Derek Jeter Has Had Enough

"Leave me alone!"

I'm sure I'm not the only Yankee fan, or sports fan for that matter, sick of reading about every little thing involving Derek Jeter's ankle. I don't mean to say I don't care, or I'm not at least a little concerned about the Captain's health, but is it really necessary to write about how Jete's ankle feels after his latest trip to the bathroom? 

Okay, so I haven't read about Derek's ankle after a lavatory visit, but would it really surprise you if somebody did ask him about that? I suppose it's better to have too much information than not enough, but it's understandable when somebody says "enough is enough, let's just assume that no news is good news." And apparently that's where Jeter is on the subject.

“I will not address how anything feels anymore,” Jeter said. “It’s not broke. Some things you’ve got to work through, so it’s really pointless to sit here and say each and every day, ‘How’s it feel? Does it feel bad?’ It’s pointless. Some days are good, some days are bad, but you’ve got to work through it. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

 I guess this could be taken two ways...

1. Derek's simply tired of having reporters ask him over and over and over again about his ankle. It truly is fine, and what he's going through is the same thing anybody else recovering from a busted ankle would go through. If something isn't right he and the team will let everybody know about it.

I can relate to this, as I had knee surgery in August of 2011 after falling from a ladder and breaking my patella. To this day I still get people asking me how my knee is doing. I love that people care about me and my health, but I could do without having to say "it's fine, I actually refereed basketball the winter following the accident, and had no problems" even one more time. However, while DJ is a very patient person, I am not. Which leads me to the other way that quote can be taken...

2. Jeter's ankle is not fine, and he's actually scared that it could keep him out even longer. Put yourself in his possible situation...

You broke your ankle, and it's not healing as well as it could be. Your doctor and trainer thought you'd be good to go after having surgery five months ago, but here we are a little over a week from Opening Day and you may have to begin the season on the Disabled List. You're "The Captain", the face of the organization, one of the most popular athletes in the World, and you may not be able to play. Frankly, you're really frustrated that things aren't going the way they should be, and instead of being able to concentrate on doing what you need to do to come back, you have to sit with a bunch of reporters every day and answer questions about the injury.

 I think you'd lash out at those reporters a bit too.

Okay, I don't mean "lash out" like Bjork did. That was a bit much.

I believe it's a combination of those two things. Jeter's ankle, while not totally fine, will be okay sooner rather than later. But at the same time he's a bit frustrated that it hasn't healed as well as it could have, and having to talk about it day in and day out with a number of reporters has gotten under his skin. And I think any professional athlete would be frustrated that he or she wasn't able to go out and compete.

How many times have you heard a baseball player, after having gone 0-for-4 in a game, say that they are looking forward to making up for it in the next game? Well instead of having to wait a day or two for that "next game", Jeter will have to wait at least 5 months, and now it's possible he'll have to wait even longer.

Here's to hoping Derek is back soon, because I could really do without seeing this picture after another errant throw...