"The talk of this season will be a new contract for Jeter, who wants to play past 40 the way Alex Rodriguez does. Their hero, their role model, should be Rivera. He is the Yankee they want to be when they reach his age. There have been other Yankees, and other pitchers, who pitched at a high level at 40. Not like No. 42. Find another iconic New York athlete in any sport who has ever done it quite like this."
I think the talk of this season will mostly be baseball games the Yankees play. Jeter's inevitable contract, barring unforeseen events, will be negotiated after the season and that's the end of the discussion.
"The best of it last fall really was the way a whole new light was shined on the excellence of Rivera, the grace, the professionalism, the importance of the man, on his team, and in this time in sports, where we have been conditioned to be disappointed by the most famous names."
Agreed. Too bad you didn't notice for the past decade-and-a-half since you were too busy worshiping Jeter, Big Papi, and Theo Epstein.
"More and more – mo and mo? – he let people get to know him, find out that he is the best quote in the room, has the sharpest take on baseball. And honest. And completely accountable. You want them all to be like him."No, not "mo and mo," since you asked. That's corny and lame.
It's embarrassing for a sportswriter with access to Mariano Rivera didn't bother asking him any questions for a decade-and-a-half.
"As he gets later into his career, the question is always the same: Is this the year when he slips? Is this when he starts to act his age, become less than he has been?
'I hear that every April,' he said. 'I'm used to it.' "
Yes, you hear that every April.
Every year, Mariano hears that his career is over. Usually from punk Mike Lupica.
Every year, I explain that Lupica is wrong.
Every year, I am right.
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