IF JUDGE STAYS HUMBLE... HE'LL BE FINE

(July 11, 2017 - Source: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images North America)

Jason Keidel wrote another instant classic for CBS Sports and the headline is bound to get every Yankee fan pissed off.  Not me though... I get everything he said... except one thing... comparing Matt Harvey to Aaron Judge should be a crime.  Other than that, I like his latest piece titled Don’t Shoot The Messenger, But Judge Should Just Retire Now. Nice job!

In this piece, Keidel speaks highly of the Yankee sensation and how 'cool' is the place to be and Judge is it. But sooner or later, Judge will fall...

(July 10, 2017 - Source: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images North America)

"Judge has reached an orbit that’s even too high for most celebrities. Even folks who don’t care for baseball — and really don’t care for the Yankees — are punching their remotes to see his next space-age homer. He’s entered a realm of crossover appeal that’s so rare that some of sport’s most transcendent names are being whispered with Judge...

And surely he will make a lot more money than his current salary of $544,000. By the time he reaches free agency in 2023, he will be making that per week.   But life won’t be any more exciting or wondrous. Not only is he a divine talent, but at age 25 he’s got the universal sense that we all had at that age, that this is just the beginning, that there are no such thing as bad days, that life is a gold-plated path to infinite wealth and wisdom. And as anyone with a television can see, he’s got a disarming innocence that only exists when you first knock on fame’s door.

(July 10, 2017 - Source: Mark Brown/Getty Images North America)     

It won’t take that long for Judge’s star to crash, dim, or burn when it passes into our atmosphere. In six or eight months, pitchers will surely find holes in his swing, and surely the media will find flaws in his character. What if he drops his first fly ball with a man on third? Or he strikes out with the bases loaded in the ALCS? Or if God forbid, he flips his first bird at TMZ or gets into his first barroom spat?"

Now many of you hate this.  You don't want to hear it. You think it's crap and you now hate Jason Keidel.  Well... Keidel is provocative... and good and don't be a hater, because here's the reality; While we don't want to see our beloved Judge fall... it happens to the best of them.  Bumps happen... because when you're popular, folks want to find ways to make you unpopular. It's just the way life goes for top celebrities.  We don't want to hear it as a Yankee fan, but it kind of happens like... all the time. 

(July 6, 2017 - Source: Mike Stobe/Getty Images North America)

Will it happen to Judge? I hope not, but don't be surprised if some a-hole finds a photo of him with some chick who later comes out and accuses him of something outrageous, or something more. Trust me, I wish that garbage on no one... not even Matt Harvey.  Here's the thing though... Aaron Judge is enjoying this and staying mad humble about it!  He's not getting ahead of himself. He's not buying into the hype, he's taking it one day at a time.  He doesn't speak about himself in third person and you don't see the guy with strippers.  For crying out loud the guy lives in a hotel in New York City and speaks to no one. He just commutes back and forth to the stadium and for the moment is squeaky clean and staying out of trouble.  He's a good kid and raised right as far as I can see. But you know the way the tide turns, and hopefully he doesn't fall off. 

Keidel brings reality to Aaron Judge's amazing season whether we want to hear it or not.... it's actually a great piece. But I was disturbed by this comparison...

Photo: Getty Images

Matt Harvey? Really Keidel? You are trying to thread a Judge to Harvey? You know I hate Harvey... how could you?  Read this...

"Whatever that dynamic is that we’ve distilled to the term “hating” will soon surface and attack or devour the young, wildly gifted outfielder. We want our heroes happy, up to a point. Then we break them down. Then we cheer them during the comeback. If we can find issues with Tim Tebow, we’ll find some dirt on Aaron Judge.

(April 26, 2017 - Source: Al Bello/Getty Images North America)

Not too long ago, Matt Harvey wore the crown. Even had his own handle, the “Dark Knight of Gotham.” Now, Harvey is some broken shell of his former eminence and dominance. The very supermodels he so proudly wore on his arm to Knicks games are now discarding him with frigid indifference. He’s not cool anymore. And cool is everything."

Damn you Keidel!

Here's the thing though, I'm not buying it. Why? Because we're dealing with 2 different personalities.

Judge knows he's good, but he's not gonna let anyone out here know he knows.  Matt Harvey on the other hand knew he was good, pretty much told everybody he was great, bought into the hype and reeked of arrogance as he said it, and tried to bang strippers using the ol' "I'm the Dark Knight, wanna see my penis?" 

So once Harvey started to realize he wasn't very good, and started having problems, the media pounced, because like I have written earlier, while celebs and athletes can be cool, there is always someone to remind them they are not, because they do digging through scandal, or blow up stories to try and knock them down.

(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Harvey is no Aaron Judge... and while one day, like Kevin Maas, the opponent could find a way to pitch to him so he falls from grace... here's the difference; Judge won't live in the past of his greatness... he will work hard to make adjustments and try to improve. 



Matt Harvey is Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite... thinking about what could have been... walking around like the 5th Heartbeat telling the world he "Still has it'.


Judge, while larger than life will come back to reality one day.  That's a fact.

But Aaron Judge is humble, and he was raised right... and trust me, he will succeed, even in the toughest city of the toughest critics in the world... NYC.

Jason Keidel is the man. Nice work, dude. You know how much I like your stuff.  Keep going.