So just we expected, Derek Jeter's vanity project -- The Players' Tribune -- has been largely bereft of interesting material, which we expected because (among other reasons) the site's masthead includes SENIOR EDITORS who are actually athletes with zero editorial experience. Welcome to the wonderful world of self-entitled millionaires.
But perhaps we should also have expected that every so often, something interesting will actually sneak through. Which has happened. For example, Walter Iooss Jr.'s photographs from his visit to Cuba in 1999. (Ioss: "If you want to look like a good photographer, spend a week in Havana.")
Another example: Dwight Gooden's "Letter to My Younger Self" last week. There's not much in there you wouldn't expect, especially if you've read (as I have) Gooden's recent memoir. Still, something like this does seem to justify The Players' Tribune's existence, even if Gooden's letter could of course have been published just about anywhere else (and to a bigger audience, too).
Just a couple of bits I want to mention ...
Take a moment to thank the Lord that social media will not exist during your playing career. The entire '86 Mets team probably would have been locked up.
Well, sure ... Except if social media had existed in 1986, I suspect the Mets would have been more circumspect. It's not as if today's players don't have exactly the same impulses. They're just not as open about them.
You're too stubborn to listen to me on this, but your arm isn't indestructible. The damage you do to your body off the field will eventually catch up to your performance on the mound. Trust me when I say that those 150 pitch shout-outs will add up quickly, so try to take care of yourself.
I'm guessing he meant "shutouts" rather than "shout-outs"? Maybe not, but this might have been a good place for Senior Editor Russell Wilson to weigh in. I do think that for all the harm Gooden's dissipation did to his career, all those pitches might have hurt just as much. It's pretty funny, reading old quotes from Davey Johnson about how careful the Mets were with Gooden's arm when he was 19 and 20. You betcha.
Finally, please know this: I love you. It's going to take you a long time and a lot of pain to realize this, but accepting it will go a long way towards healing. The journey will be trying, but it ends in a good place.
Classic psychotherapy. And I don't mean that as a knock. We're all tormented to varying degrees by the failings and tragedies of our younger selves. So we're all well-served to first get in touch with those younger selves, then love and forgive them. Which is really easy to say and really hard to do. You gotta hope everything works out for Doc, who did see some truly terrible things when he was a boy.
