Sox Public Enemy #1?

[Tek4pres]

David Schoenfield of ESPN.com Page 2 lists today the biggest enemy for all 30 major league teams. In the article, he cites A-Rod as the person Sox fans hate the most. But given the plethora of other choices, I figured it's worth exploring here. Who do you hate most and why?

[yankees228]

A-Rod never really did anything that horrible to the Sox. There are so many former Yankees (Craig Nettles and Thurman Munson) that you should dislike more than A-Rod because they actually got into a great deal of fights with Red Sox players (ex. Nettles and Bill Lee, Munson and Carlton Fisk), while A-Rod was really only involved in 1 major incident.

[riverside sluggers]

actually 2 major incidents--trying to fight our boy tek. lets face it anyway if they were in a fight, tek can easily steamroll him. the other being in october slappin the ball out of bronsons glove than actually denying he ever did it, even tho thats what replays showed in black and white

[yankees228]

Obviously that was stupid but think about how you would feel if your team was on the brink of blowing a 3-0 lead in the biggest rivalry in the history of sports. And by the way, why does it matter about who would win in a fight between Alex and Tex. Does that have anything to do with baseball?

[See Red]

No... it has nothing to do with baseball. But still, Tek would win easily.

 

If I'm A-Rod in that situation and my team is on the brink of blowing a 3-0 series lead and going to game 7... and I'm making the money he does, I'd feel like I should accomplish a little more than hit a dribbler in between the pitcher and first. That's just how I would feel, though.

 

I vote A-Rod. Not coming to the Red Sox because of what is, essentially, chump change, to him... the incident with Tek, the bitch slap incident... can't stand the guy. It's not nessecarily the bitch slap that pisses me off... it's the "What did I do?" reaction afterwards.

[riverside sluggers]

just down playing arod's mentality--hey cmon we did get it bad ourselves in game 7 of 2003, when your boy aaron boone hit the walkoff homer--so yea the yanks had it comin fair and square

[yankees228]

See Red, I do not know you and I do not know how big a Red Sox fan you are but if you think A-Rod chose not to come to the Red Sox because of money, then you are completely wrong. I think all Red Sox fans know that A-Rod begged the players union to let him take a 50% pay cut to play for the Red Sox. It was the union that wouldn't let him. I would tend to believe that Alex was devestated when he found out that he was not going to be a Red Sox. If anything it was the Red Sox front offices fault (although I'm not saying it was a bad decision) that Alex is not a Red Sox because they didn't want to pay him the extra money.

[schillingouttheks]

No, I hate him because over this past year with the Yankees we have seen all the sides of him we don't need to see and aren't appealing. See other posts that I've posted a countless amount of times on my reasoning behind my hatred of A-Rod.

[Tek4pres]

Yankees228, A-Rod seems like such a primadonna and exactly the opposite of those Yankees of the late 90's that tore up the league (O'Neil, Jeter, Cone, Tino, etc.) Are you defending him because you're really a big fan of his or are you defending him just because he's a Yankee?

 

I think the slap was a desperate play fueled by the pressure of the moment. I think I mentioned in another thread that I could get over the slap, but I think that a big part of the A-Rod hating is the apparent hubris that he shows in defending himself calling it a "good play." He needs a giant slice of humble pie.

[ARod2212]

You people go crazy over the 'slap' play as if he stepped up to the plate saying "ok I'm going to hit a slow roller to the pitcher and try to slap it out of his hand, that's what I'll do." It wasn't a premeditated act folks. It happened quick, and they made the right call. I'd bring it up if he got away with it, but its done with let it go.

 

Like it was pointed out before, Rodriguez offered to take a pay cut to go to Boston, and the 'fight' with Varitek was stupidity on both sides. Rodriguez said stuff, Varitek said stuff. It's neither guy's fault, and neither is 'tougher' because of it.

 

Basically, you're only real knock against A-Rod is that he was supposed to go to Boston, and went to the Yankees. You abused him well before the fight and slap anyway, it's not like those turned you against him.

[ARod2212]

Also, Rodriguez being Public Enemy #1 is weak. At least have it be a guy like Jeter who actually beat the Red Sox before.

[See Red]

Also, Rodriguez being Public Enemy #1 is weak. At least have it be a guy like Jeter who actually beat the Red Sox before.

 

Jeter has class. I can respect anybody in a Yankees hat so long as they have class.

 

And yeah, you guys are right about the deal that would've sent A-Rod to the Sox -- I was thinking that I remembered that he could've done it anyway, but then I remembered that he probably would've had to go to court to do so. My bad.

[Tek4pres]

You people go crazy over the 'slap' play as if he stepped up to the plate saying "ok I'm going to hit a slow roller to the pitcher and try to slap it out of his hand, that's what I'll do." It wasn't a premeditated act folks. It happened quick, and they made the right call. I'd bring it up if he got away with it, but its done with let it go.

I don't see anyone in this thread calling the slap a premeditated act. And I don't really see anyone going crazy over the "slap." Personally, my comments were trying to explain what it is about A-Rod outside of the slap that Sox fans have trouble with. He gave an interview to Bob Klapisch in January saying that slapping the ball out of Arroyo's hands was a "smart play" and one that he would do again. He later said that if he had a choice he'd run lower his shoulder and run over Arroyo because he was in his way which he described as a legal play. (It's not by the way. Remember Albert Belle knocking over Fernando Vina trying to break up a double play. Belle ended up suspended for three games.) A-Rod is hated because he just doesn't get it. And if it had worked out that he came to the Sox and the roles were reversed, I'd be ashamed of his behaivor. And I can't figure out why more Yankee fans aren't.

[stocker323]

You think the only reason we hate him is because of the slap. What about on July 24? What was the purpose of his actions there.

[YanksHater213]

We simply hate him for the fact that he is an overpaid little pussy bitch, and had we got him, we wouldnt have won the world series last year.

[soxie thefangirl]

I hate A-Rod 'cause he's arrogant and a jerk and annoying and over-paid and over-rated. Do I need to go on?

[CajunSox]

We simply hate him for the fact that he is an overpaid little pussy bitch, and had we got him, we wouldnt have won the world series last year.

I couldn't have said it any better than this.

[yankees228]

Tex4Prez, to answer your question I am defending A-Rod simply because he is a Yankee. I do like A-Rod but Mariano Rivera is my favorite Yankee for obvious reasons, and not Alex. I think that A-Rod has done a great deal for the Yankees, even though he has not managed to be on a championship team. I say this mainly because he was only in 1 postseason with the Yankees and he certainly did his part. That should go without saying. The "True - Yankee" lable really bothers me because a team should not be disapointed because they were not able to be the best team in baseball every single year. That is practically impossible to keep up. The Yankee teams of the late 90's were extremely good, but if you base it strictly on talent the Yankees teams of more recent years could compete with the past Yankees squads. The Yankee teams of the late 90's had a universal intangible that is hard for a team to capture and maintain in the free agency era.

[sarasoxfan]

Trying to be objective as possible, I dont see that A-rod has done A-thing for the yankees..

They didnt win, they choked to a degree unprecented in the history of the major leagues.

 

In New York with that payroll winning is the only way and losing is failure.

 

A-f***, gets paid A-lot and I believe is A-superficial, egotisitical pussy and the fact that he is a good even great ball player doesnt diminish the fact that every team has played for has paid huge price for having him on the team, and that is losing.

[elsrbueno]

Yankees228 is right-- The players' union basically vetoed the A-Rod to the Red Sox deal, and that didn't happen because of the money-- but it was the Red Sox who didn't want to pay the money.

 

I was against the deal at the time (mostly because at the time I couldn't picture Nomar in another uniform, but also that the Sox would lose Scott Williamson, Manny Ramirez, Jon Lester in the process), and it looks like the Sox are thrilled that the deal didn't go through.

 

A-Rod's a great player, but for some reason, every single team he plays for has been worse off WITH him than WITHOUT him. In Texas, they blamed his gigantic salary as crippling the team (which I have no doubt it did). In New York, who knows what the problem is, but he doesn't seem to fit in with the Jeter/Rivera/Williams -type ballplayers.

 

I have to say I dislike Gary Sheffield more than A-Rod. Sheffield's just a whiny loud-mouth ******* who makes stupid comments about his teammates, opponents, and not only has already tried to rework his contract, but also crippled his team by refusing to be traded despite not having a no trade clause. Remember his comment about him being the best player on every team he's ever played for? And that crap about the Red Sox not really WANTING to win last year?

 

Sheffield's much worse in my opinion.

[soxie thefangirl]

A-Rod just stinks up whichever team he seems to go to. And he doesn't fit in with the long-time Yankees players, like Jeter and Posada. I'm just glad we didn't get him.

[yankees228]

When A-Rod was a prominent player on the Seattle Mariners he was a huge part of their success, mainly in 2000. In 2000 he got his team into the ALCS and almost beat the Yankees by himself. In the 2 games the M's won in that series (1 and 5) Alex had a solo homer in a 2-0 game 1 win and he had the game tying and winning rbi single in a 6-2 game 5 win. He was a huge part of that club and probably made the mistake of leaving a club, that had a good big of young players and veteran players. When he was on the Texas Rangers from 2001 - 2003, he was one of the only players performing on the team, and I think it goes without saying that he did his part. Elsrbueno, I completely agree with you that his contract crippled the financial state of the Rangers, but it wasn't his fault. It was the Rangers choice to give him the enormous contract and even if he wanted to give back some of the money to the club the players union probably wouldn't let him. The only pitcher that they decided to sign was Chan Ho Park, and he was either hurt or extremely ineffective. Last year with the Yankees he had a good regular season, but not by his standards, which just proves how great a player he really is. Last year the Yankees did not have great pitching so the offensive (with Alex being a big part of it) took them to the playoffs. In the first round he was (along with Matsui) the main reason that the Yanks defeated the Twins. In the ALCS he was great (along with every other Yankee) in the first 3 games, but only had 2 rbi's in the final 4 games. I believe that it is unfair to place all the blame on A-Rod because everyone stopped hitting. As for this year, I think you could make a legitimate case for naming him the American League MVP. By the way, I might not be right, but when all the Red Sox fans say they hate A-Rod I think the main reason is that he is a major part of the Yankees, and he has been in "media wars" with several Red Sox players.

[yankees228]

One more thing. When everyone puts the "true Yankee" lable on people like Jeter, Bernie, Posada, and Rivera, is crazy. Just because you win a championship doesn't make you a true Yankee. Don Mattingly never won a ring, let alone a single playoff series with the Yankees, but I would certainly call him a true Yankee. And contrary to popular believe Mattingly played on some very good teams (most of them winning 90 games a year), but there was always one or two teams better then the Yanks.

[soxie thefangirl]

I just can't like A-Rod. And obviously he and Jeter don't get along. And I don't like how he implies he's a better shortstop than Jeter and should be in the position. Whatever. He knew what he was getting into when he went there. So don't whine about it. And I hate that your fans constantly whine about making him captain instead of Derek. What a joke.

[yankees228]

Well I've never heard anyone say A-Rod should be the captain, but if so then that is just plain stupid. Jeter is and deserves to be the captain, end of story. Also I've read that Alex is not a very outgoing guy, so jsut because him and Jeter aren't best friends doesn't mean they are enemies.

[schillingouttheks]

It's because "true" Yankees are the respectable ones. The players you listed above are "true" Yankese because they are respected by the fans and their peers (well, for the most part). However, I don't believe A-Rod is. Look at all the goddamn posts on why we hate him. He's an egotistical freak. He doesn't admit to doing stupid things. Now, the slap I can take, but as everyone else has said it's the fact that he though he didn't do anything wrong and never apologized for it.

[soxie thefangirl]

Yeah he's a jerk for not apologizing. Even Jeter didn't approve of the slap.

[YanksHater213]

A-Rod is just a little bitch. He is a clubhouse cancer as well. I cant imagine what this team would have been like with him.

[soxie thefangirl]

I am just glad that we didn't get him. It's a shame at times, though, when you see how good he is statistically and how our shortstop is leading in errors.

[Sizzlin22]

I hate A-Rod with a passion, but $tienbriener is public enemy #1.