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Good luck, A-Rod
I say Alex Rodriguez has just signed on for a large piece of hell on earth. I could be wrong -- that 10-year, $252 million contract, averaging an astounding $45,487 per at-bat might buy a long and happy, zip-a-dee-doo-dah life with the Texas Rangers. But I don't think so. I say that the 25-year-old A-Rod has put himself under the greatest weight of scrutiny and expectation in the history of American sports. Who can possibly live up to the outer-limits standard he has set for himself? He is a baseball player. He is a human being. He is going to strike out. He is going to allow ground balls to roll through his legs. He is going to lose, probably a lot, because he now plays on a team that traditionally loses. He is going to be booed. Write that down right now. Alex Rodriguez is going to be booed a lot. For a quarter of a billion dollars, you'd better live like a saint and play like the reincarnation of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Mickey Charles Mantle. You have no private life, none. You not only have to play the game, you have to live the game. For a quarter of a billion dollars, more money than even Superman could imagine for saving Metropolis, we'd better not catch you hanging around with Lois Lane. You'd better be in that batting cage. A general manager once said that the great public misconception is that if you pay a player more money, he plays better. It ain't like that. You are what you are. And that's A-Rod's dilemma. No matter how much money he makes, he still is just a baseball player. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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