Crunch Time: A-Rod wins at life, Joel Embiid wins at Valentine’s Day

Adoring A-Rod

It turns out that all Alex Rodriguez had to do to be generally liked was quit playing baseball. A-Rod was a breath of fresh air, was genuinely entertaining, and offered tremendous insight during Fox’s MLB Playoffs broadcasts the past few years and he’s more or less kept out of the limelight since leaving the game this past summer.

A-Rod’s PR turnaround is so incredible that the Yankees actually WANT to employ him again. Hal Steinbrenner was asked this week if he could envision A-Rod’s role with the team expanding soon and “Junior Boss” incredibly said he was all for it.

“Absolutely,” Steinbrenner said. “Obviously he’s been doing some broadcasting and he’s got other things going on in his life. But, look, the more he’s involved, he’s actually tremendous with the young players. Always has been. We are going to continue talking about different ways he can be involved.

A love story

We can’t have Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid wind up as this generation’s Bill Walton, or even worse – this decade’s Greg Oden. Not only is Embiid entertaining as hell to watch on the basketball floor, he’s also the most witty athlete in the NBA today. Injuries simply cannot derail this once in a lifetime power in Philly.

Here’s the latest Bill Brasky-like Embiid story:

On Valentine’s Day, WAGs star Olivia Pierson posted an Instagram shot of herself in bed with a shirtless Embiid with a caption that read: “Happy Valentines Day to this hunk @joelembiid. Thank you for being you. I’m so proud of you. You are the most loyal person to me in this crazy life. And to me that’s priceless. #ShipDocked”

Pierson, who most people thought was still dating Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Marcedes Lewis at the time of the post, was pretty much rejected by Embiid on social media as the online-savvy Sixers center re-posted the picture with “#FAKE NEWS” plastered on it.

Deadline duds

In terms of trade deadline excitement, baseball has surpassed basketball in recent years. There was plenty of buzz heading into last February’s NBA deadline but the day came and went with a whimper as the biggest moves involved names like Courtney Lee, Jeff Green and Randy Foye.

There’s plenty of speculation of superstar swapping this year, of course, with the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, Chicago’s Jimmy Butler and Indiana’s Paul George all being mentioned in trade rumors on the daily.

If I had to wager today, though, I’d put good money on none of the above being dealt. The biggest NBA trades typically transpire during the summer months nowadays.