Grand slams. Hail Mary touchdowns. Buzzer-beaters. Game-winning goals.

You would think that sports provides enough excitement on the field or court or ice to satiate even the most demanding consumer.

Luis Gonzalez is no longer sure.

"The playing part gets boring for people," said the 19-year major league veteran, who now plays for the Florida Marlins. "And they want to know what is going on in athletes' personal lives."

In this modern media age, with its increasing saturation and declining standards, the curious won't have to surf long to find it. Check out the major independent sports blogs, and you might stumble across a backside bikini shot of tennis star Ana Ivanovic, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart holding up a beer funnel for Arizona coeds, the $1 million pool of Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas, or the latest gossip related to the relationship of New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush and reality star Kim Kardashian. Even the sportscasters, such as Chris Berman and Erin Andrews, aren't exempt from the scrutiny.

"I don't think anybody's lives are private or personal anymore," Gonzalez said. "Once you step into the public street, everything is wide open."

Alex Rodriguez sure learned that, though he may not have truly learned his lesson.

On May 30, 2007, a blaring headline appeared in the New York Post, next to a photo of the married Yankees third baseman entering a Toronto gentleman's club with a mysterious blonde.

"STRAY-ROD."

As soon as that hit New York newsstands, the Yankees third baseman wasn't alone in facing accusations of straying. Rather, many media observers — and observers of the media — argued that the newspaper had strayed from the unwritten rules of covering prominent athletes. In a later story by the New York Observer, Post sports editor Greg Gallo said that it was the metro department's decision to run the embarrassing image, which had been provided by a freelance paparazzi photographer. (And a Post spokeswoman said the newspaper was "proud to have broken" the story). That story became national news, with more photos published of Rodriguez with the woman.

So it was no longer a surprise when Rodriguez's marriage became a major media spectacle again this year, as his wife Cynthia filed for divorce amid rumors that Rodriguez had become involved with the pop star Madonna.

The Post and its tabloid rival, The New York Daily News, have covered athletes' personal issues before and since. But Sandy Padwe, an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, cited a difference in the relatively recent coverage of Michael Strahan, Jason Kidd, Paul Lo Duca and others, as compared to that of Rodriguez:

Generally, those stories were driven by court cases, and specifically by dogged court reporters probing public records.

The "STRAY-ROD" story really started with a snapshot.

It hasn't seemed to have bothered Rodriguez much. He continues to hit.

So it might have had a more meaningful effect on sports coverage than Rodriguez's plate coverage.

Was STRAY-ROD a sign of what's to come?

"All the eras have been different," Padwe said. "Now you have gone almost full-circle on this kind of stuff. And I don't see it changing. Because what few standards are left are just diminishing and diminishing week by week it seems, so how will it ever come back? Unless there is a total sea change in the way that publications begin to look at things. That's certainly not going to happen for years and years now."

Padwe notes that in the eras of Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth, sports reporters ignored what they saw or heard about players' personal lives. That trend extended late into the century. Padwe recalls that, when he left the Philadelphia Inquirer for New York Newsday, he started by taking a three-week trip with the Yankees because his New York apartment wasn't ready.

"I met the charter at LaGuardia Airport," Padwe said. "I get there, and a reporter, very well-known and respected, says to me, 'We don't write about sex with this team.' As if that's what I did in Philadelphia. Here he was lecturing me, and that was 1972. The theory was, nothing off the field. Because if somebody started writing about what happened off the field, then the reporters had to work harder."

Padwe doesn't believe in look-away, any more than he believes in tell-all, journalism. And he believes that Rodriguez might have set himself up for such scrutiny, not only due to his salary, but due to transparent attempts to craft an image as a completely virtuous character.

"The leagues and teams still sell their product and their players, even in colleges, almost as paragons of virtue," Padwe said. "A-Rod, he has written a children's book, and I remember he got a hell of a lot of publicity for that in New York. He has a PR machine. Here's a player out here, who is not only the highest-paid so there's a lot of interest, but if he is portraying himself as family man and writing children's book, and then gets caught up in Toronto with the stripper — that then becomes fair game. You can't have it both ways."

Another factor has contributed to the circus around Rodriguez:

Where he plays.

Jay Feely spent two seasons kicking for the New York Giants before joining the Miami Dolphins.

"In New York, everything's magnified," Feely said. "There's more reporters, there's so many more newspapers, everybody has to get a story, it's so cutthroat. So they do look for any kind of edge to create a story that somebody else doesn't have."

How strong is the microscope?

"When you miss a kick in New York, you end up on Saturday Night Live," said Feely, who was portrayed by comedian Dane Cook on the long-time late night NBC show after missing three times in Seattle in 2006.

And when you are caught on camera with a mysterious miss, you could end up on the cover of a tabloid.

Not every prominent sports journalist is comfortable with that trend.

"Maybe I'm a dinosaur, because I don't subscribe to the theory that once a celebrity, everything is open game as far as being an athlete," long-time Newsday columnist Shaun Powell said. "If it doesn't affect performance, and doesn't affect win-losses, then it's none of my business."

Not surprisingly, athletes appreciate that philosophy.

"When the the media gets in people's personal lives they're taking it too far," New England Patriots running back Laurence Maroney said.

"None of it is fair game," Maroney's teammate, linebacker Adalius Thomas said.

"It's what it is: personal," Thomas said. "You're taking something away from the game into something that doesn't affect the game. When it doesn't affect the game, that's when it's overboard."

Thus, Thomas makes an exception for an injury suffered at home.

What about an athlete's personal life affecting his mental state at work?

"Well, how about reporters that are going through divorces," Thomas said. "It doesn't affect their mental state or how they write?"

Personal issues can affect something dear for athletes. It can affect their earning potential. Former NFL cornerback Robert Bailey, now the president of the marketing division for Rosenhaus Sports, said he advises the agency's 100-plus clients to avoid being caught in any compromising position. The wrong photo could mean the loss of millions in endorsements and corporate sponsorships. The explosion in media outlets and internet sites has created incredible opportunities, but also risks.

"This has become a part of NFL business, a part of major sports," Bailey said. "You have to really conduct yourself appropriately. Basically, it's going to get to the point where if you walk outside your door, you're game."

Bailey has warned players that if they're at a party, a photo from that party can be uploaded to a Web site, such as one of the many independent sports blogs, within 15 minutes.

"That's how party people promote who is at the party tonight," Bailey said. "You can be having a fun time with friends, and a picture says 1,000 words. Which words are they going to pull? They can pull good ones or bad ones. You can be leaning into someone, and it could say, '(The athlete) looks like he is ready to punch this guy.' But, in reality, you were just getting ready to shake his hand. Twenty years ago, when did a picture cost you so much money?"

So second-year New York Giants receiver Steve Smith already has become more wary, especially after noticing the unflattering attention that former USC teammates Leinart and Bush have received: "You don't want to have a drink in your hand or anything like that. It sends the wrong message. It just looks bad. It sucks you can't even do everything you want, but I suppose it makes you a better person."

Careful?

"You always are," said Thomas, the Patriots' star. "You can always come back and add something, but you can't go back and take something away. So many guys do so many good things, but nobody wants to write about it. They'll write about it here and there if a big name person does something nice in the community. But what about the guy that nobody really knows? He's still in the NFL, he's paying his dues but nobody's writing about him giving out turkeys? But if that guy gets a speeding ticket or a DUI? They'll put that on the front page."

Few current players have tried to avoid the public eye — without ever truly escaping it — like Dolphins running back Ricky Williams. His contention? "Whatever happens on the field is fair game." Everything else? No, "unless it directly affects what occurs on the field."

"But I think a lot of times stuff happens off the field and it has no relation to on the field until the media gets a hold of it, and then it becomes a distraction," said Williams, who is trying to resurrect his NFL career after multiple drug-related suspensions.

Although "aware" of the current climate, Williams tries not to dwell.

"If you focus on it too much, it's hard to live your life," Williams said. "You just have to find that balance. If you are going to break the unwritten rules, just try to do it in your private time, try not to do it when people can see."

Actors and politicians have long tried to live by those rules.

If they were always successful, many people — gossip writers, paparazzi photographers, supermarket tabloid tycoons — would be out of business.

"In politics, when you are talking about leading our coverage, your character matters tremendously," Feely said. "So I think when you look at personal lives, I think that has an implication as to what they'll do when they're leading in office."

Athletes?

"I don't think their personal life necessarily impacts how they perform," Feely said. "If A-Rod is having an affair, that's not necessarily going to have an impact on what he does on the ballfield. So I do think there should be some line. And a reporter's job is to talk about that sport, not necessarily what is going on off the field. But I also think it's a blessing to be an athlete, and with that blessing comes a responsibility to be a role model. When you choose to do something that reflects poorly on yourself, and that gets reported, then you have to understand that."