Man Love - Derek Jeter

I love Derek Jeter. Plain and simple man love, man crush, what ever you want to call it.

Growing up as one of the smaller guys on the diamond I was always positioned in the middle infield and guess who I tried to mimic, number two Mr. Derek Jeter. The man love is so intense that I always have to have him on all my fantasy teams too. A guy who can just anchor my infield and give me the numbers that aren't mind boggling or first round worthy but numbers that seem to place me on the podium every year.

Over the past few years his stats have fallen across the board. After his great 2006 season he followed, in 07/08, with marginal stats. Yes, they were nice numbers but for Jeter, it was a little hard for me to watch and swallow. With all his critics, NYC is known to have a few, Jeter seems to always go about his day but I know he had some push this year to prove everyone wrong. Come on, just look at his 2009 stats! Seriously, take a look.

There is one thing that has kind of slipped into the back of my mind. What if Jeter was one of those guys who used some sort of "extra juice". I would literally cry if he was one of "those guys" who had to use something extra besides blood, sweat, and tears to get them somewhere in the bigs. I would ball as if I was just kicked in the family jewels.

I guess everyone in the steroid era is always going to go through the scrutiny of critics/fans when ever they produce great numbers. I believe in Jeter and I always will. He was the one who got me hooked on Rawlings, something no one in the world even cares about. To this day, I will only use a Rawlings glove when I step on any baseball field. Anyways, I can't imagine what would happen to the baseball world is Jeter was one of those guys. Luckily, I have fallen for the right man so we all don't have to worry about any of that crap ruining my man crush.

On a side note, just finished a little article over on ESPN.com listing 10 girls he's been with. Some of the names on this list...holy crap!!! Jessica Alba and Adriana Lima?!?!

I do have one sad point to share with the world...currently, I don't own a Jeter jersey. Don't hate. I will have #2 on my back in due time.

UPDATE 9/7/09: After posting this, guy goes 0-8 in a double-header with the Rays.