If you need a reason to dislike Alex Rodriguez right now, look no further than Mariano Rivera. This is Rivera’s season. The Mo Show. But ARod and his never-ending media circus are eclipsing the Best Closer in History. It is a complete shame.
Yes, Mariano is getting his share of coverage. Certainly everyone knows this. But he should be the single biggest story of our season. Nothing should compete with this.
Years from now, it will be Mariano that people talk about with reverence. It will be Mariano that people will point to as the perfect example of class. Mariano, who best exemplifies the qualities that makes us proud to be part of Yankee Nation.
But there’s ARod, hogging the headlines. Dominating conversations. Dividing us as fans. Distracting the entire team and the organization behind it. He is the biggest story of this season. He absolutely should not be.
Years from now, it will be ARod that people talk about with disgust. It will be ARod that people will point to as the perfect example of selfishness. ARod, who best exemplifies the overspending and oversight fueling the fire of hatred against Yankee Nation.
Mariano Rivera has made a point to say “thank you” to fans. He is asking different ballparks to let him speak to regular employees. So he can thank them. Honor them. Let them know they are important.
ARod has his lawyer go on the Today show to level accusations at the entire New York Yankees franchise. He has ESPN announcers postulating about him when they should focus on the game in front of them. He has made it clear that he considers himself to be the important one.
Mariano has been given gifts by every other organization in the majors. Even from those franchises he has beaten repeatedly.
ARod has players, the media, and sports announcers jostling each other out of the way to talk about how much they hate him.
Everything about both of these players is opposite the other. Right down to the numbers on their backs. Mariano wears 42, and will be the last MLB player to do so. This number represents breakthroughs, accomplishments, and according to Douglas Adams, the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Nobody needs to tell you the connotations of the number 13.
Mariano represents the best of Yankee Nation. Alex Rodriguez represents the worst. We need to choose whose story we prefer to hear. Do we want to be associated with honor and grace? Or do we want to roil about in egotistical exaggeration?
That all of this has even gotten so far is all of our faults. The Alex Rodriguez soap opera has dragged on this long because we are all giving him the attention he seems to crave. A-Rod has learned that the more noise he makes, the more attention he gets. So he carries on and on and, like fools, we all reward him with our attention.
Alex Rodriguez is innocent until proven guilty. But he has lied to us before. About this exact PED issue, to boot. His lawyers say he is not guilty of multiple infractions of MLB’s PED restrictions. This is true. What he is actually accused of is breaking the same regulation multiple times. Legal-speak, meant to cloud up the issue.
Rodriguez has yet to deny these allegations against him. Now he and his legal team toss around accusations against the entire Yankees organization. This seems to be an attempt at pivoting and employing semantics and false equivalencies to distract from possible guilt. Like an amateur debater would do.
Mariano Rivera is guilty of blowing three saves in a row. This was newsworthy because of what an aberration it was. He continues to be the Best Closer in History. Therefore, he is one of the greatest Yankees in history.
When we pay attention to Alex Rodriguez, we are not paying it to Mariano Rivera. That man is the Yankee who deserves our constant adulation. He is the work of fine art to ARod’s trashy reality show.
The choice is ours to make. True Yankee fans, the fans who matter, will pay attention to Mariano Rivera. Fans like you.
The Sandman is Exiting. Don’t miss his show. You will regret it if you do.
Chad R. MacDonald
BYB Features Writer
Facebook: New York Yankees the Home of Champions
My Blog: ChadRants
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