Alex Rodriguez Has Given Up On Trying To Earn Your Approval

The last few months have been pretty damaging to Alex Rodriguez's persona. After spending the first 15 years of his Major League career carefully trying to craft his image to be the perfect baseball player, it's all come crashing down around Rodriguez in light of his divorce from his wife, those darned steroids, and that whole high-priced hooker fetish of his.

So you would think that at this point A-Rod is trying to come up with a way that will get the people to love him once more, but you'd be wrong. Rodriguez sat down for an interview with YES Networks' Michael Kay for their annual Yankees preview that airs on Tuesday night, and in that interview he says he's given up on trying to get people to like him.

Kay: People have knocked you before, Alex, is that “Alex wants everybody to like him,” and “he tries to be a chameleon so everybody likes him.” Do you worry that people might not like you?

A-Rod: Well, I’ve given up on that! I’ve given up on that; it’s just the way it is. I mean, look, I feel like right now, that, not too many people like me, so I’ve given up on that. As long as my teammates like me, and they respect me, and my two daughters love their Daddy, I’m going to go out and do the very best I can. Look, I really screwed up, and for that I’m sorry. I’m just happy to be playing baseball again.

What's odd is that I like Rodriguez more now than I ever did before. I've always respected him as a baseball player, but that whole Mr. Perfect thing he was trying to pull off always bothered me. Now that the chinks in his armor are showing, and he seems more human, I don't hate him nearly as much.

Schadenfreude is a wonderful thing that can bring us all together!