How Outrageous Is It For New York Sports Fans To Be Sadder For Eli Manning's Retirement Than Derek Jeter's?
This absolutely rattled my brain. Do people actually love Eli Manning? Is this real life? Now let me put my cards on the table, I’m a die hard Yankee fan and a die hard Green Bay Packers fan, but I’ve lived in the NY area my entire life. I follow both sports religiously so I have (or thought I had) the pulse of New York sports fans. Hearing talk that people love Eli more than the king of New York himself Derek Jeter absolutely baffled me. This is downright insulting to the universe we live in.
The Eli argument seems to fall more towards fans in their 20’s who weren’t that into sports when Jeter was winning all his championships in the late 90’s. They claim Eli won the two Super Bowls against the Pats when they started caring about sports, so it meant more to them (give me a break). I could see the potential of this argument if Eli absolutely dominated in those Super Bowls, but as we all know he didn’t, the defense did. Besides those two games, Eli has been borderline mediocre at the position and will probably go down as the NFL’s worst Hall of Famer of all time. Now I don’t hate Eli Manning, I’ve got no good reason to, and it’s impressive as fuck he’s played every game for the last 12 seasons. He’s a good dude from all accounts, is a known big fan of Jeter, and he reads Stool, but Eli Manning lovers make no sense to me. You’re telling me you’re going to be sadder when that guy retires than when Derek Jeter did?
Derek Jeter was, is, and will be the great New York sports athlete to ever grace this Earth. He’s beyond royalty. To play as long as he did, at the level he did, and to never have the New York media and fans turn on him is absolutely unreal. Any father currently raising his kid and teaching him the game of baseball will almost certainly try to mirror the ways Derek Jeter handled himself on and off the field. Even as Derek Jeter’s game declined, and you knew the light at the end of the tunnel was getting closer, you never wanted him to go. I’m getting the vibe that Giants fans are starting to get tired of Manning playing QB. There’s been lots of talks about drafting a quarterback for the future this year, and rightfully so. Despite a decline in his game, no one wanted Jeter to walk away. It wasn’t a reality we were ready to grasp.
As a die hard Packers fan I obviously love Aaron Rodgers, and also loved Brett Favre. With Jeter now retired, Rodgers has moved up to being my favorite athlete in all of sports. It’ll be very sad when Rodgers hangs up his cleats in eight or so years, but it won’t top Derek Jeter stepping away, he was king. I remember being in college during my junior year watching his remaining games as New York tried to fight for a final playoff spot. His final game in pinstripes at Yankee Stadium was one I will never forget. I watched at my house at Syracuse with all of my friends. Some didn’t give a shit about baseball, but you can bet your ass they were watching Jeter’s last home game. In classic Jeter fashion, he thrived in the moment, leading off with an RBI double in the first, missing a homer by a few feet. The whole game had this surreal feel to it, not knowing when Jeter would come out for his standing ovation. With the Yanks in the lead 5-2 in the ninth, everyone knew Jeter was coming out of the game any minute. That was until Robertson blew the save giving up two homers to the O’s, tying the game. Everyone’s mindset switched to saying good bye, to “holy shit he’s going to get up one more time!” Well… you know the ending (skip to 5:05 for the final at bat)
I went upstairs in complete shock and sadness. It was over. The guy I idolized my entire life was no more. I went into my room, shut the lights off and collapsed, slumped at the base of the door. I started balling my eyes out, uncontrollably. I was so overcome with emotion I couldn’t help it. My girlfriend, who I was supposed to pick up after the game and bring over, blew up my phone. I went radio silent for a half hour, which is unheard of if you know how much I’m on my phone. The only human being that could cause such an event to happen…#2. Now obviously I’m not a Giants fan, so I could be wrong, but something tells me I don’t think I am. People are entitled to their opinion, even if they are 100000% wrong.
No one tops Derek Jeter. No one. He’s the definition of a living legend. Don’t insult me by saying Eli stepping away will be sadder, get lost.
Hit me up on Twitter and let me know your irrational thoughts @ehubbs13
Editor’s Note (Clem): Let the record show that Eli Manning also ended Brett Favre’s time as a Packer on the frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field and beat the Former Mr. Olivia Munn and the 15-1 Packers at home in Lambeau as well before losing with the Boat Boyz this year. As a Yankees hater, even I agree that Jeter >>> Eli in New York’s sports lore. But I can’t quietly sit here and let some cheesehead from New York disparage my team’s two-time Super Bowl MVP.