Go Big or Go Home: Alex Rodriguez Did Both Today
- It’s A-Rod’s world, we’re just livin’ in it.
Say what you will about embattled Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, just don’t even try to deny the guy’s ability to put on a show. He doesn’t even need a bat to do it anymore. Give this guy a microphone and a list of grievances and you can just sit back and watch the sparks fly.
On Wednesday A-Rod was at the MLB offices in Manhattan for his grievance hearing, seeking to overturn the unprecedented 211-game suspension handed down to him in August for “possession of numerous forms of prohibited substances … over the course of years.”
Rodriguez was also hit for violating the labor contract. He was accused of “attempting to cover up his violations of the program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the office of the commissioner’s investigation.”
Meeting with an arbitrator is standard for players seeking to overturn suspensions, but there was nothing standard about about this meeting. A-Rod was a man on a mission; his mission being to get commissioner Bud Selig to testify on the record for his legal team.
When Rodriguez learned that his demands wouldn’t be met, he slammed his hand down on the table and, according to ESPN, “cursed out MLB chief operating officer Rob Manfred.” Then he stormed out of the building like nobody’s business.
A few hours later A-Rod was on air and ready to dish with WFAN’s Mike Francesca. Which was just perfect, because there’s nobody that likes manufactured rage like Mike Francesca.
“What we saw today, it was disgusting. And the fact that the man from Milwaukee that put this suspension on me with not one bit of evidence. Something I didn’t do. He doesn’t have the courage to come look mien the eye and tell me this is why I did 211? I should serve one inning and this guy should come to our city. I know he doesn’t like New York. And for this guy, the embarrassment that he’s put me and my family through. And he doesn’t have the courage to come see me and tell me ‘this is why I’m going to destroy your career?’ And I have to explain this to my daughters every day?”
A-Rod emphatically denied any wrongdoing in a speech that was positively Ryan Braun-esque. That’s not to say he’s super duper crazy guilty as Braun turned out to be, just that he kinda ruined for everyone else.
Something he won’t be able to do for the next 211-games of the MLB season because his suspension is definitely going to be upheld.
