With baseball season winding down as they head into the World Series this week and the college basketball season about to really blast off, here is a blog piece that combines the two, in a very unique way, from Brian Allen over at www.associatedcontent.com……
Derek Jeter and Duke Hoopsters Have Thumbed Their Noses at Integrity in Sports
Here’s a sports riddle for you: What do Derek Jeter, Greg Paulus, and Jon Scheyer have in common?
They cheat.
They cheat openly and unabashedly, in a way that is further eroding the integrity of their respective sports.
By now everyone has heard about Derek Jeter’s shenanigans during a critical late season game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Locked in a fierce battle for the American League East division title, Jeter took a seventh inning inside pitch off the bat handle with the bases empty. His team trailing 2-1 and seeing a free pass to first base in the making, Jeter immediately dropped the bat and treated the crowd to an extended, Oscar-worthy performance. He doubled over, grasped his arm, grimaced, and hopped in apparent extreme pain. Even the Yankees’ team trainer got in on the act as he dutifully tended to the “injured” star, methodically palpating for broken bones.
Even as replays clearly exposed the farce, Jeter ambled down to first base, having successfully sold his “hit by pitch” ploy to the umpires. Because there are no replay reviews in baseball, the umpires’ fraudulently induced decision was final. To make matters worse, the next batter homered, and suddenly the Yankees went from one down to one up. Ironically, the only person who received punitive action from the affair was Devil Rays’ manager, Joe Maddon, who was promptly ejected for, or all things, protesting the call.
To his credit, in post-game interviews, Jeter was unabashed in acknowledging his chicanery. When asked what the ball hit, he calmly responded, “The bat.” Jeter went on to justify his admitted fraud. “What can I do?” he asked. “My job is to get on.” It was a classic ends justify the means analysis. As long as I reach base, the reasoning goes, I have done my job – regardless of whether I reach it legitimately or illegitimately, honorably or dishonestly.
Was Jeter a cheat or a sneak? Was it a heads-up, savvy play or a shameless, cheap ploy that will forever tarnish Jeter’s good guy image? These and related questions have percolated during the weeks since.
Read on with Brian Allen and click toward Page 2, 3, 4 and so on, when you CLICK HERE…..
Poor dumb “objective” guy thinks Butch Davis is running a clean program and taking a charge is cheating.
Mr. Allen in for (another) rough year.
Poor dumb “objective” guy thinks Butch Davis is running a clean program and taking a charge is cheating.
Mr. Allen is in for (another) rough year.
Bruce,
You either didn’t read the article or you didn’t understand it. I think the point was that it is cheating to FAKE – not take – a charge. Falling down when there’s no contact, like Paulus did in that video, is cheating. Taking a legitimate charge is not. Taking a base for pretending to be hit by a pitch is cheating; taking a base for actually getting hit is not.
Also, in the earlier article on BD, Allen never said that he is “running a clean program.” I believe he just said that the media needs to stop publishing rumors and half-truths and let the investigation conclude before jumping on its high horse.
Hope this helps. By the way, there are courses out there that assist with reading comprehension.
I guess look-away passes are cheating too.
That’s certainly not the way I read Allen’s “objective” article on the real cheating going in the UNC football program. He wanted the media to ignore the facts coming out and to cease doing their own reporting until the NCAA investigation ended. I guess by then even Mr. Brian would not be able to deny what is going on.
jeter didn’t get HBP, but you guys just think about what would have happened if he had shown up the umpire and said the ball did not hit him. Those umpires are psychological reprobates—they would have made Jeter pay!!! Look @ the bunt Halliday made in the Giants series last week—he knew the bunt was obviously foul and the umpire blew the call. Did he let the runners advance as he stood at home plate before making a feeble run to 1st? Give Jeter a PASS!!!!