There’s no secret, I’m a Yankee fan. I’m a John Sterling (The Yankees radio play-by-play man) fan. He’s got these little pet names he gives to the team when they hit home runs. When Gary Sheffield was in the pinstripes, he was “The Chef”. When Giambi goes deep, he calls Jason “The Giambino”. When A-Rod goes deep (which he’s doing often these days) he calls the homeruns “A-Bombs, from A-Rod”. It sounds a little queer if you ask me. It’s not the expression, its how Sterling delivers the call which gets me. The rest of the call is exciting, and most people like Sterling’s call, but he queers up the A-Rod homeruns…. “An Aaaaaaa-Bomb…………from Aaaaaaaaaa-Rod”. I don’t like it.

I guess I can’t complain though. Alex is on fire, and he’s proving a point I made in private to my Red Sox buddy just before the season started. I think it was a pregame comment made by Sterling about Rodriguez made during a spring training game. John Sterling says that Alex basically needs to keep his mouth shut and focus on baseball. I contended that John Sterling’s opinions shouldn’t be broadcast when it concerns how a player conducts himself with the media. Haubs didn’t agree, and we started the debate.

Sterling’s comments followed up A-Rod’s comments about Derek Jeter. When asked how he and the All-Star shortstop were getting along, Alex replied verbatim: “I want to make a contract with you [media] guys; If you promise to stop asking me about Derek, I promise to stop lying to you about it.” In Alex’s way, he was basically saying his relation ship with Derek wasn’t their business.

Just the fact that A-Rod took that approach with the media keyed me in on a serious change in his approach to playing in New York. It’s no secret that A-Rod has the riches salary in professional sports history. It’s no secret that the New York Baseball media can make or break a player’s career. It should be relatively easy to see that if you combine the two, factors, the media can wreak havoc on Alex Rodriguez. In his first few seasons in the Bronx, I believe the media (and by extension, the fans) really got to Alex. I think he went up to the plate each time trying to deliver what they thought he should deliver for them. Although his numbers have always been good, he’s never delivered exactly what the fans wanted, so the media tore him to shreds.

Following the Yankees early exit from the playoffs in 2006, the media circulated trade rumors about Alex. I knew he wasn’t going anywhere, but the story was still out there. Very few - if any - media personalities stuck up for #13 during the hardest attacks. Most called for his trade, and were surprised when he didn’t move from New York. I never had my doubts about it. I was still curious though, why he’d put himself back in the same situation for another season. Well, I was wrong. Rodriguez didn’t put himself back in the same position….he took control of the situation.

When A-Rod made the statements about how he “lies” about Derek Jeter, I learned that A-Rod wasn’t going to be bullied anymore. I got the feeling that he was going to tell the media what he wants to tell them, rather than telling them what they want to hear; a tactic which has worked VERY well for some people, including Derek Jeter. I think he knows the media will print whatever they want, in any context they want, so why let it bother him.

He’s carried his changed attitude onto the field too. I think Alex has learned that the fans will cheer, jeer, hiss, boo, whistle, applaud, and shout when they want, and how they want. They’ve got expectations and fantasies, but those expectations are outside of his control. All he can control is how we swings his bat and fields his position, and he’s choosing to focus on that rather than all the other things which he can’t control.

In the first 18 games of the season, Alex has hit 14 home runs, and is still on pace to hit more than 120. He’s tied a Major League record for home runs in the month of April, and still has 6 games to play this month. He looks relaxed, he’s hitting the ball hard - even when it’s not a home run. He’s tops in the league in RBI’s, and will probably finish that way, even if he’s not challenging Bond’s single-season record later this season.

Ok, you’d think we were married the way I defend this guy, but I’m just rehashing for you the argument that I had with the Sox fan (the Red Sox Suck!). So far Alex has proven my point with excellence, and I hope he continues his pace. One thing is for sure, Alex Rodriguez is not your Average White Guy (even if he were white).