My Theory: Often in sports, “We” the sports-viewing public,
classify athletes in two categories. One
being the athletes we like, and the other being the ones we don’t like. Once it’s decided whether We like a
particular athlete, We fit the facts around that in order to prove our
point. In some cases, this becomes
problematic, if not hypocritical. This
exercise can become as crazy as going around telling people the world is flat,
then justifying it by pointing down at the concrete underneath you, and concluding
that it being flat makes the world flat.
Before the 2004 season, the Yankees pulled off the Alex
Rodriguez blockbuster trade. The
problem, however, was that A-Rod played shortstop – Jeter’s territory. A-Rod was coming off three straight Gold
Gloves, while Jeter hadn’t won any Gold Gloves up until that point. All in all, it’s pretty obvious that Jeter
should have been the one to switch positions.
Nothing better epitomizes my point that the baseball community went out
of its way to justify what Jeter did by the fact that A-Rod never won another
Gold Glove after joining the Yanks, yet Jeter, coincidentally won the Gold
Glove at short the year A-Rod arrived in New York, then went on to win it four
more times in the next six years. Am I
really supposed to believe that Jeter suddenly became the best defensive
shortstop in the American League from age 30 to 35?
Here’s where it gets tricky; this is where I want to make
this a larger-picture-type-deal. Jeter
was justified in not switching positions (even though it would have been in the
best interest in the team to do so) because of things like “it’s Jeter’s team,”
and “he’s the Captain, he gets to make the calls,” ect. I take issue with this type of rhetoric
because it being “Jeter’s team” really has nothing to do with it. Were the 2002 Atlanta Braves not “Chipper
Jones’s team” when he switched from third base to left field full-time? Were the ’96 Baltimore Orioles not “Cal
Ripken’s team” when he switched from short to third? How about when Barry Bonds
moved to left so the Pirates could make room for Andy Van Slyke in center? You get the point. Now, obviously I don’t have the power to bend
the Space/Time Continuum, but I feel pretty confident that if the roles were
reversed – and Jeter’s was traded to A-Rod’s team – that the narrative would
have been very different because We decided We don’t like A-Rod. Had A-Rod refused a position switch, it would
have been seen as “selfish” and a “me-first move.” When Alfonso Soriano refused (at first) to
switch from second to left, it was definitely seen as a selfish move, even
though he was by far the best player on the 2006 Nationals, and arguably the
best second basemen in the entire league.
The Nationals even went to Major League Baseball requesting permission
to put Soriano on the Disqualified List because of his refusal to change
positions.
In basketball, the positions certainly aren’t as definite as
they are in baseball, but there was a point in time where LeBron and Chris
Bosh were criticized because they were resistant to play power forward and
center. Why? Because We love to
criticize the Heat. Why wasn’t LeBron
given the Jeter Treatment? Could you
imagine Skip Bayless saying anything along the lines of “It’s LeBron’s team, he
can play whatever position he wants.” I
sure as hell can’t.
Thus, it’s my conclusion that much of sports “analysis” can
be explained by answering the question: Do We like this person? Because when Jeter (“Leader Guy”) refused a
position change, it was totally justified.
When LeBron did close to the same, it was criticized. I suppose sports have always been somewhat of
a popularity contest, but We have turned it into something much more trivial.
