Jeter?

Sports Illustrated gave Derek Jeter its sportsmen of the year award? Why? Well, we all know why--his Jetertude, clutchiosity, and general leaderness.

Admittedly, Jeter had a very nice year. His defense improved from its normal abysmal self and he had a great offensive year. But this is totally absurd and reeks of Yankee love within the SI office.

The obvious candidate for sportsman of the year is Jimmie Johnson, who has now won 4 straight NASCAR titles. I don't even like auto racing, but this is clearly an amazing feat. The UNC men's basketball team would be a deserving candidate as well. If you want to go to baseball, honoring of the two MVPs, Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer, would have made solid choices. They are the two most dominant players of the post-PED generation; Pujols already has his hall of fame credentials locked up and Mauer is probably the best catcher of my lifetime.

And if you want a Yankee--what about Mark Teixeira or C.C. Sabathia? Those were the people the Yankees signed to put them over the top. They both had great years, especially Teixeira. But no, Jeterocity won the day.

What We're In For

If Erik's post below makes me laugh at its veracity, this makes me want to slit my wrists, eat a shotgun, and hang myself, all in one swift cloud of death.

One of my favorite things is when people say that backlash against Jeter is "irrational." He's a hall-of-famer who's been a great hitter and a middling-to-terrible fielder. "Clutch" is the most overrated bullshit laziness ever, and the McCarver (and New York media) tongue-baths are enough to create a backlash.

But this? The Yankees haven't even even won the ALCS yet, and we're already being exposed to "unforgettable photos of Jeter off the field"? Not for any other player ever, but for Jeter before the Yankees even get to the World Series?

Hey - Sports Illustrated!!!!!

FUCK. YOU.

At Least Half of These Yankee Predictions Will Be True

I usually can't stand Ken Rosenthal's baseball reports (in which he will tie in the Yankees any and every way he can, even when they are totally irrelevant to the topic he is allegedly covering).

That said, this "Diary of the 2009 Yankee season" is pretty funny, and does a good job of pointing out some of the Yankees' big question marks going into the season (how's that bullpen going to be? How likely is a Burnett injury? What about an aging team? A-Rod?).

This part is extremely funny, in part because it's true, and in part because it will never happen:

"Derek Jeter fails to stop two slow grounders up the middle while Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus makes several acrobatic plays at the Stadium, prompting a barrage of post-game questions."

Yeah, right - the New York media questioning Jeter's range? If they haven't bothered to ask in the past few years when an increasing number of balls went up the "middle" of the infield and as Jeter had to jump on almost every play in order to put enough power behind his throw to first, I really don't see why they would start now.

Still, if even Ken Rosenthal is acknowleding Jeter's range is, erm - not so great? - then I guess stranger things could happen.