The Daily Sport-February 12th

Derek Jeter. Where does one begin to describe the career of Jeter. That's the task at hand tonight for this edition of the Daily Sport. Today we found out that Derek Jeter will be retiring at the end of the upcoming 2014 season. Wow, its felt real when some of the superstars we (my generation) grew up watching having officially called it quits: Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Mario Lemieux, Randy Moss, Shaquille O'Neal, and most recently, Mariano Rivera just to name a few.

And now Derek Jeter will soon be joining that list. Now, I'll preface this extremely short edition of The Daily sport with the fact that I rooted against Derek Jeter pretty much every chance I was able. I grew up and was raised a Braves fan (of course, the best franchise in MLB) and as such, I have hated (and will continue to do so)my entire life. Side note-I must be in love because no matter how many times I have tried to convince her to see the light, and leave the cult of the evil empire, she is a....gulp-New York Yankees fan. And her favorite player (and lucky for me, not future husband) has always been Jeter.

What impressed me so much about Jetes was the way he captivated, enthralled, and endeared the New York media and sports fans to his every whim and word. He somehow transcended the Yankee hate for me (as did Mariano Rivera by the way) as he just made it impossible to hate him. Many FU UF fans will tell you Tim Tebow had a similar effect as he took the college football world by storm with his, we'll call it "presence", and affect on the game. I'll disagree though, Tebow was actually extremely easy for me to hate and easily one of the five most hated athletes of all time (I know, that will get a rise out of plenty of you).

So when I attempted to brainstorm the reasons why I was drawn to like and admire Jeter when everything I had been taught, grown to learn throughout my fan experiences, and knew, was telling me to hate him I decided to take what was there, but missing from my thoughts on Tebow's impact in the sporting world. This picture came to mind first as terribly as it sounds (and it actually is, because again, I admit to being an amazing sports fan, not person) because throughout his entire career of continued, steady dominance I never once could imagine an MLB landscape without him in it. Tebow, on the other hand, I'm only a little ashamed to say could have tweaked an ankle in my dreams. Now, I'll at least say I never wished or hoped for serious, long-term pain to come his way, just something to keep him out of one game a year, one...the one versus Florida State. 

The next aspect of Jeter's career was his ability to step up and make the biggest and some of the most meaningful moments at the most important time. Now, unfortunately, Tebow had this same quality throughout his college career but we won't get into any of those terrible moments or his joke of an NFL career either. The above two plays, or "The Flip" and "The Dive", as they are more affectionately known are two of my favorite baseball moments from the past decade. They were moments again, sorry to be so hipster, transcended my hatred of the Yankees and wowed me to the point of actually enjoying a part (a small part) of their success.

I'd be remiss to not at least mention his off-the-field exploits as well. As SportsNation so beautifully and appropriately illustrates here, Jeter did alright for himself in the dating category.

We'll miss Derek Jeter as Major League Baseball was simply better with him apart of it. As a life-long Yankee hater, after this year I can finally admit what I have always wanted (but never allowed myself) to say: Derek Jeter is a badass...in that cool, totally laid back, completely nonchalant kind of way you know.

Today will be better than yesterday.