News: Alex Rodriguez is shopping a documentary to networks and streamers about his life, The Post has learned.
Let’s take a look:
1. A-Rod is working with Gotham Chopra on the documentary, according to sources. Chopra directed Tom Brady’s “Man in the Arena.” Chopra’s “Religion of Sports” is a production company he founded with Michael Strahan and Brady.
2. In theory, a documentary on A-Rod’s life could be very interesting, if it is done right. If A-Rod were willing to delve deep into the specifics of the highs and the lows.
3. The issue with these autobiographical documentaries is they aren’t journalism. The Michael Jordan documentary, “The Last Dance,” was entertaining. However, if the producers had found out that Jordan had bet on baseball, would they really have pursued that angle? Jordan was a producer on it. We already know A-Rod repeatedly cheated with PEDs in baseball. Will he shed new light on the truth of what happened?
4. The Derek Jeter documentary, “The Captain,” was less revered than the Jordan one, which made sense since as great as Jeter was, he was not in the same league as Jordan. Plus, the behind-the-scenes and/or forgotten footage in the Jordan doc was off the charts. I might have been too close to the Jeter one — I covered a good portion of his career — but there was not as much cool footage, except from when he was drafted. Overall, it was too much hagiography for my taste. If A-Rod wants to best Jeter, his documentary would need to be more raw.
5. Rodriguez, who was suspended for an entire year and tried to take down all of MLB because of his PED usage, has a lot of career warts. Will “Cousin Yuri,” Yuri Sucart, be interviewed about the “Tic Tacs?” How about Biogenesis’ Anthony Bosch? Will commissioner Rob Manfred, who led the Rodriguez PED investigation, take part?
6. If done right and straightforward, it could be tremendous. Since his comeback, Rodriguez’s go-to move is self-deprecation, but that won’t work in a doc. Like a lot of things in his life, you wonder: why would A-Rod do that? This is not different. Rodriguez’s past is not forgotten, but it is not at the forefront of people’s minds, and with TV gigs at ESPN and Fox, among others, plus being a part owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, he appears to be doing quite well. Is it really smart to dredge up the past? But if he doesn’t, it won’t be much of a life story.
7. A-Rod is one of the great baseball players of all-time. He likely eliminated himself from the Hall of Fame over greed. It is a tremendous story, worthy of a documentary, if told correctly.
Quick clicks
Charles Barkley’s new CNN show with Gayle King has a very good name in “King Charles,” but will the weekly midday show resonate? It is probably not smart to bet against Barkley on TV, but I could see it being more of a social sensation than a big ratings play. Barkley goes against the grain with opinions that go viral, even though, as he already stated, that is not his goal. Since it is 2023, not 1983, once-a-week personality-driven programs are hard to make must-watches, but it sounds like Barkley and King are going to try to do something a bit different. … Distribution is the key to growth, which is why the WNBA deal for “WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION” has some significance as there will be 15 weeks of games. With Iowa’s Caitlin Clark a year away from joining the WNBA, the league could soon be in real growth mode. The E.W. Scripps Company, which owns ION, is one of the ways that MLB, NBA and NHL may look to broadcast some local games in the future because it is over-the-air. More distribution for the WNBA is a positive. Here is a list of the stations that ION is on in different markets.
The Silver Cup
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, speaking at the CAA World Congress, presented by the Sports Business Journal, said that the league’s new in-season tournament will begin toward the beginning of next season, so at the end of the calendar year. It is going to be a competition for a Cup.
Free advice: We would name it after Michael Jordan, which would give it immediate gravitas. I could see it becoming a thing to win a “Jordan” or an “MJ.” There could be an argument for it to bear Kobe Bryant’s name, as well, with the same reasoning.
I have seen some negative reactions to the idea of a Cup. You know what would be more deserving of scorn?
Doing nothing.
The NBA has a regular season problem. Soccer’s system used internationally elevates the regular season because the champion is crowned through its games, while teams at the bottom of the standings must fight to avoid being relegated to lesser leagues. It creates excitement. MLS doesn’t use it, which is one of the reasons it is not a top world league. Its playoff system deprives the regular season of importance. So the NBA is smart to try this. The only issue that I see, even if the Cup is successful, is the regular season may feel even more unimportant because, while still determining who makes the playoffs, it will be third tier after the post-season and in-season competitions.
This is where the greed of owners — and maybe players — will not allow a better system that would elevate the meaning of each regular season game. In the long-term, I think both the NBA, MLB and the NHL would be better with fewer regular season games.
Tonnage was a great thing to have when the cable bundle made regional sports networks very important. The RSNs and teams raked in millions upon millions, and filling as many nights as possible was good for all involved.
However, scarcity is not a bad thing when you have competing platforms fighting for your games. The NFL is the most dominant TV sport in part because of scarcity. There are only 17 regular-season games. It makes them all important. The NBA, for example, just said that you are only eligible for the MVP if you play 65 out of 82 games. What if they just played 65 regular-season games?
Yes, that means fewer arena dates (which is why the greed won’t let them do it), but would those games be more valuable for media rights long-term? This is a media column after all, and, ultimately, if you started today, trying to create a season that would generate the most money, the system of creating more important games outside of the playoffs and The Finals would be at the forefront to extract the most value. A little less might be more.
The Bird’s failing
Last week, the stupidity of Twitter was on full display.
Fox Sports’ Brady Quinn, on his “Pick Six” podcast, commented in an aside about Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud allegedly no-showing at the Manning pre-draft passing camp. Twitter aggregator Dov Kleiman picked it up and presented it as a standalone clip to his 160,000 followers, which included many in the NFL. ESPN’s Ryan Clark then tweeted at Quinn saying Quinn was out of line and questioning Quinn’s professionalism.
It was another example of how Twitter doesn’t really help sports media.
Quinn did not present his tidbit about Stroud as some big deal, but Kleiman’s tweet, without full context, ignited an internet wildfire. Clark saw it and started a back-and-forth with Quinn that went on far too long. And something that would have barely seen the light of day then reached a larger audience than Quinn’s podcast.
That’s the issue with Twitter. It is a very good self-promotion tool — and everyone got their fair share of attention, even Stroud for a story that Clark said was untrue.
Clark said he talked to Stroud and that he was working out with his Ohio State teammates, which is why he didn’t go to the Manning camp. If Quinn was wrong about it, that is on Quinn.
By blasting Quinn on social media, Clark was doing the same thing he accused Quinn of. Clark, among other things, said Quinn’s comments were an “immature evaluation of football integrity.” Yeah, maybe, but it wasn’t presented as the whole picture of Stroud. It is fine for Clark to correct the record, but he also made it personal with Quinn. Clark is in his right to do that, but it escalated the whole thing to another level of attention.
Anyway, more people know about the Stroud story, because Twitter is a place where someone can yell, “Fire!” when there really isn’t any. And it all feels like self-promotion.
(Oh yeah, Elon Musk making the blue check marks useless seems beyond dumb, too. I’m hoping to be on that app much less. I already moved it off my home screen. I plan on posting links to stories and our podcast, but I don’t find being on it particularly healthy, which is a shame because of the connections it brings and the immediacy it offers could be a positive.)
Clicker Book Club
Marty Appel’s “Pinstripes by the Tale (Half A Century In and Around Yankees Baseball)” takes the reader through the last five decades in Yankees history through his eyes and his interactions with various Yankees, including the more famous ones (Joe DiMaggio, George Steinbrenner, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Thurman Munson), the not so famous ones (Horace Clarke and Tanyon Sturtze) and the non-baseball figures (Larry King, John Lennon and Tiny Tim). According to our book reviewer, Papa Clicker, Herb Marchand, readers will enjoy reliving the many events described in the book. It receives 4.2 out of 5 clickers.
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