A-Rod proves he's only human
Posted: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 11:47 AM
A-Rod went out on a date in Toronto, and if it helps his hitting, I’m sure every Yankee fan with the exception of his wife will be delighted. If it doesn’t, they’ll also be delighted, because nothing promotes the circulation like a salacious story about a superstar.
I’ve got mixed feelings on this one. The strongest is the customary feeling of delicious revulsion I get so often when reading what passes in The New York Post for front-page news. The other is something approaching empathy for the guy who was caught being human for one of the few times in his life.
This stuff has no place in a newspaper. I really believe that. A-Rod is a wealthy star, but I don’t think that means his private life should be fodder for the tabloids. If he were a public figure, it’s a different story, especially if it were an elected official who lectures the rest of us on how to live a moral life.
But A-Rod is just a ballplayer. Believe it or not, other married ballplayers see women who aren’t their wives when they’re on the road. There was a famous quote about that in Jim Bouton’s famous tell-all book, Ball Four. As the Yankees were getting off the plane after a road trip and preparing to meet their wives, who were lined up at the gate, somebody – probably Mickey Mantle – said, “All right, guys. Look horny.”
Whatever morals are involved are strictly individual. For the ballplayers – and others who travel for a living – it’s nothing personal. The great majority of the ballplayers who cheat actually adore their wives. What they’re doing has nothing to do with romance or even emotion. It’s strictly something to do to ease the tension, pass the time, and inflate their egos. The wonder isn’t that some guys are unfaithful in a sporting kind of way but that all of them aren’t.
But even if you are able to ignore the moral judgments of others, you can’t ignore A-Rod’s wife. His daughter is two and a half, too young to know anything. But his wife has just been humiliated in public. If A-Rod did anything that can be considered morally wrong in an absolute sense, that’s it. If you have to canoodle on the side, keep it out of the papers.
In a perfect world, no one would care about such things and newspapers would have better things to report. But, as Al Gore has been pointing out while promoting his book, Assault on Reason, America loves “trivialities and nonsense.”
"What is it about our collective decision-making process that has led us to this state of affairs where we spend much more time in the public forum talking about -- or receiving information about -- Britney Spears shaving her head or Paris Hilton going to jail?" he said at a New York book signing.
Now, he might add, talking about A-Rod’s busty gal pal.
I don’t know how the paparazzi and the tabloid writers sleep at night. They’ve chosen to support themselves by embarrassing and humiliating others.
You read The Post’s story, and you wonder if the author has to wear Depends while grinding out the copy. The folks at The Post’s Page 6 must short out three keyboards a week with their drool.
Here’s the real story: A-Rod went to dinner and a strip club with a blonde woman whose identity could not be determined. Afterwards, they went to his hotel and got in the elevator.
That’s it, folks. But to the Post, they didn’t go to a restaurant but to a “pricey steakhouse.” It wasn’t a strip joint, but a “glitzy” strip club. The hotel in which he was staying was in a “posh” section of town. He wasn’t with a woman but with a “busty blonde” or a “babe.” If you asked her what she wore, she’d probably say, “jeans and a t-shirt.” If you asked the Post, they’d tell you: “His tight-bodied, bleach-blonde gal pal was clad in a snug pair of blue jeans, a shiny, light T-shirt and wedge-heeled shoes.”
Since we don’t know who the woman was – it could have been his, um, “niece” or, ahem, “cousin” – in Post-speak, she’s a “mystery woman.”
With everything that’s going on in the world, this occupied the Post’s entire front page. With so many things to learn and know, the traffic on the paper’s Web site has all but overwhelmed the servers.
They report. You decide.
Now that my spleen is properly vented, let me add that it is an encouraging sign. A-Rod has spent way too much time trying to be perfect. He’s a lot better off being just as flawed as the rest of us – and admitting it. I feel sorry for his wife. No one deserves this. But if this somehow gets A-Rod off the perfect act and into some real human emotion, it might not be the worst thing that ever happened.
