All A-Rod All The Time

Sporting News, The, June 28, 1999 by Michael Knisley

When I run her version of the story past Rodriguez, he confirms it.

"Oh, I felt awful," he says. "I felt so bad for her afterward." But on the street, in restaurants, Seattle more or less leaves Rodriguez alone. There is a fascinating juxtaposition between the public stir he doesn't cause in the Northwest and Jeter's celebrity in New York. Several weeks ago at a Knicks playoff game in Madison Square Garden, the scoreboard video screen flashed shots of the glitterati in attendance-Woody Allen, Spike Lee, the usual assortment of movie stars and Big Apple muckety-mucks. They all received polite applause, until Jeter's face appeared-which brought do house.

His baseball numbers, his drop-dead good looks and his bachelorhood all scream that Rodriguez is as worthy of that raucous reception as Jeter is. Rodriguez says he isn't sure he wants that much of what Jeter has, other than his buddy's two World Series tings. His choice of venue 18 months from now, wherever it may be, will say plenty about his willingness to turn it down.

Not even Scurtis can get a reading on the level of Rodriguez's desire for fame. They see highlights of another player, and she wonders why they aren't showing her boyfriend. When she says it out loud, he defends the player they show.

"So, deep down in his heart, does he want to be the one they're always talking about?" she says. "I honestly don't know. I think it would be inhuman not to want that. But he never expresses it. I just see how hard he works, and I wish sometimes that there was a little more recognition. But you know what? He's going to be around for a very long time. And in the end, the recognition will be there. I know that."

Michael Knisley is a senior writer/ for THE SPORTING NEWS. TSN correspondent Jack Etkin contributed to this story.

RELATED ARTICLE: Interactive with A-Rod

Before the season, THE SPORTING NEWS and AROD.com formed a partnership to give fans a chance to interact with Alex Rodriguez. Sportingnews.com and AROD.com team up to provide daily game updates, plus regular columns from the Seattle shortstop and mailbags in which he answers questions from fans. In addition, an Alex Rodriguez fan club was set up at Yahoo! and now has almost 1,000 members. Alex also chats every few weeks in the Yahoo! auditorium. If you need news about Alex, want his opinion on issues or have a message to send, visit AROD.com, where he recently discussed how he deals with trade rumors:

"The truth is I talked with management during spring training about their plans for me. I asked if they would try to trade me this season, and they said no. I haven't talked to anyone in management about the subject since the season started.

"I can't control it anyway, so why should I worry about it? As I told the Seattle media, I love playing in Seattle. (Ken) Griffey's dad told him your first major league team is always special. I feel the same way.

"But the bottom line is what direction this team wants to go. Does management want to hang around in the middle of the pack or make the moves necessary to win a championship? As for the premise the team can't afford both of us, I don't believe that."