I have always maintained that if you truly want to check out a new romantic partner thoroughly, don’t talk to his/her exes, talk to their parents. An ex’s parents will tell you the truth about that person. Actually, they will tell their truth which is always going to be far more fun to listen to. So it tickles me to no end that the mother of Alex Rodriguez’s ex-girlfriend choose to give her thoughts on A-Rod. Alex dated Esther Wojcicki’s daughter, Anne Wojcicki, for about a year and a half. They split right before he started up with his current relationship with J-Lo. Anne is the co-founder and CEO of 23andMe, a genetic testing company. Esther was an educator and Anne’s father was a professor at Stanford. Anne graduated from Yale and did molecular research at University of California, San Diego. Her sister Susan, the former CEO of YouTube, went to Harvard and her other sister, Janet, is an anthropologist at UC San Francisco. None of the Wojcikis follow baseball. According to Esther, A-Rod doesn’t follow anything but baseball. In short, other than an affection for Greek mythology (my assumption) there wasn’t a lot to talk about when Alex came to dinner.
Ouch. Anne Wojcicki’s mother, Esther, questioned the intelligence of her daughter’s ex-boyfriend Alex Rodriguez in a new interview.
“He seemed to be genuinely in love with Anne. But I right away figured out this was a mismatch,” Esther told The New York Times in a profile published on Saturday, November 18. “He had no academic background. We couldn’t have an intellectual conversation about anything. His main interest in life was something that none of us had ever focused on, which was baseball.”
The journalist claimed that the former New York Yankees player, 42, often spent long periods of time watching television. “He could park himself in front of a TV and watch baseball for 10 hours a day,” she said. “He wasn’t even sure he wanted to go on the yacht with Anne because the TV might not be working.”
“We couldn’t go anywhere with him,” Esther told the Times. “If we went to Target to look for clothes for the kids, all of a sudden we’d be looking around and people would be saying, ‘We just want a selfie with A-Rod.’ He can’t walk across Central Park. He has to take a cab. That will work better with [his current girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez] because she’s like, ‘Take a picture of me anytime.’ … I wish J. Lo all the luck in the world.”
Not everything Esther had to say about Alex was uncomplimentary. She mentioned that she “liked Alex, he was a very nice man.” So see? She’s not wholly disparaging him, he was really nice – for a baseball-obsessed, uneducated celebrity looking to be recognized.
I kid! Esther’s point was that she knew Alex and Anne were mismatched from the beginning. (When Anne mentioned she was dating him, Esther response was, “What’s an A-Rod,” which is exactly what my mother would ask.) Prior to Alex, Anne was married to Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google and whose affair with Amanda Rosenberg ended their marriage very publicly. So, my guess is that it wasn’t just Alex’s track record with school that bugged Esther. I’m not giving her a pass, I don’t doubt that she’s a snob about education. Even Anne said of her parents, “you’re only a viable fetus once you have your Ph.D.” I also don’t think Esther cares one whit how she comes off. But if we’re going on shade-level alone, she deserves a standing slow-clap with bonus snaps for slipping a dig at Alex’s current girlfriend, J-Lo, right under the buzzer. Future Anne suitors beware: I’d crack a book before you come a-callin’.
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Getty Images
Damn she cuts to the bone
The main concern I’d have as his mother is that he influences his fit athletic gfs to get breast implants OR that he spreads the herp around Hwood with wreckless abandon
Lol high level shade
she does come off as a bit of an intellectual snob, but realistically speaking, if one does not like sport and the other nothing but, it does not seem like a good match.
It made we wonder why the heck Anne dated him at all.
Yeah I don’t really follow A Rod so I never knew that he dated Anne, but now that I do, I have NO idea why these two would ever get involved.
When I dated a bonehead, meathead, gorgeous trainer with a gorgeous smile and a great body but I had to dumb down words because he didn’t know what they meant? I’ll tell you why I did it.
Amazing sex.
It didn’t last long and it was never serious. It was fun after a serious relationship that I wasn’t looking for anything too serious.
He was so pretty but oh so dumb.
M&M, that makes sense, sounds fun, lol. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t find A Rod at all attractive. Maybe I know too much about him…he grosses me out.
Once I realized she had been married to Sergei Brin, even I was like “Wait, what, why was she dating A-Rod?” Those guys are polar opposites. I don’t think you need a Phd to be smart, but I definitely don’t see any similarities between the founder of Google and a baseball player. If you don’t like baseball AT ALL, the difference is/will be quite startling…
Of course, why the mother was talking to the press is a bit baffling to me. You don’t need to air private opinions about your daughter’s ex-boyfriend to the press. Unless he did something really bad to her, talking about him seems kind of unclassy. (Did he do something bad to her?)
Hes not hot to me (now at least) but she was probably really attracted! Couldn’t resist ! Got weak! Why J Lo dated Caspar is more of a mystery though
perplexed – agree. She says he is very nice and was genuinely in love with her daughter, so why this very public put-down? It comes across as mean-spirited.
It’s not going to last with Jennifer Lopez. But for now I guess they’re having fun and maybe that’s enough, a live for today kind of thing. It’s got to be tough on her kids though when the long terms go to be replaced by another one.
It can be difficult for highly educated women to date only highly educated successful men. Those men also have very high standards when it comes to who they want to date, and often go for less intelligent beauties. I don’t fault Anne for dating A-Rod. Maybe she found him to be physically attractive, and she needed a break from intellectual snobbery after her divorce. I am not into sports at all, and I dated a guy who was not cultured and loved to watch the Sports Network every morning. Our relationship did not last long, but I thought he was a good person and was more thoughtful than a lot of other guys I dated who were well traveled and better educated.
@clare thanks for the answer. Heck – you worked your hiney off … name drop a bit. 😁
You should read the NYT profile. She’s like many “academics” and “intellectuals.” When they talk about THEIR field they are fine, but literally anything else and they seem either dumb or aloof. Add this to her immense wealth and…UGH. The ex (Anne) is unbearable. Seriously, read the profile. She talks about her frugality in the way Mitt Romney did. As in, we’re supposed to discount her wealth because she watches her coins.
Someone read the NYT profile and get back to me please, because….UGH. UGH. I’m dying to discuss,
I’m pretty smart and well rounded. I did well in school but I am certainly not at Doctorate level or have a PHD and I would probably sound like an idiot to them.
Alex is a jock. Always has been. I don’t understand the need to call him out on it.
She knew who he was before they even met.
If she thought there was going to be stimulating conversation she was dating the wrong guy.
I agree. As much as I dislike Alex, the mom comes off worse. My brother went to 2 Ivy League schools and his friends are down to earth.
Yeah, agreed. She comes off worse here. I wouldn’t want to sit at her dinner table either and I’m pretty well-educated with an advanced degree. Her ego seems like a good match for Alex’s in this case. Alex is smart – but baseball smart. We each have our own areas of expertise. As someone who is wholly obsessed with all things baseball and football, I have a hard time with people like her who think that sport is only for the dimwitted and unrefined, because that’s exactly how she comes across.
I come from a pretty well-educated family and I found her insufferable. I’m no big fan of ARod but baseball is how he made his fortune–he used what talent he was born with and used it well. How is that a bad thing? Maybe he could be more well rounded but he got where he is on hard work. I refuse to criticize that.
I want my PhD, but I’ve made a goal to never be the quintessential academic or intellectual. People with advanced degrees kill me. The degree gives you expertise in a particular field, not life. You don’t know everything.
I have a Ph.D. and it’s even from Stanford…where I grew up. I am a retired professor, as is my husband, my father, and most of my uncles.
Bottom line: a Ph.D. Is a union card. It allows you to do certain things, like teach at a university. It is not a license to peer down your nose at other people. A-Rod is no less informed and focused than the mother and her family. A-Rod operates at the top of his chosen field, as do Stanford academics.
I agree. Intellectualism isn’t something to lord over people with and to feel superior or smug about. A-rod and her daughter didn’t work out? Fine. No need to insult him. He’s successful in his own right and snobbery never is a good look. Arod could counter back that his ex’s family lacked grace and manners.
I was rolling my eyes through the nytimes profile. Having your kids do laundry one day a week is a billionaire’s dumb idea that this will keep your kids normal, or more ignorant of their wealth. Sure. As they cavort on their yacht, they still do their laundry? Doubtful.
I feel a little sorry for her that her husband cheated on her. she seems to have thought she really found a guy on her level with the weird wedding and all, and like she doesn’t love raising kids alone.
The mom has probably been salivating at appearing in the nytimes for decades. This was your chance Esther! You blew it.
“I did well in school but I am certainly not at Doctorate level or have a PHD and I would probably sound like an idiot to them.”
What’s weird is that I don’t think Anne’s mom has a Phd either. Anne’s ex-husband dropped out of a Phd program, or suspended it (probably because he knew he’d go on to be a billionaire as the founder of Google. He clearly doesn’t need the Phd. What choice would you make? Yeah, I’m sure most of us would choose the former.) I don’t think Anne herself has a Phd or a Master’s degree. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Yale. Impressive, but I still don’t see a doctorate after her name.
I think Anne’s father has a Phd, but he deigned to marry someone who doesn’t have one, so I don’t get the mother’s snobbery.
Also people have different interests. A Phd in English literature or Russian History might not have much to say to Anne either because her field is molecular biology. And a Phd in English literature might be skeptical about artificial intelligence, the desire to live forever, or having a robot do all of the work for you. Even two Phds from completely different fields might have very different philosophies about how to live and discuss “life.”
Again, the mother’s snobbery doesn’t make sense to me.
@perplexed
Makes sense to me. In my experience those that judgement-brag the most are usually trying to make up for their own deficiency.
OK, A-Rod and his supposed intellectually shortcomings aside…
so I looked at the New York TImes article and Anne Wojcicki says something about how while on summer vacation to save on hotel laundry, she has her kids BATHE IN THEIR CLOTHES so the clothes are clean the next day?
What the hell is that all about.
It’s more than just “he’s a jock who watches tv all day”. i follow baseball – big fan. ARod is an idiot —not undereducated – an idiot. Listen to him speak sometime. Ughh. His first wife was a teacher – dunno how SHE did it either.
I don’t know too much about A-Rod but wasn’t he at the top of his chosen field? He used his talent which was in his case physical and used it to the best of his abilities. I can’t stand academicians who judge others based on juts smarts. Did the mother ever think that maybe they came off as stupid and uninformed to him considering they know nothing about baseball?
@redrum. Yes ARod was at the top of his field, and then came crashing down after back to back PED investigations. One more and instead of a year -long ban (which he avoided by “retiring”) and he’d be in Pete Rose territory – banned for life and disallowed to enter the baseball HOF. His with on the field is questioned certainly. What so irritating to me is that he was an excellent role model and by all accounts a good human. Spent extra time after every game signing autographs for kids. I admired him then. So maybe it’s a bit personal for me that he’s had such a fall from grace. I don’t judge him for an inability to maintain an “intellectual” conversation with an obv snob — whatever said snob identifies as an intellectual Conversation – but I think he’s so up his own a*s now he won’t even try a bit to blend in with (presumptive) inlaws … as most men do.
M&M — I have a Ph.D. in a joint program (chemistry and physics) and so have known a lot of people with Ph.D.’s. Most of the men marry women who do not have Ph.D.’s themselves (often they married prior to his starting the degree program). They always seemed smart enough to me, and I don’t recall their husbands talking or acting as though they thought their wives were intellectually inferior. So you can be pretty sure that someone with a Ph.D. won’t think you are an idiot. Unless of course he’s rather stupid himself (and that can happen…). They can be liable to the usual cultural male prejudices about women, but it’s not because of their advanced education. They acquired the jerk attitudes much earlier.
Women with a Ph.D. have a harder time finding male mates because of cultural prejudices that the wife should not have more education (or heaven forbid, higher income) than the husband. That situation is not because they are intellectual snobs but because of the men’s attitudes. The reverse is not true, so men frequently marry women with less formal education.
The Ph.D. gives you some depth of knowledge in a specific field, it doesn’t make you a genius or the font of all wisdom. You have to have normal intelligence and most of all persistence to get it. It’s like being a good car mechanic – you know certain things very well and can do certain things that others can’t because of the extra five or six years in school past the four years in college. In the sciences, it’s basically an apprenticeship program (learning how to do research and how to write about it) in addition to a couple of years or so of advanced coursework. Does a car mechanic assume that the spouse can talk about cars? Or does an accountant expect the spouse to share a deep and abiding love of numbers? Not usually. Same with people with Ph.D.’s in anything. Shop talk with colleagues, the rest of life with others.
Maybe she thought physical attraction was enough. Intellectuals can also fall victim to the power of the flesh.
I just don’t get how A-Rod hasn’t been blackballed after all the doping stuff.
I’ve said this below – I have a PhD, from a Uni outranked usually only by Harvard for my subject – I am NOT smarter than most people – I just spent a chunk of my life doing just one thing. Sure there are plenty of extra ordinarily brilliant people who are academics; there are also many many many dotards who are academics. A PhD or Ivy League education, or lack theteof is neither mutually inclusive or exclusive of intellect or brilliance. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an arrogant twat.
She might have also dated him because they both have money. Socio-economically, they’re both at the same level. She doesn’t have to worry about a rich baseball player trying to get at her finances. A wealthy baseball player is less likely to be interested in her money than a professor living on a paltry adjunct salary, who would probably need her to subsidize his intellectual pursuits.
At this point in her life, she’s more of a business-woman than an intellectual, imo. She and her ex-husband know how to get rich. They monetized their smarts. They’re highly intelligent, but I find that a little different from being an intellectual who has intellectual conversations. Neither is better or worse. I just tend to think she and her ex-husband have a greater interest in making money rather than discussing philosophical matters on an abstract level. If they did discuss that stuff, a lot of what they do would probably freak them out. What they do is actually more practical and pragmatic than intellectual-minded, imo (that sentence looks snooty, but that’s now I intend it to come across).
It’s more than just “he’s a jock who watches tv all day”. i follow baseball – big fan. ARod is an idiot —not undereducated – an idiot. Listen to him speak sometime. Ughh. His first wife was a teacher – dunno how SHE did it either.
@ Clare. No snark, genuine curiosity: why the back end run about your uni? Why not name it ?
@Cine eh, was avoiding name dropping, while still making the point that Ivy League and Oxbridge status is well and good, but a brilliant mind it does not make – but no problem naming it (Cambridge). The real one, not the one in the US :p
@Cine.
That’s not what she is saying in the article though is it. This woman is on a public format calling him out as unintellectual on the grounds that he, a sports analyst, watches TV all the time, caters to fans in public and has a sweet but “Hispanic” family.
It’s easy to put down famous people from the sidelines as is done here everyday. But if you go on public record putting anyone’s intellect down, you better make your case and not with irrelevant crap about taking selfies with fans. Point is, whether he is an idiot or not, she is just shading him for her own superficial, status-seeking vanities. Just a note, I’m not a fan of his.
Yes, she seems like a crappy person. I don’t have a doctorate, but I have a master’s degree and am married to an educator (also with master’s). I don’t think either of us would go to a public forum and shade someone’s lack of intellect. She says he was a nice man but had no problem humiliating him and revealing the personal details of his life. It’s funny that in selling Alex out she revealed herself to be an unkind person.
WTW: Well said !
Ex in laws are not always truthful. They can be even more vicious and vindictive if they were a very unhappy person to begin with. So not knowing either, I’ll take the info w/ a huge grain of salt & forget about it.
Its not so much about if its true or not its just so uncalled for and totally lacking class.
I totally agree it was uncalled for. As I said vindictive & unhappy woman..
Say it again for the people in the back. My in-laws disliked me before they even met me, simply because I’m black. Do you know how many people have racist, homophobic, religious intolerant, xenophobic and otherwise generally sociopathic in-laws? I would never take what in-laws say with more than a grain of salt unless I personally knew everyone involved.
I don’t like A-Rod but that was rude and unnecessary. If you have to talk about your daughter’s ex in the press, just say that they weren’t a good fit or weren’t good together.
Yes, this is very rude and actually beyond snob territory, its just mean. :-/
I agree.
Terrible woman. The way she brings up his hispanic family is also very telling.
I went to go find what you were talking about.
“He came from a Hispanic family. We liked them, they were very sweet.”
Wow. Does she know that she’s talking about A.Rod? A man with the last name of Rodriguez whom most people know? Why the need to point out his family, especially with a last name that implies Hispanic heritage?
IKR. What did she think; He was adopted? Of course his family is hispanic. He’s hispanic ! For someone that thinks she’s so smart, she’s pretty out of touch.
She’s really saying that she liked his “sweet” family despite them being uneducated, poor hispanics. This is how she explains A-Rod’s lack of intellect. “He came from a Hispanic family” – so of course he’s uneducated.
That Anne can’t catch a break. I would be mortified if my mother’s snobby, racist comments were published in NYT.
I don t want to spend time with neither of them, she s a snob and he s a bore.
My mother’s reaction would be: “A-Rod? That jerk who slapped Bronson Arroyo? That cheater?
Varitek was right to shove his mitt in his face!”
A-Rod slapping Bronson actually happened months after Varitek shoved his mitt in A-Rod’s face but that fight did start because of an exchange between A-Rod and Bronson; my mom just combines the two incidents.
Ha Mr L told me about this after I happened to meet Arroyo at a US charity thing (super kind, cool, down to earth guy and quite cute!) …and I saw the video and ha, what a little jerk A Rod is in my opinion now!
I LOVE Bronson Arroyo. People here were really upset about losing him but he did well in Cincinnati and has had a long career. All good. Saw his band perform at one of the charity Hot Stove concerts here years ago. Just a great guy.
And here’s the clip of A-Rod slapping Bronson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQyY-azd2vk Don’t get me started on Joe Buck ignoring it while initially calling the play and cheering for Jeter running the bases.
Yeah I already hated A-Rod BEFORE that happened but what he did to Bronson really sealed the deal for me.
Exactly. There’s plenty not to like about A-Rod (especially for us!) but you don’t have to be an intellectual snob about it.
Ha, that’s priceless. My son would love your mom!
LOL LOL!!
Actually a lot of sports and movie celebrities have somewhat of a butterfly brain. That’s why it always makes me laugh when they give out advice on life in the interviews. Why would anyone want that?
Admittedly I’m not a huge baseball fan but when I watched the Cubs/Cleveland WS, A-Rod was an amazing analyst. He explained everything so well and could get someone like me, who thinks baseball is a total snooze fest (no offense!sorry!) into it.
He knows how to make baseball interesting and exciting, so I won’t hate on him for extensive baseball knowledge and he seemed pretty intelligent to me. Maybe he’s just interested if different things?
I am a huge baseball fan and he is a really good analyst. It’s harder than it looks to do that well. He may not be an intellectual but he is far from stupid.
Also-I think in that Vanity Fair article, they made a point of discussing that A-Rod is actually very well read and although he wasn’t formally educated, has made a point of learning.
I wish they’d keep A-Rod and get rid of joe buck. I thought most of Chicago was going to riot during that series. Joe Buck is horrible!!
Yes, I’m in Chicago and Joe Buck was an idiot. ARod actually did very well.
Ugh. Joe Buck. I’m at thankful that Tim McCarver is gone though. They were insufferable individually and even worse as pair.
Oh yeah. No to Joe Buck. I’m sooooo glad he doesn’t cross pollinate to college basketball and I’m always worried he’ll turn up sometime after the NFL season is over like a bad penny. We have enough of those kinda guys: see Jay Bilas.
Everyone from every city ever hates Joe Buck lol! Going to World Series games is worth the astronomical price just to not have to hear Joe Buck.
Dating across an educational divide can be pretty difficult. It’s not just about the person, but their friends, family, and the attitudes they espouse. It can work, but with judgey parents like that I can’t imagine it would for long.
When I found out about how well educated and successful my boyfriend and his family are, I got a little nervous about it. I didn’t go to college and thought they’d judge me on that and think I wasn’t good enough for their son. Thankfully, they’re great open minded people who haven’t judged me on anything, and I get along great with them all (so far)
I have been on both sides of this. I came from a very humble background. My parents were from poverty. My mother quit school in the 10th grade, for example. My parents were great in encouraging us to get an education. I married into a family of academics, but we have never had any clashes. Education and class differences are such touchy subjects for Americans. I am not sure why the mother would even bother to comment.
That sounds rough, Beth. I’m so glad to hear they welcomed you with open arms, that is absolutely as it should be.
Honestly, the biggest issue is usually one partner feeling lesser from what I’ve seen. And its because people with advanced degrees tend to value those degrees, which…. questionable. Being educated doesn’t necessarily make you a good person. Being ‘bright’ doesn’t make you a good person. Being kind is more important that both of those.
third ginger, I’m in Canada, and you can still see some of this attitude, and i mean stuck up b*tches are everywhere lol.
I’m not sure if in the states its also linked to socioeconomic status? The university education system there is significantly less publicly funded and accessible than Canada, or most of Europe. I’m not sure on the specifics of Britain though?
Detritus:
When I worked towards my MA, I heard a lot of the other grad students sneering at the “bourgeois” — they meant those less-educated yet better-paid than themselves. It was a lot like the snobbery of the 19th century, “But Darling, he’s in trade.”
I didn’t know anyone in grad school who didn’t work and/or get loans or scholarships to pay for it.
graymatters
Lol, yup, that sounds about right. Most College grads make more than our University Grads, unless you pick the right MSc or a professional degree.
the snobbery makes me laugh though, because its based on them being ‘intelligent’, but they weren’t smart enough to find a more lucrative position.
I agree. Considering how successful he’d been, you think she would have cut him some slack. Although she probably considers sports déclassé. (She does say the tv was on constantly-that would bug me too.)
especially since he is an analyst, that was literally his homework.
I feel like that actually needs to be said again
he was watching baseball because he is an analyst, that is his job. Just as an academic needs to keep up on recent events in their field, an analyst needs to do so as well.
Yes-that’s true-sports on tv is his job. Tbh, when I first started dating my husband he was finishing his PhD-and it’s in the sciences-I was intimidated. I’m a college graduate, and so are my friends, but nobody in my world went into academia or had advanced degrees. He never ever made me feel weird or bad-but it was just totally different. After several months, I completely overcame my insecurities. There are a lot of strange, not very bright, people with advanced degrees out there.
My ex came from an intellectual family, all had law degrees, one sister had a PhD in medieval law, the other taught law, yadda yadda. The only one who steadfastly refused to accept me (a community college grad working as a junior editor in an advertising agency) was the PhD and she treated me like dirt until her mother took her aside and gave her a total lamb-basting about how some families just didn’t have enough money to afford to give their children unlimited education. She said intelligence wasn’t something you got with a degree, that it was inherent and that I was a smart and eminently capable person. The PhD continued to live at home getting degree after degree well into her forties while I toiled in the trenches. That was my first experience with intellectual snobbery and the lesson it taught me was that it doesn’t matter how educated you are, just do the best you can at something you love, keep your mind open to new interests, experiences and people, and smile sweetly at arrogant twats.
Eh, I find the mother’s comments massively elitist and kind of offensive. I think I’ve mentioned on here before, my partner and I are both academics at a pretty good University, ranked higher in many tables than most of the Ivy League schools, and the number of morons with PhDs I come across each and every day is astounding. A degree or academic job DOES NOT MAKE YOU SUPERIOR, assholes. The first time I was going to meet my now brother in law, my MIL took me aside to tell him I should be prepared to ‘be bored’ because ‘Mike didn’t even go to University’. F that shit. There are plenty of people who bore me out of my f-ing mind – many of them ‘intellectual heavy weights’, but I’ll take a chat with my BIL over them any day of the week. Sure maybe A-Rod is boring as F, I believe that, but to intimate that this super educated family was intellectually above him is pure arrogance.
And to add, my other half is FAR more successful in his field than I am – markedly so, in that we are no longer even in the same league – so perhaps we are an ‘academic’ and ‘intellectual’ mismatch as well? But you know 99% of our conversations do NOT revolve around our intellect or academia – we sure as hell don’t spend time discussing code and economic history. Wanna know what we DO talk about? DOGS! FOOD! Who should do the bloody dishes!
Ughhghghhghghghghg TLDR; fuck academic and intellectual elitism. The fact that you and your kids went to ivy league school’s doesn’t make you better or more equipped to hold a conversation than anyone else.
All very well said, thank you.
Agree. I have said this before, but in support of your comment, my daughter knows young people who attended all sorts of elite schools, and every one of them had a story starting with “the dumbest person I have ever known was in my class at…”
In German we call people with advanced degrees who are still not very intelligent “Fachidioten”. I’m not sure how to translate that but it’s something along the lines of expert idiot.
I saw many of them at uni. They got excellent grades but were not only socially incompetent but also just really uneducated in so many other areas. Basic stuff. Vast book knowledge in cultural studies but had no idea who our Foreign Minister was. A few years ago, one of the young lawyers at our firm who had been announced as the next big thing, turned out to be unable to use his computer. And I’m not talking advanced stuff. He didn’t know how to adjust font size in Word! WTF? How did you even write your papers?
My colleague, who has a university degree as well, didn’t know who Charles Manson was. “Oh, Charles Mansion died. Well, finally.” – “Who?”
A degree tells you next to nothing about a person.
actually, that word is so good that Croatians totally stole it from you: we also say “Fahidiot” for the very same thing and people-we borrowed it from you. 🙂
Can a non-German steal “Fachidioten?” Because…YES. So perfect. I know so many people that on paper look like they could solve world hunger. However, when you talk to them, you can’t comprehend how they put on their pants.
I work in the tech industry and we have a LOT of Fachidioten in my company. I’m definitely going to steal this word!
Guys, spread it. It’s a beautiful word. 🙂 I just looked it up and online dictionaries (not to be trusted) translate it as geek or nerd. That is NOT it. But you all know what it means.
Geekychick, I’m tickled that you use it in Croatian!
I think ”Fachidiot” is similar to ”idiot savant” – someone who knows absolutely everything about one, very narrow area of expertise but is abysmally ignorant about anything else.
This woman sounds like a terrible person
The quote was “He came from a Hispanic family. We liked them, they were very sweet. He seemed to be genuinely in love with Anne. But I right away figured out this was a mismatch. He had no academic background. We couldn’t have an intellectual conversation about anything.“
Hmmmmm.
Yeah, the sweet Hispanic family comment was all kinds of wrong. Wtf, lady?
Paternalistic and oblivious.
I literally think she was saying it as a nod to her ‘open mindedness’.
we did not care he was hispanic!
so much side eye.
detritus, you nailed it.
Oy vey.
I bet they could have had an intellectual conversation about baseball, if only she weren’t so ignorant about it.
It’s pretty obvious she’s just a snob and likely a racist one at that.
Someone not interested in debating politics or existentialism isn’t necessarily stupid. I’ve seen plenty highly-educated people who couldn’t do the simplest every day tasks.
So, so true. My cousin is as book-smart as they come, full academic ride anywhere she wanted. A math whiz at a young age… but bless her heart, she lacks SO MUCH common sense it’s staggering. Boiling water is too much for her. The sweetest person you’ll ever meet, but also one of the smartest dumb people I’ve ever known.
This would be my MIL and FIL. You have never met people with less common sense.
If he came from a family with a different cultural background, with different values, and who celebrated different aspects of life then that could be part of the mismatch without being racist. If anything, it would speak to Anne’s family as not being intellectually open enough to benefit from such an association. The use of the word “sweet”, though, is a tip-off that that’s unlikely what Esther had in mind.
good grief, it’s not racist to say he comes from a hispanic family. he does, does he not? unless you assume that’s automatically somewhat inferior to her background, i do not see the problem.
Because it’s subtle shade that’s why people are having a problem with it. She is basically saying “We liked his Hispanic family in spite of them being Hispanic and uneducated.”
The woman is full of shade.
@anna:
My sister’s husband came from a white family. They’re very sweet. They are. Boring–they only speak English, can’t pronounce anyone’s name correctly, and are limited on so many levels. We just couldn’t have an intellectual conversation with them at all. But they were awfully sweet nonetheless, and we liked them regardless.
How is not racist in this context? It’s not a necessary qualifier. She’s essentially saying that in spite of the unfortunate fact of being Hispanic they were very sweet. She can F**k off.
i do think you are making negative assumptions. but my guess is as good as yours.
I think it was dumb to mention he comes from a Hispanic family, in the sense that he’s mega-famous and everybody knows he’s Hispanic. Mentioning he’s Hispanic might have seemed less weird if he weren’t as famous as he is (however, I did wonder if she was trying to say that he’s sweet because he is Hispanic – ? like maybe she has made a cultural assumption that Hispanics are sweet? And what she intended as a positive is construed as a judgment?)
That said, she is a journalism teacher so I’m kind of surprised at how she parses out her words and not realize how her words might be construed by the public at large. A person who teaches journalism would know that once your words move from your mouth to print, you don’t really have control over them anymore.
@anna
If you put it into context of everything else she says about him, you can tell what she thinks of Hispanics. She’s not just stating a fact. She’s bringing up his ethnicity to explain his supposed lack of intellect.
She sounds like a bitter bitch and is probably a little pissed that him and JLo are showing the world how happy they are together. Of course his main focus in life was baseball, because it’s his career, and people always wanted selfies with him, he was a famous baseball player.
Being a Red Sox fan, I never thought I’d defend a Yankee
I feel a little dirty defending a Yankee. It’s not natural.
Yeah I need a shower.
It seems that way.
Yeah, I agree the mom should have never given this interview. I agree he was probably watching all that baseball for his job as an analyst. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I don’t like A-Rod, never have, never will. He’s a cheater, and besides that he’s a rude a-hole. During the playoffs in Baltimore he was a nasty POS to a Baltimore city cop. It made the papers and ever since then as people say around here… he’s cancelled, but this interview was mean-spirited.
It is hard, isn’t it? I mean, I could defend Mariano Rivera because he is such a class act and had such a great sense of humor about the Roberts stolen base. I could even defend Jeter because he did so much for the sport and deeply respected the rivalry & the Red Sox fans. But A-Rod? A-Rod who had a screaming argument with his wife in No 9 Park that continued out onto the Common with hundreds of on-lookers? A-Rod who fought V-Tek? A-Rod who slapped my beloved Bronson and then was livid that he got thrown out for cheating? A-Rod who was suspended for a whole season for steroids? It’s hard. Ex-girlfriend’s mom was out of line.
I am loving the A-Rod tea you are serving. I knew he was a jerk, but this is all excellent stuff I did not know.
Haha I’m a Yankees fan, so switch that and I feel you. My husband hates David Ortiz but I thought he was hilarious commentating on the World Series and I just like his personality in general. My husband always yells at me. A Rod is a jerk and definitely not my favorite Yankee (I liked Jeter better).
Yes, Ester why would your daughter date a 6ft+, muscular, handsome millionaire after being married to your dweeby ex-son in law. Why?! It’s a mystery to me too.
I had a similar thought.
He’s not that smart, but he dated Esters daughter Anne for a year. What does that say about her daughter that she dated a supposed dummy?
That she likes what baseball pays vs what schools pay?
She’s richer than him.
maybe he is just really good in bed. the excitment about that lasts about a year.
+1
Same reason rich and smart men date pretty models. Eye candy on your arms to events, hot body, don’t need to talk shop when you are home, and your peers are filled with envy at your “caught”. P.S. I have known really smart girls that date jocks for the hot body and great sex. Women have needs too!
I don’t really know this guy apart from this website (baseball isn’t a thing really in the UK) but this is so unnecessarily rude. Just because someone isn’t academic doesn’t make them a bad match for your daughter. Let’s flip it and look at it from his view, maybe he wasn’t into it because she knew nothing about sports. Different strokes for different folks, that’s what makes us unique! You don’t have to have everything in common with a partner…
+1
It seems like a really dumb thing to diss someone because they have a passion for their job (which they are obviously brilliant at)
Being great at a sport is just as amazing as being an intellectual at some academic field. It takes talent, intelligence and hard work.
The ex herself had nothing bad to say about him though. The only problem here was the mean old lady.
Who cares, he’s attractive, self-made and provides for his children.
The comment is so rude.
Lol It kind of is rude. On the other hand this family has no appreciation for baseball and sports that uses tons of data fantasy teams etc. if your a USA college graduate and you don’t understand baseball I wouldn’t be calling anyone else out on their smarts!
Your username is GOALS.
If she were really smart, she would have said nothing.
That’s what I was thinking. Emotional intelligence might be low in the family even if intellectual intelligence might be present.
Is there a reason why this woman was interviewed? And no, the ex’s parents are not a good source of information. Especially if they are blinded to their own child’s behavior.
Exactly!
What a nasty, mean spirited and unnecessary comment about JLo. She wishes her all the luck in the world? It sounds like she is saying the equivalent of “bless her heart”.
It just goes to show you that no matter how good you are at something, you will never be “good enough” for some people.
Exactly. This Woman’s comments are an excellent example in the category of ‘elitist snob’. Well done Ester!
Please yourself first and foremost. Don’t worry about the ‘haters’. Cause even if you’re a major athletic superstar, reaching near legendary status -you’ll never be good enough for Ester. Who?
Exactly.
Yeah, can’t really cheer for a white woman putting down two powerful POCs. Never heard of her daughter.
Hahahahahaha!!! She reminds me of my grandmother. Which is both good and bad, very very blunt and very judgmental. It really makes me wonder how those two even crossed paths though.
Tacky and classless remarks by the mother for really no reason to make them.
Well, it doesn’t sound like necessarily that he was stupid, just that he invested most of his intellectual passion into a sport – and perhaps was not as ambitious with his education otherwise. It’s not my particular interest, so not somebody I’d particularly gel with, but it’s somewhat charming that he’s actually so deeply passionate about what he does for a living. Not all of us are so lucky to have a job we enjoy that much.
Or, he simply did not want to converse with you? I would play dumb to avoid a conversation with someone I didn’t care for.
Omg, yes. So many guys do this! It’s their not so secret play to survive the holidays and gatherings with in-laws they can’t stand. Usually I tend to think guys that do this are copping out. or they don’t have enough social ability to engage and keep up. But I’ve come to recognize that sometimes it’s a necessary precaution to divert some ugly, draining family fights.
Absolutely! It can be a douchey move when they are doing it just to be an a$$hole but sometimes it really is necessary to keep the peace.
Hahaha that reminds me of the one and only christmas my husband and I did with his family. It was a disaster of a day (I still remember walking back to our hotel with my then SIL and we were both dazedly like ‘what the hell WAS that?!) and my husband did exactly that, sat there like a stone mute. I was kind of annoyed since his brothers were being rude little shits and he should have tried to keep them in line but I get why he would have known it wasn’t worth the effort.
Since then we’ve either done christmas on our own, with friends or with my family.
WORD.
I don’t even like Alex but I’m Team Alex.
love to see Anne Wojcicki reduced to “Alex Rodriguez’s ex” even though she’s smarter and more accomplished than he is :/
She’s called his ex because nobody knows who she is. Obviously her accomplishments weren’t enough to make her famous. And although fame may not be the best and only way to measure someone’s merits, in general it does denote a supreme level of accomplishment in society.
She didn’t make the remarks though-her mother did. Don’t blame her.
Maybe part of the reason their relationship didn’t work out is because she has a domineering mother who knew all the personal details. You should keep your parents out of your relationship.
Classless move on the mother’s part for talking about her daughter’s ex boyfriend. They dated briefly. Sometimes opposites attract. I would be mortified if my mother commented on any of my ex boyfriends nevertheless for her to run to the media and open her mouth. It makes her look mean spirited and just distaste. For someone who is so “intellectual”, she should have had better judgement before opening her mouth to the press. It was simply uncalled for.
I have a feeling the mum’s having a dig at ARod because she feels like he didn’t treat her daughter right. His building security guards in NY had a lot to say about how he treated Cameron Diaz, for example.
I am indifferent about A-Rod, but my son is an avid sports fan and says A-Rod does a wonderful job with sports commentary. My son was pleasantly surprised.
The MIL is snooty and A-Rod obsessed. Even though he is an expert in his field, he spends 10h watching baseball and won’t go anywhere without a TV? Inflexibility on his side and intolerance on hers.
Wow. Did they have a really bad breakup or something? Because I understand the need to throw shade (and that is epic shade) if someone hurts your child, no matter how old they are. But if it was just a normal breakup that seems pretty uncalled for. Being really into sports doesn’t make a person “dumb,” and that stereotype is so played out. I’m a huge reader, got awesome grades in high school in college, all that book-smart stuff. I can’t even play a decent game of pool, can’t understand football no matter how many times it’s explained to me, I mean I seriously suck at all things sports-related. We all have our gifts, interests, strengths & weaknesses.
According to the profile, her mother is a high school teacher so her inability to see that people have different skill-sets and talents is quite baffling to me. Even her friend told Anne that A-Rod is one of the 10 best baseball players on the planet. If you’re one of the best at what you do, I feel that should count for something.
I’ll admit I am sort of wondering what the two talked about, if she knew nothing about baseball and he knows nothing about tech, but maybe A-Rod and Anne weren’t doing a lot of talking. I don’t think her mom gets what they were doing in their spare time…
…I think shes being unnecessarily mean…to an immigrant…he watches 10 hours of baseball cos hes an analyst for tv…lots of sports people arent interested in the sport they play at all apart from the $$$ it brings in…whats the point of shading ARod…
I’m not a fan of Alex Rodriguez but ugh the mother sounds exactly like Amy Adams’ mother in Nocturnal Animals. So snob.
Hilarious. JLo and ARod are touching the bottom, along with other luminaries like the Kardashians. Their VF spread, featuring JLo’s backside, was CRINGEWORTHY and JLo and her butt need to be sent to North Korea for eternity. I agree ARod is stupid but it seems to be by choice and laziness. His finance interviews show him capable of analysis. On the other hand this kind of snobbery eggs on the ultra right, Trump supporters, and co.
This is bad form.
I cannot stand JLo boasting about how she “made history” and ARod + her publicising their showmance for clicks, not to mention JLo constantly offering her butt up to the world like a platter of pre-dinner finger food. It’s not good behaviour from the mother but these two are too much.
But JLo HAS made history, she’s an icon and a trailblazer.
Riiiight. Have you read her interviews? She makes Jennifer Lawrence sound like Marilyn vos Savant. Icon my foot. Can’t sing, horrible actor, zero pop/visual/imaginery vision like Madonna had in the ’90s. No mainstream music dominance like Rihanna or Katy Perry managed to have for a sustained period of time, however much you may detest their music. Constantly offering her butt up to the world like a platter of appetisers and objectifying herself in the most comical way. At least the Kardashians KNOW they’re trashy. In an already vapid world, JLo is a trailblazer for being a unique combination of stupidity, arrogance, and hubris.
Wow someone’s obsessed! Don’t have time to reply to that rant.
Here’s your icon and trailblazer.
http://wetpaint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/jennifer-lopez-iheartradio-butt-1024×1024.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/30/13/39DDF2D700000578-3886388-image-m-3_1477832912283.jpg
My husband was an academic (PHD) in the humanities. (I have a lowly MBA) We lived for a couple of years in the community where he taught. Had to move to a nearby town as I couldn’t take being around his self-satisfied weirdly unworldly colleagues 24-7. It’s one thing to go to dinner parties with them but my god, academics and their spouses are the ultimate smug parents, so the school yard chatter was the last straw.
Adding that that was just my experience, so as not to sound like an academic.
Totally reminds me of ‘The Aviator’ when Hepburn brings Hughes to meet the family & they share a big meal… Tension at the table… Its a great scene!
Educated or not, this woman’s interview is classless.
He’s a good match for J-Lo then. She ain’t all that bright either.