A-Rod denies existence of self-as-a-minotaur painting, doesn't address centaur rumors

Hosting a party at his home during the annual Art Basel Miami Beach event, Alex Rodriguez recently found himself addressing a long-standing art-based rumor.

A 2009 US Weekly report alleged that the Yankees third baseman has multiple portraits of himself as a centaur -- a man's head and torso attached to the body of a horse -- hanging above his bed. On Sunday, he denied those rumors. Well, kind of:

“No, I do not have a painting of my upper body on a Minotaur," Rodriguez told the Daily News. "I don’t know where they get that stuff.”

Note that he said nothing of a centaur portrait. A minotaur is a completely different creature, featuring the body of a man and the head of a bull. Was it just a slip of the tongue by A-Rod? Or was it a clever non-denial carefully orchestrated to fool those not so versed in mythological beasts of antiquity?

Either way, above is an artist's rendering of an artist's rendering of A-Rod as a centaur.

-- Ian Kay and Dan Wohl / MLB.com