I wish I lived in Derek Jeter's World. Really, I do.
Not only would I have won four World Series rings in five years, dated mid-90s Mariah Carey and made oodles and oodles of money, and dated mid-90s Mariah Carey, but I would also believe everyone who ever cheated on their taxes got caught by the IRS. Oh, and I'd have dated mid-90s Mariah Carey.
Here's one of Jeter's quotes from yesterday, when he talked to the press about steroids and Alex Rodriguez.
"One thing that's very irritating and upsets me a lot is when you hear everybody say, 'Well, it's the Steroid Era, everybody's doing it. Well, that's not true. Everybody's making a big deal about the list, 104 players. How many players are in the major leagues? 1,200 players? So everybody wasn't doing it."
OK, Derek, so you're mad at the media and the fans who are angry about steroids. They've seen star after star chopped down by either allegations or use - some have been big enough to admit it. And fans are getting more and more angry about this.
But Jeter thinks we're blowing this whole thing out of proportion.
He should check into the real world, and realize this is a big deal, and if you're such a student of the game Derek, you should already know that. You should remember when you were a kid and you looked up to Craig Nettles or Mike Schmidt. That numbers mattered. That alongside the door to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame says "For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes not that you won or lost but how you played the Game."
Sure, baseball might not be the most important thing going, but when all else failed people still want something to believe in, and they turned baseball. They saw Mark McGwire as as some Bunyanesque legend, Sammy Sosa as this quirky feel-good story.
When they and Bonds became associated with performance enhancing drugs, people breathed a sigh of relief. "At least A-Rod was legit," they said.
Alas, he's not.
So people are angry. They want answers. And they're not getting them.
Major League baseball had better start considering that. Bud Selig and the chemically -enhanced boys of summer have not been accountable.
And with the economy being in such a downturn it only makes sense people will either watch the games on TV or, just all-around, find another outlet.
But, living in Derek Jeter's World, non of that matters.
In his world the players are victims.
And maybe the innocent ones are, but they had their chance to speak out. And if it was such a large percentage of them, they should have forced the union to move on the matter. That way, all those innocent players would have been protected.
But that's probably too complex for Derek Jeter's World.
Still, I bet it's a nice place. At least you have mid-90s Mariah Carey.
Leave a comment