Courtesy the Wall Street Journal
Alex Rodriguez is sorry. How Rodriguez chose to share this with the world was a hand-written letter for all fans to see that he really truly, for real, is actually, legitimately sorry after lying to everyone for so long. Since the apology is really basic and everything one might expect an apology letter to say, one media outlet was very creative.
The Wall Street Journal brought in a handwriting expert, Paula A. Sassi. Sassi is described as "a certified master graphologist in professional practice for 35 years". Among her observations: Rodriguez "writes like a girl":
“He writes like a girl,” Sassi said. “Feminine writing is more rounded, with a lot of connections, which he has throughout this. And a right slant. Masculine writing tends to be more angled, straight up and down, maybe printed.”
Okay, so that seems like a cheap shot. But what about what Rodriguez actually had to say? Sassi had a few observations.
First, she observed an ego, that one has come to expect from Rodriguez:
“The capital ‘I’s’—that’s where you see the personal ego,” she said. “This is probably what gets him into trouble. He has a very strong-willed, independent ego. They’re so large, and printed. That’s the kind of capital ‘I’ where you say they’re very independent, and strong-willed.”
Is Rodriguez still keeping some information secret?
“In the second line, when he writes ‘mistakes,’ it’s interesting what occurs in that word, it has a cover on the ‘a,’ and it also happens in the fourth line, when he writes the word ‘situation,’ and both have to do with what happened,” Sassi said. “Which is being very protective of personal information.
Finally, Sassi believes that Rodriguez remains guarded:
"In his signature itself, where he writes ‘Alex,’ the circle around it, we call that a ‘magic circle of protection.’ So he’s covering his tush. You see it a lot in signatures.”
Check out Sassi's full analysis of the apology letter here in the Wall Street Journal.
