I am all in on rehabbing-his-image Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod the apologetic scholar, businessman, devoted dad, analyst and Pete Rose antagonist—I eat that shit up. If you think about the trajectory of his career, it makes perfect sense that his apparent next step is to become a reality TV host:
Although A-Rod, who will be paid $21 million by the Yankees this year to cap off his career as the highest-earning baseball player of all time, probably can’t empathize with “financial free-fall,” he’s shown more than enough post-sports career savvy to make sense as the host for Back in the Game. That said, I’m just not sure I need to watch middle-aged men with impulse control learn the basics of budgeting.
I get that this schadenfreude masquerading as redemption is a popular enough mold (see: Celebrity Rehab, Bar Rescue) but watching people make smart financial choices is boring! And former pro athletes who blew through (sometimes not so) small fortunes with the kind of large living we won’t get to see in the show are not especially sympathetic figures.
Maybe this is A-Rod’s noble attempt to give back to his peers who didn’t benefit quite as lucratively from their talents. The trend of athletes going bankrupt after their careers end a worthy one to combat, but do we really need to see Pete Rose decide that it’s smarter to invest what’s left of his “Hits and Mrs.” money into a steady garage flooring company?
Give A-Rod a better show.