One day after Alex Rodriguez told the world about his use of performance enhancing drugs, Derek Jeter cited the example of his father to defend sport.
The Yankees shortstop explained how his father, Charles, a drug and alcohol addiction counselor, taught him better.
And to be sure, Jeter is a class act. He says he's clean and always has been clean. Today he said, "a lot of guys went out there and played hard and did things the right way." Jeter is among them.
Unfortunately, baseball needs more players like him, to help defuse what has become a rampaging steroid scandal.
Jeter talked with a media throng today in Tampa about Arod's press conference yesterday. He explained that the players have Alex's back. At some point we need to get back to talking baseball. But for now, we're just following the storyline. And that storyline is about cheats and liars.
Maybe Opening Day will shift our focus. But that's still a long way off.
