Former Yankee SS Derek Jeter, whose glittering big league career was littered with uninteresting, noncommittal replies to media inquiries, has announced he’ll be the front man for an internet publishing venture, “The Player’s Tribune”, which the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir reports will feature, “first-person accounts, videos, podcasts, photographs and polls on the site.” Kind of like most other sports sites, only without those pesky journalists (and their qualifications) throwing their ugly biases into the mix!
“I realize I’ve been guarded,” Jeter wrote. “I learned early on in New York, the toughest media environment in sports, that just because a reporter asks you a question doesn’t mean you have to answer. I attribute much of my success in New York to my ability to understand and avoid unnecessary distractions.
“I do think fans deserve more than ‘no comments’ or ‘I don’t knows.’ Those simple answers have always stemmed from a genuine concern that any statement, any opinion or detail, might be distorted. I have a unique perspective. Many of you saw me after that final home game, when the enormity of the moment hit me. I’m not a robot. Neither are the other athletes who at times might seem unapproachable. We all have emotions.
“We just need to be sure our thoughts will come across the way we intend.”