A Professional and a Class Act

Congrats to the Cardinals for winning the World Series. In looking at some of the on-line coverage today, I was struck by a couple of pictures of Ivan Rodriguez, catcher for the losing Detriot Tigers.

Now I don't know anything about Rodriguez and could be completely wrong. But, in looking at these two pictures, I suspect that Rodriguez is a pro in the mold of Michael Jordan and a class act to boot.

It's pretty easy to see that this picture shows that Rodriguez is a class act. His team just lost the World Series to a team that most sports prognosticators said didn't have a chance of winning. Losing is always tough and I imagine that the Detroit players were feeling pretty lousy after the game. However, as this picture shows, Rodriguez and at least one other Tigers player went to the Cardinals locker room to congratulate them. Total class on their part.

I'm reaching on my speculation on this photo, but I suspect I'm not off base. I think this shows Rodriguez to be a player with the intensity and drive of a Michael Jordan.

Why is he still in the dugout after the game when most or all of his teammates have left? I'm sure they had no desire to stick around to watch the celebration -- the players running around the field jumping all over each other, the fans cheering, the fireworks going off, the media types hovering about sticking cameras in faces and asking their idiotic questions (how does it feel? what are you thinking now?)

I think Rodriguez is still there for just that reason: to see the other team enjoy the victory and sear it into his memory so he can use it next year to motivate him to play even harder. Many of his teammates want nothing more than to forget this Series; but, I bet Rodriguez stayed in that dugout so he won't forget what it's like to come this far and have to be on the sidelines while his opponents are on the field celebrating their championship.