mikeandtim

Rooting for A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez is an easy target. He has the highest salary of any MLB player ($25,000,000+) and he plays for the highest profile team in baseball... the New York Yankees. So far he has had one of the most impressive careers of anyone to play the game and he is on pace to break some of the most prominent all-time hitting records baseball has to offer.

So it would seem that I, andTim, would have a difficult time rooting for him. (I like the underdog)

But I will root for him. Why? He is more scrutinized than any player in any sport right now. TO actually beats him out, but he brings it on himself. A-Rod is an altarboy next to Owens. He has performed at the top of pro baseball for 10 years, and yet he isn't respected largely for being considered weak in clutch moments. Unclutch, if you will. I don't buy it.

Whether he is clutch or not is difficult to establish quantitatively or statistically. But the guy is a gamer. To average 153 games played per season over the last 11 years he has had to play through pain, cold streaks, trades, position changes, and more. And through this time he has averaged 43 home runs and 125 RBI's per 162 game seasons. Yet, the guy's career is halfway through and Yankee fans boo him.

Avg: .290- 32nd in the league
HR: 35- 8th in the league
RBI: 121- 4th in the league

Yeah, he deserves to be booed. It's just ridiculous. So I will root for A-Rod, mainly because I root for excellence as well- and he exemplifies excellence in baseball.

posted by mikeandtim @ 6:38:00 PM