SHAME ON SKIP BAYLESS

Wednesday morning I was doing what I always do in the morning, drink coffee and watch the Dan Patrick Show. I was gearing up for his big interview with Roger Clemens when a buddy of mine calls me and tells me to put on ESPN’s First Take. Let me first say I loathe the show, but I’ll humor him. I grab my remote control and switch over and low and behold Stephen A. Smith is defending our Captain, Derek Jeter from Skip Bayless, who is in the process of saying it wouldn’t surprise him if Jeter is taking PEDs.
His reasoning? "How can you explain the rebound after 2010?" BLASPHEMY!

If your ears aren't bleeding before the end of the clip, you can hear Bayless back pedal, but for him to even bring this up is not only insane, it's irresponsible and a retraction or suspension of Bayless needs to happen!

There are a couple of things going on here: First, I’m glad Bayless took a moment to stop professing his man-crush of Tim Tebow to talk about anything else. Second, it’s a TV show and I know his job is to
be provocative and create controversy, but COME ON! Third, what does ESPN have against the Yankees?

They use the Yankees to make them a few bucks, but when Melky tested positive the headline
was “Former Yankee Melky Cabrera…..”  The Giants are Melky’s third team since leaving the Bronx. You guys are better than that, or maybe not.  Sure, they used to be the gold standard in sports, but that's long gone.

Speaking of Jeter, has anyone noticed he is 1000 hits shy of being the All-Time hit King and is doing it at a faster pace than Pete Rose did? Read CAN JETER CATCH ROSE? NEVER SAY NEVER IN NEW YORK, BYB is all over it. Jeter is 38 years old and has said many times that he wants to play
until he's 45. With another month and a half to go, he’ll need to average about 160 hits over the next 6 years to reach Rose’s total. Jeter’s career low for a full season is 156 in 2003 when he missed a significant chunk of time due to injury.

Now, the naysayers are already saying the Yankees can’t afford to sign Jeter that long. I say, how can they not afford to keep him that long? If Jeter retires as anything else but a Yankee it degrades the legend
status that is Derek Jeter. Plus, if he does get there, can you imagine the money that is going to steamroll into the Bronx on the back of that feat? Remember the buildup to DJ3K?

This would be the greatest individual thing in Yankeeland since Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961.

Hey Skip, I realize you were trying to be provacative, but you've gone too far. Luckily Derek Jeter ignores it because you're so ridiculous (read HERE.) Message to ESPN, time to clean house. What ever happened to responsible journalism?

--Lem Allen, BYB Contributor

Email me at: bybcurmudgeon@gmail.com

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.