Self-Kissing A-Rod: 'Surreal' Before the Fall

Jason Gay interviewed Alex Rodriguez just a day before his past dalliances with performance-enhancing drugs were uncovered, he writes in Details. A-Rod knew what was coming, but the star was more concerned that his favorite Madonna song not be published, for fear of it being played at away games. “Looking back, his preoccupation seems surreal,” Gay writes. The interview, by the way, is drawing more attention for its photos, which show A-Rod kissing his own image in a mirror.

Gay’s time with Rodriguez revealed the player we’ve come to know: reserved, coached, but with a sparkling “humanity” underneath. “I've taken the subway to the stadium,” A-Rod reveals. “It's great. The fans get a kick out of it, I get a kick out of it.” If the Yankee is to recover from his shame, Gay writes, “he's got to go back and find Alex, the kid from Miami via Washington Heights who existed long before A-Rod.” (More Alex Rodriguez stories.)