Lately A-Rod has made some serious missteps that the New York sports media has had a chance to jump all over. A-Rod hasn't helped the Yankees' ratings and then he failed to make the All-Star team. Those were two egregious errors that A-Rod made. Now Mike Lupica has made the vital discovery that A-Rod has in fact made another error in judgment. He participated in an unfunny skit at the ESPY's this year where he pretended to apologize for a variety of things. At this point, the New York media can't rip on A-Rod for his performance on the field, so they are having to reach in order to criticize him. Lupica says A-Rod "strikes out looking" (get it?) in taking part in the unfunny skit and takes joy in finally getting the chance to write about what an asshole A-Rod is. It's a glorious day for Mike Lupica. He's probably sitting on the edge of his seat talking over someone right now, gleefully happy that he finally can pile on A-Rod again.
Alex Rodriguez has made hardly any mistakes since he returned to the
Yankees after serving a full-season suspension for Tony Bosch and for
being up to his eyeballs in baseball’s case against Bosch’s Biogenesis
clinic.
Ah, but now he has made a mistake that isn't really a mistake and Mike Lupica is all over it. He's on the edge of his seat, trying to seem as tall as possible and talking over anyone who dares to try to be in the same room as him.
Mostly Rodriguez has hit, and reminded everybody that if you can still
produce in sports, fans will find so much forgiveness in their hearts
they’re afraid sometimes those hearts might burst like frozen pipes.
Yes, fans are so good at finding forgiveness when a player hits well. Being that Mike Lupica is unable to focus on anything that doesn't involve him, I wonder if he knows that A-Rod has gotten more favorable coverage from sportswriters as the 2015 season progresses. Why? Because A-Rod is producing. But yeah, fans are the fickle ones.
He has said all the right things and attended charity events, and gotten himself straight, at least for the time being,
But the fuck up is coming. Mike Lupica knows it. If it doesn't come, then Mike Lupica will blow a small thing out of proportion to make it seem like A-Rod has not gotten himself straight.
and barring any future problems with baseball drugs, with the
commissioner and with Yankee ownership. He has, by all accounts, been a
bedrock of good behavior in the Yankee clubhouse, especially with young
players.
I don't know how many times Mike Lupica can write "A-Rod has been on his best behavior...so far" in this column without it seeming more and more repetitive. Yeah, he hasn't screwed up. Get to your point.
the way he is covered these days, you can probably forgive him for wondering how Caitlyn Jenner beat him out for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award
at the ESPY Awards — why he thought it was a good idea to stand in the
spotlight at the ESPYs on Wednesday night and participate in a painfully lame and hideously unfunny apology skit with Joel McHale and Ken Jeong from “The Hangover” movies.
A-Rod screwed up because he participated in an unfunny skit at an awards show. This is where we are at now in trying to find things that A-Rod has done wrong. He was a part of a skit that wasn't funny, which apparently is the only reason needed for Mike Lupica to bring up the fact A-Rod used PED's again and criticize A-Rod for lacking funny. A-Rod didn't write the skit and he's not a comedian. He simply took part in the unfunny skit.
Because even Rodriguez has to know that what he was accused of doing
with Bosch and convicted of doing by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz isn’t
funny, with or without penis gags. And isn’t ever going to be funny.
PED's are a life and death situation to Mike Lupica. This shit is very serious. If a player uses PED's to gain an advantage, then he should not make jokes about it. Sure, he could casually mention he used amphetamines in an interview 30 years after he retired as if he was taking Flintstones vitamins and not amphetamines, but that's not big deal because those baseball players from the 60's and 70's are heroes and everyone was doing. So that makes it fine. Don't joke about PED's. It's a super-serious subject.
Just so you know: The set-up at the ESPYs was that Jeong would act as
Rodriguez’s surrogate as he finally “apologized” to the whole wide
world.
So Rodriguez stood there like a prop and kept handing pieces of paper to
Jeong, while McHale stood on the other side of Jeong looking as
flop-sweat desperate to get laughs as he had been since his opening
monologue.
It wasn't funny. There's no doubt about that. Again, A-Rod didn't write the skit and this participation in the skit is just a way for Lupica to remind everyone that A-Rod is a cheater and find something to be angry with him over.
Nobody expects big yuks from award shows, at least when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler aren’t hosting them these days.
Mike Lupica: "A-Rod took place in an awards show skit that wasn't funny. How dare he do this while making the crowd uncomfortable with the lack of hilarity."
Mike Lupica: "Award show skits aren't ever funny, so nobody expected the ESPY's to be funny anyway."
But somebody thought this material was funny, and Alex Rodriguez clearly signed off on it, so on they went. And on.
Yes, I'm sure A-Rod spent a few days vetting the script and then re-writing portions of it to better capture his personality. After that, his agent signed off on it, but only after a few of A-Rod's demands were met.
There was some weird, nervous laughter from the crowd occasionally.
There was even a shot of Derek Jeter laughing, though it was hard to
tell whether he was doing that to be polite, or just reveling in
Rodriguez making himself a part of the show like this on a night when Jeter received a Sports Icon Award.
The Jeter has to make an appearance as the anti-thesis of what A-Rod has become. The Jeter is the Batman to A-Rod's Joker, the Superman to A-Rod's Lex Luthor. The Jeter was not impressed with A-Rod's skit, merely only laughing at how Rodriguez was making an ass of himself. One would think the on-the-field performance comparison between The Jeter and A-Rod at the age of 40 might be made, but there's no need for that. Rest assured, if The Jeter had a line of .304/.363/.438 last year this would be something Lupica brings up. He didn't, so there's no need to compare the two hitters at the age of 40.
By the way: Here is a part of what Jeter said upon receiving that award:
This is especially relevant point in a column about A-Rod participating in an unfunny skit.
“I’ve had a special relationship with the fans and my teammates over
the last 20 years, but in retirement I’ve come to realize that being a
part of the larger community of sports is a gift — and more importantly
it’s an honor. You’ve inspired me for years, and you continue to inspire
me.”
(Bengoodfella wakes up because this was a boring and very cliched, yet kind, statement from The Jeter)
So Jeter took one route to the stage on this night and the guy who used to play to his right at Yankee Stadium took another.
It always comes back to a comparison between The Jeter and A-Rod...that is unless the comparison isn't flattering to The Jeter, in which case no comparison should be made. It's lazy writing, but nothing more should be expected from Lupica.
Maybe you could have given Rodriguez some props for being able to laugh
at himself on this occasion, except there were no laughs here, about
“Game of Thrones” or droughts or Greece or the Knicks or any of it.
Yeah well, as you just wrote, nobody expects big yucks from awards shows. So I'm not sure why you would expect this skit to be funny based on your own opinion of award show skits.
At the very end of it, after Jeong stopped reading, McHale asked
Rodriguez if there was anything he wanted to say and Rodriguez said,
“I’m good.” Before that, of course, we got this supposedly edgy material
from Alex Rodriguez’s faux apology at the ESPYs:
It's not funny. Who cares? Why is this unfunny skit worthy of a column being written about it?
Yeah. These are the jokes. By the time it all ended, you felt as if
you’d had to sit through one of those old four-hour Yankees-Red Sox
games out of the past.
Brilliant writing by Lupica here. This is as opposed to one of those old four-hour Yankees-Red Sox games from the future or the present? Yeah, if those games are old then they must be out of the past. Mike Lupica is one of those old writers from the past who thinks his written word is the gospel and shall not be questioned. These are the things that happen when you've had an entire career of smoke being blown up your butt and choose to ignore any criticism others may have of you.
Maybe Rodriguez thinks he can be the kind of performer that we’ve found out Peyton Manning can be.
Yes, I'm sure at the age of 40 A-Rod has decided he's going to try and become the type of performer that Peyton Manning can be. More likely, A-Rod just took part in the skit without a long-term plan or a single thought of spring boarding a career off the skit.
Maybe he’s already thinking about a post-playing career in broadcasting,
when his Yankee contract finally runs out sometime in the next century.
But if he is considering a future career in show business, he might
want to take a closer look at the material next time.
We all know Derek Jeter wouldn't take part in an unfunny skit for the ESPY's. He would never do that.
He has hit better than perhaps even he himself thought he ever would
again. He’s said and done all the right things. Then came the ESPY
Awards.
Yes, one unfunny skit at an awards show has ruined all of Alex Rodriguez's accomplishments over the 2015 season. This is a true and logical statement.
His arbitration hearing was funnier. This is the first dumb thing he’s done since Bosch.
Imagine how Mike Lupica would respond if A-Rod actually did anything worse than show bad taste in jokes made on an awards show. The fact that Mike Lupica actually took A-Rod's participation in this skit, managed to bring Derek Jeter into the discussion, and tried to make all of this into something more than bad comedy shows a dedication to the A-Rod hating craft that he may someday try to perfect...while sitting on the edge of his seat, trying to be as tall as possible and talking over others, of course.
Showing posts with label derek jeter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label derek jeter. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
0 comments After One Game, the Didi Gregorius Experiment Can Only Be Called a Failure
Derek Jeter never would have started his Yankees career like Didi Gregorius did. Well sure, Jeter did go 0-5 with a strikeout in his first ever at-bat for the Yankees and committed two errors in his first 15 games during the 1995 season, but in a world where Derek Jeter came to the major leagues as a Hall of Famer already, he would not have started his Yankees career like Gregorius did. Jon Heyman wants to be the first to point out that after ONE FREAKING GAME it's going to be hard for Gregorius to replace Jeter. ONE GAME! That's how long it took for the inevitable Jeter nostalgia to begin in full force from Jon Heyman.
The second part of the sub-headed title is "Didi Doesn't Resemble Jeter." What? You are kidding me, right? The shortstop who was traded to the Yankees in a three way trade involving Shane Green, Robbie Ray, and Domingo Leyba ISN'T a Hall of Fame shortstop after one game? It's a shocking turn of events.
It is, of course, eminently possible the scoreboard operator was just off to a slow start, sort of like the Yankees, who looked punchless, listless, even mindless on Opening Day against an upstart Blue Jays team that features six rookies and real hope.
"I'll take 'It's Insane to Draw Conclusions After 0.617% of the Season is Over' for $200, Alex."
Maybe Scott Boras told Jon Heyman to bash Gregorius so that the Yankees may one day move Stephen Drew back to the shortstop position. I wouldn't put that past those two crazy kids to conspire like that.
Anyway, the first game in the post-Jeter era was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster – a 6-1 defeat to Toronto in which Tanaka lasted only four innings and the Yankees gathered only three hits (including one by returning hero Alex Rodriguez -- yes, he was treated like a hero.)
I hate it when fans choose to hero worship a player when the media doesn't think the player is worthy of being applauded. These fans are so stupid and clearly don't have the high moral standards that baseball writers like Jon Heyman have. Anyway, back to the hero worship of a retired player and framing one game in a 162 game season around that retired baseball player...
Beyond the loss, the game raised questions about 1) Tanaka, 2) the Yankees offense, and 3) the unfortunate sap charged with the impossible job to replace the great Derek Jeter.
The questions about Tanaka can be valid since he's coming off elbow surgery and there is a concern his velocity is down. Otherwise, IT WAS ONE FREAKING GAME! CALM THE FUCK DOWN SO I CAN CALM DOWN AND STOP TYPING IN ALL-CAPS!
Gregorius was never going to "replace" Jeter and the idea he could do this is so unreasonable that it seems like anyone who would write that Gregorius could replace Jeter in any way is simply wanting to set Gregorius up for failure.
That chap's name is Didi Gregorius, a nice young fellow with a winning smile and an impossible task.
It's been one game and he hasn't succeeded yet, so let's jump to some conclusions.
"I don't think anybody can be like Jeter," Gregorius said after the game. No one disagreed.
Correct, but somebody can play shortstop for the Yankees and that is what Gregorius is trying to do. So rather than have his tenure as Yankees shortstop revolve around him replacing Jeter, maybe just acknowledge what has been acknowledged, which is that it is impossible to replace Jeter.
It's never easy replacing a legend (Jeter is so big the Yankees section of the New York Times baseball preview section was all about the guys who's no longer here, the guy who's now in the "journalism" game – yes, Jeter himself). Meanwhile, his replacement pulled the sort of memorable gaffe Jeter never made in 20 years.
And if Jeter had committed a gaffe like this then the New York media would immediately have forgotten about it or pretended it never happened.
Get this, and it is hard to believe this happened in a major-league game. Gregorius was thrown out trying to steal third with the Yankees down by five runs in the 8th inning, two outs and cleanup man Mark Teixeira up.
Yeah, I can't believe a guy tried to steal third base in a major league game with two outs and the cleanup hitter up. That's something that has never occurred before I don't believe. How in the world does Gregorius expect the Yankees to win the game if he's trying to steal third base and take away the opportunity for Mark Teixeira to hit a five-run home run to tie the game? That's what Jeter would have done. He would have stayed at second base and then proudly thrown his hand up in the air as Mark Teixeira hit a five-run homer that ties the game up. Not Didi Gregorius. He chose to steal third base with two outs, which is an event that has never occurred in MLB history before.
I like how Heyman acts like this not smart play has never occurred in an MLB game prior to when Gregorius tried to do it. It was not a smart play, but it was one play in the first game of the season. The Yankees were down 5 runs, not 1 run.
Gregorius explained afterward that he thought he'd take advantage of the shift that's killing the Yankees at bat to take the extra base.
Which, by the way, is the type of reasoning that Derek Jeter would use to justify stealing third base. If he succeeded then the media would all get bruises from patting each other on the back and applaud happily.
"Look at that Jeter. He's always aware of what's happening on the baseball field and is such a strategically strong base runner. He knew the shift was on and immediately sprung at the chance to try and steal third base."
Even if Jeter failed, I'm sure media members like Jon Heyman either wouldn't mention it or point out the Captain was just trying to inject some life into a game that was surely lost at that point. They would frame it as a smart move, but it just didn't work out.
At that moment the Yankees' chances to win went from 1 percent to basically zero.
Gregorius stealing third base ripped the chances the Yankees had of winning the game down by almost 1%. He basically lost the game for them. There was a 99% chance the Yankees were going to lose, but he lowered those chances to a 99.6% chance they would lose. Such an egregious error. That should be what the New York media calls him now, Didi Egregious.
Afterward, Girardi, whose instinct is always to say everything is hunky dory even when it's anything but, called it a "very good learning experience." Though that begs the question why that wasn't learned by junior high.
But hey, at least Jon Heyman isn't overreacting to a player getting caught stealing at third base in a five run game or anything. Comments like,
Get this, and it is hard to believe this happened in a major-league game.
Though that begs the question why that wasn't learned by junior high.
certainly sound like Heyman is talking about a bad play that was more important than Gregorius being caught stealing in a five run game in the first game of a 162 game season. But Heyman is not done!
Though it's hard to recall a major-league player attempting something quite so foolish,
And if anyone would know anything about being foolish, it's the sportswriter who is making a huge deal out of a player being caught stealing third base in a five run game on Opening Day. Overreactions don't come more strong than this.
certainly not in his debut with a new team, nor while replacing the perfect player.
Holy fucking shit. Derek Jeter is retired, get over him. Jon Heyman just called Jeter "the perfect player." Hero worship much? Derek Jeter was caught stealing 97 times in his career. He stole 358 bases. "The perfect player" failed to steal a base 21.3% of the time, though I am sure none of them were Jeter's fault and none of them involved him trying to steal third base in a blowout. "The perfect player" wouldn't do that.
But say this for Gregorius. He didn't run away and hide.
"You can't run around," Gregorius said. "You guys are going to find me."
But even if Gregorius tried to run and hide, he's such a failure as a human being that he would just end up failing to hide anyway.
That's the problem with the major leagues. It's all right there in front of us all. And what you see with the Yankees just doesn't look very encouraging right now.
This is a sentence that Jon Heyman writes after one game. One game. ONE GAME.
Rodriguez, the most candid Yankee right now,
But I'm sure A-Rod is only being candid because everything he is saying are lies. It's easy to be candid when you are the lying scum of the Earth who may end up playing well on the baseball diamond so let's just not talk about that very much, okay?
admitted he isn't certain what he can bring, which is only natural considering all the obstacles. "I'm not sure," he said when asked if he can play like he did before he went away. "I haven't played in a long time."
AND HE'S PROBABLY NEVER, EVER PLAYED WITHOUT PED'S FLOWING THROUGH HIS BODY!
He didn't look like a guy who was, A) rusty, 2) 39 going on 40, or C) in needs of 'roids.
PROBABLY BECAUSE HE'S ALREADY BACK ON STEROIDS!
The cheer-to-boo ratio was about 80-20 when he was announced, and only positive things were heard later, when folks started to see Rodriguez can at least put together a game full of good at-bats.
A-Rod said he wasn't sure he deserved the adulation. But he did appreciate it, he said.
Such false modesty. No one knows the true evil that A-Rod has planned for this 2015 season. Only time will tell what his real plan to tear the Yankees organization apart will be.
As for Gregorius, he will have many chances, as Yankees people love his defense, and frankly, there aren't a lot of great shortstop alternatives right now. At least it's a great sign that he handled his faux pas with aplomb.
It's also a great sign that it was the first game of the season and this was one stupid play he made in a 162 game season.
The pressure certainly is greater here. And it has to be that much greater when you're standing where Jeter once built his legend.
Which is why it is vitally important that the media overreact to anything Didi Gregorius does poorly this season, while pointing out anything great Didi does has already been done before by Jeter. Anything Gregorius does wrong? Well, Jeter would NEVER have done that. Keep the legend alive and slowly turn it into fiction.
The second part of the sub-headed title is "Didi Doesn't Resemble Jeter." What? You are kidding me, right? The shortstop who was traded to the Yankees in a three way trade involving Shane Green, Robbie Ray, and Domingo Leyba ISN'T a Hall of Fame shortstop after one game? It's a shocking turn of events.
It is, of course, eminently possible the scoreboard operator was just off to a slow start, sort of like the Yankees, who looked punchless, listless, even mindless on Opening Day against an upstart Blue Jays team that features six rookies and real hope.
"I'll take 'It's Insane to Draw Conclusions After 0.617% of the Season is Over' for $200, Alex."
Maybe Scott Boras told Jon Heyman to bash Gregorius so that the Yankees may one day move Stephen Drew back to the shortstop position. I wouldn't put that past those two crazy kids to conspire like that.
Anyway, the first game in the post-Jeter era was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster – a 6-1 defeat to Toronto in which Tanaka lasted only four innings and the Yankees gathered only three hits (including one by returning hero Alex Rodriguez -- yes, he was treated like a hero.)
I hate it when fans choose to hero worship a player when the media doesn't think the player is worthy of being applauded. These fans are so stupid and clearly don't have the high moral standards that baseball writers like Jon Heyman have. Anyway, back to the hero worship of a retired player and framing one game in a 162 game season around that retired baseball player...
Beyond the loss, the game raised questions about 1) Tanaka, 2) the Yankees offense, and 3) the unfortunate sap charged with the impossible job to replace the great Derek Jeter.
The questions about Tanaka can be valid since he's coming off elbow surgery and there is a concern his velocity is down. Otherwise, IT WAS ONE FREAKING GAME! CALM THE FUCK DOWN SO I CAN CALM DOWN AND STOP TYPING IN ALL-CAPS!
Gregorius was never going to "replace" Jeter and the idea he could do this is so unreasonable that it seems like anyone who would write that Gregorius could replace Jeter in any way is simply wanting to set Gregorius up for failure.
That chap's name is Didi Gregorius, a nice young fellow with a winning smile and an impossible task.
It's been one game and he hasn't succeeded yet, so let's jump to some conclusions.
"I don't think anybody can be like Jeter," Gregorius said after the game. No one disagreed.
Correct, but somebody can play shortstop for the Yankees and that is what Gregorius is trying to do. So rather than have his tenure as Yankees shortstop revolve around him replacing Jeter, maybe just acknowledge what has been acknowledged, which is that it is impossible to replace Jeter.
It's never easy replacing a legend (Jeter is so big the Yankees section of the New York Times baseball preview section was all about the guys who's no longer here, the guy who's now in the "journalism" game – yes, Jeter himself). Meanwhile, his replacement pulled the sort of memorable gaffe Jeter never made in 20 years.
And if Jeter had committed a gaffe like this then the New York media would immediately have forgotten about it or pretended it never happened.
Get this, and it is hard to believe this happened in a major-league game. Gregorius was thrown out trying to steal third with the Yankees down by five runs in the 8th inning, two outs and cleanup man Mark Teixeira up.
Yeah, I can't believe a guy tried to steal third base in a major league game with two outs and the cleanup hitter up. That's something that has never occurred before I don't believe. How in the world does Gregorius expect the Yankees to win the game if he's trying to steal third base and take away the opportunity for Mark Teixeira to hit a five-run home run to tie the game? That's what Jeter would have done. He would have stayed at second base and then proudly thrown his hand up in the air as Mark Teixeira hit a five-run homer that ties the game up. Not Didi Gregorius. He chose to steal third base with two outs, which is an event that has never occurred in MLB history before.
I like how Heyman acts like this not smart play has never occurred in an MLB game prior to when Gregorius tried to do it. It was not a smart play, but it was one play in the first game of the season. The Yankees were down 5 runs, not 1 run.
Gregorius explained afterward that he thought he'd take advantage of the shift that's killing the Yankees at bat to take the extra base.
Which, by the way, is the type of reasoning that Derek Jeter would use to justify stealing third base. If he succeeded then the media would all get bruises from patting each other on the back and applaud happily.
"Look at that Jeter. He's always aware of what's happening on the baseball field and is such a strategically strong base runner. He knew the shift was on and immediately sprung at the chance to try and steal third base."
Even if Jeter failed, I'm sure media members like Jon Heyman either wouldn't mention it or point out the Captain was just trying to inject some life into a game that was surely lost at that point. They would frame it as a smart move, but it just didn't work out.
At that moment the Yankees' chances to win went from 1 percent to basically zero.
Gregorius stealing third base ripped the chances the Yankees had of winning the game down by almost 1%. He basically lost the game for them. There was a 99% chance the Yankees were going to lose, but he lowered those chances to a 99.6% chance they would lose. Such an egregious error. That should be what the New York media calls him now, Didi Egregious.
Afterward, Girardi, whose instinct is always to say everything is hunky dory even when it's anything but, called it a "very good learning experience." Though that begs the question why that wasn't learned by junior high.
But hey, at least Jon Heyman isn't overreacting to a player getting caught stealing at third base in a five run game or anything. Comments like,
Get this, and it is hard to believe this happened in a major-league game.
Though that begs the question why that wasn't learned by junior high.
certainly sound like Heyman is talking about a bad play that was more important than Gregorius being caught stealing in a five run game in the first game of a 162 game season. But Heyman is not done!
Though it's hard to recall a major-league player attempting something quite so foolish,
And if anyone would know anything about being foolish, it's the sportswriter who is making a huge deal out of a player being caught stealing third base in a five run game on Opening Day. Overreactions don't come more strong than this.
certainly not in his debut with a new team, nor while replacing the perfect player.
Holy fucking shit. Derek Jeter is retired, get over him. Jon Heyman just called Jeter "the perfect player." Hero worship much? Derek Jeter was caught stealing 97 times in his career. He stole 358 bases. "The perfect player" failed to steal a base 21.3% of the time, though I am sure none of them were Jeter's fault and none of them involved him trying to steal third base in a blowout. "The perfect player" wouldn't do that.
But say this for Gregorius. He didn't run away and hide.
"You can't run around," Gregorius said. "You guys are going to find me."
But even if Gregorius tried to run and hide, he's such a failure as a human being that he would just end up failing to hide anyway.
That's the problem with the major leagues. It's all right there in front of us all. And what you see with the Yankees just doesn't look very encouraging right now.
This is a sentence that Jon Heyman writes after one game. One game. ONE GAME.
Rodriguez, the most candid Yankee right now,
But I'm sure A-Rod is only being candid because everything he is saying are lies. It's easy to be candid when you are the lying scum of the Earth who may end up playing well on the baseball diamond so let's just not talk about that very much, okay?
admitted he isn't certain what he can bring, which is only natural considering all the obstacles. "I'm not sure," he said when asked if he can play like he did before he went away. "I haven't played in a long time."
AND HE'S PROBABLY NEVER, EVER PLAYED WITHOUT PED'S FLOWING THROUGH HIS BODY!
He didn't look like a guy who was, A) rusty, 2) 39 going on 40, or C) in needs of 'roids.
PROBABLY BECAUSE HE'S ALREADY BACK ON STEROIDS!
The cheer-to-boo ratio was about 80-20 when he was announced, and only positive things were heard later, when folks started to see Rodriguez can at least put together a game full of good at-bats.
A-Rod said he wasn't sure he deserved the adulation. But he did appreciate it, he said.
Such false modesty. No one knows the true evil that A-Rod has planned for this 2015 season. Only time will tell what his real plan to tear the Yankees organization apart will be.
As for Gregorius, he will have many chances, as Yankees people love his defense, and frankly, there aren't a lot of great shortstop alternatives right now. At least it's a great sign that he handled his faux pas with aplomb.
It's also a great sign that it was the first game of the season and this was one stupid play he made in a 162 game season.
The pressure certainly is greater here. And it has to be that much greater when you're standing where Jeter once built his legend.
Which is why it is vitally important that the media overreact to anything Didi Gregorius does poorly this season, while pointing out anything great Didi does has already been done before by Jeter. Anything Gregorius does wrong? Well, Jeter would NEVER have done that. Keep the legend alive and slowly turn it into fiction.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
2 comments MLB Might As Well Fold Since Derek Jeter Has Retired
Baseball is a more regional sport now. I think this development as a direct retort to the "Baseball is dying" articles that can be read nearly everywhere is important to understand. There is never a lack of articles explaining how baseball is in trouble now that X or Y has happened. If it wasn't attendance at games that is killing the sport, now Sean Gregory of "Time" says baseball has a Derek Jeter problem. Who is going to replace Jeter as the recognizable face of baseball? If it hasn't happened by now, clearly it will never happen. Gregory cites Q score as the reason behind his concerns, but he fails to explain what the Q score of certain baseball players were when Jeter broke into the majors in 1995. Were there writers in 1995 wondering who would replace the soon-to-be-retiring stars of MLB? I wouldn't be surprised. The end of Jeter's career isn't the end of baseball and baseball players being recognizable to the general public. It may take a couple of years, but a new very recognizable star usually emerges.
The New York Yankees have a Derek Jeter problem. Sure, the endless pomp surrounding Jeter’s retirement has kept a lot of people watching a team that won’t make the playoffs.
But the Yankees will face a problem no other MLB team has ever faced before. How do they replace a retiring Hall of Fame player? Since no other Hall of Famer has ever retired, it's up to the Yankees to figure out how they will go about replacing Jeter. Perhaps a robot could replace him or maybe they will just leave the shortstop position and #2 spot in the batting order empty as a tribute to Jeter?
But during his long goodbye, Jeter simply hasn’t produced. Entering Wednesday’s game, Jeter was hitting .255 – a full 55 points below his career average. His .615 on-base percentage (OPS) is the second-lowest of his career, ahead of only his .542 clip during last year’s injury induced abbreviated 17-game campaign.
And that's part of the problem, how do the Yankees replace a retiring legend who was one of the worst hitters in the majors this year? Sure, it seems like nearly any shortstop they sign could replace Jeter's production at the plate, but who will replace Jeter's Q score? Maybe MLB can convince LeBron to come play baseball for a few years. Hey, Jordan tried it.
Jeter has hit a home run in 0.6% of his plate appearances; excluding his brief call-up in 1995, when he did not hit a home run in his 51 plate appearances, Jeter’s prior low was a 1.3% home run percentage in 1997.
While I understand what this stat means, that Jeter hasn't hit home runs, it's an odd stat to use for Derek Jeter. Hitting home runs was never really Jeter's specialty. He only hit 20-plus home runs in a season only three times and the last time he did that was a decade ago. It's just a weird stat to use in order to show The Jeter's decline.
So in this category, it has been his weakest year, by two. He has drawn a walk in 5.6% of his plate appearances, another career low.
Now this is relevant to Jeter's production at the plate, but not so much when it comes to how baseball has a Q score problem now that Jeter has retired.
According to the analytics, he’s below-average at his position.
But production and ability aside, who will replace Jeter as being the super-popular baseball player? If no player has revealed himself at this point, then it will obviously never happen.
In the public’s imagination, Jeter — who will play his last home game as a Yankee on Thursday night — is one of the greatest clutch hitters of all-time. But on Tuesday night, with the Yankees barely hanging on to the mathematical miracle they would have needed to make the post-season, Mighty Jeter struck out, with the tying run was on first, to end the game.
This may be the first time in sportswriting history that someone has taken efforts to prove that Derek Jeter is NOT clutch, but it's still anecdotal evidence. Jeter ended his Yankee Stadium career with a walk-off and drove in a run in his last at-bat. I wouldn't go as far as to call him clutch, but he seemed to know when he needed to come through for the Yankees. I don't know if that is clutch or just having a really good sense for the situation.
The Derek Jeter problem extends to all of baseball. Despite his shaky last-season performance, Jeter is still the most familiar, marketable, beloved player in the game. And right now, the sport has no one to replace him.
Fair enough. Who is to say this wasn't an issue when Derek Jeter broke into the majors in 1995? Cal Ripken was retiring, the game had just come back from a strike where the World Series was canceled, and four of the six divisions were decided by 7 or more games (and some divisions decided by 20+ games). There is always a reason to panic when it comes to a discussion of how baseball is dying or in trouble.
Joe Talnagi, 21, was asked what he was going to do during all this pre-game down time. “Probably cry,” said Talnagi, a college student from New Jersey. “Number 2” patches graced bottles of wine resting on the locker room chairs of all his Yankee teammates, the Yankee uniforms, and the flags atop the stadium.
BREAKING NEWS: Yankees fans will miss Derek Jeter.
Obviously this will lead to a nationwide crisis where MLB as a whole will miss Derek Jeter, and because no one is around to replace him, the entire league will be forced to disband. Tim Keown will be pleased all the foreigners playing baseball in the United States will stop fighting Americans and go home.
Jeter’s former teammate Jorge Posada showed up, and called Jeter the greatest Yankee of all-time. Michael Jordan was the surprise guest, and said Jeter is an “idol to me.”
What will baseball do now that Michael Jordan's idol is retired? The NBA fell apart after Michael Jordan retired. Some of you may not remember the NBA, but it was a professional basketball league where basketball players could go after playing basketball in college. The commissioner was David Stern, but the league disbanded after Michael Jordan retired and no stars with sufficiently high Q scores could be found.
According to Q Scores Company, among active athletes recognized by more than half the U.S. population, Jeter owns the second-highest “Q score” – a general favorability rating – trailing only Peyton Manning.
Jeter has also played professional sports for 20 years, so I'm sure that plays into his favorable Q score. At some point another baseball player will come along and have a Q score that rivals Jeter's Q score. Even if there isn't, it doesn't mean baseball has a "problem." It means baseball doesn't have an instantly recognizable face like Derek Jeter. Athletes with Jeter's marketability don't come around all that often and I'm sure there were the same questions about baseball's "face" when other less popular players have retired in the past.
The bad news: no other baseball player ranks in the top 15.
I wish Sean Gregory had provided a link to these Q scores. I would be interested to see what other sports had players in the top 15. If baseball has two guys (like Yasiel Puig or Bryce Harper) at #17 and #19, then who is to say it isn't a player like that to replace Jeter? Two guys who are young and have the opportunity to greatly increase this score as they progress through their career? It's not like Derek Jeter was #2 in the Q score rankings coming into the majors. It took time for him to get there, so it's entirely possible another MLB player or two could move up the rankings in the next few years. All is not lost. There is no need to panic or say there is an issue.
“Baseball players aren’t even on the national radar for the general population,” says Henry Schafer, an executive vice president at Q Scores. “They’re just not out there like players from other sports.”
There is a baseball player at #2 by the way. So baseball players can be, and have been, on the national radar. I'm guessing since no link was provided (which is annoying, don't cite a study and then not provide a link to your readers) and the cut-off is randomly at the top 15, then there is probably a baseball player or two in spots #16-20 on the list. It's just a guess, but baseball players aren't on the national radar, that's fine. It doesn't mean the sport has an issue now that Jeter has retired. There is an assumption of a sport's health resulting from seeing widely recognized names on a Q score list. I am not sure this is entirely true, especially if baseball is becoming an increasingly more regional sport.
Baseball has become a more regionalized game, a series of thriving fiefdoms with little national cultural connection.
Right, which means a nationally recognized face is less important to the sport because as long as fans from a region or thriving fiefdom recognizes the players then revenue will be generated and attendance will not decrease. Since baseball is regional, perhaps a nationally known face isn't the end-all for the sport's popularity.
Thanks to lucrative local television deals, stable attendance, and smart digital investments by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the game’s overall revenues have grown. The sport is in fine economic health. But fans are getting older. The game is getting slower and slower, which hurts its appeal among younger viewers. Rarely is a regular season game appointment television. There’s just too much competition.
Rarely is anything even appointment television anymore. Even the most popular television shows are DVR'd and ratings have decreased for the most popular television programs on television compared to the most popular shows from 20-30 years ago. The game of baseball is slow, but the loss of Jeter with his high Q score isn't the determinant as a final nail in the coffin of baseball.
A quarter century ago, NBC offered a “Game of the Week” on Saturdays. Now, the network offers Premier League soccer, a hipper product, on its cable channels. European soccer over baseball once seemed like a ridiculous proposition. Not anymore.
FOX still carries Saturday night baseball. NBC doesn't carry the sport of baseball anymore because they don't have the rights to the sport. If they had the rights, perhaps they would show a "Game of the Week" like they used to. This is pretty disingenuous for Sean Gregory to act like FOX doesn't carry baseball games like NBC used to.
How did Jeter, who played 20 seasons in New York, won five World Series rings and has 3,461 hits–sixth-best of all time–break through?
He was around for a long time, won several World Series, played in a large market and stayed out of trouble. Doing that for 20 years will get you recognized by the general public.
“Being able to accomplish all that, for that long a period of time, in a major market is highly unusual,” says Schafer. “The Yankees are both loved and hated across the country, but what’s surprising is he rises above it. He’s a likeable individual, and he’s respected.”
Right, he's an outlier and not necessarily the example of the type of player MLB needs to thrive as a sport. Jeter's ability to have such a high Q score is unusual, which means MLB doesn't have a "problem" now that he has retired. Baseball just doesn't have their most recognizable figure. Other recognizable players might eventually step up, but it won't happen overnight. Somehow the sport will survive.
For 20 years, no personal scandal has interrupted the Jeter narrative: he’s a winner, a leader, a guy who plays the game “the right way.”
(chokes to death on hyperbole)
During the Jeter ceremony, if any fans played a “right way” drinking game during the dozens of between-inning personalized messages that former teammates, opponents, New York sports legends like Joe Namath and random big names like Kenny Chesney and Matt Lauer delivered on the video board, they were sloshed before the seventh-inning stretch.
No more Jeter drinking games, no dedications from fanboy whore Kenny Chesney, so how will baseball survive without Jeter in the future? Probably the same way baseball didn't have a problem and survived after other popular players have retired in the past. Other baseball players eventually become more popular over time and their Q score increased, allowing the entire sport of baseball to be saved from immediate destruction.
“He’s pretty much the face of baseball,” says Schafer. “There’s going to be a big void. It’s going to be like when the NBA was trying to find the next Michael Jordan.
And the NBA found the next Michael Jordan. They eventually found several Michael Jordans when he retired for good in 2003. Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James filled the void. It didn't happen overnight, because to rise into the public conscience doesn't happen quickly, but it did eventually happen. So the example of Jeter being the face of baseball and comparing it to the NBA trying to find the next Michael Jordan is a favorable comparison for the future of baseball.
I'm not sure either Sean Gregory or Henry Schafer realizes amid all of the teeth-gnashing and worrying about baseball's future that the NBA has made out just fine after losing Michael Jordan to retirement. The increasingly regional sport of baseball will be fine as well. A new "face of baseball" will emerge at some point. It's not like these things happen overnight. Jeter wasn't considered the "face of baseball" for the majority of his career I wouldn't think.
Baseball is going to have a very tough time finding the next Derek Jeter.”
Considering you just said that what Jeter was able to accomplish is "highly unusual" then I would say, yes, baseball is going to have a hard time finding the next Derek Jeter. The assumption is that baseball can't thrive without the next Derek Jeter and I think that's a fallacy. It's like saying Hollywood has an "Avengers problem" because they will have a hard time replacing the revenue that one specific movie brought in. It assumes other less successful movies can't make studios money and break off into other franchises.
This may be a bad comparison, but I hope you get my point. If what Jeter accomplished is so unusual, then there should be no expectation of finding the next Derek Jeter.
On Schafer’s list, there is one other active baseball player that more than half of the general population recognizes.
Marco Scutaro?
It’s A-Rod.
(Cue ominous music)
A-Rod has been around for many years and he is a great example of how being recognized by the general public isn't always a good thing. So conceivably in a few years another baseball player could step forward and be recognized as the face of the sport. It's not like an official "face of baseball" is required for the sport to find success. I imagine Sean Gregory is simply asking the same questions other writers have asked when the most popular/recognized player in that sport retired. Just like the NBA did find a few other Michael Jordan-like players who became recognizable, I imagine baseball will find a new, perhaps lesser, Derek Jeter in time as well.
The whole "Who is the face of baseball" question seems like the panicky type of column that gets written without a whole lot of thought going into it beforehand. You know, as if a sport that is becoming more and more regional requires a "face of baseball" for that sport to remain successful in the future.
The New York Yankees have a Derek Jeter problem. Sure, the endless pomp surrounding Jeter’s retirement has kept a lot of people watching a team that won’t make the playoffs.
But the Yankees will face a problem no other MLB team has ever faced before. How do they replace a retiring Hall of Fame player? Since no other Hall of Famer has ever retired, it's up to the Yankees to figure out how they will go about replacing Jeter. Perhaps a robot could replace him or maybe they will just leave the shortstop position and #2 spot in the batting order empty as a tribute to Jeter?
But during his long goodbye, Jeter simply hasn’t produced. Entering Wednesday’s game, Jeter was hitting .255 – a full 55 points below his career average. His .615 on-base percentage (OPS) is the second-lowest of his career, ahead of only his .542 clip during last year’s injury induced abbreviated 17-game campaign.
And that's part of the problem, how do the Yankees replace a retiring legend who was one of the worst hitters in the majors this year? Sure, it seems like nearly any shortstop they sign could replace Jeter's production at the plate, but who will replace Jeter's Q score? Maybe MLB can convince LeBron to come play baseball for a few years. Hey, Jordan tried it.
Jeter has hit a home run in 0.6% of his plate appearances; excluding his brief call-up in 1995, when he did not hit a home run in his 51 plate appearances, Jeter’s prior low was a 1.3% home run percentage in 1997.
While I understand what this stat means, that Jeter hasn't hit home runs, it's an odd stat to use for Derek Jeter. Hitting home runs was never really Jeter's specialty. He only hit 20-plus home runs in a season only three times and the last time he did that was a decade ago. It's just a weird stat to use in order to show The Jeter's decline.
So in this category, it has been his weakest year, by two. He has drawn a walk in 5.6% of his plate appearances, another career low.
Now this is relevant to Jeter's production at the plate, but not so much when it comes to how baseball has a Q score problem now that Jeter has retired.
According to the analytics, he’s below-average at his position.
But production and ability aside, who will replace Jeter as being the super-popular baseball player? If no player has revealed himself at this point, then it will obviously never happen.
In the public’s imagination, Jeter — who will play his last home game as a Yankee on Thursday night — is one of the greatest clutch hitters of all-time. But on Tuesday night, with the Yankees barely hanging on to the mathematical miracle they would have needed to make the post-season, Mighty Jeter struck out, with the tying run was on first, to end the game.
This may be the first time in sportswriting history that someone has taken efforts to prove that Derek Jeter is NOT clutch, but it's still anecdotal evidence. Jeter ended his Yankee Stadium career with a walk-off and drove in a run in his last at-bat. I wouldn't go as far as to call him clutch, but he seemed to know when he needed to come through for the Yankees. I don't know if that is clutch or just having a really good sense for the situation.
The Derek Jeter problem extends to all of baseball. Despite his shaky last-season performance, Jeter is still the most familiar, marketable, beloved player in the game. And right now, the sport has no one to replace him.
Fair enough. Who is to say this wasn't an issue when Derek Jeter broke into the majors in 1995? Cal Ripken was retiring, the game had just come back from a strike where the World Series was canceled, and four of the six divisions were decided by 7 or more games (and some divisions decided by 20+ games). There is always a reason to panic when it comes to a discussion of how baseball is dying or in trouble.
Joe Talnagi, 21, was asked what he was going to do during all this pre-game down time. “Probably cry,” said Talnagi, a college student from New Jersey. “Number 2” patches graced bottles of wine resting on the locker room chairs of all his Yankee teammates, the Yankee uniforms, and the flags atop the stadium.
BREAKING NEWS: Yankees fans will miss Derek Jeter.
Obviously this will lead to a nationwide crisis where MLB as a whole will miss Derek Jeter, and because no one is around to replace him, the entire league will be forced to disband. Tim Keown will be pleased all the foreigners playing baseball in the United States will stop fighting Americans and go home.
Jeter’s former teammate Jorge Posada showed up, and called Jeter the greatest Yankee of all-time. Michael Jordan was the surprise guest, and said Jeter is an “idol to me.”
What will baseball do now that Michael Jordan's idol is retired? The NBA fell apart after Michael Jordan retired. Some of you may not remember the NBA, but it was a professional basketball league where basketball players could go after playing basketball in college. The commissioner was David Stern, but the league disbanded after Michael Jordan retired and no stars with sufficiently high Q scores could be found.
According to Q Scores Company, among active athletes recognized by more than half the U.S. population, Jeter owns the second-highest “Q score” – a general favorability rating – trailing only Peyton Manning.
Jeter has also played professional sports for 20 years, so I'm sure that plays into his favorable Q score. At some point another baseball player will come along and have a Q score that rivals Jeter's Q score. Even if there isn't, it doesn't mean baseball has a "problem." It means baseball doesn't have an instantly recognizable face like Derek Jeter. Athletes with Jeter's marketability don't come around all that often and I'm sure there were the same questions about baseball's "face" when other less popular players have retired in the past.
The bad news: no other baseball player ranks in the top 15.
I wish Sean Gregory had provided a link to these Q scores. I would be interested to see what other sports had players in the top 15. If baseball has two guys (like Yasiel Puig or Bryce Harper) at #17 and #19, then who is to say it isn't a player like that to replace Jeter? Two guys who are young and have the opportunity to greatly increase this score as they progress through their career? It's not like Derek Jeter was #2 in the Q score rankings coming into the majors. It took time for him to get there, so it's entirely possible another MLB player or two could move up the rankings in the next few years. All is not lost. There is no need to panic or say there is an issue.
“Baseball players aren’t even on the national radar for the general population,” says Henry Schafer, an executive vice president at Q Scores. “They’re just not out there like players from other sports.”
There is a baseball player at #2 by the way. So baseball players can be, and have been, on the national radar. I'm guessing since no link was provided (which is annoying, don't cite a study and then not provide a link to your readers) and the cut-off is randomly at the top 15, then there is probably a baseball player or two in spots #16-20 on the list. It's just a guess, but baseball players aren't on the national radar, that's fine. It doesn't mean the sport has an issue now that Jeter has retired. There is an assumption of a sport's health resulting from seeing widely recognized names on a Q score list. I am not sure this is entirely true, especially if baseball is becoming an increasingly more regional sport.
Baseball has become a more regionalized game, a series of thriving fiefdoms with little national cultural connection.
Right, which means a nationally recognized face is less important to the sport because as long as fans from a region or thriving fiefdom recognizes the players then revenue will be generated and attendance will not decrease. Since baseball is regional, perhaps a nationally known face isn't the end-all for the sport's popularity.
Thanks to lucrative local television deals, stable attendance, and smart digital investments by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the game’s overall revenues have grown. The sport is in fine economic health. But fans are getting older. The game is getting slower and slower, which hurts its appeal among younger viewers. Rarely is a regular season game appointment television. There’s just too much competition.
Rarely is anything even appointment television anymore. Even the most popular television shows are DVR'd and ratings have decreased for the most popular television programs on television compared to the most popular shows from 20-30 years ago. The game of baseball is slow, but the loss of Jeter with his high Q score isn't the determinant as a final nail in the coffin of baseball.
A quarter century ago, NBC offered a “Game of the Week” on Saturdays. Now, the network offers Premier League soccer, a hipper product, on its cable channels. European soccer over baseball once seemed like a ridiculous proposition. Not anymore.
FOX still carries Saturday night baseball. NBC doesn't carry the sport of baseball anymore because they don't have the rights to the sport. If they had the rights, perhaps they would show a "Game of the Week" like they used to. This is pretty disingenuous for Sean Gregory to act like FOX doesn't carry baseball games like NBC used to.
How did Jeter, who played 20 seasons in New York, won five World Series rings and has 3,461 hits–sixth-best of all time–break through?
He was around for a long time, won several World Series, played in a large market and stayed out of trouble. Doing that for 20 years will get you recognized by the general public.
“Being able to accomplish all that, for that long a period of time, in a major market is highly unusual,” says Schafer. “The Yankees are both loved and hated across the country, but what’s surprising is he rises above it. He’s a likeable individual, and he’s respected.”
Right, he's an outlier and not necessarily the example of the type of player MLB needs to thrive as a sport. Jeter's ability to have such a high Q score is unusual, which means MLB doesn't have a "problem" now that he has retired. Baseball just doesn't have their most recognizable figure. Other recognizable players might eventually step up, but it won't happen overnight. Somehow the sport will survive.
For 20 years, no personal scandal has interrupted the Jeter narrative: he’s a winner, a leader, a guy who plays the game “the right way.”
(chokes to death on hyperbole)
During the Jeter ceremony, if any fans played a “right way” drinking game during the dozens of between-inning personalized messages that former teammates, opponents, New York sports legends like Joe Namath and random big names like Kenny Chesney and Matt Lauer delivered on the video board, they were sloshed before the seventh-inning stretch.
No more Jeter drinking games, no dedications from fanboy whore Kenny Chesney, so how will baseball survive without Jeter in the future? Probably the same way baseball didn't have a problem and survived after other popular players have retired in the past. Other baseball players eventually become more popular over time and their Q score increased, allowing the entire sport of baseball to be saved from immediate destruction.
“He’s pretty much the face of baseball,” says Schafer. “There’s going to be a big void. It’s going to be like when the NBA was trying to find the next Michael Jordan.
And the NBA found the next Michael Jordan. They eventually found several Michael Jordans when he retired for good in 2003. Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James filled the void. It didn't happen overnight, because to rise into the public conscience doesn't happen quickly, but it did eventually happen. So the example of Jeter being the face of baseball and comparing it to the NBA trying to find the next Michael Jordan is a favorable comparison for the future of baseball.
I'm not sure either Sean Gregory or Henry Schafer realizes amid all of the teeth-gnashing and worrying about baseball's future that the NBA has made out just fine after losing Michael Jordan to retirement. The increasingly regional sport of baseball will be fine as well. A new "face of baseball" will emerge at some point. It's not like these things happen overnight. Jeter wasn't considered the "face of baseball" for the majority of his career I wouldn't think.
Baseball is going to have a very tough time finding the next Derek Jeter.”
Considering you just said that what Jeter was able to accomplish is "highly unusual" then I would say, yes, baseball is going to have a hard time finding the next Derek Jeter. The assumption is that baseball can't thrive without the next Derek Jeter and I think that's a fallacy. It's like saying Hollywood has an "Avengers problem" because they will have a hard time replacing the revenue that one specific movie brought in. It assumes other less successful movies can't make studios money and break off into other franchises.
This may be a bad comparison, but I hope you get my point. If what Jeter accomplished is so unusual, then there should be no expectation of finding the next Derek Jeter.
On Schafer’s list, there is one other active baseball player that more than half of the general population recognizes.
Marco Scutaro?
It’s A-Rod.
(Cue ominous music)
A-Rod has been around for many years and he is a great example of how being recognized by the general public isn't always a good thing. So conceivably in a few years another baseball player could step forward and be recognized as the face of the sport. It's not like an official "face of baseball" is required for the sport to find success. I imagine Sean Gregory is simply asking the same questions other writers have asked when the most popular/recognized player in that sport retired. Just like the NBA did find a few other Michael Jordan-like players who became recognizable, I imagine baseball will find a new, perhaps lesser, Derek Jeter in time as well.
The whole "Who is the face of baseball" question seems like the panicky type of column that gets written without a whole lot of thought going into it beforehand. You know, as if a sport that is becoming more and more regional requires a "face of baseball" for that sport to remain successful in the future.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
0 comments Now That Derek Jeter is Retired, Wallace Matthews Wants Joe Girardi to Play A-Rod at Third Base Often, So He Can Inevitably Complain about A-Rod
Sportswriters often don't see athletes as human beings, they see these athletes as walking narratives. Walking narratives that can help that sportswriter with a column idea or even as a means to expound upon that narrative in a column. The New York media has missed Alex Rodriguez this season. They miss bashing him and talking about what a hypocritical, self-involved, cheating asshole he is. So naturally, Wallace Matthews misses A-Rod and can't wait for him to come back and play for the Yankees next season. It will make Wallace happy to know he can have A-Rod to kick around again. But first, Joe Girardi has to go ahead and hand A-Rod the starting third base job before the World Series is even over. So it turns out A-Rod won't be getting the Jeter treatment, because Girardi won't name A-Rod the starting third baseman in 2015. Just in case the zero people who thought Girardi might were confused.
Joe Girardi is about to go from the Farewell Tour to the Circus Parade.
And the New York media could not be happier. They were tired of all this happiness and positivity surrounding Derek Jeter's retirement. Finally, they can get pageviews using negativity.
Girardi took a lot of heat this season for managing what some believed was a Derek Jeter Farewell Tour rather than a baseball season, and put forth the dubious proposition that this was the reason the Yankees missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
(New York media to each other) "We are going to saturate the coverage of the Yankees' season with talk about Derek Jeter and his impending retirement. We will make this our sole focus."
(New York media to Joe Girardi) "Why did you manage this season like it was a Derek Jeter Farewell Tour? That's the only story we heard about this season. Was that your only focus?"
While Girardi certainly deferred to Jeter all season, continuing to play him at shortstop and bat him second, despite sometime shrill calls from many corners claiming this was the reason the Yankees stunk in 2014, Alex Rodriguez cannot hope to enjoy the same level of respect.
This disputes the claim of absolutely nobody that A-Rod was going to be treated like Derek Jeter was during his final year in the majors. Sure, a lot of nobody thought that A-Rod would be immediately handed the starting third baseman job before the World Series ended and the MLB offseason has begun, but these people, of which there were none, will be shocked to find out this isn't happening. Joe Girardi isn't going to cater to Alex Rodriguez like he did Derek Jeter. And here I thought Jeter and A-Rod would be treated the same, especially since the legacy each will leave with the Yankees isn't similar at all.
And no, the reason the Yankees stunk in 2014 is not solely because Derek Jeter batted 2nd. The Yankees had injuries to their pitching staff, (predictably) the free agents they signed didn't entirely live up to their contract for a variety of reasons and the farm system isn't built up enough to withstand these two issues. But yeah, blame Girardi for playing Jeter, though the New York media would have had a heart attack had Girardi put Jeter 8th/9th in the batting order and sat him more than two games in a row.
That much was clear from Girardi's postseason wrap-up news conference at Yankee Stadium on Monday, in which he refused to guarantee A-Rod his old job back, despite being given several opportunities to say so.
What kind of idiot manager would guarantee A-Rod his old job back for the upcoming season as early as late September? Girardi has no idea who the Yankees will sign in the offseason, no idea what kind of playing shape A-Rod is in, and Rodriguez wasn't exactly tearing the cover off the ball during the 2013 season. It would be the height of stupidity to guarantee A-Rod his old job back, so naturally the mouth-breathing idiots in the New York media ask Girardi to do so.
And I know if Girardi had said, "Of course A-Rod will have his job back when he returns" then this column by Wallace would go in a completely different direction. It would be, "I can't believe Girardi guaranteed A-Rod's job at third base this early in the offseason."
Asked directly, twice, on Monday if A-Rod was returning as the Yankees' starting third baseman, Girardi hedged.
I don't want to spoil it, but Girardi's "hedge" is acknowledging that A-Rod will be playing third base when he returns. This further removes any confusion that A-Rod will be moving to the outfield or to shortstop. I'm sure the same subset of zero people who also thought A-Rod would get the Jeter treatment during the 2015 season thought A-Rod might play shortstop when he returned to the Yankees team. These zero people are now even less confused than they never were.
"He hasn’t played in a year," Girardi said. "That’s not easy to do, to sit out a year. I've got to see where he’s physically at, I’ve got to see from a playing standpoint where he’s at. Do we expect him to be a player on our team? Absolutely. Do we expect him to play third base? Yes. But in fairness, I think you have to see where he’s at."
So A-Rod will play third base when he returns? Look at Girardi hedging on whether A-Rod will be the regular third baseman for the Yankees by acknowledging that A-Rod will be playing third base.
Which raises the bizarre and tantalizing prospect that Alex Rodriguez could be returning to the Yankees as a part-time player, or worse, a bench player.
Which is pretty much what the New York media has wanted A-Rod to be for a few seasons now. Of course, if A-Rod is a part-time player the New York media will take one of two roads:
1. State A-Rod isn't playing well enough to deserve to be a full-time player and then call him "an expensive pinch-hitter" in some fashion, while baiting A-Rod to second-guess Girardi's decision by firing a series of leading questions at him all in an effort to drum up controversy.
2. Claim that A-Rod should be starting because he makes enough money that he needs the opportunity to contribute and then blame A-Rod for Girardi refusing to pull him from the lineup. I don't know how, but the media will try to blame A-Rod for this.
Funny, Girardi showed no similar hesitation when asked similar questions about Jeter a year ago, even though Jeter was a year older than Rodriguez and coming off a similar yearlong layoff, having played in just 17 games scattered throughout the 2013 season.
That is because it was Jeter's last season and Girardi had never pulled Jeter from the lineup for performance-related reasons. Girardi has pulled A-Rod for performance-related reasons, and A-Rod has been out of baseball for an entire year, while Jeter was rehabbing an injury during much of the 2013 season. There's no way Jeter wasn't going to be the Yankees starting shortstop coming into the 2014 season for a variety of reasons. Just like A-Rod is not being handed the starting third base job for a variety of reasons.
No matter by what illicit means he achieved it, Rodriguez was always a better player than Jeter, if not nearly as much of a winner or so good a teammate.
And those are part of the reasons why Rodriguez isn't being handed the third base job and Jeter was assumed to be the Yankees' starting shortstop during the 2014 season. Being a good teammate is always nice to see and much of A-Rod's value lies in his power, so it remains to be seen what remains of that power.
It is easy to argue that he doesn't deserve it, for transgressions both on the field and off.
Ah yes, so basically Wallace Matthews is asking questions and then answering his own questions. Essentially, this entire column could have been a conversation instead Wallace's head instead of a column.
Without even trying, A-Rod is going to cause Girardi the kind of headaches that Jeter never did, and he does not appear to be relishing the prospect, even five months removed from the start of spring training.
It seems that Wallace has broached the question of A-Rod's starting status simply so he can rehash the same talking points about what a pain in the ass A-Rod is. Wallace acts surprised Girardi hasn't named A-Rod the starting third baseman (did you know A-Rod isn't on the same level as Derek Jeter?) in late September and then begins to list the reasons why Girardi wouldn't do this.
Although the manager went out of his way to mention, "I have a good relationship with Alex," he was unable to give a precise date of the last time he and his erstwhile third baseman actually spoke.
GIVE WALLACE MATTHEWS THE PRECISE TIME THAT YOU LAST SPOKE WITH A-ROD! ALSO, HOW MANY EMOTICONS WERE USED?
"We've talked more about how he’s just doing and his family, mostly through texting," Girardi said. "Obviously that will pick up now that we’re through the season and I don’t have nearly as much to do, just to see where he is at physically and encouraging him and see what his thoughts are."
Now that Joe Girardi has stopped managing the Derek Jeter Farewell Tour, he can focus more on the Alex Rodriguez Redemption Tour. At some point, probably the beginning of each month during the season, he will put the Yankees lineup, pitching rotation, and bullpen usage charts together so he can spend the rest of that month focused on A-Rod as much as he solely focused on Derek Jeter.
All indications are that he expects to come back to the Yankees in all of his former capacities, as the everyday third baseman and a middle-of-the-order hitter, as well as a possible new capacity -- as a team leader now that Jeter will no longer be in the clubhouse.
How did Wallace get these indications? Why is Wallace unable to give a precise date of the last time he got an indication this is true?
Joe Girardi isn't allowed to talk to A-Rod during the season without every discussion notated and archived for the public's perusal, but Wallace Matthews is all, "I know that A-Rod thinks he is coming back to play third base everyday and hit in the middle of the order," and he just wants his readers to nod their head as if this is true and possibly isn't just an assumption Wallace wants to make for the purposes of writing a column.
Without mentioning names, Girardi spoke in general terms about the likelihood that several current Yankees could step up next year to fill the leadership void Jeter leaves behind. And from what I know about Alex, I can tell you he considers himself one of those candidates, if not the only legitimate one.
Brian McCann is going to stand in the baseline and yell at A-Rod for believing he is the only legitimate leadership candidate. There is an unwritten rule that says you have to get past Brian McCann first before you can be the leader of any team.
But it is just as likely that his return will be seen by some in the Yankees clubhouse as a burden, because at least for the beginning of spring training, the camp is likely to be crawling with even more media than usual, poking and prodding A-Rod for his daily thoughts and charting his every move on and off the field.
Of course, the New York media could ensure the Yankees clubhouse don't see A-Rod as a burden by not poking and prodding A-Rod for his daily thoughts and charting his move on and off the field, but apparently that isn't even close to being option. Not that the New York media has an obligation to help the Yankees have a lesser burden, but Wallace Matthews is basically saying he and his media friends will make the Yankees clubhouse a living hell if they damn well want to.
Girardi acknowledged the coming circus could serve as a camp distraction, but said: "I think our players will handle it fine. The first couple of days in spring training there will be more attention, and that will die down. That's the nature of sports too. Something’s gonna happen that the focus will be off of him again."
Joe Girardi is going to have Francisco Cervelli murdered so the focus will be off A-Rod and on Cervelli's untimely death. I'm just kidding of course, the New York media would recognize that Cervelli is dead so there's no reason to immediately cover a story that isn't going anywhere, and then continue to focus on asking A-Rod for for the millionth time whether he considers himself the leader of the Yankees now and how much he'll miss Derek Jeter.
the spotlight will be on him again as he faces a likely procession of hostile crowds, perhaps even in his own ballpark.
So why not announce A-Rod has the starting third base job in late September when he hasn't proven he deserves it, the fans hate him, and it will only put more pressure on him to produce immediately? Joe Girardi has really missed a chance to give New York sportswriters a great story to write.
"His teammates enjoy Alex," Girardi said. "His presence in the clubhouse, the way he likes to teach the game and talk about the game, so I don’t think that will be an issue. Will he have to deal with some angry fans? Yeah. But we’ll help him get through that. And when’s the last time Alex hasn’t had to deal with that?
Stop it! Stop being reasonable about Alex Rodriguez and how hostile crowds will affect him. Just pretend that A-Rod has never faced a hostile crowd before. It's a lot more fun that way.
If he's even 75 percent of the player he was before he was suspended, A-Rod can help the Yankees too, especially the offensively challenged Yankees of 2014.
Considering he is being paid $21 million next season, that's good to hear. I'm not going to mention that as much of a douchebag asshole as A-Rod has been through the years, it's funny how once the Yankees offense starts stumbling sportswriters start talking about him in a positive fashion as someone who can help the team. Wait, I did just mention it. It's almost like A-Rod is overpaid, but still a reasonably useful baseball player.
But there's no guarantee that when he comes back to the Yankees -- and his yearlong suspension ends as soon as the World Series is over -- that aside from his lavish paycheck, Rodriguez will enjoy any of the perks he did before he was set down, or any of the deference the manager showed to Jeter.
Again, no one thought Alex Rodriguez would be treated in the same way that Derek Jeter was treated during his final season in the majors. Anyone who thought A-Rod would be treated as a conquering hero upon being reinstated is an idiot or simply stuck in 2002.
Which sets up a mouthwatering question for Girardi's postseason news conference a year from now:
After being accused in 2014 of playing Derek Jeter too much, will Girardi in 2015 face charges that he didn't play Alex Rodriguez enough?
My mouth is officially watered. Tell you what, if Alex Rodriguez plays well enough to play third base a lot during the 2015 season then I am betting Joe Girardi will play A-Rod a lot. Girardi won't reasonably know if A-Rod will play well enough until five months from now in spring training. Hence, he doesn't name A-Rod the starting third baseman yet. Somehow it makes sense if you just take the time to think about it. He won't be treated like Derek Jeter and I doubt anyone thought he would be treated in a similar fashion.
Joe Girardi is about to go from the Farewell Tour to the Circus Parade.
And the New York media could not be happier. They were tired of all this happiness and positivity surrounding Derek Jeter's retirement. Finally, they can get pageviews using negativity.
Girardi took a lot of heat this season for managing what some believed was a Derek Jeter Farewell Tour rather than a baseball season, and put forth the dubious proposition that this was the reason the Yankees missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
(New York media to each other) "We are going to saturate the coverage of the Yankees' season with talk about Derek Jeter and his impending retirement. We will make this our sole focus."
(New York media to Joe Girardi) "Why did you manage this season like it was a Derek Jeter Farewell Tour? That's the only story we heard about this season. Was that your only focus?"
While Girardi certainly deferred to Jeter all season, continuing to play him at shortstop and bat him second, despite sometime shrill calls from many corners claiming this was the reason the Yankees stunk in 2014, Alex Rodriguez cannot hope to enjoy the same level of respect.
This disputes the claim of absolutely nobody that A-Rod was going to be treated like Derek Jeter was during his final year in the majors. Sure, a lot of nobody thought that A-Rod would be immediately handed the starting third baseman job before the World Series ended and the MLB offseason has begun, but these people, of which there were none, will be shocked to find out this isn't happening. Joe Girardi isn't going to cater to Alex Rodriguez like he did Derek Jeter. And here I thought Jeter and A-Rod would be treated the same, especially since the legacy each will leave with the Yankees isn't similar at all.
And no, the reason the Yankees stunk in 2014 is not solely because Derek Jeter batted 2nd. The Yankees had injuries to their pitching staff, (predictably) the free agents they signed didn't entirely live up to their contract for a variety of reasons and the farm system isn't built up enough to withstand these two issues. But yeah, blame Girardi for playing Jeter, though the New York media would have had a heart attack had Girardi put Jeter 8th/9th in the batting order and sat him more than two games in a row.
That much was clear from Girardi's postseason wrap-up news conference at Yankee Stadium on Monday, in which he refused to guarantee A-Rod his old job back, despite being given several opportunities to say so.
What kind of idiot manager would guarantee A-Rod his old job back for the upcoming season as early as late September? Girardi has no idea who the Yankees will sign in the offseason, no idea what kind of playing shape A-Rod is in, and Rodriguez wasn't exactly tearing the cover off the ball during the 2013 season. It would be the height of stupidity to guarantee A-Rod his old job back, so naturally the mouth-breathing idiots in the New York media ask Girardi to do so.
And I know if Girardi had said, "Of course A-Rod will have his job back when he returns" then this column by Wallace would go in a completely different direction. It would be, "I can't believe Girardi guaranteed A-Rod's job at third base this early in the offseason."
Asked directly, twice, on Monday if A-Rod was returning as the Yankees' starting third baseman, Girardi hedged.
I don't want to spoil it, but Girardi's "hedge" is acknowledging that A-Rod will be playing third base when he returns. This further removes any confusion that A-Rod will be moving to the outfield or to shortstop. I'm sure the same subset of zero people who also thought A-Rod would get the Jeter treatment during the 2015 season thought A-Rod might play shortstop when he returned to the Yankees team. These zero people are now even less confused than they never were.
"He hasn’t played in a year," Girardi said. "That’s not easy to do, to sit out a year. I've got to see where he’s physically at, I’ve got to see from a playing standpoint where he’s at. Do we expect him to be a player on our team? Absolutely. Do we expect him to play third base? Yes. But in fairness, I think you have to see where he’s at."
So A-Rod will play third base when he returns? Look at Girardi hedging on whether A-Rod will be the regular third baseman for the Yankees by acknowledging that A-Rod will be playing third base.
Which raises the bizarre and tantalizing prospect that Alex Rodriguez could be returning to the Yankees as a part-time player, or worse, a bench player.
Which is pretty much what the New York media has wanted A-Rod to be for a few seasons now. Of course, if A-Rod is a part-time player the New York media will take one of two roads:
1. State A-Rod isn't playing well enough to deserve to be a full-time player and then call him "an expensive pinch-hitter" in some fashion, while baiting A-Rod to second-guess Girardi's decision by firing a series of leading questions at him all in an effort to drum up controversy.
2. Claim that A-Rod should be starting because he makes enough money that he needs the opportunity to contribute and then blame A-Rod for Girardi refusing to pull him from the lineup. I don't know how, but the media will try to blame A-Rod for this.
Funny, Girardi showed no similar hesitation when asked similar questions about Jeter a year ago, even though Jeter was a year older than Rodriguez and coming off a similar yearlong layoff, having played in just 17 games scattered throughout the 2013 season.
That is because it was Jeter's last season and Girardi had never pulled Jeter from the lineup for performance-related reasons. Girardi has pulled A-Rod for performance-related reasons, and A-Rod has been out of baseball for an entire year, while Jeter was rehabbing an injury during much of the 2013 season. There's no way Jeter wasn't going to be the Yankees starting shortstop coming into the 2014 season for a variety of reasons. Just like A-Rod is not being handed the starting third base job for a variety of reasons.
No matter by what illicit means he achieved it, Rodriguez was always a better player than Jeter, if not nearly as much of a winner or so good a teammate.
And those are part of the reasons why Rodriguez isn't being handed the third base job and Jeter was assumed to be the Yankees' starting shortstop during the 2014 season. Being a good teammate is always nice to see and much of A-Rod's value lies in his power, so it remains to be seen what remains of that power.
It is easy to argue that he doesn't deserve it, for transgressions both on the field and off.
Ah yes, so basically Wallace Matthews is asking questions and then answering his own questions. Essentially, this entire column could have been a conversation instead Wallace's head instead of a column.
Without even trying, A-Rod is going to cause Girardi the kind of headaches that Jeter never did, and he does not appear to be relishing the prospect, even five months removed from the start of spring training.
It seems that Wallace has broached the question of A-Rod's starting status simply so he can rehash the same talking points about what a pain in the ass A-Rod is. Wallace acts surprised Girardi hasn't named A-Rod the starting third baseman (did you know A-Rod isn't on the same level as Derek Jeter?) in late September and then begins to list the reasons why Girardi wouldn't do this.
Although the manager went out of his way to mention, "I have a good relationship with Alex," he was unable to give a precise date of the last time he and his erstwhile third baseman actually spoke.
GIVE WALLACE MATTHEWS THE PRECISE TIME THAT YOU LAST SPOKE WITH A-ROD! ALSO, HOW MANY EMOTICONS WERE USED?
"We've talked more about how he’s just doing and his family, mostly through texting," Girardi said. "Obviously that will pick up now that we’re through the season and I don’t have nearly as much to do, just to see where he is at physically and encouraging him and see what his thoughts are."
Now that Joe Girardi has stopped managing the Derek Jeter Farewell Tour, he can focus more on the Alex Rodriguez Redemption Tour. At some point, probably the beginning of each month during the season, he will put the Yankees lineup, pitching rotation, and bullpen usage charts together so he can spend the rest of that month focused on A-Rod as much as he solely focused on Derek Jeter.
All indications are that he expects to come back to the Yankees in all of his former capacities, as the everyday third baseman and a middle-of-the-order hitter, as well as a possible new capacity -- as a team leader now that Jeter will no longer be in the clubhouse.
How did Wallace get these indications? Why is Wallace unable to give a precise date of the last time he got an indication this is true?
Joe Girardi isn't allowed to talk to A-Rod during the season without every discussion notated and archived for the public's perusal, but Wallace Matthews is all, "I know that A-Rod thinks he is coming back to play third base everyday and hit in the middle of the order," and he just wants his readers to nod their head as if this is true and possibly isn't just an assumption Wallace wants to make for the purposes of writing a column.
Without mentioning names, Girardi spoke in general terms about the likelihood that several current Yankees could step up next year to fill the leadership void Jeter leaves behind. And from what I know about Alex, I can tell you he considers himself one of those candidates, if not the only legitimate one.
Brian McCann is going to stand in the baseline and yell at A-Rod for believing he is the only legitimate leadership candidate. There is an unwritten rule that says you have to get past Brian McCann first before you can be the leader of any team.
But it is just as likely that his return will be seen by some in the Yankees clubhouse as a burden, because at least for the beginning of spring training, the camp is likely to be crawling with even more media than usual, poking and prodding A-Rod for his daily thoughts and charting his every move on and off the field.
Of course, the New York media could ensure the Yankees clubhouse don't see A-Rod as a burden by not poking and prodding A-Rod for his daily thoughts and charting his move on and off the field, but apparently that isn't even close to being option. Not that the New York media has an obligation to help the Yankees have a lesser burden, but Wallace Matthews is basically saying he and his media friends will make the Yankees clubhouse a living hell if they damn well want to.
Girardi acknowledged the coming circus could serve as a camp distraction, but said: "I think our players will handle it fine. The first couple of days in spring training there will be more attention, and that will die down. That's the nature of sports too. Something’s gonna happen that the focus will be off of him again."
Joe Girardi is going to have Francisco Cervelli murdered so the focus will be off A-Rod and on Cervelli's untimely death. I'm just kidding of course, the New York media would recognize that Cervelli is dead so there's no reason to immediately cover a story that isn't going anywhere, and then continue to focus on asking A-Rod for for the millionth time whether he considers himself the leader of the Yankees now and how much he'll miss Derek Jeter.
the spotlight will be on him again as he faces a likely procession of hostile crowds, perhaps even in his own ballpark.
So why not announce A-Rod has the starting third base job in late September when he hasn't proven he deserves it, the fans hate him, and it will only put more pressure on him to produce immediately? Joe Girardi has really missed a chance to give New York sportswriters a great story to write.
"His teammates enjoy Alex," Girardi said. "His presence in the clubhouse, the way he likes to teach the game and talk about the game, so I don’t think that will be an issue. Will he have to deal with some angry fans? Yeah. But we’ll help him get through that. And when’s the last time Alex hasn’t had to deal with that?
Stop it! Stop being reasonable about Alex Rodriguez and how hostile crowds will affect him. Just pretend that A-Rod has never faced a hostile crowd before. It's a lot more fun that way.
If he's even 75 percent of the player he was before he was suspended, A-Rod can help the Yankees too, especially the offensively challenged Yankees of 2014.
Considering he is being paid $21 million next season, that's good to hear. I'm not going to mention that as much of a douchebag asshole as A-Rod has been through the years, it's funny how once the Yankees offense starts stumbling sportswriters start talking about him in a positive fashion as someone who can help the team. Wait, I did just mention it. It's almost like A-Rod is overpaid, but still a reasonably useful baseball player.
But there's no guarantee that when he comes back to the Yankees -- and his yearlong suspension ends as soon as the World Series is over -- that aside from his lavish paycheck, Rodriguez will enjoy any of the perks he did before he was set down, or any of the deference the manager showed to Jeter.
Again, no one thought Alex Rodriguez would be treated in the same way that Derek Jeter was treated during his final season in the majors. Anyone who thought A-Rod would be treated as a conquering hero upon being reinstated is an idiot or simply stuck in 2002.
Which sets up a mouthwatering question for Girardi's postseason news conference a year from now:
After being accused in 2014 of playing Derek Jeter too much, will Girardi in 2015 face charges that he didn't play Alex Rodriguez enough?
My mouth is officially watered. Tell you what, if Alex Rodriguez plays well enough to play third base a lot during the 2015 season then I am betting Joe Girardi will play A-Rod a lot. Girardi won't reasonably know if A-Rod will play well enough until five months from now in spring training. Hence, he doesn't name A-Rod the starting third baseman yet. Somehow it makes sense if you just take the time to think about it. He won't be treated like Derek Jeter and I doubt anyone thought he would be treated in a similar fashion.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
10 comments MMQB Review: Peter King Writes an Entire Page of Dedications to Derek Jeter, Wonders When Someone Will Recognize Paul Konerko Is Retiring Too
Peter King discussed how the Broncos and Seahawks saved the NFL in last week's MMQB. He also explained how Roger Goodell needs a domestic violence czar and was amazed at how Americans love their technology. Peter compared Russell Wilson to Joe Montana and said that Wilson is up there with Brees, Brady, Rodgers and Manning already. This week Peter looks at the best players on the season so far, it turns out that hand size and a bad Pro Day don't mean Teddy Bridgewater sucks (anything to say Mike Mayock?), Mike Glennon is better than I think (though I thought he should have been the starter this year for the Bucs), and Peter dedicates an entire page to Derek Jeter. Because this is an NFL column, you know.
As we near the end of a strange Week 4 in the NFL (margins of victory this weekend: 31, 24, 28, 24, 3, 7, 6, 21, 19, 13, 5, 21), let’s take stock of the race that’s looking very fun, and very different than usual: the NFL MVP race. Different because the usual suspects—Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who have won five of the past seven MVPs—have company.
Peter was bored by the games this week, so he decides that this year's MVP race is TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM EVERY OTHER YEAR'S MVP race. Sure, in past years Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and maybe another player were in the discussion with Manning and Brady, but this year is different because...umm...Peter wants it to be different I guess.
At the four-week mark, here’s how I see it:
If you can't tell, this will be a fluffy MMQB because Peter was bored with the Week 4 games and would prefer to discuss postseason awards in September and recite quotes others have given about Derek Jeter.
1. Philip Rivers, quarterback, San Diego. He just keeps getting better. Building on last year’s 5% improvement in completion percentage—stunning for a 10-year vet—
It's almost like a full season hasn't been played yet and Rivers has time to regress to his career completion percentage.
Rivers came back after a one-point loss to unbeaten Arizona to strafe three straight foes, most impressivly leading the Chargers to 30 points in a Week 2 win over Seattle.
Ys, that was dfinitly most impressiv.
2. DeMarco Murray, running back, Dallas. Jerry Jones might have hated picking Zack Martin over Johnny Manziel in May—you know he did—but he wasn’t hating it Sunday night, basking in the glow of a 38-17 rout of New Orleans. “I don’t recall ever seeing a Cowboy team in my 25 years play better, including the effort and including mistake-free execution, than we played in the first half,” Jones said. It’s ball-control. It’s spending high draft picks smartly and conservatively on offensive linemen.
It's sort of like how protecting your quarterback is a great idea. Why improve your team when you can go sexy and draft Johnny Manziel?
4. Russell Wilson, quarterback, Seattle. At the helm of the best team in football, Wilson has completed 69% of his passes, thrown just one interception and done what he had to do when he had to do it.
DOES THIS GUY EVER SWEAT UNDER PRESSURE? HE'S #4 ON PETER'S LIST OF MVP CANDIDATES AND DOESN'T SEEM NERVOUS ABOUT IT AT ALL!
John Stockton never led the NBA in scoring, and Wilson will never lead the NFL in passing yardage. Wilson is a point guard, an excellent one.
Stop forcing this John Stockton comparison. It wasn't very good a couple of weeks ago and it hasn't improved this week. John Stockton was also not considered to be as great as Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, while Peter has stated that Russell Wilson is up there with Manning and Brady. So even if I used Peter's comparison to Stockton then it still doesn't make sense in the context of how he talks about Wilson.
Now that we’ve gotten the debate going—and I understand that I don’t have a player from the Cards or Bengals, the only unbeatens in football, on the list—I’ll look forward to hearing your arguments for the quarter-season MVP. I’ll use the best arguments you’ve got in my Tuesday Mailbag column.
And honestly, Peter wouldn't put Andy Dalton in the top five of the MVP race even if the Bengals finished the season 16-0. He thinks Andy Dalton is the B.J. Armstrong of the NFL.
Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles are not supposed to be as poised as Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson, but they were in their starting debuts.
Details, please.
Stop writing like you are a 16 year old girl about to gossip, please.
I was sure Smith would launch into orbit two or three times Sunday if he had great success against his former team, Carolina. He had great success. “And I didn’t even spin the ball after I scored, really,” Smith said from Baltimore a half-hour after his seven-catch, 139-yard, two-touchdown day against the reeling Panthers. “It’s not about the old team. It’s about this team.”
It's interesting how the media starts paying attention to Steve Smith and how good of a receiver he is once there is a narrative to write. They have something interesting to write about, so Peter King decides it's a good time to give Steve Smith a call. Peter didn't care about Smith over the past few years, but Smith's words can help Peter write a story, so Peter is all-ears now.
Late in the first half, Smith had a step on Carolina cornerback Melvin White—a 2013 practice foe with the Panthers—and Joe Flacco floated a perfect ball into the end zone for him. As Smith reached for it, White tackled him. The back judge threw a flag on White, but Smith somehow managed to catch the ball. “I can’t let them win,” said Smith, and I wasn’t sure if he meant corners in general, or the Panthers. “I really wasn’t thinking of playing against my old team. I was just thinking, focus on the job so I can help my new team win.”
Steve Smith carries a grudge with everything and everyone, so it shouldn't surprise me he does the same to the Panthers for releasing him this offseason. He's my favorite Panthers player of all-time, if forced to choose, but his grudge holding in this case seems a little bit like an example of a lack of maturity and self-awareness. No one likes to be released, but football is a business.
The Panthers stood beside and supported Smith for 13 years as he violently attacked three teammates, settled out of court with one of those teammates who he violently attacked, demanded a trade no less than twice, was a consistent source of malcontent in the locker room, when given the chance to play with a good second wide receiver (Keyshawn Johnson) Smith decided he would rather engage in a passive-aggressive battle of egos rather than get along, and complained about nearly every quarterback who has ever thrown him the ball. Just this past offseason he asked to be released, refused to take a pay cut and then was released after the Panthers couldn't trade him. This is the third time he has actively requested a trade or release from the team, but it's the Carolina Panthers who are the bad guys for daring to release him. He's my favorite player of all-time and I am happy he is happy in Baltimore, but there is nothing to be bitter about. He was kept around when other NFL teams would have taken the chance to release him and not stand by him. It's how Smith motivates himself, to act like he was wronged in some fashion, but sometimes he convinces himself so hard he was wronged that he starts to believe his own bullshit. As many times as Smith has decided he was done with the Panthers, it's supremely hilarious that he gets angry about the Panthers finally deciding they were done with him.
And now I move on...
Smith walked into the middle of the locker room. “Old man playing a young man’s game,’’ he said. “Gonna have to ice up.”
The man can give a quote though.
Mike Glennon is better than you think.
Don't tell me how good I think Mike Glennon is. I think Glennon should have been the starter this year. Maybe Mike Glennon is better than YOU think, but you insist on everyone being wrong about Glennon because you were wrong. Stop using the word "you" in this context. It's annoying.
Glennon, the former North Carolina State starter (he pushed Russell Wilson out), called it “the most monumental win I’ve been a part of.” And the most unlikely outcome of the year, the 0-3 Bucs beating a team that destroyed Carolina on the road last week.
Glennon didn't push Russell Wilson out. He had two years of eligibility left and the N.C. State head coach (Tom O'Brien) told Russell Wilson if he wanted to be the Wolfpack's starting quarterback then he needed to focus solely on football during the summer, rather than also playing baseball. Russell Wilson decided he didn't want to do that and transferred to Wisconsin. Wilson wasn't "pushed out" by Glennon. His need to play baseball and football forced him out.
Mike Glennon played pretty well in a shitty situation last year. He isn't better than "we" think. Don't tell "us" how good "we" think Mike Glennon is you haughty dipshit.
“I will keep you posted,” a Raiders spokesman texted me early this morning. It’s just a matter of time for Allen, who cannot survive with a porous D plus Matt McGloin becoming the third starting quarterback in the last six weeks now that Derek Carr is out with a sprained knee ligament and sprained ankle. But if Allen is in jeopardy, what of GM Reggie McKenzie, who let a legit left tackle, Jared Veldheer, go; scotch-taped together a defense of veterans who’d seen better days; and paid real money to Matt Flynn and Matt Schaub to play quarterback and got results from neither.
Come on, Peter. Where is the "Matt Schaub is a waste of talent and is a huge asshole for stealing money from the Raiders" talk? Last year Peter railed on Josh Freeman repeatedly for daring to be signed by the Vikings for $2 million. Nearly every week Peter mentioned what a waste Josh Freeman is. This year, Matt Schaub is making $8 million to be the Raiders third-string quarterback and Peter hasn't even really criticized Schaub yet. I guess Schaub gives Peter better quotes than Josh Freeman ever did. Or maybe it is that Josh Freeman contributed to Peter's buddy, Greg Schiano, getting fired in Tampa Bay.
The logical replacement for Allen would be Tony Sparano, who I will guarantee will get his players to play hard for him. I don’t know how well they’ll play, but I know they will play hard.
I see the Bill Parcells Effect still works. This is the same Tony Sparano who went 28-32 with the Dolphins, right? I don't think he's the long-term replacement, though since Peter is among the many sportswriters who worship at the altar of Bill Parcells it wouldn't surprise me if Peter suggested Sparano should be the long-term replacement.
Noting the quarterbacks of the future, and their Sundays:
Teddy Bridgewater (age 21) started his first game. Against Atlanta he led six scoring drives in three quarters, completed 19 of 30 without turning it over, and left a good first impression. But Bridgewater is a smallish guy, and his second-half sprained ankle was a reminder of some of the reservations teams had about him before the draft.
(Straw man rant alert) Keep helping your buddy Mike Mayock out, Peter, by mentioning there were reservations about Bridgewater's ability to stay healthy. Keep working hard to make it seem like he didn't ignore all of Teddy Bridgewater's tape and give Bridgewater a bad evaluation based simply on hand size and his Pro Day. Protecting friends is important to Peter, so even if Teddy Bridgewater becomes a Pro Bowler I am betting Peter won't mention how his buddy Mayock based his evaluation of Bridgewater on a bad Pro Day and small hands. I overly love Bridgewater. He'll be the best quarterback in this draft.
Ryan Tannehill (26) had a day of redemption, completing 74% of his throws in London to beat the moribund Raiders; he had 14 straight completions at one point. So much for the motivational ploy, or whatever that was last week from Joe Philbin, of not naming him the starter during the week.
Andrew Luck (25) was the day’s most productive QB, 29 of 41 for 393 yards and four touchdowns in the 41-17 rout of Tennessee. “I’m embarrassed,” said Tennessee coach Ken Whisenhunt. Lots of coaches feel that way after facing Luck for three hours.
Colin Kaepernick (26)
Are these three guys the quarterback of the future? It seems like they are the quarterbacks of right now doesn't it?
EJ Manuel (23). Okay, I’ve never been hounded by J.J. Watt for three hours before, so this is easy for me to say: But Manuel looked shaky at times in the loss to Houston—completing just 48% of his throws—and continued a troubling trend: His accuracy has been worse than the previous week in each of his last three games.
Like you said in training camp, Peter. He just needs to throw it deeper and see what happens. Right? That's the solution you proposed?
It’s been three weeks since the damning Ray Rice video unleashed a torrent of criticism directed towards Roger Goodell and the NFL offices, causing the league to uber-focus on domestic violence. Here’s what I know:
Keep working on restoring Goodell's image Peter. Gotta keep carrying that water.
Goodell in Austin over the weekend. On Saturday night he visited a domestic-violence hotline that the league is helping to fund in the wake of the firestorm.
See? The NFL is spending the millions upon millions it earns every year to start a hotline. Who said based on their actions they don't care about women ?
At one point during the meeting with Strong, Vincent said, the coach pointed at a picture in his office of his two daughters. He quoted Strong as saying, “This is a constant reminder to me. I just think about my daughters. No means no. Here, if you put your hands on a woman, you are through.”
Said Vincent: “The man is taking a stand. He made it clear that playing at Texas is a privilege, not a right. Basically, you have to be willing to let your best player go.” That was the message, too, from Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary in the players meeting last week.
So basically it is still up to individual NFL teams to punish players because the NFL cares so much about domestic violence they aren't willing to step in and punish a player before he gets the benefit of due process. I'm not criticizing, simply stating what's going on. Roger Goodell is all about telling NFL teams what to do, except when it comes to punishments for players who still get the benefit of due process, in which case he of course wants individual NFL teams to take the heat so he'll leave those decisions with those teams from now on.
Goodell is safe … for now. In the past several days I’ve spoken to high-ranking officials from eight teams, either the owner or high-ranking club officials with knowledge of the owners’ feelings, about the future of Goodell, with the proviso that they would not be quoted. Several points came through. There’s currently no movement or momentum to remove Goodell as commissioner. But there’s an asterisk there, as two of the owners said. They want to wait for former FBI director Robert Mueller’s report into the NFL’s actions in the Rice case.
The owners want to make sure the investigation they have rigged to go Goodell's way really does go Goodell's way. As long as that happens and they can point to that report from an "independent" investigator as reason to keep Goodell they will. The game is rigged, but the owners don't want to do anything regarding Goodell just in case.
If Goodell is found to have lied about the Rice video or other pertinent facts in the Rice investigation, he’ll be in serious trouble. (Though no one I spoke to feel he has lied.)
Again, this is the problem with the investigation. The two owners responsible for overseeing it, and most other NFL owners as well, are just assuming Goodell hasn't done anything wrong despite any evidence to the contrary. I don't know, it seems to me like Roger Goodell probably did lie, but then again I don't have a stake in him staying on as commissioner.
If he’s found to have been culpable, or not on top of the investigation in a material way, he could be in trouble as well.
He won't be.
There’s more trust inside the ranks of ownership than in the wider population that Mueller’s report will be far-reaching and legitimate, although one owner agreed that it was a mistake for the chief investigator in the case to have ties to the NFL, as Mueller’s Washington firm does.
It's good to know the NFL owners have confidence in the man they chose to lead the investigation into whether Goodell lied or not. I would be surprised if the owners didn't have confidence in the guy their fellow owners chose to use in investigating Goodell's actions.
This surprised me: The owners I spoke with want Goodell to cede authority in discipline cases. They think he spends too much time—and it’s certainly true in this case—going down a rabbit hole of unending controversy on an issue the league should have had buttoned up years ago.
How does that surprise you? What got Goodell in trouble is he has his fingerprints all over punishments handed down to players and he handed down a punishment many considered too light in this circumstance. The owners don't want Goodell being the judge, jury and executioner because it brings criticism his way. It's just another way of protecting the NFL brand to hand authority off in discipline cases.
In general, the sense I got is that when the Mueller report is released, and if Goodell stays on, owners will urge him to concentrate more on league matters and growing and improving the game, and much less on discipline.
That will fix everything. As long as Goodell runs the NFL and isn't allowed to use his judgment in discipline cases then nothing should go wrong. Protect the Shield!
That’s a key point: Owners and team executives know how committed the NFL is to building its presence internationally, and that they’ll play a central role in where it goes from here. The league’s current resolution to play regular-season games in the U.K., as voted on by the owners, runs through the 2016 season, and Waller hopes to have a new resolution in place before that one expires.
I really don't want the NFL to go to London, but nobody asked my opinion. Obviously the NFL owners know better than I do. I will be pissed when my favorite team loses a home game because the NFL wants to convince London to love the sport of American football.
In the short term, Waller says to expect three NFL games played at Wembley Stadium during the 2015 season (England is hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with two matches scheduled at Wembley for Sundays in September, one reason the NFL will stick with three games). Two of those games will be played on consecutive weeks, to test how the stadium’s field holds up to that wear and tear. This is important, because if there were a team in London, its schedule would likely be played in two- to three-game blocks, home and away.
I don't see how it could work. Games would have to be played in London in blocks and I don't think it's fair for a New Orleans Saints team clinging to hope for a playoff spot to have to play in London in Week 16 and then fly back to play a "win-and-in" game in New Orleans the following week. I already hear about West Coast NFL teams who change their schedule while playing on the East Coast, much less playing in England where teams will suffer from jet lag. What happens when the Seahawks play in London and then have a home game the next week?
Bidwill told the panel of fans this weekend that the Cardinals, who played a preseason game in London in 1983, “would love to play another game—as the visiting team.” That’s the challenge for the NFL, finding more volunteers each year to give up a home game. If there were a team based in London (and, yes, the NFL wants that, more than a six- or eight-game collection of games featuring different teams), that question would be answered. But the NFL is not there yet.
I am of the opinion I never want my team to give up a home game so the NFL can convince another country to love American football. It's spitting in the face of that team's fan base to only get 7 home games while being charged for 8 (actually 10 games) and I don't see how the logistics would work out without a lot of work to make it happen.
In tribute to Derek Jeter
Not only is this a football column, but doesn't Peter think there have been enough Jeter tributes of late? Hasn't this been done already?
The paths of the Jeter and Manning families have crossed numerous times. Charles Jeter, Derek’s father, helped the Mannings set up Peyton Manning’s PeyBack Foundation early in his career. Eli Manning sometimes called Derek for Yankee tickets. Peyton and Derek Jeter once had a very private dinner after a Monday night game in Indianapolis. “That night may have been the only night ever that [Indianapolis restaurant] St. Elmo opened for two people to have dinner: Peyton and Derek,” Archie said. And in May, Peyton showed up at Yankee Stadium to see Jeter play. “I wanted to pay my respects and see him play for the last time,” Peyton said that day.
Such a riveting story. I think a story about a baseball player and a quarterback who is on his bye week is perfect for MMQB. I wouldn't expect Peter to NOT mention Peyton Manning a few times during a weekend when Manning's team isn't even playing. I think a whole page on Jeter is a bit much, but Peter has said before he thinks Jeter is the best player of his lifetime, if Peter's lifetime began over the last 30 years.
“I’m so glad what happened the other night,” Archie Manning said Saturday. “It’s justice. It’s God-sent.
God has sent The Jeter down to show the world how to treat the media and bang attractive brunettes at the same time. I wouldn't insinuate that The Jeter is like Jesus or any other Biblical figure, but only because no Biblical figure has more than 3,000 hits like The Jeter does. Either way, The Jeter is from God.
Reactions from around football to Jeter’s end, and what he leaves:
Yes, PLEASE! Because the only thing I care about more than Peter's opinion on Derek Jeter is someone else's opinion on Derek Jeter and be sure to put these reactions in a column about the NFL so they will be totally out-of-place. There are only 22 people who give a memory of Derek Jeter or provides thoughts about The Jeter. Only 22! If Peter put this much effort into MMQB every week it wouldn't be the 40% NFL-related, self-involved shit show the column has become.
Bill Parcells, Hall of Fame coach
"Oh please, Mr. Parcells! Give me a quote about Derek Jeter. Please sir?"
Champ Bailey, free-agent cornerback
“They should retire No. 2 in baseball. Definitely one of the greatest athletes ever.”
Yeah Champ, that's what they should do. The Jeter and the dude who integrated baseball, they are both on the same level. Retire both of those jerseys. Not that the Jeter worship is veering widely into hyperbole or over-praise at this point or anything.
Boomer Esiason, former quarterback, current CBS announcer
“Even as a Mets fan I have to admit Derek Jeter did it the right way.
(Chokes to death on hyperbole)
Justin Tuck, defensive end, Oakland Raiders
“With all the great things he did on the field my favorite with Jeter would be him taking time to have a conversation and take pictures with my dad during batting practice one day at Yankee Stadium. The way he ended it with the walk-off was unbelievable. I thought hitting a home run for his 3,000th hit was crazy but how he ended his Yankee career is fitting for how he played the game. He deserved to go out with a bang like that.”
Hey Justin Tuck, Jeter didn't end his Yankee career with a walk-off, but thanks for paying so much attention.
Mike Mayock, NFL Network analyst
(From 1992 prior to the MLB Draft) "Sure, Derek Jeter had great high school numbers and a history of leadership, but look at how small his hands are and he had a bad workout before the MLB Draft. So let's ignore his entire high school career and focus on those two things. Then if I'm wrong, I'll just pretend I never said anything bad about Jeter."
Wait, wrong quote from Mayock.
John Harbaugh, coach, Baltimore Ravens: “Three or four years ago I threw out a first pitch at an O’s game. Sitting in the stands, there he was in the on-deck circle and I caught his eye and he nodded. Very classy.” …
Wow, real in-depth interesting story there. "ONE TIME, JETER NODDED AT ME!"
Brett Favre, former quarterback: “Awesome, and only fitting he go out that way. Classy player. I’m honored to say I watched him play this year in Seattle.” …
And really, why wouldn't Peter King roll over and ask Brett Favre if he has a quote about Derek Jeter? It's not like Peter is obsessed with Favre and it's not like Favre craves any little mention of his name to get back in the spotlight again for even a brief moment.
Ron Rivera, coach, Carolina Panthers: “I grew up a Yankee fan so I thought it was great the way he finished his career. And I love the Jeter commercial with the Frank Sinatra song.” …
Maybe Jeter can play offensive line or fix whatever the hell is wrong with the Carolina defense? No, that's not his job, it's yours? Great, then do it.
Greg Schiano, former Tampa Bay coach:
And who am I to say that Peter King has favorites and Schiano is one of his favorites? I'm sure there are other fired NFL coaches who gave a quote to Peter about Jeter. (checks list) Well, maybe not. I think I see where much of Peter's anger towards Josh Freeman comes from. Freeman didn't help Peter's buddy Greg Schiano keep his job in Tampa Bay. So Peter, the unbiased reporter that he is, took it upon himself to bash Freeman constantly in retaliation for not playing well in Tampa Bay for Peter's friend, Greg Schiano.
Not him. I was watching the game the other night, and when the O’s hit the two-run homer to go up 5-4, I thought to myself, if this thing gets to the bottom of the ninth, he is going to win it. Sure enough…”
Did you write "Game Over" in your notebook, Greg?
Fine Fifteen
1. Seattle (2-1). Coming off the bye, the Seahawks will put on their traveling pants, with trips that are three, two and three time zones away over the next four games: at Washington (next Monday), Dallas at home, at St. Louis, at Carolina. The last two will be early games in Eastern Time. Tough stretch.
Fortunately they are playing both the Rams and the Panthers, who currently both stink.
3. Denver (2-1). Who’d have thought the game of the week in Week 5, between two teams with a total of one loss, would be Arizona at Denver?
Nobody, that's who! "We" never thought these two teams would be playing each other with a total of one loss. The NFL is so crazy, which comes as a new shock to Peter King every single season.
8. San Francisco (2-2). One thing you learn about the Niners under Jim Harbaugh in his three and a quarter seasons as coach: They don’t stay bad for long.
This is a lesson that Gregg Easterbrook has yet to learn.
9. Philadelphia (3-1). Predictable loss.
But of course it was. "We" didn't know the Eagles would lose, but Peter King totally knew.
Offensive Players of the Week
Steve Smith Sr., wide receiver, Baltimore. The day couldn’t have gone any better for Smith, playing his first game against the team that brought him into the NFL 13 years ago: seven catches, 139 yards, two touchdowns, a 19.9-yards-per-catch average. What’s significant about Smith’s production so far is that he went to a team that didn’t really need him, and he’s played so well that he’s forced balls to come to him and not to Torrey Smith or Jacoby Jones.
Really? The Ravens didn't need Smith? Wasn't it just last year that Peter King was freaking the hell out because the Ravens traded away Anquan Boldin, but now with much of the same receivers coming into this year (Jones, Smith, Pitta, Brown) the Ravens don't need another receiver? Interesting how that works.
Goat of the Week
Brad Wing, punter, Pittsburgh. Wing’s feeble 29-yard punt with 50 seconds left put the ball on the Pittsburgh 46, giving the Bucs, trailing 24-20, a short field to traverse to try to win the game. And win it they did, on a great Vincent Jackson catch in the end zone with seven seconds to play.
It's definitely not the Steelers defense that was at fault here. Always blame the Australian, Peter.
Wing's Wikipedia page was changed to "Wing is a terrible Australian punter" for a period of time. I always enjoy Wikipedia changes. When an athlete screws up like Wing did, he's asking for a Wikipedia page change.
“I’m 35 yards old. I just ran around those guys like they were schoolyard boys.”
—Baltimore wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., after his two-touchdown, 139-yard performance in the Baltimore rout of Smith’s old team, the Carolina Panthers.
I mean, yeah, but take away the lucky 61 yard catch and it was a 6 catch, 78 yard, 1 touchdown performance. Obviously not bad, but not quite running around everyone on the opposing team.
The Colts’ 41-17 victory over Tennessee in their second division game of the season got me thinking about how vital the franchise quarterback is in today’s game.
Really? It took that victory for Peter to start thinking about this?
Meanwhile the Titans have lurched from the final years of Steve McNair to Vince Young to Collins to Matt Hasselbeck, and it’s very much in question whether Jake Locker can be the long-term solution. Houston has gone from Derek Carr to Matt Schaub to Ryan Fitzpatrick, with no indication if current backups Tom Savage or Ryan Mallett could be the future.
It seems Peter's editor has taken a vacation. "Impressively" was misspelled earlier and now he has mistaken Derek Carr for David Carr.
Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy, one of the game’s best backs, has 39 yards rushing over the past two weeks.
Minnesota rookie back Jerick McKinnon had 55 yards rushing on his first snap of the second quarter Sunday afternoon.
This is a Gregg Easterbrook-type note that essentially means nothing and provides no real statistical or informational purpose.
Chip Kelly Wisdom of the Week
On the toughness of Nick Foles, and the quality of toughness in general for a quarterback:
There's no wisdom here. Only quotes like,
I’s a quality in this league that you have to have. Because no matter who you are playing, you’re going to get hit. You’ve got some big, angry people running after you and trying to take you down. To stand in there and not worry about it and know you’re going to get hit but you have to deliver the ball on time is a really underrated quality at that position. Right now he’s really shown what I’ve seen all along from him. It didn’t take the Washington game for them to admire his toughness.”
Chip Kelly admires his starting quarterback's toughness. Alert the presses.
Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
My dermatologist’s office is in Winchester, Mass., a 20-minute drive from Boston (in moderate traffic). Even though I live in New York, I’ve kept the same dermatologist, because she’s so thorough.
Yes, you mention this every time you go to the dermatologist. It is as interesting and relevant now as it ever has been.
I haven’t followed the taxi-versus-Uber battle in the country, though I’ve heard about it. I also cannot draw definitive conclusions based on one experience.
Anyone who has ever read MMQB knows that Peter will now draw a conclusion based on his one experience.
But I will say this: Based on my Wednesday experience, I will certainly be using Uber again, and probably often.
No definitive conclusion drawn after one experience, but Peter will be using Uber again, and probably very often.
My Sports Illustrated colleague, as the rain poured down during the day Thursday. Most everything Jeter-related has been for sale in the past six months. Why not the rain?
Yep Peter, we aren't all as big of a group of idiots as you believe. I'm pretty sure everyone gets it. No need to explain.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 4:
n. Great news tidbit from Albert Breer on NFL Network: E.J. Manuel is working with a “mental conditioning coach” from Florida State. Presumably to feel better about himself.
Peter thinks Manuel needs to work with a "throw it deep no matter the consequences" coach. That would improve Manuel's game tremendously. Maybe Kyle Orton can show Manuel how it is done. Also, how about those Florida State quarterbacks under Jimbo Fisher? Christian Ponder, E.J. Manuel...now Jameis Winston will be coming out of college soon. I know about the history of bust Florida State defensive ends, but Fisher is about to put three quarterbacks in the NFL in five years, one has been a bust, one is getting there and then there is Jameis Winston.
o. Good column by Gary Myers in the New York Daily News on Sunday. How ironic it would be if the Jets had to negotiate with fired GM Mike Tannenbaum if Rex Ryan is dismissed as coach—after this season or any season? Tannenbaum, who now works as an agent, has a hot defensive coordinator, Seattle’s Dan Quinn, in his stable.
Tannebaum should put a clause in Dan Quinn's contract that the Jets would have to hire Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow as co-quarterback coaches if they hire Dan Quinn. That would probably be enough to make sure a deal didn't get done, so maybe a bad idea.
3. I think I’m still trying to figure out what Joe Philbin was trying to do, motivationally, by not announcing who his starting quarterback was last week. I also think I am not alone. Miami’s rout of Oakland doesn’t change that.
It's almost like if you combine Philbin's general cluelessness about Jonathan Martin being bullied by Richie Incognito with his bizarre and ridiculous mind games surrounding whether Ryan Tannehill would start this week, that a person could come to the conclusion he doesn't exactly know what he's doing as an NFL head coach. On the bright side, he is still doing bed checks and talking to players before bed, so I'm sure the Dolphins players love him for that.
6. I think we vastly overestimated the Saints.
(Looks around the room and wonders who "we" are...then realizes while Peter's use of "we" when he is personally wrong and doesn't want to take responsibility for it so he blames "we" for being wrong is still annoying, in this case I personally may have overestimated the Saints. If I were Peter King, I would say "we" were totally wrong about the Saints)
Not only on defense—Rob Ryan’s unit isn’t even mediocre; it’s bad—but the offense is not nearly as reliable as a normal Drew Brees offense.
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that a Rob Ryan-led defense is regressing.
The Saints can rebound from 1-3, because there’s not a super team in the NFC South. But the ugliness of the first month won’t be easy to overcome.
"The Saints can rebound because the NFC South sucks, but the Saints may not be able to rebound."
7. I think if I ran the NFL, and I had the kind of image problem (crisis, really) that the NFL has right now, I’d be looking for people who are universally respected to help me dig out of the hole.
I think if I were a sportswriter, and I knew who ran the NFL, then I would act like this image problem isn't a PR issue that needs to be corrected or can be fixed by simply not having the NFL commissioner make discipline decisions anymore. I would be critical of the commissioner since it's pretty obvious he has been lying or being willfully ignorant through this whole image problem crisis. But then again, that would involve me being a sportswriter who isn't an NFL lapdog.
9. I think if Bill Simmons has proof that Roger Goodell lied, then I’ve got no problem with what he said that caused ESPN to suspend him for three weeks. If it’s his opinion that Goodell is lying, then I’ve got a problem with it.
Keep carrying that water, Peter. You can do it. What evidence the public has heard seems to point that way. The alternative is this is one of those convenient situations where the man in charge of disciplining NFL players decides he doesn't want complete information before suspending a player and no one around him advises him to get a copy of the hotel elevator camera footage that would have clarified the situation and justified the suspension given.
How do you publicly say someone is lying and is a liar—adding profanities for emphasis—without knowing for sure?
I won't defend Bill, because this seems like one of his strong opinions intended to push himself into the national conversation to me. It so happens I agree with him, but if Bill Simmons got in trouble for claiming something he couldn't prove as true then he would still be a bartender back in Massachusetts. A lot of his writing career is based on assumptions and theories he hopes are true, but doesn't necessarily have the proof to back up his claims.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. One thing about this baseball season that I loved: the rise of the middle class. Kansas City in the playoffs (the coolest thing about the season), Pittsburgh in the playoffs again, Oakland (barely) in the playoffs, Seattle knocked on the door, Baltimore in the playoffs.
Middle class? Oakland is 25th in payroll and Pittsburgh is 27th.
b. Dustin Pedroia’s Venezuelan twin, Houston second baseman Jose Altuve, finished with 225 hits—25 more than any other player in baseball.
Peter has more in common with Bill Simmons than he cares to admit. He can only view a player through the prism of a Red Sox player. It looks like the American version of Pedro Martinez, Clayton Kershaw, will win the MVP this year. I'm betting the right-handed, younger version of Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Trout, will have a great playoff performance.
c. Jordan Zimmermann might have thrown the least-celebrated no-hitter in memory Sunday, because of the meaninglessness of the game and it happening on the day of Jeter’s last game and on a big NFL Sunday.
Is it considered ironic that Peter mentions how overshadowed Zimmerman's no-hitter is in a column where Peter talks about the NFL games, but doesn't really seem to have considered them "big," and Peter dedicated an entire page to Derek Jeter in that column?
f. Have you ever seen Being There, the Peter Sellers movie about the simpleton gardener-turned-presidential adviser? What a movie. Watched it again over the weekend. A shame Sellers died too soon. He was brilliant in that film.
It's a shame Peter Sellers is dead. He could dance and entertain Peter more. Peter needs more entertainers alive so they can serve the sole purpose of continuing to amuse him.
i. So long, Paul Konerko. I hope someone notices you’re retiring too.
Again, this from the NFL sportswriter who dedicated 16.667% of this NFL column to Derek Jeter. Yes, it would be nice if someone noticed Konerko was retiring too, but that would take away from the Jeter worship that I'm sure Peter King thinks everyone else is taking part in.
j. Shouldn’t a man with more home runs in his career than Johnny Bench, Andre Dawson, Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Piazza and Jim Rice get a little more fanfare on the way out?
You are the asshole who dedicated an entire page to Derek Jeter in this very column, then mentioned Paul Konerko twice on the last page of the column, using two whole sentences to do so. Pot meet kettle.
l. Wishing Ben Bradlee, one of the true journalism giants, comfort these days. Word comes today that the longtime Washington Post managing editor is in hospice care. I’ve always been a big fan.
You have always been a big fan of hospice care? That seems rather insensitive, Peter.
New England 30, Kansas City 20. Good point from ESPN Stats & Info on the pressure Tom Brady’s facing. He’s under pressure on 25.6% of the snaps through three weeks, triple what it was four years ago. This is a very big week for the Patriots, at least to me. The narrow win over Oakland looks especially weak in the wake of the Raiders’ horrible performance in London against Miami. But I trust Tom Brady to make plays tonight more than Alex Smith.
At no point should the reverse ever be written. Never should someone write, "I trust Alex Smith to make more plays than Tom Brady."
The Adieu Haiku
As we near the end of a strange Week 4 in the NFL (margins of victory this weekend: 31, 24, 28, 24, 3, 7, 6, 21, 19, 13, 5, 21), let’s take stock of the race that’s looking very fun, and very different than usual: the NFL MVP race. Different because the usual suspects—Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who have won five of the past seven MVPs—have company.
Peter was bored by the games this week, so he decides that this year's MVP race is TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM EVERY OTHER YEAR'S MVP race. Sure, in past years Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and maybe another player were in the discussion with Manning and Brady, but this year is different because...umm...Peter wants it to be different I guess.
At the four-week mark, here’s how I see it:
If you can't tell, this will be a fluffy MMQB because Peter was bored with the Week 4 games and would prefer to discuss postseason awards in September and recite quotes others have given about Derek Jeter.
1. Philip Rivers, quarterback, San Diego. He just keeps getting better. Building on last year’s 5% improvement in completion percentage—stunning for a 10-year vet—
It's almost like a full season hasn't been played yet and Rivers has time to regress to his career completion percentage.
Rivers came back after a one-point loss to unbeaten Arizona to strafe three straight foes, most impressivly leading the Chargers to 30 points in a Week 2 win over Seattle.
Ys, that was dfinitly most impressiv.
2. DeMarco Murray, running back, Dallas. Jerry Jones might have hated picking Zack Martin over Johnny Manziel in May—you know he did—but he wasn’t hating it Sunday night, basking in the glow of a 38-17 rout of New Orleans. “I don’t recall ever seeing a Cowboy team in my 25 years play better, including the effort and including mistake-free execution, than we played in the first half,” Jones said. It’s ball-control. It’s spending high draft picks smartly and conservatively on offensive linemen.
It's sort of like how protecting your quarterback is a great idea. Why improve your team when you can go sexy and draft Johnny Manziel?
4. Russell Wilson, quarterback, Seattle. At the helm of the best team in football, Wilson has completed 69% of his passes, thrown just one interception and done what he had to do when he had to do it.
DOES THIS GUY EVER SWEAT UNDER PRESSURE? HE'S #4 ON PETER'S LIST OF MVP CANDIDATES AND DOESN'T SEEM NERVOUS ABOUT IT AT ALL!
John Stockton never led the NBA in scoring, and Wilson will never lead the NFL in passing yardage. Wilson is a point guard, an excellent one.
Stop forcing this John Stockton comparison. It wasn't very good a couple of weeks ago and it hasn't improved this week. John Stockton was also not considered to be as great as Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, while Peter has stated that Russell Wilson is up there with Manning and Brady. So even if I used Peter's comparison to Stockton then it still doesn't make sense in the context of how he talks about Wilson.
Now that we’ve gotten the debate going—and I understand that I don’t have a player from the Cards or Bengals, the only unbeatens in football, on the list—I’ll look forward to hearing your arguments for the quarter-season MVP. I’ll use the best arguments you’ve got in my Tuesday Mailbag column.
And honestly, Peter wouldn't put Andy Dalton in the top five of the MVP race even if the Bengals finished the season 16-0. He thinks Andy Dalton is the B.J. Armstrong of the NFL.
Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles are not supposed to be as poised as Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson, but they were in their starting debuts.
Details, please.
Stop writing like you are a 16 year old girl about to gossip, please.
I was sure Smith would launch into orbit two or three times Sunday if he had great success against his former team, Carolina. He had great success. “And I didn’t even spin the ball after I scored, really,” Smith said from Baltimore a half-hour after his seven-catch, 139-yard, two-touchdown day against the reeling Panthers. “It’s not about the old team. It’s about this team.”
It's interesting how the media starts paying attention to Steve Smith and how good of a receiver he is once there is a narrative to write. They have something interesting to write about, so Peter King decides it's a good time to give Steve Smith a call. Peter didn't care about Smith over the past few years, but Smith's words can help Peter write a story, so Peter is all-ears now.
Late in the first half, Smith had a step on Carolina cornerback Melvin White—a 2013 practice foe with the Panthers—and Joe Flacco floated a perfect ball into the end zone for him. As Smith reached for it, White tackled him. The back judge threw a flag on White, but Smith somehow managed to catch the ball. “I can’t let them win,” said Smith, and I wasn’t sure if he meant corners in general, or the Panthers. “I really wasn’t thinking of playing against my old team. I was just thinking, focus on the job so I can help my new team win.”
Steve Smith carries a grudge with everything and everyone, so it shouldn't surprise me he does the same to the Panthers for releasing him this offseason. He's my favorite Panthers player of all-time, if forced to choose, but his grudge holding in this case seems a little bit like an example of a lack of maturity and self-awareness. No one likes to be released, but football is a business.
The Panthers stood beside and supported Smith for 13 years as he violently attacked three teammates, settled out of court with one of those teammates who he violently attacked, demanded a trade no less than twice, was a consistent source of malcontent in the locker room, when given the chance to play with a good second wide receiver (Keyshawn Johnson) Smith decided he would rather engage in a passive-aggressive battle of egos rather than get along, and complained about nearly every quarterback who has ever thrown him the ball. Just this past offseason he asked to be released, refused to take a pay cut and then was released after the Panthers couldn't trade him. This is the third time he has actively requested a trade or release from the team, but it's the Carolina Panthers who are the bad guys for daring to release him. He's my favorite player of all-time and I am happy he is happy in Baltimore, but there is nothing to be bitter about. He was kept around when other NFL teams would have taken the chance to release him and not stand by him. It's how Smith motivates himself, to act like he was wronged in some fashion, but sometimes he convinces himself so hard he was wronged that he starts to believe his own bullshit. As many times as Smith has decided he was done with the Panthers, it's supremely hilarious that he gets angry about the Panthers finally deciding they were done with him.
And now I move on...
Smith walked into the middle of the locker room. “Old man playing a young man’s game,’’ he said. “Gonna have to ice up.”
The man can give a quote though.
Mike Glennon is better than you think.
Don't tell me how good I think Mike Glennon is. I think Glennon should have been the starter this year. Maybe Mike Glennon is better than YOU think, but you insist on everyone being wrong about Glennon because you were wrong. Stop using the word "you" in this context. It's annoying.
Glennon, the former North Carolina State starter (he pushed Russell Wilson out), called it “the most monumental win I’ve been a part of.” And the most unlikely outcome of the year, the 0-3 Bucs beating a team that destroyed Carolina on the road last week.
Glennon didn't push Russell Wilson out. He had two years of eligibility left and the N.C. State head coach (Tom O'Brien) told Russell Wilson if he wanted to be the Wolfpack's starting quarterback then he needed to focus solely on football during the summer, rather than also playing baseball. Russell Wilson decided he didn't want to do that and transferred to Wisconsin. Wilson wasn't "pushed out" by Glennon. His need to play baseball and football forced him out.
Mike Glennon played pretty well in a shitty situation last year. He isn't better than "we" think. Don't tell "us" how good "we" think Mike Glennon is you haughty dipshit.
“I will keep you posted,” a Raiders spokesman texted me early this morning. It’s just a matter of time for Allen, who cannot survive with a porous D plus Matt McGloin becoming the third starting quarterback in the last six weeks now that Derek Carr is out with a sprained knee ligament and sprained ankle. But if Allen is in jeopardy, what of GM Reggie McKenzie, who let a legit left tackle, Jared Veldheer, go; scotch-taped together a defense of veterans who’d seen better days; and paid real money to Matt Flynn and Matt Schaub to play quarterback and got results from neither.
Come on, Peter. Where is the "Matt Schaub is a waste of talent and is a huge asshole for stealing money from the Raiders" talk? Last year Peter railed on Josh Freeman repeatedly for daring to be signed by the Vikings for $2 million. Nearly every week Peter mentioned what a waste Josh Freeman is. This year, Matt Schaub is making $8 million to be the Raiders third-string quarterback and Peter hasn't even really criticized Schaub yet. I guess Schaub gives Peter better quotes than Josh Freeman ever did. Or maybe it is that Josh Freeman contributed to Peter's buddy, Greg Schiano, getting fired in Tampa Bay.
The logical replacement for Allen would be Tony Sparano, who I will guarantee will get his players to play hard for him. I don’t know how well they’ll play, but I know they will play hard.
I see the Bill Parcells Effect still works. This is the same Tony Sparano who went 28-32 with the Dolphins, right? I don't think he's the long-term replacement, though since Peter is among the many sportswriters who worship at the altar of Bill Parcells it wouldn't surprise me if Peter suggested Sparano should be the long-term replacement.
Noting the quarterbacks of the future, and their Sundays:
Teddy Bridgewater (age 21) started his first game. Against Atlanta he led six scoring drives in three quarters, completed 19 of 30 without turning it over, and left a good first impression. But Bridgewater is a smallish guy, and his second-half sprained ankle was a reminder of some of the reservations teams had about him before the draft.
(Straw man rant alert) Keep helping your buddy Mike Mayock out, Peter, by mentioning there were reservations about Bridgewater's ability to stay healthy. Keep working hard to make it seem like he didn't ignore all of Teddy Bridgewater's tape and give Bridgewater a bad evaluation based simply on hand size and his Pro Day. Protecting friends is important to Peter, so even if Teddy Bridgewater becomes a Pro Bowler I am betting Peter won't mention how his buddy Mayock based his evaluation of Bridgewater on a bad Pro Day and small hands. I overly love Bridgewater. He'll be the best quarterback in this draft.
Ryan Tannehill (26) had a day of redemption, completing 74% of his throws in London to beat the moribund Raiders; he had 14 straight completions at one point. So much for the motivational ploy, or whatever that was last week from Joe Philbin, of not naming him the starter during the week.
Andrew Luck (25) was the day’s most productive QB, 29 of 41 for 393 yards and four touchdowns in the 41-17 rout of Tennessee. “I’m embarrassed,” said Tennessee coach Ken Whisenhunt. Lots of coaches feel that way after facing Luck for three hours.
Colin Kaepernick (26)
Are these three guys the quarterback of the future? It seems like they are the quarterbacks of right now doesn't it?
EJ Manuel (23). Okay, I’ve never been hounded by J.J. Watt for three hours before, so this is easy for me to say: But Manuel looked shaky at times in the loss to Houston—completing just 48% of his throws—and continued a troubling trend: His accuracy has been worse than the previous week in each of his last three games.
Like you said in training camp, Peter. He just needs to throw it deeper and see what happens. Right? That's the solution you proposed?
It’s been three weeks since the damning Ray Rice video unleashed a torrent of criticism directed towards Roger Goodell and the NFL offices, causing the league to uber-focus on domestic violence. Here’s what I know:
Keep working on restoring Goodell's image Peter. Gotta keep carrying that water.
Goodell in Austin over the weekend. On Saturday night he visited a domestic-violence hotline that the league is helping to fund in the wake of the firestorm.
See? The NFL is spending the millions upon millions it earns every year to start a hotline. Who said based on their actions they don't care about women ?
At one point during the meeting with Strong, Vincent said, the coach pointed at a picture in his office of his two daughters. He quoted Strong as saying, “This is a constant reminder to me. I just think about my daughters. No means no. Here, if you put your hands on a woman, you are through.”
Said Vincent: “The man is taking a stand. He made it clear that playing at Texas is a privilege, not a right. Basically, you have to be willing to let your best player go.” That was the message, too, from Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary in the players meeting last week.
So basically it is still up to individual NFL teams to punish players because the NFL cares so much about domestic violence they aren't willing to step in and punish a player before he gets the benefit of due process. I'm not criticizing, simply stating what's going on. Roger Goodell is all about telling NFL teams what to do, except when it comes to punishments for players who still get the benefit of due process, in which case he of course wants individual NFL teams to take the heat so he'll leave those decisions with those teams from now on.
Goodell is safe … for now. In the past several days I’ve spoken to high-ranking officials from eight teams, either the owner or high-ranking club officials with knowledge of the owners’ feelings, about the future of Goodell, with the proviso that they would not be quoted. Several points came through. There’s currently no movement or momentum to remove Goodell as commissioner. But there’s an asterisk there, as two of the owners said. They want to wait for former FBI director Robert Mueller’s report into the NFL’s actions in the Rice case.
The owners want to make sure the investigation they have rigged to go Goodell's way really does go Goodell's way. As long as that happens and they can point to that report from an "independent" investigator as reason to keep Goodell they will. The game is rigged, but the owners don't want to do anything regarding Goodell just in case.
If Goodell is found to have lied about the Rice video or other pertinent facts in the Rice investigation, he’ll be in serious trouble. (Though no one I spoke to feel he has lied.)
Again, this is the problem with the investigation. The two owners responsible for overseeing it, and most other NFL owners as well, are just assuming Goodell hasn't done anything wrong despite any evidence to the contrary. I don't know, it seems to me like Roger Goodell probably did lie, but then again I don't have a stake in him staying on as commissioner.
If he’s found to have been culpable, or not on top of the investigation in a material way, he could be in trouble as well.
He won't be.
There’s more trust inside the ranks of ownership than in the wider population that Mueller’s report will be far-reaching and legitimate, although one owner agreed that it was a mistake for the chief investigator in the case to have ties to the NFL, as Mueller’s Washington firm does.
It's good to know the NFL owners have confidence in the man they chose to lead the investigation into whether Goodell lied or not. I would be surprised if the owners didn't have confidence in the guy their fellow owners chose to use in investigating Goodell's actions.
This surprised me: The owners I spoke with want Goodell to cede authority in discipline cases. They think he spends too much time—and it’s certainly true in this case—going down a rabbit hole of unending controversy on an issue the league should have had buttoned up years ago.
How does that surprise you? What got Goodell in trouble is he has his fingerprints all over punishments handed down to players and he handed down a punishment many considered too light in this circumstance. The owners don't want Goodell being the judge, jury and executioner because it brings criticism his way. It's just another way of protecting the NFL brand to hand authority off in discipline cases.
In general, the sense I got is that when the Mueller report is released, and if Goodell stays on, owners will urge him to concentrate more on league matters and growing and improving the game, and much less on discipline.
That will fix everything. As long as Goodell runs the NFL and isn't allowed to use his judgment in discipline cases then nothing should go wrong. Protect the Shield!
That’s a key point: Owners and team executives know how committed the NFL is to building its presence internationally, and that they’ll play a central role in where it goes from here. The league’s current resolution to play regular-season games in the U.K., as voted on by the owners, runs through the 2016 season, and Waller hopes to have a new resolution in place before that one expires.
I really don't want the NFL to go to London, but nobody asked my opinion. Obviously the NFL owners know better than I do. I will be pissed when my favorite team loses a home game because the NFL wants to convince London to love the sport of American football.
In the short term, Waller says to expect three NFL games played at Wembley Stadium during the 2015 season (England is hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with two matches scheduled at Wembley for Sundays in September, one reason the NFL will stick with three games). Two of those games will be played on consecutive weeks, to test how the stadium’s field holds up to that wear and tear. This is important, because if there were a team in London, its schedule would likely be played in two- to three-game blocks, home and away.
I don't see how it could work. Games would have to be played in London in blocks and I don't think it's fair for a New Orleans Saints team clinging to hope for a playoff spot to have to play in London in Week 16 and then fly back to play a "win-and-in" game in New Orleans the following week. I already hear about West Coast NFL teams who change their schedule while playing on the East Coast, much less playing in England where teams will suffer from jet lag. What happens when the Seahawks play in London and then have a home game the next week?
Bidwill told the panel of fans this weekend that the Cardinals, who played a preseason game in London in 1983, “would love to play another game—as the visiting team.” That’s the challenge for the NFL, finding more volunteers each year to give up a home game. If there were a team based in London (and, yes, the NFL wants that, more than a six- or eight-game collection of games featuring different teams), that question would be answered. But the NFL is not there yet.
I am of the opinion I never want my team to give up a home game so the NFL can convince another country to love American football. It's spitting in the face of that team's fan base to only get 7 home games while being charged for 8 (actually 10 games) and I don't see how the logistics would work out without a lot of work to make it happen.
In tribute to Derek Jeter
Not only is this a football column, but doesn't Peter think there have been enough Jeter tributes of late? Hasn't this been done already?
The paths of the Jeter and Manning families have crossed numerous times. Charles Jeter, Derek’s father, helped the Mannings set up Peyton Manning’s PeyBack Foundation early in his career. Eli Manning sometimes called Derek for Yankee tickets. Peyton and Derek Jeter once had a very private dinner after a Monday night game in Indianapolis. “That night may have been the only night ever that [Indianapolis restaurant] St. Elmo opened for two people to have dinner: Peyton and Derek,” Archie said. And in May, Peyton showed up at Yankee Stadium to see Jeter play. “I wanted to pay my respects and see him play for the last time,” Peyton said that day.
Such a riveting story. I think a story about a baseball player and a quarterback who is on his bye week is perfect for MMQB. I wouldn't expect Peter to NOT mention Peyton Manning a few times during a weekend when Manning's team isn't even playing. I think a whole page on Jeter is a bit much, but Peter has said before he thinks Jeter is the best player of his lifetime, if Peter's lifetime began over the last 30 years.
“I’m so glad what happened the other night,” Archie Manning said Saturday. “It’s justice. It’s God-sent.
God has sent The Jeter down to show the world how to treat the media and bang attractive brunettes at the same time. I wouldn't insinuate that The Jeter is like Jesus or any other Biblical figure, but only because no Biblical figure has more than 3,000 hits like The Jeter does. Either way, The Jeter is from God.
Reactions from around football to Jeter’s end, and what he leaves:
Yes, PLEASE! Because the only thing I care about more than Peter's opinion on Derek Jeter is someone else's opinion on Derek Jeter and be sure to put these reactions in a column about the NFL so they will be totally out-of-place. There are only 22 people who give a memory of Derek Jeter or provides thoughts about The Jeter. Only 22! If Peter put this much effort into MMQB every week it wouldn't be the 40% NFL-related, self-involved shit show the column has become.
Bill Parcells, Hall of Fame coach
"Oh please, Mr. Parcells! Give me a quote about Derek Jeter. Please sir?"
Champ Bailey, free-agent cornerback
“They should retire No. 2 in baseball. Definitely one of the greatest athletes ever.”
Yeah Champ, that's what they should do. The Jeter and the dude who integrated baseball, they are both on the same level. Retire both of those jerseys. Not that the Jeter worship is veering widely into hyperbole or over-praise at this point or anything.
Boomer Esiason, former quarterback, current CBS announcer
“Even as a Mets fan I have to admit Derek Jeter did it the right way.
(Chokes to death on hyperbole)
Justin Tuck, defensive end, Oakland Raiders
“With all the great things he did on the field my favorite with Jeter would be him taking time to have a conversation and take pictures with my dad during batting practice one day at Yankee Stadium. The way he ended it with the walk-off was unbelievable. I thought hitting a home run for his 3,000th hit was crazy but how he ended his Yankee career is fitting for how he played the game. He deserved to go out with a bang like that.”
Hey Justin Tuck, Jeter didn't end his Yankee career with a walk-off, but thanks for paying so much attention.
Mike Mayock, NFL Network analyst
(From 1992 prior to the MLB Draft) "Sure, Derek Jeter had great high school numbers and a history of leadership, but look at how small his hands are and he had a bad workout before the MLB Draft. So let's ignore his entire high school career and focus on those two things. Then if I'm wrong, I'll just pretend I never said anything bad about Jeter."
Wait, wrong quote from Mayock.
John Harbaugh, coach, Baltimore Ravens: “Three or four years ago I threw out a first pitch at an O’s game. Sitting in the stands, there he was in the on-deck circle and I caught his eye and he nodded. Very classy.” …
Wow, real in-depth interesting story there. "ONE TIME, JETER NODDED AT ME!"
Brett Favre, former quarterback: “Awesome, and only fitting he go out that way. Classy player. I’m honored to say I watched him play this year in Seattle.” …
And really, why wouldn't Peter King roll over and ask Brett Favre if he has a quote about Derek Jeter? It's not like Peter is obsessed with Favre and it's not like Favre craves any little mention of his name to get back in the spotlight again for even a brief moment.
Ron Rivera, coach, Carolina Panthers: “I grew up a Yankee fan so I thought it was great the way he finished his career. And I love the Jeter commercial with the Frank Sinatra song.” …
Maybe Jeter can play offensive line or fix whatever the hell is wrong with the Carolina defense? No, that's not his job, it's yours? Great, then do it.
Greg Schiano, former Tampa Bay coach:
And who am I to say that Peter King has favorites and Schiano is one of his favorites? I'm sure there are other fired NFL coaches who gave a quote to Peter about Jeter. (checks list) Well, maybe not. I think I see where much of Peter's anger towards Josh Freeman comes from. Freeman didn't help Peter's buddy Greg Schiano keep his job in Tampa Bay. So Peter, the unbiased reporter that he is, took it upon himself to bash Freeman constantly in retaliation for not playing well in Tampa Bay for Peter's friend, Greg Schiano.
Not him. I was watching the game the other night, and when the O’s hit the two-run homer to go up 5-4, I thought to myself, if this thing gets to the bottom of the ninth, he is going to win it. Sure enough…”
Did you write "Game Over" in your notebook, Greg?
Fine Fifteen
1. Seattle (2-1). Coming off the bye, the Seahawks will put on their traveling pants, with trips that are three, two and three time zones away over the next four games: at Washington (next Monday), Dallas at home, at St. Louis, at Carolina. The last two will be early games in Eastern Time. Tough stretch.
Fortunately they are playing both the Rams and the Panthers, who currently both stink.
3. Denver (2-1). Who’d have thought the game of the week in Week 5, between two teams with a total of one loss, would be Arizona at Denver?
Nobody, that's who! "We" never thought these two teams would be playing each other with a total of one loss. The NFL is so crazy, which comes as a new shock to Peter King every single season.
8. San Francisco (2-2). One thing you learn about the Niners under Jim Harbaugh in his three and a quarter seasons as coach: They don’t stay bad for long.
This is a lesson that Gregg Easterbrook has yet to learn.
9. Philadelphia (3-1). Predictable loss.
But of course it was. "We" didn't know the Eagles would lose, but Peter King totally knew.
Offensive Players of the Week
Steve Smith Sr., wide receiver, Baltimore. The day couldn’t have gone any better for Smith, playing his first game against the team that brought him into the NFL 13 years ago: seven catches, 139 yards, two touchdowns, a 19.9-yards-per-catch average. What’s significant about Smith’s production so far is that he went to a team that didn’t really need him, and he’s played so well that he’s forced balls to come to him and not to Torrey Smith or Jacoby Jones.
Really? The Ravens didn't need Smith? Wasn't it just last year that Peter King was freaking the hell out because the Ravens traded away Anquan Boldin, but now with much of the same receivers coming into this year (Jones, Smith, Pitta, Brown) the Ravens don't need another receiver? Interesting how that works.
Goat of the Week
Brad Wing, punter, Pittsburgh. Wing’s feeble 29-yard punt with 50 seconds left put the ball on the Pittsburgh 46, giving the Bucs, trailing 24-20, a short field to traverse to try to win the game. And win it they did, on a great Vincent Jackson catch in the end zone with seven seconds to play.
It's definitely not the Steelers defense that was at fault here. Always blame the Australian, Peter.
Wing's Wikipedia page was changed to "Wing is a terrible Australian punter" for a period of time. I always enjoy Wikipedia changes. When an athlete screws up like Wing did, he's asking for a Wikipedia page change.
“I’m 35 yards old. I just ran around those guys like they were schoolyard boys.”
—Baltimore wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., after his two-touchdown, 139-yard performance in the Baltimore rout of Smith’s old team, the Carolina Panthers.
I mean, yeah, but take away the lucky 61 yard catch and it was a 6 catch, 78 yard, 1 touchdown performance. Obviously not bad, but not quite running around everyone on the opposing team.
The Colts’ 41-17 victory over Tennessee in their second division game of the season got me thinking about how vital the franchise quarterback is in today’s game.
Really? It took that victory for Peter to start thinking about this?
Meanwhile the Titans have lurched from the final years of Steve McNair to Vince Young to Collins to Matt Hasselbeck, and it’s very much in question whether Jake Locker can be the long-term solution. Houston has gone from Derek Carr to Matt Schaub to Ryan Fitzpatrick, with no indication if current backups Tom Savage or Ryan Mallett could be the future.
It seems Peter's editor has taken a vacation. "Impressively" was misspelled earlier and now he has mistaken Derek Carr for David Carr.
Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy, one of the game’s best backs, has 39 yards rushing over the past two weeks.
Minnesota rookie back Jerick McKinnon had 55 yards rushing on his first snap of the second quarter Sunday afternoon.
This is a Gregg Easterbrook-type note that essentially means nothing and provides no real statistical or informational purpose.
Chip Kelly Wisdom of the Week
On the toughness of Nick Foles, and the quality of toughness in general for a quarterback:
There's no wisdom here. Only quotes like,
I’s a quality in this league that you have to have. Because no matter who you are playing, you’re going to get hit. You’ve got some big, angry people running after you and trying to take you down. To stand in there and not worry about it and know you’re going to get hit but you have to deliver the ball on time is a really underrated quality at that position. Right now he’s really shown what I’ve seen all along from him. It didn’t take the Washington game for them to admire his toughness.”
Chip Kelly admires his starting quarterback's toughness. Alert the presses.
Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
My dermatologist’s office is in Winchester, Mass., a 20-minute drive from Boston (in moderate traffic). Even though I live in New York, I’ve kept the same dermatologist, because she’s so thorough.
Yes, you mention this every time you go to the dermatologist. It is as interesting and relevant now as it ever has been.
I haven’t followed the taxi-versus-Uber battle in the country, though I’ve heard about it. I also cannot draw definitive conclusions based on one experience.
Anyone who has ever read MMQB knows that Peter will now draw a conclusion based on his one experience.
But I will say this: Based on my Wednesday experience, I will certainly be using Uber again, and probably often.
No definitive conclusion drawn after one experience, but Peter will be using Uber again, and probably very often.
Sad that Derek Jeter's final home game may be rained out, but for $24.99, you can buy a commemorative raindrop.
— Michael Rosenberg (@Rosenberg_Mike) September 25, 2014
My Sports Illustrated colleague, as the rain poured down during the day Thursday. Most everything Jeter-related has been for sale in the past six months. Why not the rain?
Yep Peter, we aren't all as big of a group of idiots as you believe. I'm pretty sure everyone gets it. No need to explain.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 4:
n. Great news tidbit from Albert Breer on NFL Network: E.J. Manuel is working with a “mental conditioning coach” from Florida State. Presumably to feel better about himself.
Peter thinks Manuel needs to work with a "throw it deep no matter the consequences" coach. That would improve Manuel's game tremendously. Maybe Kyle Orton can show Manuel how it is done. Also, how about those Florida State quarterbacks under Jimbo Fisher? Christian Ponder, E.J. Manuel...now Jameis Winston will be coming out of college soon. I know about the history of bust Florida State defensive ends, but Fisher is about to put three quarterbacks in the NFL in five years, one has been a bust, one is getting there and then there is Jameis Winston.
o. Good column by Gary Myers in the New York Daily News on Sunday. How ironic it would be if the Jets had to negotiate with fired GM Mike Tannenbaum if Rex Ryan is dismissed as coach—after this season or any season? Tannenbaum, who now works as an agent, has a hot defensive coordinator, Seattle’s Dan Quinn, in his stable.
Tannebaum should put a clause in Dan Quinn's contract that the Jets would have to hire Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow as co-quarterback coaches if they hire Dan Quinn. That would probably be enough to make sure a deal didn't get done, so maybe a bad idea.
3. I think I’m still trying to figure out what Joe Philbin was trying to do, motivationally, by not announcing who his starting quarterback was last week. I also think I am not alone. Miami’s rout of Oakland doesn’t change that.
It's almost like if you combine Philbin's general cluelessness about Jonathan Martin being bullied by Richie Incognito with his bizarre and ridiculous mind games surrounding whether Ryan Tannehill would start this week, that a person could come to the conclusion he doesn't exactly know what he's doing as an NFL head coach. On the bright side, he is still doing bed checks and talking to players before bed, so I'm sure the Dolphins players love him for that.
6. I think we vastly overestimated the Saints.
(Looks around the room and wonders who "we" are...then realizes while Peter's use of "we" when he is personally wrong and doesn't want to take responsibility for it so he blames "we" for being wrong is still annoying, in this case I personally may have overestimated the Saints. If I were Peter King, I would say "we" were totally wrong about the Saints)
Not only on defense—Rob Ryan’s unit isn’t even mediocre; it’s bad—but the offense is not nearly as reliable as a normal Drew Brees offense.
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that a Rob Ryan-led defense is regressing.
The Saints can rebound from 1-3, because there’s not a super team in the NFC South. But the ugliness of the first month won’t be easy to overcome.
"The Saints can rebound because the NFC South sucks, but the Saints may not be able to rebound."
7. I think if I ran the NFL, and I had the kind of image problem (crisis, really) that the NFL has right now, I’d be looking for people who are universally respected to help me dig out of the hole.
I think if I were a sportswriter, and I knew who ran the NFL, then I would act like this image problem isn't a PR issue that needs to be corrected or can be fixed by simply not having the NFL commissioner make discipline decisions anymore. I would be critical of the commissioner since it's pretty obvious he has been lying or being willfully ignorant through this whole image problem crisis. But then again, that would involve me being a sportswriter who isn't an NFL lapdog.
9. I think if Bill Simmons has proof that Roger Goodell lied, then I’ve got no problem with what he said that caused ESPN to suspend him for three weeks. If it’s his opinion that Goodell is lying, then I’ve got a problem with it.
Keep carrying that water, Peter. You can do it. What evidence the public has heard seems to point that way. The alternative is this is one of those convenient situations where the man in charge of disciplining NFL players decides he doesn't want complete information before suspending a player and no one around him advises him to get a copy of the hotel elevator camera footage that would have clarified the situation and justified the suspension given.
How do you publicly say someone is lying and is a liar—adding profanities for emphasis—without knowing for sure?
I won't defend Bill, because this seems like one of his strong opinions intended to push himself into the national conversation to me. It so happens I agree with him, but if Bill Simmons got in trouble for claiming something he couldn't prove as true then he would still be a bartender back in Massachusetts. A lot of his writing career is based on assumptions and theories he hopes are true, but doesn't necessarily have the proof to back up his claims.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. One thing about this baseball season that I loved: the rise of the middle class. Kansas City in the playoffs (the coolest thing about the season), Pittsburgh in the playoffs again, Oakland (barely) in the playoffs, Seattle knocked on the door, Baltimore in the playoffs.
Middle class? Oakland is 25th in payroll and Pittsburgh is 27th.
b. Dustin Pedroia’s Venezuelan twin, Houston second baseman Jose Altuve, finished with 225 hits—25 more than any other player in baseball.
Peter has more in common with Bill Simmons than he cares to admit. He can only view a player through the prism of a Red Sox player. It looks like the American version of Pedro Martinez, Clayton Kershaw, will win the MVP this year. I'm betting the right-handed, younger version of Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Trout, will have a great playoff performance.
c. Jordan Zimmermann might have thrown the least-celebrated no-hitter in memory Sunday, because of the meaninglessness of the game and it happening on the day of Jeter’s last game and on a big NFL Sunday.
Is it considered ironic that Peter mentions how overshadowed Zimmerman's no-hitter is in a column where Peter talks about the NFL games, but doesn't really seem to have considered them "big," and Peter dedicated an entire page to Derek Jeter in that column?
f. Have you ever seen Being There, the Peter Sellers movie about the simpleton gardener-turned-presidential adviser? What a movie. Watched it again over the weekend. A shame Sellers died too soon. He was brilliant in that film.
It's a shame Peter Sellers is dead. He could dance and entertain Peter more. Peter needs more entertainers alive so they can serve the sole purpose of continuing to amuse him.
i. So long, Paul Konerko. I hope someone notices you’re retiring too.
Again, this from the NFL sportswriter who dedicated 16.667% of this NFL column to Derek Jeter. Yes, it would be nice if someone noticed Konerko was retiring too, but that would take away from the Jeter worship that I'm sure Peter King thinks everyone else is taking part in.
j. Shouldn’t a man with more home runs in his career than Johnny Bench, Andre Dawson, Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Piazza and Jim Rice get a little more fanfare on the way out?
You are the asshole who dedicated an entire page to Derek Jeter in this very column, then mentioned Paul Konerko twice on the last page of the column, using two whole sentences to do so. Pot meet kettle.
l. Wishing Ben Bradlee, one of the true journalism giants, comfort these days. Word comes today that the longtime Washington Post managing editor is in hospice care. I’ve always been a big fan.
You have always been a big fan of hospice care? That seems rather insensitive, Peter.
New England 30, Kansas City 20. Good point from ESPN Stats & Info on the pressure Tom Brady’s facing. He’s under pressure on 25.6% of the snaps through three weeks, triple what it was four years ago. This is a very big week for the Patriots, at least to me. The narrow win over Oakland looks especially weak in the wake of the Raiders’ horrible performance in London against Miami. But I trust Tom Brady to make plays tonight more than Alex Smith.
At no point should the reverse ever be written. Never should someone write, "I trust Alex Smith to make more plays than Tom Brady."
The Adieu Haiku
How ’bout them Cowboys!
Who thought they’d be 3 and 1?
Go figure football.
Quick font change for Peter in the Adieu Haiku. Perhaps Peter's editor is truly on vacation. Enough about the NFL, let's talk more Derek Jeter. Peter hopes at some point Paul Konerko gets his due also. That is someone else's job though. Peter lacks the ability to be self-aware enough to understand that person could have been him.
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