Playboy is well read because of, um, well yeah. That joke's a little too played out for my taste. But, I have always enjoyed the interviews (seriously) and the "20 Questions" segment; the magazine's writers always ask some tough questions and almost always get good answers. This month's subject -- one Scott Boras, whose feature will be on newsstands May 15 -- is certainly no exception. And in a pseudo-sneak preview from Playboy (NSFW obvs), we found out his answers about items such as steroid use, Alex Rodriguez opting out of his contract, changing the World Series, whether baseball is better than sex, why Manny Ramirez likes Los Angeles, "road beef" and his answer to a question about "rubbers for rookies."
The entire interview is a pretty amazing read -- Boras debates whether or not he's greedy and refuses to answer the question about knowing whether Rodriguez was on steroids, although he did discuss who was to blame for his near split with Rodriguez in 2007: FOX! Well, not really, but he pointed out that the network wasn't required to break the news.
But the best portions of the interview come when Playboy asks Boras about the lives of young athletes; when prompted for the best name he's ever heard a groupie called, Boras responds with "road beef." And then there's this:
PLAYBOY: Do you advise young players to watch out for baseball groupies?And this:
BORAS: That's a huge issue because you have high school boys making millions. We have a booklet for young players that tells them about paternity suits. It says, "If a woman has your child, it can cost you $2 million over the course of 18 years to raise that child." We talk about using protection and having safe sex.
PLAYBOY: Rubbers for rookies?So, yeah, it's an obvious issue that everyone's aware of: groupies are bad, m'kay. But it's fascinating that there is so much attention paid towards the notion that baseball players are in the illegitimate child/alimony wheelhouse, and that agents are overly cautious about having too many women hanging around their players.
BORAS: Players can also follow a ritual: If you meet a girl at the ballpark, ask her if she knows any players from last year's team and from the year before that. A girl who hangs around the ballpark year after year may be looking for something other than what you're looking for. She may see you as her ticket out of town. So we tell young players, "An interaction with the wrong type of girl can wreck your career."
Additionally, Boras discusses how he would change the World Series and the plan (premise: "modernize it") is actually fantastic, because he wants to make it more Super Bowl-esque, in that he thinks the week should really be isolated and the locations of the games distributed on a pre-determined basis.
It's a fascinating interview, and I would suggest that when Playboy hits the stands this month, you make sure to pick up a copy. And even if you don't like Boras or don't really care about his answers, worst case is you end up owning an extra copy of Playboy.
