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Jeter retirement honors go too far

For the record, I don’t have a problem with Derek Jeter.

OK, that’s not true. I’m still more than a little bitter that my Reds decided to take Chad Mottola over him in the 1994 draft, but that is not really his fault. Who is Chad Mottola, you ask? Exactly.

Jeter’s baseball career is coming to a close this season, and there is no denying how great a player he has been. With a batting average over .300 for his career, nearly 3,500 hits and over 1,300 runs batted in, he has clearly been one of the best offensive players of his generation.

So I am not at all surprised he is getting the yearlong sendoff from every MLB team he faces this season, including a paddle boat that is easily twice as tall as he is (and for the record, he’s 6’3”). The Texas teams, the Rangers and Astros, gave him a pair of cowboy boots, which is fine. I’m OK with him getting gifts from other teams.

With most occurrences in the world of sports, especially involving well-known athletes, there comes a point where the festivities become boring. Shortly after that point, they turn downright stupid, and a line needs to be drawn.

Jeter’s retirement has reached that point. I was perfectly fine with all the gifts. I was perfectly fine with all the coverage. I am not fine with #re2pect. 1f y0u r3plac3 l3tt3r2 w1th numb3rs, w0rds can b3 hard 2 r3ad. It’s stupid and it needs to stop.

You can just as easily use #respect to describe Jeter. Adding his number to the word does not make anyone respect him more. As a matter of fact it might make everyone outside of New York respect him less.

To be fair, the campaign was not created by the Yankees. It was created by Nike and the Jordan Brand, the same company that allowed fans to create their own tribute videos to Jeter, which is the only redeeming part of this entire situation.

Giving fans a shot to say thanks to a player that impacted a new generation of players is something I can get behind, regardless of the name on the front of the jersey.

Speaking of jerseys, the Yankees announced they will wear a patch honoring Jeter starting this Sunday and spanning the remainder of the season.

Yes, from Sept. 14 until the final out on Sept. 28, Derek Jeter will wear a patch on his jersey to honor Derek Jeter. Normally, teams don’t wear patches to honor players who are still playing, but the Yankees did it with Mariano Rivera last season.

However, that was just one game. This year, we get two weeks of Jeter honoring himself every time he takes the field, and it’s ridiculous.

I’m not trying to take anything away from Jeter’s on-field accomplishments. As a matter of fact, I’m not blaming him at all. I’m upset about how people are choosing to honor him. Is it because I’m old fashioned? Probably.

But that doesn’t make either of these ideas very good. There’s a right way to honor an important player and a wrong way. It’s clear to me which side of the line this is on.

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