WHY JETER LEADS BY EXAMPLE

“It was a blessing in disguise…I got a chance to work on some things.”

–Jeter says of his stint on the DL last season

Derek Jeter is the most iconic Yankee of our time, not to mention, the most iconic Yankee ever. The Captain is far from done, in fact, he was never done, but the New York sports media needs a story and when a slump hit Jeter in 2010, they salivated. Finally, the demise of our captain, they appeared to be thinking. I remember reading the headlines and many...almost all of them were hinting toward the Captain's end. Not I...never.

Look, I get it, they need to sell newspapers and if Jeter’s hot in Yankeeland, it’s not as exciting as suggesting that a Yankee hero is on the downward spiral. Some fans bought into the hype…many fans like myself did not. I called it a slump, nothing more. I called the hype silly, I stuck by the captain. Why? Because I could see it in his eyes. Derek Jeter knew it wasn’t over. You trust a player by looking in his face. You can tell a lot about an athlete that way. Jeter believed. The flame was still flickering, it wasn’t over. If you put money on that, you’d be rich right now.

Jeter finished 2011 just shy of a .300 average. Suddenly the same papers that were banking on the fall of the king were silent. Luckily for Bleeding Yankee Blue, it was just business as usual. We found comfort in his amazing season and applauded the Captain. This season he’s hovering around .370 and hot as hell. Is it a Fountain of Youth? No. It’s Jeter…never saying die and believing in his team and himself. Why else would we win 5 championships since Jeter began with this team? Why else would everything good happen to Jeter in his career? From Rookie of the Year to MVP's to plays that will forever be debated as the greatest in baseball history... Jeter’s always been there.

He taking losing harder than anyone and winning as something that’s expected. A while back I wrote WHY JETER IS EPIC BECAUSE OF 1 GOOD REASON. I believe his focus stems from his parents, really important role models. That, in turn, trickled down to Jeet and essentially trickled down to that Yankee clubhouse. Believe in your talent, yourself, your teammates and there is nothing you cannot accomplish. Jeter knows this.

Sure, the papers can debate what exactly made Jeter so hot this season. Some suggest it was getting over the 3000 hits hurdle, in fact, that came from Joe Girardi just recently. I’m not here to analyze that, I’m here to tell you it starts from within. Once Jeter understood a few things he needed to adjust, things blossomed again. But it starts with confidence, a trait Jeter has always had.

You can sit there and read this post and say that Jeter’s days are still dwindling…I’d agree with that, but you fight your way through it any way. Sure, he feels the old man creeping in, but he believes in himself… you don’t believe me? Look in his eyes… you too will see that flicker still burning bright. This is a kid created in the House of Steinbrenner. If he didn’t pick up the fact that winning was the only thing, Derek Jeter would not be Derek Jeter today, he’d be some other regular player who would have retired years ago. No… Jeter knows how important it is to put on the pinstripes, to be yourself and fight hard for an opportunity to win it all. It’s Pride, Confidence, Excellence and pure Guts…That’s Jeter…leading by example.

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