Driven

I bumped into a pragmatist on the D train.

He dropped his newspaper and asked why people are obsessed with Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. “Can’t they just let them play ball?”

In New York City it’s not obsession. It’s called Driven. And we can’t just let them play ball because they aren’t playing, yet.

Pitchers are throwing in the bullpen and position players are taking batting practice.

New Yorkers need more.

First it was Mariano.

Then it was Joe and George.

Then it was Carl and Moose.

And it’s been Bernie all along.

Now it’s Derek and Alex.

Nothing makes the streets rumble, groan, scream and rattle like baseball. Newspapers aren’t responsible for that. They just report it. That’s life in this city.

No one handles it better than Jeter.

Peter Abraham of The Journal News reported that after Jeter finished interviews this morning he said, “How come nobody asked me about the new hats?”

“Okay, so what about the hats?”

“They’re terrible!”

Tomorrow’s headlines.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez will be taking the field at Yankee Stadium in exactly 41 days.

That’s 984 hours. Or 59,040 minutes. Or 3,542,400 seconds.

Yeah, Driven.