On sports talk radio in New York, a lot of points are raised, whether accurate or true, thought about or just a rant. Sunday Night is not really the prime time to listen to sports talk radio, but with not much else on TV I heard a point raised on WFAN by Mike McCann when asked about Eli Manning from host Adam "The Bull" and he replied: "Eli Manning is the Anti- Alex Rodriguez.
This point has some credibility in all but one aspect: they are both almost always solely blamed for the failures and inconsistencies of their teams. Both of these players were also selected number 1 overall in their respective drafts.
Before Eli's magical playoff run, he was the whipping boy for the rough New York media. People criticized the inconsistencies of Eli Manning and even when he played well, the media still wouldn't give him a pass.
Alex Rodriguez is considered to be the most talented player in all of baseball. There is no doubt that when focused, he has more God given talent than anyone else. His problem though, is because of this title given to him he tries to impress everyone.
New York is a bottom line city, if you win everyone will forget about what you have done prior to that. Eli Manning has won a Super Bowl despite his mediocre regular season stats, Alex Rodriguez won his only playoff series as a Yankee in the 2004 ALDS. While any playoff game is a big stage, the games Eli Manning won in the 2007 post season were bigger than any. In the highest rated Super Bowl ever ,Manning threw for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and was a part of the greatest upset in sports history.
Alex Rodriguez was on the opposite end of this spectrum when the Yankees blew a 3-0 ALCS seres to the rival Red Sox in 2004. He was unable to help the Yankees win with his inability to drive runs in when it mattered. Rodriguez had his first post season RBI in Game 4 of the 2007 ALDS, what would be the Yankees last game of the season.
Adam Schein of SNY says "the worst day of the Yankees was when Aaron Boone played pick up basketball". He is referring to the winter of 2004 when Boone tore his ACL playing in a game of pick up basketball, which was against the verbatim of his contract. Yankees fans will always remember Boone for hitting the clutch home run to defeat the Boston Red Sox in the 2003 ALCS.
If somehow there was a way to combine Manning's post season excellence and Rodriguez' regular season dominance that would be the ultimate combination.
5 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Patty Kelly 10 months ago
"Rodriguez had his first post season RBI in Game 4 of the 2007 ALDS, what would be the Yankees last game of the season."
And without his regular season in 2007, the Yankees would be facing their 2nd year of not being in the postseason.
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Michael Schlossberg 10 months ago
you know what, you are 100% right, and I meant to write he had his first post season RBI since the 2004 ALCS... I don't hate A-Rod, if you look at my short list you will see that he is the first athlete there but if I said anything inaccurate in the article please tell me
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Osi Umenyiora 10 months ago
A-Rod is The Cooler. He's earned that nickname.
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A.J. Martelli 10 months ago
Well, technically A-Rod had some RBI in the 2004 post season, but has not done much since that game 3 of the ALCS vs. Boston, save for that RBI in '07.
As good as Manning is, Rodriguez is more dominant in his sport. But you're absolutely right, if A-Rod wins a World Series, everyone will forget about his poor production in prior playoff games.
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Matt Breen 10 months ago
Yea Arod should be goofier, and luckier. AROD is the shit.
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