The Rocket

Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: MCT Campus Alex Rodriguez's decision to opt out of his monster $252-million dollar contract with the New York Yankees was "leaked" during Game 4 of the World Series on Sunday, allowing A-Rod to be the biggest player at the game despite not actually playing in the game. [Click to enlarge]

The World Series ended on Sunday when the Red Sox ended the Cinderella story that was the Colorado Rockies, winning the final game 4-3 to clinch their second championship in four years.

It should have been all about the Red Sox' victory and the Rockies' incredible run to the World Series. It should have been about Curt Shilling celebrating with his Boston teammates for what may be the last time. It should have been about Mike Lowell taking home World Series MVP honors.

But it wasn't.

Instead it was all about A-Rod.

It was all about Mr. Choke-tober opting out of his contract with the New York Yankees. It was all about Alex upstaging the Red Sox, Rockies and the World Series.

A-Rod's agent, Scott Boras, said that it was a mistake, that he had no intention of letting it out and that someone must have let it leak. He went on to issue an apology to Major League Baseball, fans and the teams involved in the games. It was a very good apology. A very good apology that was probably written a week before the story "leaked."

I do not like A-Rod at all. Granted, he is a good player in the regular season and I truly hope that he does break the career home run record, but A-rod is nothing more than a regular season MVP.

But this was the season that he was finding his stroke in New York. He was hitting homers and knocking in runs at an alarming rate. He was hitting well in the clutch and everyone said that this year, he would break out of his playoff funk.

But come October, A-Rod's bat had a huge hole in it once again. He didn't hit when it mattered most. His only major hit was a solo home run in Game Four against the Indians. It was back to being Mr. Choke-tober for the Yankee slugger.

All year we have heard about his chance to opt out of his contract at the end of the season. So most fans knew that shortly after the series was over, the major sports networks would be talking about Rodriguez and whether he would stay or go. The World Series was supposed to be a time to shine the lights of the sporting world on other players, but yet he still found a way to take the spotlight

Since he couldn't play in the games, A-Rod decided that he would instead overshadow them. With the news of him becoming a free agent, the world forgot about Game Four and put the lights right back on his growing ego.

A-Rod seems to think he is better than the World Series. He thinks that he is better than baseball and that rules of courtesy don't apply to him.

A-Rod upstaged the biggest event in baseball.

I hope that the next team he signs with-which I hope is not my beloved Red Sox-knows what they are getting: A player that is great at racking up the home runs and RBIs. A player that is great at pulling down hundreds of millions of dollars without ever really producing beyond the regular season. A player that has already destroyed a team, the Texas Rangers, for years to come with his outrageous contract.

A player that is great at breaking the hearts of millions of faithful supporters, who were drawn into the hype of what he could do and of what he could bring (World Series championships), to whatever team he is on.

Good luck to the team that signs him.

I just hope that you are cool with having a player that needs to be bigger than his teammates, his team and the game of baseball in general.

Brandon Fox is an English graduate student and the sports editor for The Rocket.

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