A-Rod donates $3.9 million to U of Miami. Snippet: "I could have enrolled at Miami. I chose baseball first but I always expected -- and promised my mother -- I would one day enroll in the university and get my degree. That day has arrived." Rodriguez said he plans on majoring in business and finance and hopes to graduate by age 35. He said "life begins after 40 years old" and he is preparing for that time. He has already taken classes at a community college in the Miami-area. Rodriguez said he could begin classes as early as next spring, likely correspondence classes.
Alex Rodriguez took a lot of heat for his $25M per year salary, but I never understood why. None of us would refuse more money for doing what we're good at. Why should he? I'm warmed by the fact that he feels it is important to give back. It doesn't matter what the venue is, it only matters that he does it. NB: He may very well be the best player in the American League.
It wasn't just the $25M salary, it was the outrageous demands his agent made on prospective teams. Things like kiosks at the ballpark to sell A-Rod merchandise (all the profits going to him), a private luxury area aboard the team charters, etc. It didn't help much when he expressed interest in signing with a competitive team, then signed with the atrocious Texas Rangers. I guess it is all about the money, eh Alex? I suspect his agent had a lot to do with the greedy reputation that A-Rod has got, but he also allowed it to happen. Bruce
The thing that I find interesting about the A-Rod situation is that they're now going to name the baseball stadium at Miami after him (since the $3.9 million is going towards renovations to the stadium, among other things). So, in effect, they're naming the stadium after someone who almost went to school there. I can't decide if this is slightly better than corporate sponsorship of stadiums, or slightly worse... Toonces
But will it be "A-Rod Stadium"? -- surely more memorable, especially in south Florida, than "Rodriguez Stadium" PS: With the media's designation of Alex Rodriguez as A-Rod and Jennifer Lopez as J-Lo, a local sports writer expressed concern about the possibility of Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya becoming more popular. And will it come to this forum? I sort of like G-Pot, B-Day, and T-Hea, for starters. J-Be
