ESPN - Who's Now

[Ham n Cheese]

Haha I actually laughed at Kevin James constantly bringing up that he beat Tiger Woods at something.

[Neferata]

Derek Jeter is the second coming of Jesus Christ, and you all will show him the respect he has obviously earned.

People rave about him not necessarily because he's the best player in the universe but because he is pretty damn good and also happens to be extremely like able, especially in this day and age with athletes like Terrell Owens and Barry Bonds multiplying and infecting every sport.

The guy clearly works his ass off, has been one of the most consistently good and clutch players in history, and he isn't a douchebag. That is an extremely rare combination, and a lot of us appreciate it, even if you dumbass bandwagoning Redsox fans don't. I would much rather hear about players like Jeter every other minute than I would players like Barry Bonds/Michael Vick/Kobe Bryant.

Mother fuckers.

[Duppin]

Originally Posted by Neferata

Derek Jeter is the second coming of Jesus Christ, and you all will show him the respect he has obviously earned.

People rave about him not necessarily because he's the best player in the universe but because he is pretty damn good and also happens to be extremely like able, especially in this day and age with athletes like Terrell Owens and Barry Bonds multiplying and infecting every sport.

The guy clearly works his ass off, has been one of the most consistently good and clutch players in history, and he isn't a douchebag. That is an extremely rare combination, and a lot of us appreciate it, even if you dumbass bandwagoning Redsox fans don't. I would much rather hear about players like Jeter every other minute than I would players like Barry Bonds/Michael Vick/Kobe Bryant.

Mother fuckers.

I'm not a Red Sox fan at all. But Jeter is still horrifyingly overrated, because he makes the media's job easy by giving them good quotes on a consistent basis. Being more likeable than the three athletes you mentioned isn't exactly difficult, either.

He is admittedly an excellent hitter, although his reputation as a "clutch" hitter is pretty meaningless; but the part about him that irks me is that he is a lock for the AL Gold Glove every year when he is at best an average defender. He isn't even the best shortstop on his own team.

I am a Mariners fan, and Ichiro, who I will take on my team every day and twice on Sundays over Derek Jeter, is criticized on a regular basis by sports media because he is the anti-Jeter; he doesn't care about giving the media good quotes, or about being a farcical "team leader"; he cares about showing up every day and doing his job as best he can.

[Ham n Cheese]

Man I've seen Jeter make some great throws this year. I used to consider his fielding overrated until seeing more of their games this year. His arm is really fucking accurate.

[Neferata]

Pretty sure you're just imagining half this shit about Jeter. People love to hate him because he's viewed as a pretty boy and Americans love to root for the underdog, which he most definitely is not. Jeter is basically the Tom Brady of baseball and people love to hate Brady for the exact same 'reasons'. Total bullshit if you ask me.

I've been a diehard Yankee fan basically my entire life and I honestly can't remember a single quote from him. Yes, the media loves to slob his nob, but that basically involves them talking about him while they show highlights. You're wrong about him being so interested in providing a good quote. I think he'd be happy if the media just left him alone entirely.

Ichiro is also a very likeable player and I don't see the point in comparing him to Jeter. They're both classy players and I have no problem rooting for either of them.

[Duppin]

To clarify, since you seem to have sort of misunderstood my post:

Jeter is an excellent player. He simply isn't worthy of the insane level of hero worship that ESPN lavishes on him on a daily basis.

The knock on Jeter's defense, though, most certainly isn't made up.

Jeter's UZR through just before the All-Star Break (while recognizing that defensive metrics still aren't as good overall as offensive metrics are, UZR is still one of the best out there) is -24 (0 being average).

In other words, over a 150 game span, Jeter's defense can reasonably be expected to cost the team 24 runs more than the defense of a hypothetical average defender at the position (and yes, UZR is park-adjusted and takes most of the objections that you might raise into account, tangotiger is a smart guy).

(full UZR stats available from Index of /mgl)

Now, Jeter's bat adds a lot of value, but defensively, using the best objective measure I've seen for defense so far (along with what I've watched of him play, there's a reason I call him Derek "Just Past A Diving" Jeter), he's an absolute butcher, and has been for a while (past UZR will bear this out, I just don't have the numbers handy). And yet, he has won the AL Gold Glove at shortstop three years running, and will most likely win it again this year.

I don't necessarily think that he seeks out as much media attention as he gets. But he's a telegenic guy who gives good sound bites and fits the mold of what the sports media thinks a sports hero should be like, and I think your characterization that he would be happy if the media just left him alone is pretty far off. It's pretty clear he enjoys the attention. Who wouldn't?

[Ham n Cheese]

He definitely gets ESPN east coast biased, but he has more post season hits than any player, ever... at least I think that's right and has come up pretty fucking huge in October so out of all the overhyped shit out there he's one guy I don't really get that annoyed with them handing out awards too (even though constant boston/NY shit on tv makes me want to vomit most of the time).

[Twobit Whore]

I had to vote LeBron simply because I am sick of Jeter and the Yankees.

[Urlithani]

Shaq vs. Brady

If Shaq doesn't win it will be a sad day. The only thing they have on Brady is that he is supposedly dating a supermodel and got another one pregnant. Brady never says anything funny, never makes a joke. He's boring as hell. At least Shaq will say something outrageous, humorous, or controversial.

Brady says, "We just made better plays than they did. We were able to execute our gameplan and we came out on top today. They're a great football team. Nobody gave us a chance."
Reporter: "Tom, the Patriots were favored by 2 td's in this game."
Brady: "We just have to get ready for next week against a very good Jets team."

Same exact thing every time. He wins championships, sure, but Zzzz. Zzzz. Zzzz...

[Ham n Cheese]

Yeah even with Shaq being in serious serious decline I would have a hard time not voting for him. Overall I think Lebron should/will probably win it all. Although Peyton would be a good choice too since he has quality commercials as well. edit: forgot tiger was even in it, he's probably the clear winner

Love Mike G saying the same shit everything. "When we created this we had Jeter in mind"... "When we thought about making this list I think Lebron is who we all had in mind". Jesus the guy sucks sometimes