ALEX'S BETTER SELF LAYS AROD TO REST

I have made it no secret to our readers, friends or even family that ARod is not at the top of my favorite players' list, but he may have moved up a few notches after I re-read his profile piece in ESPN Magazine, reviewed the content of tweets lately and read in multiple places of his resilience and work ethic in the off season.  "Whether it's lifting weights while taking in the sights and sounds of the ocean, conquering a familiar workout foe or even hitting the gym on Christmas Eve, A-Rod is taking no breaks after his comeback season last year," reported the YES Network just before the New Year.

Alex Rodriguez is a new man as he re-focuses his life and re-purposes his body toward his goals of staying healthy and growing strong in both body and mind.  Rodriguez has told ARod to get lost, stand down and move on as he finds ways for the new Alex to surround himself with the positivity to help himself heal physically and emotionally.

In ESPN's profile The Education of Alex Rodriguez, reporter J.R. Moehringer put all of ARod's fears into one paragraph:

"Breaking the habit of being Rodriguez -- does this mean quitting baseball altogether? Maybe so. Maybe there's no other way, he thinks, and thus in these first tender days of banishment he spends hours and hours considering retirement. He's had two hip surgeries, he's 38 -- what's the point? Why not just give the people what they seem to want and fade away. Let go. He stares into space, imagining how it will feel never to don pinstripes again, never to dig into the batter's box again. Never to win. But he can't imagine it. He has a vivid imagination, but that he can't picture."

Alex Rodriguez has placed his fears of never playing again, never realizing his dreams of college and never being able to please his family out there for all to see and has embraced the challenge of battling back despite the adversity, the steroids, the disappointments, and broken spirit and battered body.  He is working hard to find himself, contribute to his team and grow as a person.  And all of this makes me like Alex Rodriguez a heck of a lot more.

I learned more about how it was ARod who murdered Alex Rodriguez and as the ESPN article so eloquently said, "Hundreds of baseball players have been caught using steroids, including some of the game's best-known and most beloved names, but somehow Alex Rodriguez has become the steroid era's Lord Voldemort."  But at the end of the day, Alex Rodriguez somehow has found the strength to not only go on, but push himself well beyond where he ever thought he could and that's enough reason to consider taking a second chance on him.  I like the new Alex so much more that I will never refer to his better self as ARod again.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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