New York —- The first Madonna reference came about 10 minutes in.

Alex Rodriguez didn't snarl or duck away. He answered with the same relaxed expression and casual tone he used to describe the honor of playing in the final All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

His personal life has been splashed across the local tabloids in recent weeks, but Rodriguez insisted he doesn't resent such intrusions, that he has learned to embrace "the gift and the curse" of sports stardom.

"You have to take the good with the bad and not take yourself too seriously," he explained later. "I think that's the one thing that over the first four or five years [in New York], I kept knocking myself over the head and trying to re-explain myself."

On Monday, nobody drew as many reporters and cameras as the Yankees third baseman.

"Everyone goes through personal issues,"Rodriguez said. "Mine are on the front page of the papers. ... You have to deal with that, challenging times."

Rodriguez asserted that moments like the Yankees' exhibition game against Virginia Tech in March to help the school heal from last year's campus massacre make the downsides of celebrity all worthwhile.

"You know what? That's all part of it," he said. "For every negative you tell me, I can tell you 10 positives. I'm going to focus on the positives."

Mr. October holds court

Reggie Jackson might be as well known for his Hall of Fame-sized ego as he is for knocking mammoth home runs. He held court behind the batting cage as this generation's sluggers prepared for the Home Run Derby.

"These young guys today, today they're bigger. I don't know if they're stronger," Jackson said. "[Harmon] Killebrew, Frank Howard, [Willie] McCovey, Dick Allen, [Willie] Stargell, Rico Carty, [Mickey] Mantle, Lou Gehrig.

"There's no one playing today that's stronger than Jim Rice," he added. "There's no one playing today who hit the ball farther than Gorman Thomas."

Jackson hit 563 homers in his career —- his three in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series is one of the most replayed moments in Yankee Stadium history.

Jackson confidently —- how else? —- asserted how he'd do in the Home Run Derby. "I would have won them all. You know that."