Notice how Joe Buck fails to mention that Michael Young asked for a trade and said some bad things about the Rangers in the offseason. Maybe he was right to do so, but Buck was saying stuff about Young as if he's repeatedly changed position without complaint. AL with 2nd and 3rd in the 9th, Brian Wilson coming in
Yes, BUT..... people were outraged that Jeter was even voted in. I don't understand how his decision to pass on the game and let someone more deserving go and play is now a "slap in the face" according to some. Not saying it's you, but holy fuck, you just can't please everybody these days. I don't think anyone who isn't a Yankee fan gives a shit that he isn't there days after becoming the first Yankee to reach 3K hits.
If players choose not to go, they don't deserve the honor of being called an All Star or to get paid for it. If you're hurt, you should still be there. They always say it's for the fans. Well, no-showing is pretty disrespectful, especially if you were voted in.
I fail to see how it's so taxing on the body to at least show up to the game. These guys should be thankful for the jobs they have and it shouldn't be such a big deal to ask them to attend the all star game if selected.
But in Jeter's case: name recognition got him in this year, he just came off the DL, at his age could use the rest. Someone more deserving gets to go. It makes too much sense for Jeter to not be there and yet there's somehow controversy about it. Some people are fucking clueless. Also, just wanted to say it's moronic that WS home field is determined by this exhibition game.
It's fucking clueless to think he should attend the game? Really? If he wants to step aside that's one thing, but skipping the whole thing entirely? That's fucking clueless.
You think he owes it to the fans in Arizona to make an appearance? He's been to fuckin 10 of these already and was getting grilled for not deserving a spot. He actually did the right thing.
Joe Buck should never call a baseball game. Besides that, the game was... well, it wasn't too interesting, but it was watchable. As for Jeter - If you get voted in, I think you should make the appearance. You don't have to play, but hang out. No injury risk. If people who are actually on the DL can go and take a couple BP swings for the crowd, why not? What else are they going to do that is more important?
He was voted by the fans into a starting spot. As has been said many times, it's a fuckin popularity contest, which means the fans vote who they want to see. Yankee fans stuffed the boxes to see Jeter. Yes, he owes it to the fans to make an appearance. I didn't realize that once you'd been to a certain number of All Star Games, you don't need to show up anymore. I guess they forgot to tell Cal Ripken about that one. This is not about him. It's about the fans. Evidently, Jeter doesn't get that. Whether writers felt Jeter deserved to be on the team or not is completely irrelevant. There's a reason the fans vote in the starters. I also get that the baseball forum here is mostly Yankee fans, which means that the popular response here is that whatever Jeter chose to do was the right thing.
Didn't the Giants have home-field last year? Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. The crowd was jacked when he did that. Totally agree. I've always believed that the best overall record for the two teams in it should decide home-field for the series. For example, a team with 90 wins shouldn't have to lose home field to a team that wins its division with 86 wins. (Those numbers are totally off the top of my head and don't correspond to an actual occurrence.) Yeah, when he was talking about Young I was thinking "didn't he almost bitch his way out of a job with Texas?" That's a key thing. David Robertson got booed. WTF has he ever done to warrant a boo besides play for the Yankees? If I were Jeter I'd go on tv tomorrow and say "See bitches? You wanted me to forsake Minka Kelly's arms in the hot Miami sun just so you could boo me in person? Fuck your mother." I don't think Jeter can legitimately be accused of not being thankful for what he has. If you truly believe that I have some prime beachfront property in Utah I think you might be interested in. It's no different than baseball, and I'd be willing to bet it's worse in football.
I don't know what it is, but this is not right. The worst part is people defending him by saying "oh everyone said he didn't deserve to go." No defense at all. Obviously he hasn't been the best shortstop in the AL this season, but this game is supposed to be all about the fans, and the players should be aware of that. Maybe Jeter feels he isn't being paid enough. The All Star Game hasn't been about selecting the best players, during my lifetime at least. Sure, most of the teams are deserving, but you have fans voting based on popularity, so Yankees or Red Sox often get voted in even if they're not deserving, and popular players like Jeter, Ripken, or Griffey, get voted in for years after they were no longer elite players. Then you have the managers choosing many of the players, which leads to stuff like what Bruce Bochy did this year. That's just the current example, but there are many past examples of managers taking guys who didn't deserve to go because they wanted to show favoritism towards their players. If they wanted to avoid that, they could have the game managed by retired managers or something, but that's not what the game is about. Yes they did. It was even referred to in the postgame interview with Brian Wilson, when the FOX guy asked him about getting homefield for the NL for the second straight year, and how important it is.
Its not only sportswriters who thought he shouldn't be there. Pretty much all non-Yankee fans agreed he shouldnt be there and that the NY fan vote got him in. I doubt many outside of the NYY fan base gives a shit he wasnt there.... That coupled with the aforementioned age and injury issues and you have a justified decision to skip this game. A more deserving guy went, and an old player got to rest. Cry me a fuckin river.
Here's the thing for me, sure, part of my defense is that many believed he wasn't worthy anyway, therefore they would have bitched had he showed and started. My biggest defense though, and it's one I've always made for every player is that no one should be required to play. Period. It's a dumb game, and shouldn't be played during the season. Yes, the players should get a few days off during a 162 game stretch, but I don't think a meaningless game (regardless of the "It Counts" garbage), should be smack in the middle of it. Play it in November after the World Series. That's my firm belief. Some around this board (and elsewhere) firmly believe home field doesn't matter. Then again, some people believe that human emotion doesn't factor into performance to any measureable degree. Jeter admitting his nerves were shot during his 3k pursuit flies in the face of that notion too.
You're the one crying the fuckin river. I didn't say anything until you started complaining about people daring to say Jeter should've shown up. The fans voted him in. Even if he didn't want to play (thus allowing the "more deserving guy" in), he could've at least dignified it with an appearance.
The bitching was done about the voting. No one bitches if the player comes. I never heard any bitching about how Ripken or Griffey shouldn't play. The target was the fans voting them in. You keep ignoring what I say. I never said Jeter should be forced to play. I simply said that the right thing to do was to make an appearance. You and Jake keep trying to turn it into "Jeter shouldn't have to play" when no one here said he should have to play. I'm pretty sure you're misrepresenting their position. Obviously home field matters. The question is how much it matters and how hard you should push for the division if you already have the wild card or not. I am pretty damn sure that if you told anyone on this board "your favorite team can either have home field or not, what is your choice", they all would choose home field. I have no argument regarding when it should be played, although I'm not sure Jeter would've showed up even if this were played in November.
I couldn't care less Bout the asg, that jeter didn't play or about homefield. In a 7 game series, homefield is neigh meaningless. It's different for one off games, but baseball is a game that is more about momentum than where u play.
"Cry me a river" was directed at the general baseball populace that is making this an issue. Nobody asked you to chime in. The NY fan vote got him in. He shouldn't be there, end of discussion.
I hear you. I just disagree with the argument. I'm not trying to misrepresent your argument. I'm simply saying that if Jeter isn't going to play no matter what, and he just came off the DL, and he just went through an admittedly stressful period chasing history, and he has the opportunity to spend a few days with his girlfriend and family on a nice Miami beach, rather than head to the desert to a meaningless game that he isn't going to (or should have to) play in, then I think he's smart for choosing Minka Kelly over the red hills. * See below. You might be right, but then I'd get on Jeter's case too. After the season is pretty inexcusable to not show for unless you're really hurt. * See?
Nobody asked you either. He should've been there, end of discussion. Who cares what vote got him in? The fans voted him in. The fans. Whether they were from New York or Colorado doesn't matter. Yeah, so basically he does what he wants, rather than fulfill a duty. If I were in his position I'd also probably want to take off for two days with my girlfriend. But if I were in his position I'd also know that wouldn't be the right thing to do. Just like I never argued that he should've been forced to play, I'm not arguing that going to the All Star Game for him is more desirable than taking a vacation of his choice. You can see what he wanted by what he did. Always doing what you want is not generally a very good thing. We'll never know now, but I think he would've done the same thing anyway. I thought you were referring to Cappy, and his arguments weren't that homefield is worthless. He argued that it's not valuable enough to press hard for (like if you're several games back in the division in September, but have the wild card in hand, should you give guys rest or go hard for the division, which has come up several times recently for the Yankees). Homefield does have value, and it's simply wrong to say otherwise. The question is how much value. People have different opinions there.
