In high school I played soccer with a guy like that. Team’s best player Once, mid-dribble, I stole the ball from him. He snatched it from the ground and fired it at my face. Team had an endearment for him–asshole.

Last year, Jeter had security guards eject a fan from Yankee Stadium for heckling. Who was the fan heckling? Jeter. This blatant violation of a fan’s rights merited a small item on the gossip page. Aside from being a talented, but dumb jock, Jeter has mesmerized the New York press corps who are no better than the fans. He sleeps with models and Miss Universes and reporters think this is really cool. He even lets reporters read his mail from desperate girls. Nice, Derek.

Sports writers have bought so deeply into the Yankee Pride shit–not to mention the wonderfulness of clubhouse access–they don’t write the obvious. That the Yankees, who haven’t won a World Series since beating the Mets and that other local a-hole–Piazza–in 2000, have become the Atlanta Braves of the Northeast, and that Jeter is New York’s Cal Ripken Jr.

That’s not a compliment.