Derek Jeter wasn’t the kind of guy who shared his opinion all that often during his 20-year playing career for the New York Yankees. Now that he’s retired and shfiting into being a mogul, that’s changing. And Derek has a lot of opinions about you damn millennials.
Jeter appeared on “Squawk Box” on CNBC on Wednesday and lamented the state of Major League Baseball in terms of interest from the current generation of sports fans.
“I think baseball is taking somewhat of a back seat to some of the other sports. Some of the other sports are the sexy sports.”
“I think kids, nowadays they look at players playing in college and the next year they’re in the NFL or the NBA,” he said. “Baseball, you sort of get lost, because you have to play in the minor leagues for a little bit. Kids in this generation are into instant gratification.”
Millennials are ruining baseball. I think we can all agree on that.
“Baseball in my opinion mimics life,” Jeter said, citing the game’s grueling schedule. “It’s every day. It’s 162 games, plus 30 games in spring training, plus the post season. There’s a lot of work that goes into it.”
Obviously, there’s no work that goes into being a professional football player, basketball player or hockey player. You just wake up, roll out of bed and, boom, you’re a professional athlete.
Yes, Derek, baseball is a much longer season and requires much more time than almost any other North American professional sports league, but it’s not that simple. The wear and tear on one’s body is incomparable to football. The lack of roster spots on a basketball team compared to a baseball team has to be considered. Between leagues, national contests and other special events, there is no offseason for many professional soccer players.
Jeter said his “ultimate goal” is to own a Major League Baseball team. Maybe he’ll get his chance one day and we assume no one will play for his team until they put in at least a decade in the minors and walk a mile in snow in order to get to the stadium.
In the meantime, keep millennials away from Derek Jeter, unless its the one he’s marrying….
[CNBC]
