You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say: 'That's the bad guy.' – Tony Montana, Scarface

In the grand stage show of professional sports, Alex Rodriguez is one of the bad guys. But as scathing as I have been about the guy in the past (I take none of it back) and despite what Major League Baseball may have thought, Alex Rodriguez is still good for the game. Because plays a crucial role, one that no great story can do without. He plays the villain.

We expect our sports men and women to be role models. Just as we project our athletic ideals upon them, we also project our moral ones on them too. Alex Rodriguez; liar, cheater, multiple MVP; has failed us in this regard. But his mistakes put the often unattainable expectations that we place on athletes in perspective, and he serves as a contrast by which we can keep those who do, somehow, live up to what we fans demand. We can’t have all of our heroes to be pure. We don’t need all of our idols to be heroes. Everyone loves a good outlaw story.

Case Study #1: Tony Montana. Scarface. Drug dealer, murderer, corrupter of so many. The world was his.

Case Study #2: Jesse James. Literal outlaw. Murderer and train robber. Widely revered, whilst the man who took him down was condemned. (Watch the film)

Case Study #3: Walter White. Chemistry teacher, family man, meth cooker. Alias Heisenberg. He broke bad, and made millions.

Add in Tony Soprano, Michael & Vito Corleone, and any protagonist from an Elmore Leonard novel. We like our heroes dangerous and tortured. We like our villains complicated and ambiguous. A-Rod falls among the latter. Another flawed modern icon. His days of dominance are over, yet his headlines sell more papers than anyone else. We’re fascinated by characters like him, enamoured by his life’s drama. And for all of his troubles, for all of the distractions that he brings, when A-Rod was threatened this week, his New York Yankees teammates had his back.

The Yanks are playing arch rivals Boston. Rodriguez steps up for his first plate appearance of the night. Ryan Dempster throws three fastballs well inside, as if toying with the guy, before drilling him on the arm with a fourth (By the way, if you’re gonna hit the guy, hit him, you don’t just intimidate him like that, even if he is the biggest villain in the game. Protagonists don’t take down the bad guy in films by compromising their own moral integrity). As soon as he was hit, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was out of the dugout and into the face of the umpire, screaming. The benches cleared, both teams were warned. Girardi, who hasn’t often had the friendliest relationship with his controversial third baseman, was ejected arguing for his protection. Dempster was banned for five games. A-Rod went 3-4 with 2 runs, 2 RBI and a home run as the Yankees won 9-6.

It’s fitting that Alex Rodriguez is a Yankee. If any organisation in American sports represents an evil empire, it is them. No other team has so much money, so much drama, so much profile and so many fans. A Rod is like the Darth Vader of the MLB. Yankee Stadium is the Death Star, owner Brian Cashman is The Emperor, and Derek Jeter is, ah, that guy that Peter Cushing played. But the evil empire they may be, the New York Yankees are also America’s team. They are the most successful franchise in history, boasting so many of the all-time great players. Like Babe Ruth, a notorious drunk. And Joe DiMaggio whose private life was a disaster (he eloped with, married, beat and divorced Marilyn Monroe). And, of course, Alex Rodriguez: Drug Cheat. Only one of those unfairly affected their on-field performances, but all three exhibit flaws in the lives of great athletes. And A-Rod undoubtedly has been a great athlete.

A-Rod wasn’t always the bad guy. We did that to him, with our expectations and our standards. Pressure, fame and the desire to win all took their toll. Cheating followed, villainy ensued. He is the perfect model for the corruption of modern sports and professionalism - He’s earning $26 million this year! One day, though, he’ll retire, and remove his dark mask. And you know what? We’ll feel sorry for him. We won’t forgive him, not after what he’s done, and he’ll never be allowed into the Hall of Fame. But his façade of evil will fade and we’ll see him for what he is: a human being like you or I, with flaws and a lifetime of mistakes and regrets. One who tried too hard, was pushed too far; one whose many triumphs will all be for naught in the greater scheme of things. His descent into wickedness was a long time in coming. Unlike Ryan Braun, whose sudden meteoric drop left fans shocked that a guy who had always painted himself as the hero could have been lying to us all for so long. Braun was deliberately deceitful in every aspect of his public life. He’s not an outlaw or an anti-hero, he’s the crooked sheriff. Nobody cares for that guy. He’s the first shot dead and the first forgotten.

Scarface was right. We need people like Alex Rodriguez. We need to be able to establish our bad guys from our good ones. He makes the exploits of Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera even greater by distinction. Tony Montana’s words (well… Oliver Stone’s words, really) make a perceptive statement of the world we live in, of our need for order and disparity. Alex Rodriguez’s tale is the tale of Scarface, of Walter White, of Jesse James and of Tony Soprano. A timeless tale about the dangers of getting everything you want. You can have the world, sure, but at what cost? All of those men died as a direct result of their success, with the exception of Walter White, who is currently on his last legs with terminal cancer. A Rod won’t get away with his cheating and doping. When he retires his records will be disregarded. He’ll always be jeered. His legacy will lie in tatters. But we need people like him. We need our bad guys. And, despite it all, just like Walter White, I’m happy to see him get away with it. He’ll pay the bigger cost in the end.

- Wildcard