Alex Rodriguez exemplifies why sports players should never be canonized, Kathie Lee said on Tuesday.
“There’s an attitude of entitlement when we make gods out of our sports heroes. We just do, and they’re not made for worship,” she said. “They don’t handle it real well.”
As expected, A-Rod was met with a round of boos in Chicago as he stepped to the plate on Monday, just hours after the Yankees third baseman was suspended by Major League Baseball after an investigation into performance enhancing drugs.
Hoda noted that even spectators wearing Yankees jerseys at the game booed and jeered him.
Rodriguez can continue to play while appealing the suspension, but if he loses his appeal, he stands to lose about $34 million, although that may be pocket change for a player who signed a $275 million 10-year contract in 2007.
KLG wondered what will hurt Rodriguez more: losing the money, or losing his fans.
“Obviously he’s not going to miss $34 million because he’s a very, very wealthy guy,” she said. “I think he must be saying, ‘Oh my God, was it worth it?’”