An Argentinian publication is perplexed by Lionel Messi's TIME snub and wonders: Who is Aaron Judge?
Aaron Judge is who?
Anyone in the baseball-loving cosmos that stretches from Japan, Taiwan, and Korea across the Pacific to Canada, the United States, and Latin America may find the query to be odd.
The Yankees slugger is well known in New York, Tokyo, and Havana, but a recent opinion piece from a prestigious Argentinian news organization suggests that his status is lacking elsewhere in the world.
This Thursday, a column by Clarin's sports editors criticized TIME Magazine for choosing Judge as their "Athlete of the Year" over Lionel Messi, an Argentine soccer sensation and World Cup victor.
Translation: "[Messi] finished an incredible season to be regarded by the rest of the world as the best athlete of the year,"
The anonymous author does recognize that Messi and Argentina defeated France in a dramatic World Cup final 12 days after Time's decision was made public on December 6.
The majority of the remaining text in the article is devoted to Judge, a baseball player who was chosen as the American "athlete of the year" instead of Lionel Messi, the world champion.
To some extent, the writer's perplexity is reasonable. Baseball remains a peculiar sport in most of the continent, even though Judge broke Roger Maris' team and American League record of 61 home runs this year by hitting 62.
The Caribbean-facing Venezuela, which has given the world Miguel Cabrera, Johan Santana, Luis Aparicio, and Andrés Galarraga, practically marks the end of baseball's expansion in South America. Argentina is not an exception to the continent's overall interest in soccer, which is evident from the presence of players like Orlando Cabrera and Edgar Renteria in neighboring Colombia.
The author makes an effort to compare Judge and Messi's existing contracts on an apples-to-apples basis.
pointing out that despite the slugger's huge nine-year, $360 million contract in the Bronx, the soccer player gets paid more.
The translated version of the story stated, "The greatest contract of all time, however, belongs to Lionel Messi, when he signed a four-year, $674 million agreement with Barcelona."
Time's preference for Judge does little to lessen Messi's tremendous 2022, but even though he may not harbor resentment, Argentina's media continues to be an enthusiastic backer of their national hero.
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