To be fair, it's easy to say that now, sure. As he said though, at the time it seemed like a good idea... how many times have we done such things? It's not that hard to understand the reasoning, placing yourself in the moment. If he had gotten away with it, which you could arguably say he almost did, how much better off would the Yankees have been? Some might say it was worth the risk.

Justin raises a good point, BUT...

Professional players really are expected to both know and follow the rules. Not following the rules of a sport is "unsportsman-like".

The game of baseball--as most other sports--is not a game of "see if you can get away with a rules violation". It a game of "see who wins while following the rules."

A-Rod was a jerk in doing this. That it might have cost the Yanks the game is really immaterial.

Ultimately the Yankees didn't lose that series because of the A-Rod play, they lost because of their vastly inferior pitching and inability to get on base in the last four games. It's arguable that even had Rodriguez been allowed to get away with his naked bit of cheating, the Yankees would have lost (As Dan notes the worst part about the play Derek Jeter had to return to first base because of A-Rod's chicanery, but Sheffield's ability to hit with runners in scoring position fell off a cliff in those last four games). But I think that play was a telling exhibit of the increasing amount of confusion among professional athletes over concepts like "mental toughness" and "doing what it takes to win." Often a player's "desire" and "leadership" are merely just foolish risktaking.

The difference is even more stark in football. Freddie Mitchell might think that Tom Brady is a "robot," but Brady simply doesn't make mistakes because he is able to recognize the risks in a busted play and act appropriately. Other quarterbacks have more spectacular arms and better stats, but Brady is the only one with three championships in four years.

Justin, even if he would've gotten away with it within the confines of the game and umpires, everyone else in America would've known by the next day that it was wrong and unsportsmanlike. I don't know how much better off the team and organization would've been then.

And as DD already pointed out, the player needs to know the situation, getting the player over to second in the 6th inning ...

Thanks for the link!

Admittedly, I'm biased, but I can't understand the allure of A-Rod.

In this ESPN article, he refers to the play as a 'smart' one and says it's something he'd do again (along with putting himself on a pedestal, but that's not what upset me so). Or, if he didn't do it again, that he'd instead have dropped his shoulder down and run Bronson over.

Insofar as whether it would have been worth the risk if A-Rod had gotten away with his 'move', perhaps. I know as a Red Sox fan, I'd be mortified by one of our boys displaying such un-sportsman-like behaviour and considering it a day well spent if it wins the game.

Cheating is cheating, whether you get away with it or not.

Oh, and also...

In this article, published on Sunday February 10th, Karen Guregan is supporting the badmouthing as she writes:

"When you try and karate chop a ball out of a player's hand, as A-Rod did during the playoffs, and throw out self-serving and idiotic remarks like he did recently, you earn the hits thrown your way."

Hypocrisy, anyone?

Fair enough, fair enough. I wasn't making any judgements about the merits of the play, just pointing out that I could understand his perspective. I hate baseball anyway, so it really makes no difference to me on a personal level.

What seemed strange about that incident at the time was that my first reaction was disbelief. I don't ever recall hearing comments about poor sportsmanship concerning A-Rod when he was with the Rangers (or Seattle for that matter.)

He practiced and played hard, running out every hit, refusing to showboat, and having respect for the game. As I recall, everyone in the Ranger organization complimented him on how good he was for the team, especially putting in extra time with rookies. Of course, it goes without saying that with the Rangers he was never tested in an ALCS showdown. Nevertheless, it was still surprising then and these recent comments? Indefensible.