Dear Baseball Fans, Alex Rodriguez Deserves Your Respect
March 30, 2010 · Mike A · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Dear Baseball Fans,
You can say what you want about Alex Rodriguez, but you can’t say he doesn’t care.
Since the day he reached the major leagues at the ripe age of 18, he has done nothing but beg and plead for our respect, and in return we have done nothing more then point out his faults.
I mean sure, each and every one of us has recognized his greatness since he was in high school, but have we, the people, totally ignored Alex Rodriguez the person?
A-Rod isn’t the best with the media, but he has always wanted nothing more, and for that, shouldn’t we give him an ‘A’ for effort?
We have for a while now recognized the fact that Alex Rodriguez will break the home run record, but instead of applauding his outstanding performance, what have we done but criticize his wrong-doings?
Sure, he’s not perfect, but then again, who is?
Well in the eyes of the media, Derek Jeter is.
And that is who we measure Alex against: Derek Jeter.
Derek Jeter is a god in New York and no tabloid would dare to accuse him of being anything but perfect. So what do New York tabloids do, but pick on the easy target in Alex Rodriguez?
A-Rod has been seen with the likes of Kate Hudson and Madonna on his free time, as pointed out by multiple newspapers.
Sure, what he did was wrong, but are you going to tell me that Derek Jeter never leaves his house, because never once in my life have I seen Derek Jeter’s picture in a newspaper without the word baseball in the same sentence.
Despite everything that the media has done to A-Rod, he still continually tries to make good with them, so why won’t they make good with him?
Is it because they need somebody to pick on if they expect to stay in work?
Probably.
So could we, the people, conclude that maybe our hate-fest toward Alex Rodriguez is nothing more then media propaganda?
Possibly.
Most of all, steroid allegations have sunken the chances of Alex Rodriguez gaining our respect.
However, had the media never leaked an “anonymous” list of steroid users, we would never have mentioned Alex Rodriguez and needles in the same sentence.
Does that make it right?
Absolutely not, but could we at least possibly consider the reasoning behind his steroid use?
Since Alex Rodriguez turned 20, he had been labeled as the next great one. Sounds like a great deal of pressure, huh?
Maybe, just maybe, in an act to please us, the people, Alex Rodriguez took this slight competitive edge so we, the people, would finally give him the respect he so mightily deserved.
Maybe, he wanted to make sure that he would live up to the hype that we, the people, had labeled him with, just so he could feel the love that he has always wanted to feel, but we denied him.
Money is another factor that has played a big role in our hate toward Alex Rodriguez.
You know who else makes a lot of money?
Derek Jeter.
So if we want to compare Alex Rodriguez to Derek Jeter in respect to what they do off the field, wouldn’t it be only fair if we compared them in respect to salary?
Don’t get me wrong, A-Rod is no Derek Jeter, but maybe, just maybe, if we treated him more like one he would be.
Everybody wants Alex Rodriguez to be perfect. But if we, the people, could accept him for what he is then maybe to us he could be perfect.
Yours Truly,
Mike A.
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