked for a raise. He held out, the NFL equivalent of opting out of a contract, he had a jerk of an agent in Drew Rosenhaus and in the end signed with the most hated team in his sport, the Dallas Cowboys. The difference? Owens asserted himself, and he made it clear he wanted more money. Rodriguez just wants to stay where he is, but he's not smart enough to tell people that.
people don't seem to be as disgusted by Rodriguez as they do by other athletes who have fought for enormous contracts. Why is this? It certainly isn't because he has demonstrated an easygoing and gregarious personality, or because he's played for everyone's favorite teams.Is it possible that we aren't as hard on A-Rod because we suspect he might be a little stupid?
For a guy making 25 million dollars a year, he seems to get pushed around quite a bit. He never spoke up about wanting to get out of Seattle, and was bowled over with an incredible stack of cash. Then he got traded to New York and he didn't really want to play third base, but since his buddy Derek Jeter was playing short he switched positions. Now this offseason, he didn't seem like he wanted to leave New York, but agent Scott Boras elbowed him into opting out of his contract. For some reason, Rodriguez finally did what he wanted and resigned with the Yankees.
For whatever reason, this pattern of events tells me that he is not a strong willed person and is easily persuaded to do things that the conniving, smart people like Boras and the Steinbrenners want him to do. This all points to someone who is weak minded. Even when he was pointed back to the Yankees, it was after consulting with billionaire Warren Buffett. It's almost as if Rodriguez is the expensive plaything of conniving billionaires.
He seems timid whenever he is interviewed, and at this point in his career, it can't possibly be because he's shy, as he should be accustomed to having a camera in his face which implies that his timidity is because he is unsure of himself or what to say, almost as though he is worried about rocking the boat. It's as if he were a young child, blessed with enormous baseball talent. Would you have reacted the same way at 8 to being asked to leave home for a while, no matter how much candy was given to you? Sure, you'd leap at the candy, but secretly, you'd always want to be at home. He, and the hypothetical child would be too polite to speak up and would just enjoy the candy/money, even though its not what they really want.
So that's why I think Alex Rodriguez isn't as despised as his counterparts in other sports. Terrell Owens comes to mind as the closest example in another sport. At the time, he was the best at his position when he asked for a raise. He held out, the NFL equivalent of opting out of a contract, he had a jerk of an agent in Drew Rosenhaus and in the end signed with the most hated team in his sport, the Dallas Cowboys. The difference? Owens asserted himself, and he made it clear he wanted more money. Rodriguez just wants to stay where he is, but he's not smart enough to tell people that.
Labels: Alex Rodriguez, MLb
posted by Ryan | 11:19 PM
1 Comments:
I assert that a small part of it is because Rodriguez is an amazingly talented baseball player. ALL baseball players, in my opinion, earn way too much money (well, the rookies don't necessarily, but they do because that's "minimum wage"). So, we can be a little desensitized to how much money it is, knowing that he probably deserves more money than most other ballplayers.
But mostly, I think it's because we find the Jeter-worship overblown and obnoxious.
Also, I feel bad for Rodriguez the way the fans turned on him when he wasn't an immediately sensation, and suddenly he was great when he did well.
Post a Comment
<< Home