Alex Rodriguez crashes Zoom happy hour with Jersey Shore small business owners
When Mike Powers told his buddies that Alex Rodriguez would be joining their Zoom happy hour, they all had the same reaction.
Suuuuuuure he is.
Powers’ brother placed an A-Rod cardboard cutout in front of the camera, joking that there he was. A member of Rodriguez’s PR team shared Powers’ last name so when she joined the chat first, it seemed like Powers’ sister was posing as a member of Rodriguez’s team to add more fuel to the ruse.
But Powers, 35, wasn’t joking.
In the middle of their call last Friday, the former Yankees slugger himself popped into the chat full off Jersey Shore-based small business owners, teachers and essential workers. Nobody complained about the party-crasher as Rodriguez gave advice and encouragement to the folks affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was like an out of body experience,” said Powers, a Barnegat native and co-founder of the Give Us a Shot Network, a group dedicated to helping podcasters elevate their platforms. “You couldn’t believe he was there. It was like literally hitting a home run.”
The story continues after the video of A-Rod crashing the Zoom.
Rodriguez compared people being out of work during the pandemic to rain delays in baseball. He said the players who remained sharp and prepared during the delay would be more ready when the game restarted than the players who relaxed. Rodriguez felt the same mindset could be applied to those who are out of work.
“Those who took off the uniform, got comfortable, they started eating fried chicken, and then Joe Torre or (Joe) Girardi comes back in and says, ‘boys, first pitch in 25 minutes,’ everybody goes ‘oh, s—,’ and they can’t get their minds back in the mindset of a champion to go out and play” Rodriguez said.
“Tony La Russa taught me a great lesson. He said when there’s a delay in the game, get your uniform, keep it on, ride the bike, stop messing around, keep your game on and when you come back and they say play ball, you’re going to have an advantage to go back out there and finish and close that game like a champion.”
Powers reached out to Rodriguez and ironically heard back from his team on April Fools Day. Rodriguez has been crashing unsuspecting happy hours for the past couple weeks, including one for surgeons from Stony Brook University Hospital who had Rodriguez’s beer company.
Wanting to help out his friends and family and those affected by the pandemic, Powers invited over 20 people to the happy hour.
One was Chuckie Gookins. A Toms River resident, Gookins, 39, is the owner of Fresh New Angle, an event company that provides DJ and photography services, and has lost significant business with virtually all weddings and other large events being postponed.
Gookins, a DJ, has been airing shows on Facebook Live to help drum up future business and market his company.
Alongside his partners Kyle Short and Michael Large, Gookins has been utilizing Rodriguez’s approach to rain delays. He has refocused his energy into promoting his business online as events continue to be pushed back.
