A-Rod Is Becoming More Like Rodman Every Day

Can Alex Rodriguez become a bigger mess than he has already become? What happened to that pampered phenom that came up through the Mariner organization that made people forget about former Seattle legends like Al Davis, Mark Langston, and Harold Reynolds? I’ll tell you what happened. Dude was weird to begin with. He just hit a ton of home runs so that no one would notice. Now that he’s gone to New York, a little visit to Madonna has become the most normal thing he’s done in years.

There is the steroid issue, the strange photos that include him standing unusually close to himself in the mirror, and now a book has come out about how he really is and all of this stuff just this year. Never mind that A-Rod has distanced himself from his WBC Dominican teammates, or that he apparently can’t handle the Yankee/Red Sox pissing match, or that despite his talent, he has failed to help his team to a championship, A-Rod just can’t seem to be un-ridiculous anymore.

I haven’t read the book that’s recently come out about the slugger, nor do I plan to. I just think that this guy is becoming a mess and that his personal clutter is going to cover up the fact that he is a great ballplayer. Although the fact that there are allegations of him using what are now banned substances, the fact that he is a great ball player has even become tainted to some degree. It’s up to historians to decide whether or not whatever Rodriguez took really enhanced his play. I think it did a little, but I think the guy probably wouldn’t have profited from the stuff as some other last man on the bench type of player.

The worst part of it all is that he is still relatively young. Maybe he will grow out of his eccentricities, but then again maybe they’ll grow. But the guy had to be screwed up to get this ball rolling so perhaps with the use of some top notch state of the art therapy, he can move past the need to become baseball’s Dennis Rodman. That’s where he’s headed, only for a different reason. Dennis realized relatively late in his career that he didn’t have the cash required to retire for life, so he made himself into a spectacle in order to generate some interest in him. If you remember, while Rodman was in San Antonio, he began dying his hair. Then by the time he was playing with MJ he was in full wacko mode. He started slow, and built it up. Kind of like what A-rod has done. And where Alex now? Well, he’s loving his reflection, literally.

At this rate, it is only a matter of time before A-rod throws on a white wedding dress, or starts keeping a pet tiger cub in the locker room, or even better, legally changes his name to A-rod. It’s a real shame though, that his book is gonna make the author dirty rich by making A-rod look real dirty, but I guess that the way it is when you are more than just a pop icon, baseball player superstar who appears to be living a psychedelic and surreal life.

Eagles Free Agency Update

The Eagles aren’t exactly burning up the Free Agent Trackers around the web, signing on a few guys to replace long time Eagle players that the administration has decided to jettison. To play the potential role of Correll Buckhalter’s stand-in will be Eldra Buckley, a 5-9 running back claimed off waivers, who has spent the past two seasons on the Charger’s practice squad and has gained zero game experience. If he even makes the every day roster Buckley will be nothing more than a special teams body and will do nothing to the actual run game. Now, to be fair, I could be mistaken and this guy could be the second coming of Heath Sherman, but in actuality Brian Westbrook can rest easy knowing that his job is secure, unless Heath decides to come out of retirement.
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n other news, the Eagles are expected to talk with former Seattle fullback Leonard Weaver. Weaver is considered one of the best, if not the best fullback on the open market. Last year he rushed for 130 yards, but more importantly in an Andy Reid offense, caught 20 balls for 222 yards. The 2008 Eagles had no true fullback to lead block for B.West as they tried defensive tackle Dan Klecko in the role. I like Klecko, but he should stay and add depth to the D-Line and let a real fullback play. This would be a good pickup for the Birds and I hope that this is not a case where Weaver will take a Philly offer back to the Seahawks and resign with Seattle. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. Then, of course, the Eagles will come out and say that they tried to sign a fullback but he decided to resign with his current team, so they’ll have to try, um, Jason Avant at fullback. It will be Randy Moss all over again and the contentious combo of Andy Reid and Joe Banner.

More talk is being made about how Andy Reid is handling the loss of veteran starting players from his team. Generic statements have been released to the media, but anyone who believes that those are Andy’s words are fooling themselves. Previously during the Stacy Andrews welcoming party, Reid refused to discuss the Dawkins departure. More recently, Tra Thomas has come out and said that he hasn’t spoken to his former head coach since just before Free Agency started up. No one expects Andy to be handing out hugs, but his communication skills or lack thereof only will only add to the public image dilemma the Eagles are facing in the real world outside the Novacare complex.