RUSSELL WILSON SIGNS ON TO JETER'S PLAYERS' TRIBUNE

Gotta love this.

You know, it's funny. I was thinking about Derek Jeter and all he did in his career and he was heavily guarded for 20 years. Something he now acknowledges.  Yet, suddenly he's all in, being a player FOR the fans and I appreciate that a lot.

I had a conversation with a real smart BYB reader today, and he's a Red Sox fan. Please don't hold that against him. Keep reading.  Jim also happens to be the radio guy, now with WDHA in New Jersey. It's Jim Monaghan and I was thrilled to be chatting with him on Twitter. 

(Courtesy: J.Frazz Photography. Jim Monaghan with Kim Mulligan of WDHA)
I had a dialog with him about Jeter today. The exchange was very interesting. Check it out:

@Monaghan21 look, IMO that Jeter wasn't that guy we saw in the Gatorade commercial but for us fans, we loved seeing it...
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 2, 2014

@Monaghan21 in the media, Jeter never gave a lot to the press. Very Guarded...
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 2, 2014

@Monaghan21 Now he's free of that guarded mentality and trying to open up. I think it's a smart idea and brings a human element to jeet...
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 2, 2014

@Monaghan21 The AROD comparison seems so drastic. Don't see it. Do u?
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 2, 2014

@Monaghan21 we agree. Jeter has never been about himself. So to see him finally branching out for us fans, it's nice to see. He's the...
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 2, 2014

@Monaghan21 quiet brother of ours who works hard and doesn't want the credit, but we wish he'd take some. Love the Cap #Re2Pect
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 2, 2014

@Monaghan21 don't disagree. Always have to look out for number 1, but it's how it's presented that matters. He did it right.
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 2, 2014

@BleednYankeeBlu ..I think he went out with complete class.
— Jim Monaghan (@Monaghan21) October 2, 2014

Lets just say, Jim's a good dude and despite our disagreement on team support, we each love baseball and so the conversation ran smoothly. The chat started with the question about Jeter, Players' Tribune and backlash.  Quite simply, while Jeter was guarded, he's trying to open up now, and we as Yankee fans, can appreciate that.

Now comes word that Seattle Seahawk Quarterback Russell Wilson has signed on with Jeter. According to the New York Daily News:

"In the first “unfiltered” piece from Derek Jeter’s new publishing venture... Russell Wilson dispelled the myth that he’s 'been Mr. Goody Two-Shoes' for his entire life. He was actually 'a bully' as a kid.

“I used to beat people up. Truthfully, I used to beat people up a lot. Many of you readers probably think I have been Mr. Goody Two-Shoes my whole life, but honestly, I was a bully growing up,” Wilson, billed as the site’s senior editor, writes. “In elementary and middle school, I threw kids against the wall. I rubbed their heads in the dirt at recess. I bit them. I even knocked teeth out. I had a lot of anger that I didn’t know what to do with. Thankfully, I was saved by my faith when I was 14 years old, and was able to start living for others instead of just myself...

...I can’t fix the world. I can’t fix the NFL. I can’t change the guys around me. The only person I can change is the one in the mirror. I’m not a perfect person by any means. I’m just a recovering bully. But if we start being honest about our pain, our anger, and our shortcomings instead of pretending they don’t exist, then maybe we’ll leave the world a better place than we found it. For those of us in the NFL, there’s no excuse for violence off the field...”

Truth be told... now that I see Russell Wilson and what he offers, I see the big picture of what this Jeter venture is all about and how it opens up to not just adults, but kids.  It's about role models. It's about what Monaghan and I were chatting about.

It's literally the fabric that makes up what a role model is... something that Jeter is for all our kids.  I like this idea a lot.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you.  There will be lessons in the Players' Tribune... and I appreciate that.

Good Work Jeet.
Good Luck Russell
Great chatting with you Jim. Let's do it again soon.

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