Alex Rodriguez bowed out of baseball on Friday night, hitting a double. He was often infuriating but he was never boring

The sport of baseball has always been known for odd symmetries. Friday night, Alex Rodriguez played the last game of his career as a New York Yankee against the same team he played his first, the Tampa Bay Rays (he hit a double too). Fitting that this time his Yankees would leave the winners, and it couldnt have mattered more in the dugout or less in the standings.

Rodriguez is probably the most reviled US athlete of his generation, in any sport. Barry Bonds probably surpasses him, but Bonds started playing a decade earlier and by the end of Bondss career, A-Rod was giving him a run for his money. There are lots of reasons those who hated Rodriguez those who still hate Rodriguez will give for that: his offputting attitude, his arrogance, his inability to stay out of the tabloids, and of course, the steroids. These are just symptoms; external expressions of a root cause. People feel the way they feel about A-Rod, as intensely as they do, because of money and the morality behind it.

There is a distinction so ingrained in the way we talk about Rodriguez and his career that it almost feels strange to explicitly spell it out: while on paper Rodriguez made his MLB debut in 1994 for the Seattle Mariners and played 790 games over that seven season period, the real story of Alex Rodriguez the parable of the rise and fall of a superstar doesnt begin until 26 January 2001, when the 25-year-old shortstop signed a 10-year, $252m contract with the Texas Rangers. It was the largest free agent contract in major league history by a wide margin, and arguably it ruined Rodriguezs career.

Three years later, Alex Rodriguez came to the New York Yankees on a stormcloud; the disposition and disposal of his massive contract by the Rangers was the hottest topic of the winter of 2003, and it ended with everyone angry at Rodriguez: the Rangers and their fans because their team had gone nowhere over the first three seasons of Rodriguezs deal; the Mariners and their fans because Rodriguez left Seattle for that contract in the first place; the MLBPA because Rodriguez tried to renegotiate that contract in order to go to the Red Sox; the Red Sox and their fans because Rodriguez listened to the MLBPA when they told him in no uncertain terms that was not permissible; and the Yankees and their fans because they already had Derek Jeter, a shortstop they loved on the team, a guy they nicknamed the Captain, and three years earlier their new third baseman gave an Esquire interview in which he opined that the Captain had it easy and had never actually had to lead.

That anger would not abate. Rodriguez was merely the sixth-best third baseman in the majors in his first season in New York, which was unacceptable considering he was the reigning American League MVP and was being paid a kings fortune (you know, comparatively; the 2004 Yankees were a $182m enterprise). And 2004 was painful for Yankees fans for other reasons as well, though Rodriguez was hardly to blame for New Yorks implosion in the ALCS. He had an .895 OPS with 2 HR and 5 RBI that series. But most of that came in the Game 3 19-8 blowout when everyone was hitting, comes the reply from certain quarters. He disappeared after that. So did the rest of the Yankee lineup. Thats why they lost.

The next year Rodriguez was once again the MVP of the American League, by a wide margin on the stat sheet, if not on award voters ballots in 2005, baseball writers love affair with Bostons David Ortiz was beginning to blossom. The Yankees didnt win the World Series. In 2006, Rodriguez had another off year (for him): only a .914 OPS with 35 HR. The Yankees didnt win the World Series. In 2007, Rodriguez won his third and final American League MVP Award, this one pretty much uncontested. The Yankees, once again, did not win the World Series. This was a franchise whose fans were used to success not merely historically, but specifically and immediately. It had only been a few years since the Bronx Bombers won four world championships in five seasons, after all.

The Yankees were a good, solid playoff team in those years, if a bit inconsistent in the starting pitching and without a clear staff ace; but most good, solid playoff teams dont end up winning the World Series once, let alone multiple times the current San Francisco Giants dynasty being the modern exception that tests the rule. But this was about money, remember. By Opening Day of 2008, the Yankees were paying $209m for their roster. They expected that to buy them more than just a good, solid playoff team.

So who was to blame? Theres always so much to go around, when expectations have been frustrated: Randy Johnson took his fair share (yes, these were the Randy Johnson years in New York); Melky Cabrera, then in his early twenties and a well-regarded prospect, was unable to put together the success hed find later on elsewhere; first base was an underwhelming carousel of novelty guys, journeymen and Jason Giambi. But in the winter of 2007, one target dwarfed all the rest in ire: Alex Rodriguez, the reigning American League MVP. Why? How?

Because that damn contract of his had one last finger to curl shut, of course. Mere days after the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies out of the World Series, A-Rod opted out.

Opt-out clauses are now almost boilerplate features of any massive free agent contract, but back at the turn of the century when Rodriguezs agent, Scott Boras, negotiated the 10-year deal with the Rangers they were fairly new territory. Starting in 2007, A-Rod had the contractual right to void the remainder of his deal in the ten days following the end of that years World Series, and thereby become a free agent.

Looking back, whats odd about that winter was how certain everyone was Rodriguez was leaving New York. Part of this was because thats what JD Drew had done when he similarly opted out of his Boras-negotiated contract with the Dodgers and went to the Red Sox the year before; part of it was because it was hard to imagine the unhappy (but productive) relationship between A-Rod and the Yankees going on any longer. The local media was thrilled, in that peculiar, angry, excited way columnists get when an ambiguous issue suddenly clarifies into a moral fable for example, here is Pete Abraham, then-Yankees beatwriter for The Journal News, propping up Ron Villone of all people as the Gallant to Rodriguezs free agent Goofus. The year Rodriguez won his third American League MVP Award, Ron Villone pitched 42.1 innings of 4.25 ERA baseball in middle relief and walked almost as many guys as he struck out. Weird thoughts.

Abraham wrote that blog in the first week of November; by the second week of December, Rodriguez had re-signed with the Yankees. His new deal capped a crazy five weeks or so for Yankees fans, appetites whetted but never satiated by the obsessive coverage every public statement, sourced, anonymous, or otherwise, was being parsed and reparsed, then parsed again, then turned into a conspiracy theory. This, not his performance on the field, was how the nation knew Alex Rodriguez: the endless story, the star consuming everything around him in the gravity well of his undeserved fortune and misapplied fame. The cautionary tale: Minnesota, Oakland, Pittsburgh, teach your children right. Dont let your prospects grow up to be A-Rod. As if they would be so lucky.

Alex Rodriguez has only signed four professional contracts in his career. The first was a three year deal with the Seattle Mariners after they took him first overall in the 1993 draft. The second was also with the Mariners, signed after the first expired, buying out the next four team-controlled years of his career. The third was that fateful January deal with the Texas Rangers. Then there was the contract he signed days before Christmas to stay in New York. That was his fourth, and Rodriguez intended for it to be his last. He not Boras negotiated the terms, as he took pains to make clear to the press. He wanted everyone to know that, as if somehow that was the thing that was going to make fans like him. Above all, he wanted to retire a Yankee. Last night, his wish was finally, brutally granted. It took the form of a mercy killing.

The fourth contract was ten years in length, just like the one that had preceded it, and was loaded with all sorts of synergistic, cross-promotional escalators and sidepots concocted with an eye towards the triumphal end of his Hall of Fame career. The centerpiece was a $30m marketing agreement based on reaching home run milestones; $6m apiece for reaching 660, 714, 755, 762, and 763. In 2008, these were not idle clauses; it seemed plausible if not probable that Rodriguez would end his career as the new Home Run King. In 2016, they seem not tragic but cruel; a mean-spirited joke Rodriguez played on his future self.

The history of this contract is far fresher, far more raw: after being the best hitter on a forgettable 2008 team that finished in third place and was most notable for giving 80 innings to Sidney Ponson, Rodriguez finally did it. In 2009, the New York Yankees won the World Series on the back of an amazing postseason performance by A-Rod: 68 PA of 1.308 OPS hitting, with 6 HR and 18 RBI. He won the Babe Ruth Award, making him the postseason MVP. That should have been it: that should have been the moment things changed for Alex Rodriguez in New York.

In another world, maybe they did. But in this one, shortly before the beginning of the 2009 season someone leaked a list of 104 players that had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a supposedly sealed 2003 MLB fact-finding survey to Sports Illustrated. Rodriguezs name was on that list. He denied the allegations for two days, and on the third, he admitted to steroid use.

That was what the world took away from Rodriguezs year. Not the postseason heroics and not the World Series ring, but the money and the cheating. Without the money, the Yankees could have quietly forgiven the cheating, as they did with other players. Without the cheating, the Yankees would have been more than happy to spend the money. But both together made them look like fools that had overpaid a liar for a defective product.

That wasnt the end of A-Rod and PEDs; in 2013 hed be named as an offender in the Biogenesis investigation, a sloppy, ethically and legally compromised show trial that Major League Baseball inflicted on their product more as a means to expand the discretionary power of the Commissioners Office than as a good-faith effort to punish violations of the Joint Drug Agreement. As part of the Biogenesis fallout, Rodriguez would accept a one-year suspension for the 2014 season, despite not having failed a drug test. This was his nadir; at one point Rodriguez was not only suing MLB, but the Players Association as well, doing anything in his power to get a legal injunction to allow him to continue playing.

But it was three years earlier, in 2009, when Rodriguezs dream of a triumphal final season full of milestones, columnist hagiographies and pre-game farewells at visiting stadiums vanished. That was when the narrative surrounding his money and his morality suddenly clarified, his story arc was made legible, and it turned out he was not a hero, not even the flawed, Greek kind. Nor was he a villain, because villains have the power to do harm. Somehow the best baseball player of his generation was nothing more than an undignified fraud. That he was successful in spite of that became an embarrassment; his career was either a lie, a joke, or both, and the Yankees didnt want him to stick around for them to find out. They tried everything they could to get rid of him, but Rodriguez just kept showing up to work, eager to get out there and play; a ghost haunting Yankee Stadium, ignoring his own exorcism.

All of that is why a guy who was Rodriguezs clear inferior on his best day got to hit weak grounders at the top of the order for all of 2014, and A-Rod got a press conference, a week on the bench, one final out playing third base at Yankee Stadium and his unconditional release after the game. And you know what? He looked pretty goddamn happy with it.

His last game was won by Yankee heroics, but they were not his own. That didnt seem to affect his enjoyment of them. Jeters story ended in triumph; A-Rods ended with the acceptance of fate. Theres something more human about the latter than the former. Rodriguez is retiring to work with Yankees minor leaguers as a special instructor and advisor; thats something hes been doing for years informally, but has shown an especially keen interest in lately. Its work he seems well-suited for. It will keep him around a game he clearly loves, and an organization he clearly tries to love.

A-Rod can be baffling, infuriating, frustrating and mystifying in turn, but he is never tragic. Alex Rodriguez spent 22 years hitting baseballs better than just about anyone else alive, and along the way made a whole lot of money, alienated friends, lied, cheated, disappointed himself and others, filed lawsuits, got suspended, wonked out over swing mechanics, mentored rookies, became a father, never really figured out how to talk to the press, watched his mistakes close the door on his chance at history and then made his peace with walking away. It was a privilege to watch him play and to write about his career, and I will miss him dearly.

• This article was amended on Saturday 13 August to correct the details of JD Drews contract. Drew had opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and gone to Boston, not, as we had written, opted out of Boston and gone to Philly. This has now been changed.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/aug/13/alex-rodriguez-final-game-new-york-yankees-mlb

Former tech mogul Gurbaksh Chahal, who had pleaded guilty over the 2013 attack that was caught on camera, was sentenced for violating probation

Gurbaksh Chahal, a Silicon Valley technology mogul who pleaded guilty to assault after police say he punched and kicked his girlfriend 117 times, was sentenced to one year in jail on Friday for violating probation.

Judge Tracie Brown revoked Chahals probation and ordered him to spend 12 months in jail for allegedly assaulting a second woman months after pleading guilty in the first domestic violence case. Chahals lawyer, however, said he would appeal the ruling, and the defendant was released on bail.

When he arrived, Chahal rushed past a crowd of reporters outside the packed San Francisco courtroom without commenting. He sat stoic throughout the hearing and declined to make a statement to the judge.

Chahal, who was pushed out as chief executive officer of RadiumOne, an online advertising network, was originally facing 47 serious felony charges for the 5 August 2013 attack. Police officials said that a 30-minute security camera video they obtained showed the entrepreneur hitting and kicking his then girlfriend 117 times and attempting to suffocate her inside his $7m San Francisco penthouse.

Chahals lawyers, however, claimed that police had illegally seized the video, and a judge ruled that the footage was inadmissible despite prosecutors argument that officers didnt have time to secure a warrant out of fear that the tech executive would erase the footage.

Without the video, most of the charges were dropped, and Chahal, 34, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor battery charges of domestic violence. A deal he struck in April 2014 allowed him to avoid jail time if he conducted a year-long domestic violence rehabilitation course and 25 hours of community service.

The disgraced multimillionaire has repeatedly attempted to downplay the seriousness of the case, claiming that he lost his temper during a normal argument with his girlfriend and that he did not kick and punch her 117 times.

He said the $500 fine he paid was the equivalent of a speeding ticket and in no way reflects the toll that this ordeal has exacted on me.

In Silicon Valley, critics have argued that Chahals case and the lack of serious consequences he faced highlight the way in which privileged and wealthy businessmen can get away with serious misconduct.

Chahals plea bargain also stipulated that he would be on probation for three years, but on 17 September 2014, prosecutors say he attacked another woman in his home, leading to another arrest.

This second victim told police that Chahal had repeatedly kicked her and that when she discussed getting a restraining order against him, he threatened to report her to immigration authorities.

Chahals lawyers responded by attempting to attack the credibility of the woman in court, alleging that she was in a sham marriage to get a US visa. The woman has returned to her native South Korea and did not appear at a recent San Francisco hearing.

Although the victim did not testify, San Francisco superior court judge Brown ruled last month that Chahal had violated probation and ordered him to surrender his passports.

Prosecutor OBryan Kenney had urged the judge to sentence Chahal to the maximum of 18 months in jail, saying: His attitude has consisted of a complete lack of remorse He clearly didnt get the message.

In front of a standing-room-only crowd, Kenney showed the judge excerpts of the video of the original assault on his laptop, but the audience was not able to view it.

Its difficult to watch that conduct, Kenney said, adding, He has had a chance, and further domestic violence counseling I dont think would have a significant impact.

Judge Brown said she would not allow the footage to be publicly released.

After he was ousted at RadiumOne, Chahal co-founded Gravity4, another San Francisco-based ad tech company. In April of 2015, Erika Alonso, a former Gravity4 marketing executive, sued Chahal for gender discrimination, harassment and illegal surveillance, citing his pattern and practice of humiliating and abusing women who dared to question Chahal, a serial entrepreneur with a legendary temper.

The complaint alleged that Chahal regularly belittled Alonso, who is over 40 years old, and treated younger male employees much more favorably.

Rather than being allowed to perform her duties, the complaint read, Alonso was used repeatedly as bait to attract reporters in an attempt to deflect from Chahals violent past, and to assist him in promoting stories on his bid to take over RadiumOne.

At one point, Chahal told Alonso to contact a prominent female news anchor, saying, Youre a woman, appeal to her!, according to the suit.

Chahal and other Gravity4 representatives said the allegations were false, but months later, the CEO was sued a second time by Yousef Khraibut, a 20-year-old former employee. Khraibut, who has citizenship in Canada and Kuwait, alleged that Chahal said he would beat the shit out of him and threatened to send Khraibut back to Canada tonight.

Chahal also allegedly directed ethnic slurs at Khraibut, calling him a terrorist and saying that Isis terrorists were his people.

After the judge ruled that he had violated probation last month, Chahal stepped down as Gravity4 CEO.

James Lassart, Chahals lawyer, tried again to discredit the second victim in court on Friday, telling the judge: Shes not willing to come into a courtroom Her word is untrustworthy.

Lassart added, The constitution requires that my client be allowed to confront his accuser.

The defense lawyer asked the judge to grant Chahal a sentence of electronic monitoring or community service and consider that the defendant suffers from a functional neurological disorder, saying his health would be exacerbated by stress.

Lassart also asked that the judge note Chahals charitable donations, saying, He has contributed to and supported and advanced the cause of the stopping of abuse of children.

After the hearing, the defense lawyer criticized the ruling, arguing that when a victim doesnt testify, I dont think its appropriate for someone to have their liberty taken away.

Chahal pushed his way through a mob of cameras on his way out and refused to answer questions.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/12/gurbaksh-chahal-silicon-valley-domestic-assault-sentence

The unremarkable non-adventures of a Shinto boy and a monkey voiced by Charlize Theron will not appeal to kids. Except, perhaps, teachers pets

I went to quite a progressive school and, as such, spent time as a kid learning about other cultures and beliefs. Whenever we finished a new unit wed get an extracurricular treat. After learning about north Africa, someone served me my first bowl of couscous. If we were really lucky, wed get to watch a movie. But it was always the same: first, the thrill of dimming lights and a hush over the room; then, the inevitable realisation that while this was better than classwork, the enrichment film was still a little lame.

I hadnt thought about any of this in decades, but it came whooshing back during Kubo and the Two Strings. Somewhere in an alternate universe, a mini version of myself, after learning about Japanese culture and Shinto beliefs, ends up seeing this animated feature as a reward and is only mildly happy about it.

The story is as by-the-numbers as they come. Kubo, a young boy with a gift for origami and playing the shamisen, is a chosen one. He is the grandson of the jealous Moon King, but his mother left the immortal realm when she fell in love with a samurai. Her evil sisters are out to get Kubo, hoping to steal his second eye (hes already lost his first one), and when things get rough one night, Kubos mother uses the last of her magic to send her young son on a quest. Joined by a talking, nannyish monkey (voiced by Charlize Theron), he must find three totems a sword, a helmet and a breastplate that will help him, er, help him do something. I cant remember, because this movie really is incredibly boring.

Along the way, Kubo and the monkey meet Beetle (Matthew McConaughey), an insect warrior reminiscent of Kristoff from Frozen, in that hes a lovable dope. The three overcome some odds and eventually win the day, in a remarkably slow and uneventful manner. This affords them plenty of opportunity to talk about death, which is what every kid looks for in a summer cartoon film. Some of the scenes that show Shinto (or Shinto-inspired) rituals concerning deceased elders and the acceptance of mortality are, admittedly, interesting, but Im not inclined to give a pass to a family film that indoctrinates an irrational belief system just because its novel. Its one thing to say this is what some people believe, but another to say, as this film does, this is the way.

Shockingly, Kubo and the Two Strings doesnt even have much going for it on a visual level. Laika studios first feature, the marvellous 2009 picture Coraline, was remarkable in its tactile, handmade approach. But in the intervening years following the quite good ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls a problem has arisen. Laikas animation technique has become, counter-intuitively, too good. If you came to this with no previous knowledge of the studios mission statement, youd likely think this was a typical 3D computer-animated project, and not the result of a time-consuming, homespun process involving small puppets and stop-motion photography. I had to check YouTube for some behind-the-scenes marketing materials to confirm the studio hadnt made the leap to CG images. Perhaps were nearing a singularity, where the digital renderings of mega-processors have knocked the wonder out of us, and real animation now only looks impressive when it is demonstrably less than perfect, as in something like Coraline or Ji Bartas marvellous 2009 film Toys in the Attic.

I dont enjoy being a stick-in-the-mud about Kubo and the Two Strings, but I am being realistic. Little kids will be bored, as there are only a few scenes with any action, and of those, only one, featuring an enormous skeleton with swords sticking out of its skull, has any oomph. The creature design isnt that spectacular either, save for a quick look at a Forgotten Realms-ish beholder. Older kids, except for a few teachers pets, will soon realise that this is hardly a fun action-adventure cartoon at all, but a plate of vegetables. That isnt to say the animation market should live on Minions alone, but for its intended audience, its unlikely these two strings will resonate.

• Kubo and the Two Strings is released in the US on 19 August and in the UK on 9 September

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/12/kubo-and-the-two-strings-review-charlize-theron-laika-animation