In his first couple of seasons with the New York Yankees, existentially troubled superstar Alex Rodriguez caught a lot of flack from fans of the game and the team—you had The Slap in the 2004 ALCS, Sunbathingate, and the allegations of steroid use that broke as this season was getting under way, among other reasons. And he was pretty dismal in the postseason—until the just-completed American League Division Series against the Minnesota Twins, in which his 5-for-11 performance with two home runs and six RBI helped propel the Yankees to a sweep and a berth in the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim. One Yankee fan thinks that A-Rod’s turning it on isn’t because of his new girlfriend Kate Hudson, or him finally stepping up to the New York spotlight—instead, he credits none other than Jay-Z.


During the playoffs, A-Rod came out to the Kid Cudi-assisted Blueprint 3 track “Already Home,” which in the eyes of one writer is a direct rebuke of all the people who have made fun of him since his arrival in the Bronx:



The lyrics:

Oh they want me to fall (fall),
Fall from the top (top),
They want me to drop (drop)
They want me to stop (stop)
They want me to go (go),
I’m already gone (already)
The shit that I’m on
I’m already home
(Hey, I’m already home yeah)

Could Jay-Z’s swagger to spare have rescued A-Rod from his long-standing mental slump? Isn’t it great that the end of his relationship with Madonna precluded him from coming out to “American Life”? Am I seriously starting to become endeared to A-Rod, who I’ve always felt was something of a self-obsessed spaz who quite perfectly epitomizes the complicated relationship America has with its celebrity-industrial-complex-elevated superstars? I don’t know. Mostly I am very excited to have an excuse to post this picture:



He found his smile, you guys!


A-Rod’s New At Bat Music – Postseason Swagger Directed At The Haters [New Stadium Insider]
Jay-Z feat. Kid Cudi – Already Home [YouTube]
[Pic via 3:10 To Joba]