Paul Lo Duca takes exception to the way Alex Rodriguez is living his life and he isn’t afraid to take his story to the airwaves.
Alex Rodriguez is winning. Paul Lo Duca must not be, so he is taking his thoughts to the local media on how fake he thinks A-Rod is.
The two former ballplayers aren’t in the same circles, one can’t imagine. A-Rod is glitz and glamour with fiancee Jennifer Lopez in tow, and Lo Duca comes across as more blue-collar. I imagine wherever he was he had to put down a shovel and hard hat to do this interview.
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The two never played on the same team but were both in New York for the 2006-2007 seasons with Lo Duca playing for the Mets and Rodriguez playing for the Yankees. They are both admitted PED users, though this is where Lo Duca thinks he draws the right to criticize.
Lo Duca appeared in the Mitchell Report (he was listed on pages 208-211 if you are scoring at home) and claims he owned up right away to using performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez denied having taken PEDs but later backtracked on his story, and was given the longest steroid suspension in major league baseball history when he sat out the entire 2014 season.
Here we are, six years later, and Lo Duca thinks it’s time to call A-Rod out as being “one of the fakest people out there.” This announcement comes on the heels of Rodriguez consulting with President Trump on the administration’s reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.
The timing of this just seems a little odd is all I am saying. Rodriguez is portraying himself as a squeaky clean former athlete, and why not. This new image has landed him several commentary gigs, a new show on CNBC, and a sexy singer/songwriter.
Sports has always had a “what have you done for me lately” mindset around it. What A-Rod has done lately is succeed, at putting the past behind him, and marketing himself. What has Lo Duca done lately? He hit .243 with zero home runs in 2008, his last year in the league.
This is one of those stories where a reporter asks A-Rod if he heard what Paul Lo Duca said about him, and A-Rod replies, “who?”
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