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Us Weekly reports in its new issue, on newsstands tomorrow, that Madonna's seven-year marriage to Guy Ritchie has stalled out – and the singer has been hosting late-night visits from New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez at her Central Park West apartment in New York City. A ringless and grim-faced Ritchie, 39, arrived in New York City from London yesterday after several weeks apart from his family. A source tells Us that the $28-million-a-year Rodriguez, 32, has made numerous solo nighttime visits to Madonna, 49, at her spacious home and would sneak out "as late as midnight." Says the source, "All...

Alex Rodriguez makes more this year than his hometown Florida Marlins. Boosted by his new deal with the New York Yankees, A-Rod tops the major league baseball salary list at $28 million, according to a study of contract terms by The Associated Press. The 33 players on the Marlins' opening-day roster and disabled list total $21.8 million...

BOSTON -- Hit 'em where they ain't is ancient advice to baseball batters. Now statistics explain why it works. Based on his time with the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez is one of the game's best shortstops, according to researchers led by Shane T. Jensen of the University of Pennsylvania. Rodriguez now plays third base for the New York Yankees. Using a complex statistical method, researchers concluded that one of the worst at shortstop is A-Rod's teammate, three-time Gold Glove winner Derek Jeter. The findings were presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In her “60 Minutes” interview with New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez Sunday, Katie Couric asked the third baseman about steroids in baseball, the home run record he is poised to break eventually, and his own upstaging of the 2007 World Series. But most surprising were Couric’s questions about A-Rod’s record-setting salary. "Your new contract is worth $300 million-plus,” Couric told Rodriquez, asking, “Are you worth it? Is any player worth that kind of salary?” The Yankees announced this month that they had resigned Rodriguez in a deal ESPN estimated to be worth $275 million over 10 years, with another...

Investment king Warren Buffett gave A-Rod the push to crawl back in late October. Days after contract talks broke off with the Yankees, a distraught and humbled Alex Rodriguez took the advice of his pal, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, on how to get back into the team's good graces: Kick his agent to the curb. After speaking with Buffett, and then using two Goldman Sachs money men as go-betweens, the slugger, hat in hand and without agent Scott Boras, flew to Tampa last week to meet with Yankees bosses Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, The Wall Street Journal reported. "I don't...

In the public imagination, sports negotiations unfold along the lines of "Jerry Maguire" and other fictional portrayals -- fast-talking, bare-knuckled agents going to head-to-head with cigar-smoking team owners in a game of "Show Me the Money." But when New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez stumbled in his efforts to ink a stratospheric new contract, he turned to a different set of characters: Omaha investor Warren Buffett and two executives from Goldman Sachs Group Inc...

ARod will sign 10-year, $270MM deal with the Yankees, just announced by Shep Smith

If Alex Rodriguez could handpick the team he plays for, Boston might well be No. 1 on his list. According to a source who has talked to Rodriguez recently, he'd love to play for the Sox because he thinks they can win multiple championships. Meanwhile, agent Scott Boras has been pleasantly surprised with the early interest in Rodriguez. "Several teams have expressed an interest and there have been a couple of surprise teams I never expected to hear from," he said. Boras would not reveal any names (one of the surprise teams is thought to be the Marlins). Asked whether...

Alex Rodriguez opted out of his $252 million, 10-year contract with the Yankees on Sunday in what appears to be the end of his tumultuous career with New York. Rodriguez's decision, announced by agent Scott Boras as the rival Boston Red Sox completed their World Series sweep of Colorado, makes the third baseman eligible to become a free agent. Boras said he attempted to notify Yankees general manager Brian Cashman of the decision but couldn't reach him, so he left a voice mail. "He was traveling and I was traveling," Boras said. Rodriguez loses the final $72 million in guaranteed...

Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to reach the 500-home run plateau, belting a three- run home run in the first inning of Saturday's game against Kansas City. Rodriguez, who turned 32 on July 27, surpassed Jimmie Foxx (32 years, 338 days) as the youngest player to reach 500 career home runs. Rodriguez smacked the first pitch he saw from Kyle Davies over the left field wall for his 36th home run of the season and became the 22nd player in MLB history to reach the 500 home run mark....

TORONTO -- The Yankees' desperation to win a game was so great, Alex Rodriguez reasoned, that he was willing to try anything to make it happen -- even yelling into the ear of an infielder trying to catch a pop fly. The Blue Jays didn't have quite the same understanding, and by the end of the evening, Rodriguez again found himself in the middle of a heated situation. Rodriguez's verbal interference with Toronto third baseman Howie Clark was a debated side note to the Yankees' 10-5 victory at Rogers Centre on Wednesday. "I haven't been around that long -- maybe...

An asteroid may come uncomfortably close to Earth in 2036 and the United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it, a group of astronauts, engineers and scientists said on Saturday. Astronomers are monitoring an asteroid named Apophis, which has a 1 in 45,000 chance of striking Earth on April 13, 2036. Although the odds of an impact by this particular asteroid are low, a recent congressional mandate for NASA to upgrade its tracking of near-Earth asteroids is expected to uncover hundreds, if not thousands of threatening space rocks in the near future, former astronaut Rusty Schweickart...

DETROIT (AP) -- Alex Rodriguez had big black marks under his eyes. Nothing will deflect the glare of another postseason bust for A-Rod and the New York Yankees. Just like last year, Rodriguez was AWOL when the Yankees needed him most, going 1-for-14 with no RBI as the Yankees were eliminated in four games by the Detroit Tigers, the second straight first-round exit for New York. "You kind of get tired of giving the other team credit," Rodriguez said in a somber Yankees clubhouse. "At some point, you just have to look in the mirror and say, 'I sucked.'" The...

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The White Sox might have a different swagger to them this spring, but all indications are that manager Ozzie Guillen hasn't changed one bit. That seems to be especially true when it comes to expressing his opinion. In the Feb. 20 edition of Sports Illustrated now on newsstands, Guillen fired shots at everyone from Yankees shortstop Alex Rodriguez to Bill Gates. Guillen on Rodriguez playing in the World Baseball Classic: "Alex was kissing Latino people's asses. He knew he wasn't going to play for the Dominicans; he's not a Dominican! I hate hypocrites. He's full of [bleep]....

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was named the American League Most Valuable Player for the second time in his career. Rodriguez first captured the award as a shortstop with the Texas Rangers in 2003 and became the first Yankee honored as MVP since the 1985 triumph by Don Mattingly, who now serves as New York's hitting coach. Finishing a close second in the voting was Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who would have become the first designated hitter to win the award. Rodriguez received 16 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, 11...

<p>MOSCOW - In the early 19th Century, czarist Russia and the British Empire shadowboxed over Central Asia in an exercise of diplomatic brinkmanship that historians would later dub the "Great Game." The United States insists it has no designs on replaying that game.</p>

<p>It's hard to know who is being the bigger baby here: John Henry or George Steinbrenner. In an e-mail sent to reporters about the deal that puts Alex Rodriguez in pinstripes, the Red Sox owner whined that "baseball doesn't have an answer for the Yankees." Mr. Steinbrenner fired back that this was just "sour grapes" because the Sox had failed to broker a deal for A-Rod back in December.</p>

<p>HELL HATH no fury like a Red Sox fan spurned. For the past week, loud moans and other exclamations of disgust can be heard whenever the news comes on. In some households, people are tossing pillows and sneakers at their new flat-screen TVs.</p>

<p>February 19, 2004 -- TAMPA - Before the first pitcher popped a catcher's leather, the Red Sox and Yankees have their hands exactly where they belong: around each other's throats. With Aaron Boone's ALCS-winning extra-inning home run in October still fresh in the Red Sox Nation's memory, Boston owner John Henry yesterday started a verbal brawl and George Steinbrenner buried his former partner with a pair of vicious rebuttals in which he called Henry a "failure" and accused him of having a belly full of "sour grapes."</p>

-Rod reportedly traded to Yanks Print story AIM story Email story FOXSports.com Posted: 2 minutes ago The Yankees and Rangers have an agreement in principle on a monster trade that will send shortstop Alex Rodriguez to New York in exchange for Alfonso Soriano, Newsday is reporting. No announcement is expected Saturday since there are still a few minor details to work out, but both sides are confident those won't hold up the deal. Rodriguez, the AL MVP, would be moved from shortstop to third base by New York, seeking to fill the hole created when Aaron Boone hurt a knee...

I just heard on ESPN News that A-Rod might be traded to the Yankees. Hey, Sox fans...you have to be loving that? I feel for you.

<p>Heard the one about the motorist lost in upstate New York? He pulls into a gas station and asks the attendant, "How do you get to Cooperstown?"</p> <p>"Hit 500 homers," the pump jockey said, not missing a beat.</p> <p>It's one of baseball's most sacred numbers and, for the moment at least, it's a sure ticket to the Hall of Fame. But now that Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero have joined the 500-homer club, let's take a closer look at who else is aiming for it.</p>

Teachers, follow A-Rod's example in contract talks By Thomas J. Cottle July 23, 2002 BOSTON -- For decades, critics of American culture have written about the sheer insanity of paying a teacher for one year's work what an athlete earns in a day. What utter madness underwrites a culture, these critics aver, that prizes entertainment over education, a society that literally values taking our minds off of important matters rather than learning these important matters in the first place. The utter irrationality of it all has recently been captured by the owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team who laments...