I had a quiet New Year's eve. Stayed in with my fiancee, cooked dinner and watched the ball drop on NBC. Around 3 minutes prior to 12 p.m. in NYC, in the midst of the typical New Year's show, Carson Daly was struck with a look of shock. A "mystery guest" suddenly dropped in and walked on set. Who was it? A-Rod, of course. This was priceless. Classic television. Classic A-Rod.
Daly acted completely surprised. A-Rod smiled and waxed poetically about how great New York is. At one point, a zip lock bag was thrown by a member of the crowd at A-Rod's face. A-Rod and Daly teamed up to make the catch, and A-Rod tossed it back. A-Rod talked about how he and his wife were spending a quiet New Year's eve in New York when they said "what the heck" and decided to drop by Times Square. Well, not a moment too soon! Had A-Rod delayed at all, he probably would have missed the ball dropping.
Side note: For those people who have never been to Times Square for New Years, one doesn't just drop in.
Sometime after I stopped laughing and the ball dropped, I reflected on the A-Rod surprise interview. At that point I remembered that A-Rod hired Guy Oseary to manage his image after Scott Boras had nearly rendered A-Rod libel proof in October and November. I also remembered seeing somewhere (here) that Oseary represents Daly. Then I started to wonder . . . how many markers did Oseary and A-Rod have to call in to get him on the New Years' show in the 3 minutes prior to and including the ball dropping? Or how much of his small fortune, if any, did he have to pony up for those prime time minutes? We'll probably never know, but a few things are for sure: (1) It wasn't a surprise appearance and (2) the 2008 P.R. campaign has officially begun.
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