What Yankees Fans Really Think of Alex Rodriguez

I'm fed up. I've had it. You people have driven me to the point of madness.

Listen: This is what Yankees fans really think of Alex Rodriguez.

This is for all the idiot fans, who regurgitate the information that their local talking heads glean from ESPN radio, about how New Yorkers hate Rodriguez because he hasn't won them a ring.

This is for all the Yankee haters out there, known and unknown to me, who think they're busting our chops with such gems as "I bet you like A-Rod NOW, huh?"

As if we were somehow jumping on the bandwagon because the guy is finally living up to expectations.

First of all, Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Robinson Cano haven't won championships in New York—but we all love them. Why? Because they produce in the clutch. They hit when it matters. They move guys over, get sac flies, and get runners home from third with less then two outs.

Got it?

In fact, I would argue that it's the most important stat in baseball—getting runners home from third with less then two outs.

Last year, Alex Rodriguez was the second worst hitter in baseball at getting runners home from third with less then two outs.

Read that sentence again. I'll wait.

That's the reason Yankees fans hated Alex Rodriguez: It appeared that the best player in baseball, the guy we traded Alfonso Soriano for, was a myth—a figure out of a W.P Kinsella novel who showed brilliant promise in Seattle before vanishing to hit titanic home runs in a fantasy land called "Texas." 

In the real world of winning seasons and baseball towns that matter, I've never heard of this "Texas." Have you?

So when the mighty Alex Rodriguez walked out of the cornfield and back into reality...and did nothing more than strike out or pop up with runners in scoring position...only to then hit moon shots with the team already up by eight runs in the eighth inning...we were worried.

When the problems dragged into the playoffs, and then into the next season, of course Yankees fans were going to hate the guy. It had nothing to do with winning or not winning—it was about not contributing to the team's success. 

Unlike you, TV man and man repeating TV man, real baseball fans know what's important to the game, and where you can stick things like A-Rod's 2005 MVP and Barry Bonds' meaningless tainted home run record.

And now, for all you Yankee haters with your incessant "I bet you like A-Rod NOW, huh?"—let me answer your question with a much more intelligent one.

Are you idiots?

Of course we like A-Rod now—with as much justified fervor as we used to dislike him. Don't pretend A-Rod was good before, and that Yankees fans have unreasonably high standards...because it's not true. In fact, it's illogical, anti-New York crap—and even saying it shows that you know nothing about what truly matters in baseball.

I LOVE Alex Rodriguez now. Last year, I dreaded A-Rod at bats with men on base in close games. This year, I'm rapt with the thrill of anticipation, like that girl in Pulp Fiction waiting for the needle to go into Uma Thurman's heart.

So enjoy it A-Rod—you've earned the love by proving that, unlike the Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster, you really do exist. One request: Just do it all year, will ya? This is New York, after all. We might love you now...but we love winning even more.