A-Rod
Pretty good piece . Yankee fan, you're just not going to convince me that this guy is a stiff.
What is it about Alex Rodriguez that makes Yankee fan so irrationally angry? It can't be just that the Yankees haven't won a World Series since he's been with them. Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield, and Randy Johnson haven't won a ring with the Yankees either, and none of them seem to be taken to task about it the way A-Rod is.
The contract? Maybe, but with George Steinbrenner writing checks, no one can claim that A-Rod is preventing the Yankees from spending the money to build the team around him.
When I was growing up in Milwaukee, I watched the first six years of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA career. Adbul-Jabbar was clearly the best player in the league those years, and for some years afterwards, but there were always those who expected even more. Why? Because he was so good and so graceful on the court that it looked to many as though he was just gliding through the game, not having to work hard.
Of course, that was complete lunacy. Abdul-Jabbar was under siege constantly on the court from big, physical guys, from great players like Nate Thurmond and Wes Unseld to guys like Dennis Awtry who were in the NBA only to push Abdul-Jabbar around. One season Abdul-Jabbar averaged 45 minutes per game (NBA games, remember, are 48 minutes long). This guy wasn't working hard? He should have done more?
Some people just make things look easier than they really are. Abdul-Jabbar was like that, and so was A-Rod. But that's not what plays with Frustrated Jock Sportswriter and Guy in the Box Seats. They love guys who dive around a lot and run into walls. Even when Rodriguez tries to be that guy, it backfires. When he slapped the ball away from Bronson Arroyo during the 2004 postseason, it was a stupid thing to do, and he was rightly hammered for it. But if David Eckstein had done it, Tim McCarver and John Kruk would have been all over what a gamer Eckstein was and what a gutty play he tried.
It's sadly common for a team's best player to be used as the scapegoat when they don't win. It's just that these days, especially in New York, the volume is just louder.
What is it about Alex Rodriguez that makes Yankee fan so irrationally angry? It can't be just that the Yankees haven't won a World Series since he's been with them. Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield, and Randy Johnson haven't won a ring with the Yankees either, and none of them seem to be taken to task about it the way A-Rod is.
The contract? Maybe, but with George Steinbrenner writing checks, no one can claim that A-Rod is preventing the Yankees from spending the money to build the team around him.
When I was growing up in Milwaukee, I watched the first six years of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA career. Adbul-Jabbar was clearly the best player in the league those years, and for some years afterwards, but there were always those who expected even more. Why? Because he was so good and so graceful on the court that it looked to many as though he was just gliding through the game, not having to work hard.
Of course, that was complete lunacy. Abdul-Jabbar was under siege constantly on the court from big, physical guys, from great players like Nate Thurmond and Wes Unseld to guys like Dennis Awtry who were in the NBA only to push Abdul-Jabbar around. One season Abdul-Jabbar averaged 45 minutes per game (NBA games, remember, are 48 minutes long). This guy wasn't working hard? He should have done more?
Some people just make things look easier than they really are. Abdul-Jabbar was like that, and so was A-Rod. But that's not what plays with Frustrated Jock Sportswriter and Guy in the Box Seats. They love guys who dive around a lot and run into walls. Even when Rodriguez tries to be that guy, it backfires. When he slapped the ball away from Bronson Arroyo during the 2004 postseason, it was a stupid thing to do, and he was rightly hammered for it. But if David Eckstein had done it, Tim McCarver and John Kruk would have been all over what a gamer Eckstein was and what a gutty play he tried.
It's sadly common for a team's best player to be used as the scapegoat when they don't win. It's just that these days, especially in New York, the volume is just louder.
posted by Jim at
9:51 PM
1 Comments:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Texas paying a sizable portion of A-Rod's contract? I thought I read somewhere that the Yankees are paying Jeter more than A-Rod. If so, that gives Yankee Fan even less reason to gripe about the money Rodriguez is making.
By
Bob, at 7:53 AM
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