First let me say that I am an advocate of getting kids interested in sports and baseball cards, and think it is important for children to have role models in sports so they become more active in their own lives. I also think that children should follow the team of their choice and have an opinion of some sort about how their team plays, what they think will happen as far as their favorite players season stats, etc. The problem I have with the whole thing is that kids hear or read things, and then apply them to situations where they make no sense and post them online swearing it is the most intelligent statement they have ever made.
I understand children don't know any better. I understand that they think they know everything, and moreover that they are entitled to have an opinion albeit a ridiculous one. I am following this website on my twitter, the Bleacher Report, and that is where I saw the article. In my defense, before I knew how old the author was I was flippin' mad. I couldn't even fathom the idea of this article, much less how they thought this was a good idea. Now you all know that this is written by a child, so here is the article....
Trade Derek Jeter to the Red Sox
If this person is the age they claim to be, then they should have a little more of a handle on what it means to be a team captain and why those players were chosen. If they know that then this idea would have never even popped into the authors head because they would have known better. Maybe my point is just to educate children about what it means to be a major league baseball player, or what it means to be the Captain of a team. Maybe I am just a grouch.
Hahahaha - "Nick Green is just like Jason Bartlett of the Rays" - ya know, except that Nick Green is a horrible hitter and is horrible defensively.
ReplyDeleteDerek Jeter to the Red Sox for a package featuring Nick Green - sounds good to me! You have to admit that it would be hilarious to see Jeter in a Red Sox uniform, and for Red Sox fans to have to cheer him...
By the way what does it "mean to be a team captain"? As far as I know, only the Yankees and Red Sox have one...
Do I really need to explain what it means? Many teams in sports have them just not in baseball. A captain is chosen because he is a leader, and someone the team respects because of how he performs and carries himself amongst other things.
ReplyDeleteThere are other teams who could easily elect captains, but they don't and that is the teams business.
Actually, trading Jeter would make sense for the Yankes. He's beyond his usefullness...if he ever had any. :) The "keep the guy because he's a captain" though process is exactly what stopped the Red Sox from winning the title for 86 years. They finally got a guy who got rid of players when they were getting old and useless, and bingo...two world series. It's not a great way to be a fan. It doesnt make it much fun to follow a team. But...it can lead to champtionships.
ReplyDeleteThere are captains on every team in hockey and football, but they are not commonplace in baseball. Why would you naturally assume that fans of other teams would understand what the role entails? To me, it's just a symbolic role with no actual responsibilities. I know that the Yankees have went decades without having a captain, so even they must not place that much importance on it. And if they shouldn't trade Jeter because he is the captain, why did they hastily usher Mattingly out the door after the '95 season?
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, at least nothing about the Yankees' captainship is as silly as the "C" that the Red Sox put on Varitek's jersey...
That kid has to be a newborn to reason like that. JEter to the Red Sox for all American reject Nick Green, Michael Bowden and 30 year old rookie Jeff Bailey. Uh-huh. Sure. If this kid is a Yankee fan he needs to be kicked out of fandom. Terrible, terrible, terrible.
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