Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Agents join backlash against Rosenhaus

From the Contra Costa Times

T.O.-Rosenhaus fiasco gives industry black eye

It's a typical midweek morning in the Axelrod home, and amid the activity, somebody has turned the television to ESPN.
"Next question!"
Barry Axelrod, a baseball agent for nearly three decades, can't help but hear what's being broadcast. Heck, he has it memorized. The report has been aired on every sports cable channel in existence.
"Next question!"
Axelrod's 12-year-old son is watching. He's not a huge sports fan, his dad said, but he does keep tabs on the biggest stories of the day. What he is watching is one of the biggest stories of the year.
"Next question!"
It's almost comical at this point. So as the young boy walks away, one key question simmers in his brain. "Who is that?" he asks.
"So his mother says, 'He's a sports agent, kind of like your dad,'" Axelrod said, relaying the story. "I thought to myself, 'Hey, I'm nothing like that.' ... But that's the image we're all fighting now."
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A little later in the story is this quote:

"Rosenhaus basically helped make Terrell Owens look like a bigger fool than he made himself look, which is a hard thing to do," Wagerweb.com CEO Dave Johnson said in an e-mail. "It takes agents like Rosenhaus to give athletes a bad name, making them look like all they care about is money and self-promotion."

WagerWeb.com, BTW, is running odds on who'll be the next jock to fire Rosenhaus. They've got Owens at even money, followed by Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas at 2-1. No other Eagles clients, such as Jevon Kearse or Jerome McDougal, are on the list.