Apparently the answer is yes. The WikiAnswerMan (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, kind of like that guy at the beginning of Parade Magazine who somehow has the expertise to rank both the best secretaries of state and country music stars under 25 in the same article) answers “Yes, they are still friends! They even went to Lakers game together.” (Are Derek Jeter and A-Rod still friends?). Normally I tend to believe anything “wiki”. The madness of crowds is clearly a myth (evidenced by, among other things, the financial meltdown of 2008-2009). After all, thousands of college term papers are written every semester with Wikipedia as a primary source. The user-driven encyclopedia has overtaken the door-to-door Brittanica or Grolier on CD.
Apologize for the Attention Deficits. The point here is that I believe that A-Rod and Jeter are no longer friends, thus refuting the answer deciphered by wiki above.
See ESPN report today where A-Rod, continuing his fumbling PR comeback effort (will we get another “wait for the tears… they’re… coming… I… promise… [30 excruciatingly awkward seconds pass]” apology?), supposedly stated that he would like to see Mets shortstop Jose Reyes at the top of the Yankees batting order. Johnny Damon apparently took the comment in stride, chosing to believe that, every once in a while, the media may (surprise!) scrutinize every little word for the sake of a headline. Jeter, on the other hand, said and I quote, “I’ve got nothing to say, man” (man unknown). The NY Post reported that the usual awkward Yankees silence hung in the air.
This awkwardness, of course, in stark contrast (or is it?) to the former A-Rod/Jeter lovefest of the late ’90s. You’ll remember that in 2004 A-Rod lamented that the days of the Wonderland Ranch were behind them: “The reality is there’s been a change in the relationship over 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us. You go from sleeping over at somebody’s house five days a week, and now you don’t sleep over. It’s just not that big of a deal.”
Has the relationship now come to a full and complete halt? Are they even speaking to one another? Doesn’t that get awkward standing next to each other for at least 3 hours a day? I guess during the post-out-one-or-two-with-no-man-on-base around-the-horn, Jeter throws to Cano, who throws to Alexandra. So hypothetically, except in calling a high pop fly short down the left field line or fielding ground balls in the hole, they really wouldn’t have to interact much on the baseball field. In the dugout, they just sit on opposite sides of the bench. At closest, A-Rod is in the hole when Jeter is at the plate. We’ll have to monitor this as the season progresses.
Otherwise, an important lesson for the kids at home: Wikipedia is an accurate source, WikiAnswers is not.
I’ll leave the Jose Reyes on the Yankees – why, God, oh why, but would that be a lineup or what? – discussion for later. I bet he’d score 160 runs and steal 100 bases. I’m serious.
