I figured since no one has decided to defend the Captain, then it was only fitting that I would step up to the plate and do it myself.
It has been three days now since Derek Jeter picked up the nickname, “Cheater Jeter,” or “Jeter the Cheater.” Either way you slice it, majority of those people either hate the New York Yankees or Jeter. He could hit a home run and people still would find a way to criticize him and his teammates.
Some people even have the audacity to say that he has diminishing skills; a has-been and a never-was. People don’t just tend to fall off the map in a year, it is normally an on going process. So call me crazy, but couldn’t it just be a bad year. I mean the guy was 35 last year and had a .334 batting average with 18 homers. He is only five RBI’s shy from tying last years numbers and already has more doubles than last year. It’s not a secret that he is having a bad year and for most anti-Jeter fans it just got worse.
Everyone has either heard about it or scene it on the news already so there is no need for me to reiterate the scenario. I’ll admit it, I am a Yankees and Jeter fan, but I am a baseball fan first.
His little dramatization of being hit was unacceptable and I won’t argue that, I will however argue the fact that the umpire simultaneously awarded him first base right as he threw his bat.
So because the umpire awarded him the base, he warranted this type of reaction from the fans and the public eye? Of course he did, because he is a Yankee. If he played on any other team or would of been a player, say like, Albert Pujols, Chase Utley or even the likes of a classy Joe Mauer, this wouldn’t even be a discussion. But because he is on one of the most hated teams in all of baseball,this little incident gets been blown out of proportion.
Quite frankly, I am sick of it but expect nothing less from the sports world. There has to be someone to pick on and a team to bash at any given moment, so that’s fine, just continue to feed the fire.
For all of those fans out there that continue to say this is cheating, get over it and find a new hobby. If you really think these actions were culpable of the word “cheating,” then I guess over 50 percent of players are guilty of cheating. That’s right, I said over 50 percent and here is why.
When an outfielder traps a ball and tries to sell it to the umpire that he caught it, that’s cheating. Or when an infielder swipes a tag but misses the runner and sells it, making the umpire call the runner out, that’s cheating. Then my favorite, when the infield attempts a double play yet they haven’t touched the base and the umpire still calls the runner out, that’s cheating. I just thought I would clarify all of that for you haters that want to call Jeter’s Oscar award winning performance, “cheating.”
News flash, it’s not cheating. None of those acts are, they are simply part of the game.
This isn’t like the high school basketball commercial where a kid runs up to his coach and says, “I touched the ball last coach. It should be their ball.” Then he runs up and tells the referee. Get real people, no one does that in any sport.
In Jeter’s words, ” What did you want me to do? Did you want me to turn around and say, sorry sir, but the ball hit the bat, can I continue my at bat now. The umpire made the call not me.” Or, “He didn’t ask me did it hit you and I said, ‘Yeah, it hit me please let me go to first base.’ It’s comical to me that this is really getting this much attention.”
He is suppose to do whatever it takes to win the game or put his team in a winning position, just like any other player does. Whether it is selling a pitch, a catch, a tag or even being hit by the pitch, you do what is needed to help your team.
The funniest part about this whole ordeal is that Jeter has seemingly never done anything wrong in his 15 year career. Never taken steroids, never been arrested, for crying out loud the partier that is David Wells defended him against the late, George “the Boss ” Steinbrenner himself.
So, people get off your high horse and stop hating just because he is a class act and a winner.
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