Over the weekend there was a tremendous moral correction of a public figure offered in public — in jest — but its semiotic relevance is an earth-shattering expression of contempt for the facade of stardom and its perks of temptation. New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) — the highest paid player in baseball playing on the team with the highest player payroll in the biggest media market and currently stuck in last place in the American League East — was caught by photographers with a blonde stripper that was not his wife. Boston Red Sox fans — perennial rivals to the Yankees and currently in first place in the same division — jabbed A-Rod Friday in Fenway Park as he prepared to take the batter’s box:

The Fenway fans in “blonde masks” was a terrific public semiotic moment that will play forever in the minds of baseball fans and those who care about a moral mocking of an indefensible behavior. A-Rod’s exposure began earlier in the week with this damning semiotic of him caught with a non-wife mystery blonde playing out on the front page of the New York Post:

The next day we were presented with this semiotic of A-Rod having lunch with the same non-wife mystery blonde:

The moral seeping continued as the identity of the non-wife mystery blonde was revealed — again, on the front page — now framed in a stripper semiotic:

Then, finally, A-Rod became proactive and provided a mandatory, and public, “blonde wife trot” semiotic to show us his wife was standing by him by strolling the streets of Boston with him — even after seeing all — and facing a public flaying of her marriage in a series of damning semiotics that anyone with a camera could’ve caught, captured, and published:

Baseball writers now claim there is absolutely no guarantee of privacy for sports stars. The writers protected the players and their sexual indiscretions on the road by not reporting what they saw — because many of them were, perhaps, also as guilty as A-Rod of marital indiscretions.

We live in a different world now where anyone with a cellphone camera can click and make history and re-define the public persona of a star
— or even an ordinary person — in the life of a single image. We all must now expect no privacy whatsoever — even behind closed doors and under the covers. Everything, anything and everyone is fair game now — like it or not — and celebrity will only be tempered by the salacious delight of those who pay to watch their desires performed.

9 Comments

  1. Hi David,
    Not trying to veer off the subject again, but, “the ‘blonde wife trot’ semiotic to show us his wife was standing by him by strolling the streets of Boston with him — even after seeing all — and facing a public flaying of her marriage” statement recalls media footage of Hillary standing by her man after the Lewinsky scandal.
    A-Rod’s wife looks happy in the photo, but I remember Hillary was standing an arm’s length from Bill with a grumpity and pouty look on her face. I still remember the White House reporter commenting things were “strained” at the White House, while the footage was running of the two walking with Chelsea to one of the planes in Air Force One.
    Donna

  2. Donna —
    Baseball wives seem to have a strange disconnect when it comes to their husbands. It appears if they’re “on the road” anything goes and fidelity is unimportant as long as they don’t embarrass the wife back at home.
    I don’t think A-Rod’s wife had much of a choice but to act happy and smile — if she looked miserable she would have played right into the hands of the media. Kobe Bryant’s wife had a similar test and failed miserably. Her reward for trying to stand by her man at a press conference table was a giant diamond ring as proof of his love and devotion to only her.
    I remember the Monica debacle and the scene you describe. Hillary is no actress, and though she knew of his many girlfriends in Arkansas, he broke the Golden Rule of such an arrangement by embarrassing her in public.

  4. Hi Chris!
    Ha! Good eye!
    The non-wife and the wife sure do look alike, don’t they?
    The video of “the walk” was on TV all weekend and I really felt for the wife. She had no crispness in her step and she looked generally worn out and miserable.

  5. Hi David,
    I read some of the other stories in the New York Post and it doesn’t look good for A-Rod if his wife decides to act on them.
    Divorce is expensive — especially for celebrities (just look at the figures involved in Michael Jordan’s and Paul McCartney’s divorces).
    The key lesson to be learned is to stay away from strippers since the price for a little excitement can be costly.

  6. Chris!
    I don’t think she’s going anywhere. I think she knows the price for living her lifestyle is dealing with indiscretion. I do think she’ll lock him down more, though — no “lunches” in public with other women without others along for the dining. 😀
    STAY AWAY FROM STRIPPERS! Right! I have no idea why famous married men frequent places like that — they’re going to find trouble there.

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