While everyone thanks Jeter as he exits the diamond, I for one want to pass along a word of thanks to A-Rod. By getting banned for the entire season and taking himself out of the spotlight for a change, Jeter didn’t have to waste any time defending the team or fighting drama in the press as he has often had to, as A-Rod’s captain: he was able to focus on baseball in the not-being-in-the-spotlight way he’s always approached the game.

(to be completely honest, I said to Jolene last night, huh… where is A-Rod in all of this? because I sorta expected him to be sniffing around all of Jeter’s press… I had to go to Wikipedia before I realized he had been banned all season… guess I didn’t miss him.)