Alex Rodriguez was not just humiliated by his own

Alex Rodriguez was not just humiliated by his own steroid confessions; he was a physical wreck going into his March 2009 surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip. He feared his career might be over, or at least permanently impaired.
Rodriguez that included a photo showing A-Rod in a muscle shirt, kissing his own reflection in the mirror. So after Rodriguez rehabbed from surgery, and before he rejoined the team in early May, A-Rod would be dragged to a Tampa diner, Mom's Place, by two people close to him -- Yankees PR man Jason Zillo and longtime friend Gui Socarras.Rodriguez had surrounded himself with an ever-growing circle of advisers and crisis counselors, including Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, John McCain's strategist, Ben Porritt, PR man Richard Rubenstein, and, of course, Scott Boras. New York Yankees Jerseys But none of these suits had the nerve to piece together an intervention quite like this: Zillo and Socarras shouted down A-Rod over 90 minutes, ordering him to shed his self-serving skin for keeps.Two days after this breakfast meeting, A-Rod hit the first post-surgical pitch he saw for a three-run homer in Baltimore. Of greater consequence, he maintained a relatively humble demeanor over the course of the season and, in his words, "divorced myself from any personal achievements."
Rodriguez would say he had spent more time with his teammates off the field -- at dinners and backyard barbecues -- than he had in his first five Yankee years combined. Although A-Rod did not say so publicly, it was obvious Derek Jeter had embraced him as never before.For one, Jeter had given up trying to understand why A-Rod could not be more like him. For two, Jeter realized an emasculated A-Rod was someone worth giving another shot.The captain saw A-Rod was making a legitimate attempt to curb his high-maintenance ways. MLB Jerseys More often than in the past, Jeter was seen engaging Rodriguez in small talk in the clubhouse, in the dugout, around the batting cage. They acted less like business partners with competing agendas and more like teammates with a common goal."Alex really believes that for us to win a championship, he needs to have a good working relationship with Derek, and vice versa," one team official said. "I think they have it now. I think they've found enough common ground where Derek can laugh off some of the stuff about Alex in the newspapers.
Derek was no diva, of course. Clubhouse guys who were kept busy washing players' cars or filling their gas tanks or fetching their forgotten keys never received such requests from Jeter. "Derek's responsible enough to know when the needle's near empty, he's going to pull into a gas station," said Lou Cucuzza Jr., a visiting clubhouse manager who could not keep up with the requests from the David Ortizes and Zack Greinkes for autographed Jeter jerseys, requests the captain always granted.Jeter was a giver, not a taker, and for much of his career A-Rod lived on the other end of the spectrum, lusting after perks, requesting his own cabana boy in the clubhouse.Cheap MLB Jerseys From China Only this was the new Rodriguez, playing for the new Girardi, attending family parties with the new recruits, and winning games in the new Stadium.Jeter was still Jeter, still the impeccably dressed Yankee who quietly sat in the back of the team plane wearing his headphones, watching his movies, largely ignoring the card games played by others. Still the responsible captain who was never seen in a hotel lobby looking disheveled, unshaven or even remotely drunk or buzzed. Still the earnest ambassador who served as Captain America for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.