Starry-eyed spelling

Some of my colleagues are wondering whether Alex Rodriguez's name ought to be spelled with an asterisk in the middle, but I'm more concerned about how they pronounce "asterisk." No one seems to have any trouble with the first s, but that little s near the end gets overlooked all the time. It's "asterisk," people, not "asterik"! The last syllable sounds like "risk," not "rick." What's so difficult about that?