maybe the reason is that you really have no clue whether or not he has friends on the team, and your whole assumption base is flawed? nah…Mike Lupica said it, so it must be true.

A virtual hate climate was created by the media and permeates his every move, word and deed. There has been a dehumanizing quality to these write-ups, which have always reminded me of how hate groups operate; Really, it reminds me of Tennessee Williams’ ‘Suddenly Last Summer.’ There is something nearly obscene about the way the player has been harped on and dissected. Could this, at least, partially explain, if not justify, his rudeness? Maybe you are more exempt than others in the desire not to criticize, but to, and I must insist, DESTROY this guy; but why would he take the care to distinguish one from the other? He’s probably too busy running for cover from the ‘coverage.’

But what’s happened is: while the really stupid people, or the “boo” culture, have bought into the sportswriter agenda, which essentially created those people, those with a little more critical thinking skills see through the,to use Pete’s word “weird” agenda of the writers, who have actually failed in trying to bring him down, creating, instead, a SYMPATHETIC figure; and Yanksfan57 hit it on the head; the writers are “weirdly” INVESTED somehow in ARod failing.

But as I said, you’ve all failed, because against this poorly disguised disdain you all seem to have for Alex Rodriguez, he looms as a very SYMPATHETIC victim.

And as RCK pointed out, and others after him, ARod’s awkwardness, and unchecked bursts of personality against his own surveillance of self, betray a HUMANITY that he just isn’t skilled enough to conceal, and I think THAT touches people.

He is a great player; noone can deny that. But there has to be a reason as to why a guy like him was unable to make friends on the team and not fit in for the longest time

“I don’t write my stories for myself. I write them for you. Presumably, you’d like to know something about a player you like so much. Otherwise baseball might as well be played by nine robots.”

Maybe, these comments might point out that, as far as some segment of fans go, the games are what matter. Yes, they are played by flesh-and-blood men, but when I watch a game, or read an account of it (or of spring training or whatever), I care most about what we can see them do between the lines.

You guys are there, in good seats, with the experience of watching thousands of games before. Tell me about the flow of the game, the dozens of ways in which any given baseball game is unusual or interesting. Telling me how the player felt when he recognized the fastball coming in the bottom of the third is something I find really trivial. Honestly, I could not care less about the answers players give when asked to shed insight into the game; it’s obvious that they have to develop stock answers.

I do like some of the human-interest stuff on players who are new – Joba, IPK, Phil; these guys are fresh. And when Alex was fresh, the type of stories you can write about Joba now that you would have been able to write about Alex then would have been interesting too.

But they were written, years ago, and one of the key questions that everyone has about the fresh faces, namely “Is he going to grow up to be a good ballplayer, or not?”, is something we know about Alex. Now, all I care about is watching him work, at a job he is insanely good at. It helps that he’s playing for the Yankees, but I watch and appreciate Pujols in the same way, and even Manny Ramirez.

I don’t need to know anything else about how they approach training, or pre-game preparation, or what they were thinking when the third-base coach put up the stop sign. I care about their performance, and the things they actually did during the games.

Of course, there are lots of sports page editors who will be absolutely convinced that fans who think like me don’t exist, at least not in any number worth caring about. So I’m sure the pressure to produce the kinds of stories you’re trying to get when Alex frustrates you is pretty great.

SJ44: did you ever say what you do? I’d also like to ask you just what you mean by “Alex, and I readily admit a lot of it is his own doing,...”

But that is a rhetorical question. This has been rehashed since the days of Pete claiming its AROD/Lou vs. Torre and the old guard. Suffice it to say that is a terribly misleading view. Aside from the infamous Jeter quote way back when – just what has Alex ever done to incite the vile spewed at him?

One thing i don’t get is why people give him a hard time about being the highest paid player. Bottom line is baseball is a job, a cool one, but a job nonetheless. If i was him i would get every dime i could and insure the lively hood of my children, my children’s children and so on and so forth. You only play ball for so long, take advantage.

PS..Pete, your blogs get me through the work day, keep it up!