Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - How many people knew that November 20 was actually National Absurdity Day?
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez apparently knows and is doing his part in celebrating it too, as the disgraced former three-time MVP stormed out of his own grievance hearing Wednesday after arbitrator Fredric Horowitz refused to force major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig to testify in Rodriguez's appeal of his historic 211-game suspension for violating the game's Joint Drug Agreement.
Apparently A-Rod was so miffed at Selig's non-participation that he slammed his hand on a table and told Major League Baseball COO Rob Manfred that he was "full of s---!"
Just when you thought this whole thing couldn't get any more absurd, leave it to Rodriguez to dial it up a notch.
So what exactly is the end game here for Rodriguez?
Most legal experts said last week that Selig was never going to have to testify. Rather than argue the actual facts in the case, Rodriguez's whole strategy seems to be to put MLB on trial.
That was never going to work. It doesn't appear that the A-Rod camp is denying that he took some sort of performance-enhancing drugs. The fight should have been to reduce the suspension. When you consider that the other first-timers on the Biogenesis list received 50 games he seemed to have a pretty good case of at least getting it reduced.
What is that they say? When the facts are on your side argue the facts. When the law is on your side argue the law. When neither are on your side you scream and yell.
Or you walk out of an arbitration hearing.
The grand exit won't do him any favors with anyone. He may have dated a few actresses, but he's certainly no thespian himself. Storming out of a hearing that he really isn't needed at anyway is simply theatrics. Plus, it's hard to buy his whole outrage in the courtroom act when he had a prepared statement produced by the time he left the building.
"I am disgusted with this abusive process, designed to ensure that the player fails," Rodriguez said in a statement. "I have sat through 10 days of testimony by felons and liars, sitting quietly through every minute, trying to respect the league and the process. This morning, after Bud Selig refused to come in and testify about his rationale for the unprecedented and totally baseless punishment he hit me with, the arbitrator selected by MLB and the Players Association refused to order Selig to come in and face me.
"The absurdity and injustice just became too much. I walked out and will not participate any further in this farce."
Everyone knew this was going to get ugly. It appears it's a long way from being over and Rodriguez won't be satisfied until this is in federal court.
And that is exactly where we are headed. If anyone thinks that this is a surrender move by him, think again. This was all planned and just part of the process to move it along to a whole other level.
The real losers on Wednesday? The Yankees. It seems like they will be on the hook for his deal while all this gets settled.
Still, even with all this A-Rod drama, the most absurd baseball story this week is the fact that Jay Z is going to market Robinson Cano as the Michael Jordan of his sport, while continuing to push for a 10-year, $300 million deal.
Absurd.
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