Alex Rodriguez

Tis’ the season to be political. Once every four years every single American across the country gets to give their opinion for who they should think should claim the Presidency. Nowadays, most of these opinions are slung around on social media by your everyday American and some of those opinions hold more weight than others when it comes to casting your ballot. Some of those opinions that tend to weigh more on our mind are sports figures. This past Saturday LeBron James gave his endorsement to Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and other pro’s having been giving their endorsements as we get closer to Election Day 2016. Here are some of the notable and interesting 2016 Presidential endorsements from the sports world.

Team Trump

Tim Tebow – Tim Tebow and Donald Trump have a couple things in common. One is that the American news media has an unfathomable fascination with the both of them. Tebow and Trump know how to play to the fans. Another is that both seem to defy all the critics and win. Nobody thought Trump would make it this far in the run for President and Tebow quarterbacked a Denver Broncos inspirational playoff run in 2011 with the card stacked against him.

Bobby Knight – The fiery Indiana Hoosiers head basketball coach has roots in the military and endorsed Trump at a raucous rally in Indianapolis, Indiana. Knight was the Army Black Knights youngest ever head coach and has three National championships to his name. Knight is old school and wants to win and that is exactly the Trump campaign is preaching.

Dennis Rodman – Donald Trump’s co-headliner at WrestleMania 7 tweeted last year “We don’t need another politician, we need a businessman like Mr. Trump!”. The crazed of the crazy, Rodman’s only other real political opinion is that he believes North Korea’s Kim Jong Un really is not a villain. Let us hope that “The Worm’s” opinion does weigh too much on American’s minds.

Team Clinton

Alex Rodriguez – A-Rod has a few things in common with Hillary Clinton. Both A-Rod and Clinton like to blur the lines regarding the rules of their respective organizations. A-Rod had one of the most scrutinized baseball careers for his use of illegal PED’s and Hillary has been placed under numerous investigations during her political career. Another similarity is their carefree personalities which are at times off putting.

Hope Solo – A real fire cracker right here. If Solo was not playing goalie for the US Women’s Soccer Team in Rio it would not have surprised me to see here at a Hillary Clinton rally screaming her face off and looking to start an argument with an innocent bystander. After Solo’s suspension for 6 months from the US Women’s National she might want to jump on the campaign trail and try to save this for Hillary.

LeBron James – King James has to be the biggest pro athlete endorsement so far this time around. LeBron is like Hillary in that he likes to take forever to win something and Hillary hopes that she can pull through this time and take home her crown. Both have been scrutinized in the past for exuding the notion that they are only out for themselves, which is in my mind inconclusive if they both really are.

The seemingly never ending saga that is Alex Rodriguez’s Major League Baseball career will be coming to an end Friday evening in the Bronx. After a 22 year run and on the heels his current teammate Mark Teixeira announcing his retirement at season’s end, baseball’s most notorious villain will hang up his cleats for good.

Over A-Rods career he has amassed 3114 base hits, 2084 runs batted in, 696 home runs and a whopping $410 million dollars playing for the Mariners, Rangers and Yankees. When he broke into the league in 1994 I don’t think anyone could have expected what was to come from A-Rod. One of the most physically gifted baseball players the game has ever seen had his ups and downs during his career both on and off the field. We all know about the repeated PED scandals but we forget he did in fact have positive impact on the game.

Despite what your perception of Alex Rodriguez has been the man showed up to work everyday with a smile on his face and played the game that he loved with a child like enthusiasm. Being able to enjoy what you do for a living is something that a lot of people never get to do and A-Rod took full advantage of the opportunity he had (and then some). It’s unfortunate that he will be mostly remembered for using steroids but to watch him go out every day and play was a treat because you could see how much fun he had playing baseball. His spirit was contagious and every time he stepped onto the field you could feel his spirit.

The next stage in A-Rod’s career will most definitely an interesting one because we know he cannot stay out of the spotlight for long. Every year when the baseball writers vote for who will be inducted into the hall of fame, A-Rod’s name will be brought. I believe that he deserves to be in the hall of fame despite the steroid controversy he has brought upon himself. It takes a man to admit he is wrong and A-Rod has done that numerous times now and that shows the character he has.

Also, it’s not like A-Rod is the only guy being considered for the Hall of Fame that has had issues with PED’s in the past. Quite honestly, it would not surprise me if it came out that maybe 20 percent of the players in the Hall of Fame used some sort of PED in their career. In an age where being in the spotlight comes along with all eyes are on you at all times, it was inevitable that A-Rod was going to get caught. It seems like every 3 weeks a player is suspended in some level of baseball for using illegal drugs but those players are not in the spotlight that A-Rod had shined on him.

A-Rod had one hell of a career and the future for him is brighter than people may think. Whether he ends up working for an MLB team or a television network, his friendly demeanor and personality will be an asset to the baseball community as a whole.