Dwight Howard is the NBA's problem. Alex Rodriguez is MLB's problem. However, both players are larger than life even though they play in different leagues. Another similarity they both share is having the ability to take over headlines whether they want to or not. Howard's headlines usually caused "Dwightmares" while Rodriguez has been known as A-Fraud in a lot of circles around baseball. Howard will settle in Houston with the Rockets and A-Rod might exit baseball on Thursday and not come back until 2015. Who do fans hate the most? Though they are both great headaches, I think the answer is simple.
Howard might piss a lot of people off with his dramatic fiascos. He gets coaches fired, expects to be the No. 1 option in the same team where Kobe Bryant plays and never seems to say the right things to the media. However, A-Rod tops all of these.
A-Rod has always faced pressures since his days in high school, where he began making noise as the best player in the country. His days in Seattle brought him a lot of hype. He was young, good looking and most especially talented. A-Rod was only bound to become the face of baseball. He began building negative publicity following his move to the Texas Rangers in 2001. A-Rod became the highest paid baseball player in the history of the game, while losing his fans in Seattle.
In 2004, A-Rod was hated in Seattle, Texas and Boston after becoming a New York Yankee. Then in 2007 after opting out of the richest contract in baseball, A-Rod went after more money signing a 10-year deal for $275 million at age 32. It seemed that every time A-Rod struggled, people cheered. New Yorkers lost their faith in their star until he found a way to rebound in 2009 with a magnificent postseason. A-Rod had never been good in the postseason and after never being man enough to admit to his mistakes, nobody seemed to believe that he could perform without PED's.
The point is, A-Rod cheated. A player with so much talent and potential should not have to cheat. Derek Jeter never hit 30 home runs in a season and he has made a great living in baseball. A-Rod got greedy, so greedy that in a matter of two decades, he went from a highly touted talent, to one of the biggest venoms in the sports world.
Howard isn't a cheater, he's just a bit of a drama queen. Howard needs a solid PR team to guide him whenever he's available to be dealt or signed. Howard is super talented and a dominant center, but he looks like an average center when he's not the No. 1 option. Howard has a chance to win a championship and unlike A-Rod, he has a chance to do it cleanly.
A-Rod tarnished his legacy and will likely keep Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens company as top tier talent that will likely never make it to the Hall of Fame.