With all the Alex Rodriguez and Madonna nonsense going on, it's brought up a lot of debate as to whether or not a player's personal life is something that should be covered with such zeal. Personally, I'm more on the side that says somebody's family life should be exactly that, and unless they're breaking the law or endangering others, it really shouldn't be any of our business. I don't care whether your A-Rod or Rasho Nesterovic, your home life should be just that.

Still, I understand the coverage of the story. I mean, it's baseball's best/highest paid player reportedly having an affair with an aging pop icon as his wife leaves him for another rock star. It sounds like an epically bad movie of the week, and it's the kind of thing people are interested in reading. So while I generally don't like reporting on stories like this, I understand that readers want it, so I'll do it and just shower afterwards to feel better.

Tabloids aren't always bad, though, as there are times when they save a lot of people quite a bit of pain. Like any of you New Yorkers out there who complain about the Post or Page Six, you should probably be grateful they exist, because if they didn't you'd likely have to be watching Barry Zito pitch every five days.

"I knew [the media] would be a factor, the media markets," Zito said. "You get exposed and you don't really have a personal life anymore. It becomes so much more inflated than the reality is, which is, we're just playing ball. I think buying into the lie that we're doing something so important, I think it hurts our performance because we feel our performance is determining the fate of the world. A lot of times in huge media markets you can start to think that."

Zito has seen the A-Rod stuff in the papers and said, "It's just a shame. I don't know what the real story is. Only a limited amount of people do. It's just a shame that society is geared this way where we put someone's details of their lives or problems on the front page. It's a shame that people are entertained more with the downfalls and struggles of certain peoples in the spotlight than they are with their successes."

So all you Yankees and Mets fans out there may want to consider writing a thank you letter to the New York Post's editor-in-chief Col Allen. He's saved you a lot of heartbreak.