If anyone knows a thing or two about being one of the most hated athletes in the world, it’s Alex Rodriguez. Baseball fans hate steroid users. They hated A-Rod to begin with, and then he admitted to being a steroid user. With LeBron James attempting to exorcise his demons once again and win an NBA championship after failing in his first two attempts, it only makes sense that someone like A-Rod would be in his corner.
“Sometimes I feel so bad for him,” Rodriguez told ESPN New York’s The Michael Kay Show Friday according to the Miami Herald. “I feel like I feel his pain more than anybody.
“LeBron is definitely under the microscope. He is going to be judged on whether he wins a championship. So, yeah, I’m really hoping he gets this one behind him, and I’m cheering for the Heat, but ’09 was a career changer for me.”
While I will admit that LeBron gets a lot more criticism than he deserves at times, his position under the microscope is right where he belongs. When you’re considered to be the best player in the world by many, have a tattoo on your back that reads “Chosen 1” and hold a primetime TV special to announce you are leaving the team that drafted you, the spotlight should be as bright as possible.
Winning the World Series in 2009 helped quiet those who said A-Rod could never win a ring, but it has done barely anything to silence those who hate him. Although we have reason to believe LeBron isn’t a bad guy, the same would be true for him if the Heat go on to defeat the Thunder in the Finals. At the end of the day, I’m sure LeBron would rather be hated with some hardware than just plain hated.
