20 Questions With Alex Rodriguez
Miami Herald
1. Number of letters you get a week asking you for money?
(Laughter.) ``Hundreds.''
2. Number of dollars in your wallet?
``Forty-five.''
3. Somebody you respect so much you would spend a month of paychecks to get just 24 hours with them?
``Present or dead? Dead would be Leonardo da Vinci. Present, I'd have to go with Pat Riley.''
4. I once asked you what your greatest insecurity was, and, surprisingly enough, you said ``women'' because you never knew their motives. Does that remain your greatest insecurity?
``That's a good question. I don't think so. I'd say now it is improving myself, whether I'm doing enough to improve myself as a man, as an athlete, as a friend. I'm trying to better myself.''
5. Best TV show ever?
``Toss-up between the old Family Feud and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.''
6. Why did you cry rounding the bases a few years ago after becoming the first infielder in the 40-40 club?
``It was a great accomplishment, and I had an emotional breakdown. To feel the joy after all the hard work, all those hours working out so hard in South Florida, it was just a breakdown emotionally.''
7. Best player in baseball?
``Roberto Alomar.''
8. Three players you wouldn't want to see on the other team if your eternal soul rested on this game?
``Nomar Garcíaparra. Edgar Martínez. Pedro Martínez.''
9. Most extravagant possession in your house?
``Artwork. Picasso. I don't want to say what it cost me.''
10. Of all the cool things you've experienced -- smoking cigars and playing cards with Michael Jordan, hanging out with famous people like Madonna and Sylvester Stallone, getting your likeness in video games -- the one you would share if you were trying to impress a stranger?
``Playing golf with Bill Gates several times in Seattle last year. It was quite an experience. I asked him a million questions. And I was surprised, because he asked me a lot of questions, too. Education, academics, intelligence, I have the utmost respect for those things and being able to listen to his story, about going to Harvard and dropping out, was pretty neat. If I wasn't playing baseball, I would be an entrepreneur, so it was fascinating to hear his entrepreneurial story.''
11. Who paid for the round of golf?
(Laughter.) ``Mr. Gates.''
12. Your biggest regret?
``Not graduating from college. But I'm on my way. I will graduate.''
13. How does it make you feel, seeing Seattle 52 games over .500 the season after you left?
``Mixed emotions. But I feel like I'm winning because I was part of their building, part of what they have now. I feel like I made the perfect decision.''
14. Something people are always shocked to know about you?
``That I'm a nice person.'' (Laughter.) ``For some reason, people feel if you are well-compensated in sports these days, you have to be a jerk.''
15. Percentage of major-leaguers who regularly cheat?
``Twenty percent.''
16. True or false: You will drive all over the city for hours to get just the right bottle of wine.
``I have before, so true.''
17. True or false: You'd shave three years off your life if you were guaranteed a World Series next year.
``True as ever. Absolutely true.''
18. True or false: $252 million is too much to pay an athlete.
``True.''
19. Most overt way a woman has propositioned you during a game?
(Laughter.) ``I had a woman throw a bra at my face. It's not like beautiful women are handing me their phone numbers every night. I'm not going so good.''
20. Number of times you have sung Aretha Franklin's ``R-E-S-P-E-C-T'' out loud in your car when it comes on?
``Ten.''
Home
