1. We are two episodes into ESPN’s seven-part docuseries on Derek Jeter and already Alex Rodriguez has come off looking terrible, as usual.
The series goes deep into the deterioration of the friendship between the two players, with Jeter opening up about the fallout like never before. He says of A-Rod, “Those comments bothered me because, like I said, I’m very, very loyal. As a friend, I’m loyal. I just looked at it as, ‘I wouldn’t have done it.’”
What Jeter is referencing are the following comments A-Rod made in a 2001 Esquire interview.
“Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him. So he’s never had to lead. He doesn’t have to, he can just go and play and have fun, and hit second. I mean, you know, hitting second is totally different than hitting third or fourth in a lineup because you go into New York trying to stop Bernie [Williams] and [Paul] O’Neill and everybody. You never say, ‘Don't let Derek beat you.’ That’s never your concern.”
The series makes it clear, as does Jeter, that Rodriguez’s remarks are what caused the rift. Jeter is very straightforward about his habit of cutting off people who burn him. Yet, Rodriguez put the blame on his fractured relationship with Jeter on other “people.”
“People, I believe, really got off on trying to drive a wedge between Derek and I,” said Rodriguez. “At the beginning, you have this kind of innocent climb. Once you get a little bit too high, people then want to get two brothers and split them apart.”
Oh, yeah. Totally. “People” everywhere were plotting to break up the friendship between A-Rod and Jeter. It was definitely a top priority in the baseball world.
Meanwhile, A-Rod, at the time, also did an interview with Dan Patrick where he basically said, “There’s not one thing [Jeter] does better than me.”
Jeter addressed that incident as well in the docuseries.
“In my mind, he got his contract, so you’re trying to diminish what I’m doing, maybe to justify why you got paid,” said Jeter. “When you talk about statistics, mine never compared to Alex’s. I’m not blind. I understand that. But, we won! You can say whatever you want about me as a player. That’s fine,” Jeter said.
“But then it goes back to the trust, the loyalty. This is how the guy feels. He’s not a true friend, is how I felt. Because I wouldn’t do it to a friend.”
It’s pretty clear that the reason Jeter had had enough of A-Rod was A-Rod. Yet, here is A-Rod, still trying to blame “people” for having an agenda to drive a wedge between the two.
What an ego.
2. Speaking of Jeter, Episode 2 of his docuseries that aired on Thursday provided Juan Soto with a quote that he tweeted and quickly deleted amid his current issues with the Nationals.
3. Amazon getting into the NFL business has been really good for sports media personalities. In addition to Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit, who will call Thursday Night Football, the streaming service has hired a slew of other people to be part of the coverage.
Kaylee Hartung
Charissa Thompson
Andrew Whitworth
Aqib Talib
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Tony Gonzalez
Richard Sherman
It’s so hard to keep up with who Amazon has hired that I thought Marshawn Lynch was part of the team, but it doesn’t appear that he’s signed on yet. There have also been reports that Amazon wants to bring in Pat McAfee.
That Jeff Bezos money is nice.
4. The Charles Barkley–LIV Golf negotiations, which Andrew Marchand reported on yesterday, are going to be fascinating, simply because of this: Charles is probably the only broadcaster who can tell LIV he will only join their organization if he can keep his TNT job and LIV has enough money to throw at Charles to make him give up his TNT job.
5. When I wrote about Chris Russo and First Take in Thursday's Traina Thoughts, I didn't mention how Russo got the whole college football world upset during his latest appearance because of his list of most storied college football programs.
Russo then defended this list and waxed on about Notre Dame later that day on his SiriusXM radio show like only he can.
6. This week’s SI Media Podcast features a fun conversation with the always entertaining Peter Schrager.
Topics covered include the changes to the Good Morning Football cast, inside stories from Sean McVay's recent wedding, Zach Wilson’s recent turn in the spotlight, which current NFL players would make good broadcasters, the death of comedy in movies, Succession and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
