Derek Jeter Wins Derek Jeter of the Year Award

By Aaron Schafer Tue., Dec. 1 2009 at 2:23 PM

Categories: Baseball, Media

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So yesterday Derek Jeter was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

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Sigh.

See, this is the reason so many people are sick of Derek Jeter. The guy goes out and has a very nice season, and then, instead of receiving modest praise for being about the third or fourth best player on a championship team, he gets a bunch of ink for the MVP award, somehow wins the Hank Aaron award as the best offensive player in the American League, and SI tells us he was the single best athlete on the face of the earth this year.

It's enough to drive a man to drink, you know?

Now, I'm not entirely sure what the criteria used for Sportsman of the Year are, exactly, but it seems to me that there were quite a few people who had better years than Derek Jeter. Roger Federer, for instance. He finally won the French Open, took three of the four major tournaments, and became only the sixth man in tennis history to win the career Grand Slam. Derek Jeter, on the other hand, had a really nice season.

Or how about one of the two men who actually did win an Most Valuable Player award this year? Both Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols had better years than Jeter. But hey, Jeter still had a really nice season.

Or how about Manny Pacquiao? The man keeps moving up weight classes and destroying opponent after opponent. Pacquiao has almost single-handedly made boxing relevant again. Derek Jeter had, well, I think you see where I'm going with this.

What Derek Jeter did this year was very impressive. He hit .334. He played adequate defense. He finally decided it was time to stop banging models, settle down, and just bang one model for a while. It was a fine season. He should receive all kinds of accolades for being a great player throughout his career who had yet another really good season.

Instead, though, Derek Jeter wins awards. Lots and lots and lots of awards. Of course, there are plenty of people who are going to want to tell you why he totally deserves this award and all the others. And I'm here to tell you why they're all wrong.

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