Northern California Baseball Blog and Q&A

Paul Gutierrez
Raised in Barstow, Calif., where he played community college baseball for two years, Paul Gutierrez has worked at Sports Illustrated and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he covered his alma mater's Runnin' Rebels at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During a six-year stint at the Los Angeles Times, he co-authored Tommy Davis' "Tales from the Dodgers Dugout." He came to The Bee in October 2005 and is now a Bay Area sports features writer who concentrates on baseball during the spring and summer.

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January 30, 2008

Two months later, and Yankee fans are still upset

It seems as though not all Yankee fans are as tech savvy as I gave them credit for, or, news simply travels at a slower speed throughout the Evil Empire. Because while I did receive plenty of "hate" e-mail back in November when my column comparing Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds ran in The Bee (), a few more trickled in this week.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll post them here, as they arrived, with no corrections to their grammar or spelling. Hey, it makes for a more interactive experience, methinks. What do you think?

Question: CONGRATS !! YOU MADE A TOTAL FOOL OF YOURSELF WITH THIS AROD ARTICLE. MOST WRITERS ONLY MAKE FOOLS OF THEMSELVES, BUT YOU MADE A TOTAL FOOL OF YOURSELF. CONGRATS ONCE AGAIN.

-ROLAND

Answer: Thanks, Roland, for screaming at me with all caps. But while wondering what took you so long to reply to a column that initially ran Nov. 17, I have to paraphrase that great Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi: Who is more foolish, the fool, or the one who reads the fool and then sends a nasty email to him? And yes, may the Force be with you.

-Paul Gutierrez

Question: Well done Paul! You've managed to make my 5 year old, yes 5 year old look more mature than you. I had to laugh (at you not with you) regarding your article about Bond and Alex. I don't know much about Bonds so I won't discuss him. But admit it you really want C-Rod and you're jealous that A-Rod got her instead right? I mean what other reason could there be for writing a trashy article about Alex like the one you did? The name calling and extra detail to his salary just screams I'm jealous inmature adult whose bitter and angry with the world. You mentioned how Alex (by the way that's his name) said he took the high road but that's cleary not something you are familiar with or this article wouldn't have been written (glass houses and stones don't mix). So Alex makes the most money in baseball so what? Someone had to be in that spot, why not make it the best player currently in the game? That makes sense to me. So why are you whinning again? Also when are the articles on Oprah and Mr. Gates coming out? They are tops in their respective careers and I don't see them turning the money away, nor do I see people like you writing childish articles about them. Just grow up man.....just grow up.

-Jerry Atkins

Answer: Glad to be of service, Jerry. Not so sure making your kindergartner look more mature than me is that great of a feat, though, as my wife often tells me our 3-year-old son acts more mature than me as well. Oh well. But to get to the heart of the matter, the column was of the opinion that Alex Rodriguez showed so much heart in opting out of his deal to make his mark elsewhere but then disappointed us by slinking back to the Bombers with his tail between his legs. Would have been nice to see him stick to his original guns is all. And thanks for saying I showed "extra detail" in regards to his salary. That's a huge compliment in this business, to pay attention to detail.

-Paul Gutierrez

Posted by Ahmed Ortiz, January 30, 2008 05:28 PM

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