The question most asked of me as baseball season begins remains: How do you feel about the return of Alex Rodriguez?

Answer: Is it possible to feel differently and indifferently at the same time?

It’s true, I do feel differently about Alex Rodriguez this year than I have in previous years. For the past few seasons I’ve felt, as I think the Yankees did or do as well, that he would just somehow go away. Wouldn’t it be convenient if he just went away? (Known in some parts as “Clemensing.”) I didn’t really care if he ever appeared again in pinstripes or not.

This year, somehow, I feel different. Do I want A-Rod to succeed? Well, sort of. And not just because he’s a decent player on my favorite team. Perhaps I always want to see an underdog succeed, and somehow, incredibly, A-Rod’s now become the underdog.

The other half of my brain feels indifferently about Rodriguez’s return. A quiet “eh” is about the best I can muster. Truth is, I’ve cared less about baseball every season since 2009 (the Yankees’s last championship), and living outside New York now I spend more time watching my National League girlfriend (the Washington Nationals) than I do the Yankees anyway. My heart still resides in the Bronx though.

And unlike the Yankees, who didn’t even feel the need to tweet the news of A-Rod’s first spring training home run, I’ll be cheering for the guy in real life and cyberspace when the moment arrives.