If Alex Rodriguez lately were promoting ISIS or exposing himself to toddlers, Lupica could righteously rip him as a disgrace to humanity. Instead, he's been a model trustee of the state of Florida. Shouldn't it get him something?
Not to Lupica. In a week when Jim Boeheim fluttered toward retirement, Tim Tebow announced a comeback, and the NCAA plantation brackets captured the nation, The Lip was thinking about Number 13.
Rodriguez? He can’t run very well on a baseball field any longer and is a shell of the player he once was, with or without baseball drugs. But he continues to get by with smiles and vague apologies and this weird “Pride of the Yankees” narrative that he has somehow been able to construct for himself, though not without help.
What we're seeing is a declaration of war worthy of Fox News' Hillary coverage, a relentless anti-A-Rod campaign that will never end... regardless of what Alex does. In fact, it seems like the better A-Rod does, the more hysterical Lupica will get.
Lupica has always represented the best and worst of sportswriting. When he's right, nobody brings the thunder like him. But these guys all end up wrapped into their egos. I have no problem with a writer taking a stance on A-Rod. But after the thirtieth column, it gets tiring.
(Wait: I know what you're thinking: Shouldn't I stop screaming about Hal Steinbrenner, the Prince of Pennies? Hell no. There's a special dung heap in hell waiting for owners. The players get their hands dirty and their bones brokens. The owners just cash checks. I WILL NEVER STOP LUPICA-ING PRINCE HAL.)
One final point, though: Lupica goes after A-Rod for getting old. He says:
The reality, of course, for as long as he is around and until his body breaks down for good, is that the Yankees are stuck.
Listen: You can rip a guy for a lot of things. It's wrong to blame him for getting old. And A-Rod didn't write up that contract he signed. The Yankees did. Lupica has developed a serious blind spot here. A-Rod isn't the only thing getting old. So are Lupica's attacks.
You most certainly can rip a guy for imposing his deteriorated skills on a team just to collect another fat paycheck. That's exactly what DiMaggio and Mantle graciously declined to do even though they could have.
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