A-Rod Karma
A-Rod (Alexander Emmanual Rodriguez -- baseball player, not Andy Roddick -- tennis star) seems to be struggling and I call it A-Rod Karma.
This isn't necessarily accurate as who knows what A-Rod did in his past incarnations to suffer in the playoffs in this incarnation. Plus, he's one of the most gifted athletes alive. Still, maybe it could be considered "instant single-life Karma". Let's review.
A-Rod had a great career in Seattle. He was a rising star and beloved by fans in Seattle. He played 15 postseason games here with decent stats - but if you look at the postseason numbers closely, he really one had one great postseason series - his FINAL one - the 2000 ALCS against the Yankees. 9-22, 4 runs, 5 rbi, 2 hr, .773 slugging %.
Guess what? He was up for a new contract immediately following the TEAM loss in that series. He really wasn't playing for Seattle then, but for his next contract - adding a few extra millions ($) by peaking before negotiations. He was telling Seattle he wanted to stay as his teammates rolled their eyes in disbelief because they knew better. He proceeded to sign the richest baseball contract in history which STILL hasn't been surpassed 6 full years later. Usually record contracts are broken by some other player within a season, maybe two.
This is when the instant Karma began. Texas never made the playoffs, and they tricked the Yankees into taking him (although they still pay a good chunk of his salary). A-Rod has not helped the Yankees win in the postseason and he hasn't even helped his own stats either. I think he had this coming to him. He may never recover until he apologizes to Seattle for lying about wanting to stay. He wanted the biggest contract (Seattle's offer was not chump change) AND secretly he knew that Safeco Field was too big to break career batting records. And that is truly what he wants - personal statistics. He plays for himself, not his team.
This isn't necessarily accurate as who knows what A-Rod did in his past incarnations to suffer in the playoffs in this incarnation. Plus, he's one of the most gifted athletes alive. Still, maybe it could be considered "instant single-life Karma". Let's review.
A-Rod had a great career in Seattle. He was a rising star and beloved by fans in Seattle. He played 15 postseason games here with decent stats - but if you look at the postseason numbers closely, he really one had one great postseason series - his FINAL one - the 2000 ALCS against the Yankees. 9-22, 4 runs, 5 rbi, 2 hr, .773 slugging %.
Guess what? He was up for a new contract immediately following the TEAM loss in that series. He really wasn't playing for Seattle then, but for his next contract - adding a few extra millions ($) by peaking before negotiations. He was telling Seattle he wanted to stay as his teammates rolled their eyes in disbelief because they knew better. He proceeded to sign the richest baseball contract in history which STILL hasn't been surpassed 6 full years later. Usually record contracts are broken by some other player within a season, maybe two.
This is when the instant Karma began. Texas never made the playoffs, and they tricked the Yankees into taking him (although they still pay a good chunk of his salary). A-Rod has not helped the Yankees win in the postseason and he hasn't even helped his own stats either. I think he had this coming to him. He may never recover until he apologizes to Seattle for lying about wanting to stay. He wanted the biggest contract (Seattle's offer was not chump change) AND secretly he knew that Safeco Field was too big to break career batting records. And that is truly what he wants - personal statistics. He plays for himself, not his team.