betED.com - The View from the Couch - by Gavin McDougald!
July 23rd, 2008 - A-Raunch
To hit a round ball with a round bat, while both are travelling at or near 100 mph, timing is everything.
Alex Rodriquez is perhaps the greatest hitter ever. Timing he should have. Yet isn't it kind of strange timing for the announcement that he has signed on with Hollywood super agents, the William Morris Company, the day after it was reported he is in a sex tape with Madonna?
It's clear A-Rod is trying to change his image. Once upon a time, he had big endorsement contracts with the likes of Speed Stick, Pepsi, Kraft and Topps. Those are all now deals of the past. Now, according to CNBC, all he's got is Nike for his shoes and batting gloves and Rawlings for his glove. His annual take is under $2-million a year.
Doesn't seem much considering that talent wise, he's just about even with the likes of Tiger Woods' and Tiger Woods' off course take home in 2008 will be $108-million. Elite on the field as he is, more than 40 athletes in the U.S. make more than he does off the field.
Why is that?
He's got the looks. He's got the cool nickname. He's playing in the media capital of the world. Then why is he making less in endorsements than his teammate Derek Jeter or arch nemesis, Manny Ramirez?
Well, there are the contracts worth $455-million and thus far he has delivered for himself and no one else. Then there have been the ongoing stories about the late night visits by women on the road, the personal trainers, the pole dancers, the personal trainers and the pole dancers at the same time?
All of that was supposed to change however, when he married his wife Cynthia in 2002.
Not so much.
A little over a year later he was labeled "Stray-Rod"; by the New York Post after getting caught flagrante delicto with a stripper in Toronto.
Now, just two months after his second daughter was born, he's reportedly hooked up with the international super- star who is turning 50 next month.
That or he's on a Kabala conversion kick.
What can he expect from William Morris exactly? Huge endorsement deals now that he's the butt of every late night show as the pop-star boy toy?
Well, there's that sex tape.
A-Rod on film.
He could be on to an entirely new and virtually, ahem, untapped sports market. Imagine, (if you want), your favorite sports stars in a porno. Wait until Jose Canseco hears about this!*
Madonna had her Sex book. Now maybe A-Rod sees a future for himself, blown up there on the silver screen.
Once again we see how some athletes get it, like the aforementioned Woods and Jeter, and how some don't.
They can have all the athletic ability there is ' and A-Rod does ' but if an athlete is a bit of a creep, eventually there's no hiding it.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
*A quick aside: The head of Canada's biggest sports network once told me he pitched a new channel to ownership that he was certain would revolutionize cable television. Sports with porn. Basically it would feature x-rated content 24/7 with a sports ticker running on the bottom. Or as he put it, "basically every guy's dream station.";
For the life of me, I can't figure out why it wasn't approved.
Bet MLB Baseball at betED.com now!
July 23rd, 2008 - A-Raunch
To hit a round ball with a round bat, while both are travelling at or near 100 mph, timing is everything.
Alex Rodriquez is perhaps the greatest hitter ever. Timing he should have. Yet isn't it kind of strange timing for the announcement that he has signed on with Hollywood super agents, the William Morris Company, the day after it was reported he is in a sex tape with Madonna?
It's clear A-Rod is trying to change his image. Once upon a time, he had big endorsement contracts with the likes of Speed Stick, Pepsi, Kraft and Topps. Those are all now deals of the past. Now, according to CNBC, all he's got is Nike for his shoes and batting gloves and Rawlings for his glove. His annual take is under $2-million a year.
Doesn't seem much considering that talent wise, he's just about even with the likes of Tiger Woods' and Tiger Woods' off course take home in 2008 will be $108-million. Elite on the field as he is, more than 40 athletes in the U.S. make more than he does off the field.
Why is that?
He's got the looks. He's got the cool nickname. He's playing in the media capital of the world. Then why is he making less in endorsements than his teammate Derek Jeter or arch nemesis, Manny Ramirez?
Well, there are the contracts worth $455-million and thus far he has delivered for himself and no one else. Then there have been the ongoing stories about the late night visits by women on the road, the personal trainers, the pole dancers, the personal trainers and the pole dancers at the same time?
All of that was supposed to change however, when he married his wife Cynthia in 2002.
Not so much.
A little over a year later he was labeled "Stray-Rod"; by the New York Post after getting caught flagrante delicto with a stripper in Toronto.
Now, just two months after his second daughter was born, he's reportedly hooked up with the international super- star who is turning 50 next month.
That or he's on a Kabala conversion kick.
What can he expect from William Morris exactly? Huge endorsement deals now that he's the butt of every late night show as the pop-star boy toy?
Well, there's that sex tape.
A-Rod on film.
He could be on to an entirely new and virtually, ahem, untapped sports market. Imagine, (if you want), your favorite sports stars in a porno. Wait until Jose Canseco hears about this!*
Madonna had her Sex book. Now maybe A-Rod sees a future for himself, blown up there on the silver screen.
Once again we see how some athletes get it, like the aforementioned Woods and Jeter, and how some don't.
They can have all the athletic ability there is ' and A-Rod does ' but if an athlete is a bit of a creep, eventually there's no hiding it.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
*A quick aside: The head of Canada's biggest sports network once told me he pitched a new channel to ownership that he was certain would revolutionize cable television. Sports with porn. Basically it would feature x-rated content 24/7 with a sports ticker running on the bottom. Or as he put it, "basically every guy's dream station.";
For the life of me, I can't figure out why it wasn't approved.
Bet MLB Baseball at betED.com now!
