The latest and greatest example of greed - Alex Rodriguez, a.k.a. A-Rod, a.k.a. A-Greed. The once golden boy of baseball has reared his ugly greedy head. His demands are truly amazing. It seems like everyday he has a new one. It sounds like he and his agent Scott Boras sit around and try and think up new things just to see if they can get them. The New York Mets took themselves out of the running when A-Greed asked for office space within the confines of Shea Stadium to run his own personal businesses that have nothing to do with the team. He wants to run his website, marketing and everything else out of the place. He wants the team jet at his disposal for X amount of times throughout the season and when he doesn't have it he wants X amount of free first class tickets for friends and family. All of his demands are money based, things he wants and things he doesn't want to pay for. Here's the kicker, he's asking for a 10-year contract at $20 million a year. Now, I went to public school but isn't that $200 million in the bank by the time he's 34 years old? Hey dude, pay for your own shit!
It now seems like he doesn't care whom he plays with or who he plays for, he just wants to be the first player to reach the $20 million annual mark. Rodriguez is expected to become baseball's highest-paid player, topping the $17 million average salary of Toronto first baseman Carlos Delgado and the $105 million total package pitcher Kevin Brown has in his seven-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He can pass both of these contracts with the signing of this one. There's no loyalty, he'd play for a Japanese team if they offered that kind of jack! A-Greed used to be just a ball player, a young stud phenom who kept his nose clean and played hard. He is still most of those things but you can now add greedy, money hungry bastard to that list.
When Alex Rodriguez and his agent meet with the Seattle Mariners next week in Miami, the free agent shortstop is expected to repeat an opinion he put on his Web site: The team needs to bring in the fences at Safeco Field.
"With or without me, they have to bring them in substantially - to make the
game better at Safeco", Rodriguez said.
With or without me…right! If the fences come in it makes his numbers go up and makes him look better at the end of his career for the Hall of Fame. Why the hell do you think Griffey fled to Cincy? A new, larger stadium and lower numbers, or go to Cincy, blame it on nostalgia and keep the stats up. Safeco Field is currently the biggest park in baseball.
The Mariners have stated that the fences are not coming in. "We like the ballpark as it is and we're not going to make decisions like that based on one player,'' general manager Pat Gillick said Monday. Gillick said Rodriguez has never talked to him before about Safeco's outfield distances.
"But I'm sure it will be brought up this week,'' he said.
Way to go Pat, you tell him. Stick to your guns!
Here's how that conversation is going to go down:
A-Greed - "Move the fences in"
Mariners - "No"
A-Greed - "C'mon dude, be cool"
Mariners - "No…..dude"
A-Greed - "If you move them in, I'll sign here"
Mariners - "MOVE 'EM IN!!!"
Ah, but be careful young Grasshopper, there is someone out there lurking in the shadows that is a good friend of greed. Someone who may have even showed Greed a thing or two about how the job should be done, someone who cheats because he has to feed his kids on a paltry $30 million. That's right young scholar of the dark side, he is known in certain sports circles as Iron Mike Tyson. Apparently preliminary discussions have begun that could produce a third fight between WBA heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and former champ Mike Tyson. Other than bringing in a fat paycheck for the boxers, a Tyson-Holyfield rematch could set the stage for one to fight WBC and IBF champion Lennox Lewis in a title unification bout. Holyfield has beaten Tyson twice. In the second bout, June 28, 1997, in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Tyson was disqualified after biting off part of Holyfield's right ear. I wonder what exactly is motivating Tyson here though. Is he greedy or hungry?
Did you see the Trinidad/Vargas fight last Saturday? I love when I go watch a fight at a friend's house who has free pay-per-view and the fight is a good one. I thought that fight was awesome, borderline great fight! Vargas is a stud, they both are, but I have to give the edge to Vargas. Yes he lost, but he got knocked down twice in the first minute of the first round, pulled it all together to go the full 12 rounds getting knocked down three more times and got hit in the nuts three times. That's stamina! Vargas said he's ready for a re-match. No tune-up fights and no monetary demands. He said he would do it for a trophy, just two guys in a ring fighting. Awesome! What I really love about this kid is his attitude.
He said, "I'm still fresh, I'm still young and I'm still learning. I got hurt, but I understand I'm in the 'hurt business.' You live and learn and you have to learn to lose. Sugar Ray Leonard lost, Julio Cesar Chavez lost, so why not Fernando Vargas?"
I hope for two things: I hope he stays this way and Don King doesn't ruin him and I hope he kicks the shit out of Oscar De La Hoya!
The Sonics handed down a good old fashioned ass-whipping, 121-88, to the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers had a five-game winning streak broken and suffered their biggest loss of the season. In fact, they didn't lose a game by 33 points last season when they won their title in Jackson's first season in Los Angeles. This was a beautiful day. I don't know if I laughed or cried (in a good way) harder.
After 14 years as coach, Dick Tomey resigned moments after the Arizona Wildcats lost to Arizona State 30-17 in the season finale. One of his main failures was his
inability to get Arizona to the Rose Bowl. The Wildcats are the only Pac-10
team never to make it to the Pasadena classic. The Sun Devils had already fired their coach Bruce Snyder, but they let him finish out the season. ASU won, so now they get to go to the riveting Aloha Bowl, then Snyder is gone. Maybe U of A and ASU should switch coaches. We could keep this in-state battle of sucking going for at least another generation.
John McEnroe is insulted by the concept of a "battle of the sexes'' match against Venus Williams. Donald Trump has reportedly offered $1 million for him to take on either Venus or Serena Williams.
"Do you hear Marion Jones saying she could beat Maurice Greene?'' McEnroe
said Tuesday, referring to the world's fastest sprinters. "This is not John McEnroe issuing a challenge,'' he said. "I wouldn't waste my breath. Many times people have asked me whether I'd play Venus Williams, Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova. It's not something that interests me."
Come on Mac, do it. Give Bobby Riggs a playmate!
Brewers fans who bought wooden seats from County Stadium as souvenirs are being offered a full refund if they don't want to deal with a potential lead paint problem. Those who purchased $150 green wooden seats will get a mailing next week warning them the seats may contain lead-based paint and offering a full refund. Some of those seats, installed in the stadium in 1953, were painted with a lead-based paint. Uh…..where has the concern for public safety been for the last 47 years?!?
Chuckie B. never lets me down in the quote department. When Miami Heat Don MacLean was suspended for five games for using steroids Barkley had this to say, "I've seen MacLean naked in the locker room. He's not using steroids."
I feel better now!
12/7/2000
phardoe@sportshollywood.com
"Greed Is Good" 
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