Anyone who follows sports can appreciate how insufferable professional athletes can be at times. Sometimes they can be obvious punks like Terrell Owens, Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods et al… Other times it’s not so obvious. Sometimes professional athletes can act like punks in ways that mostly go unnoticed. Take Derek Jeter for instance. I know it’s hard to hate on Jeter. After all he is perfect. Always says and does the exact right thing. Except when he doesn’t… The problem is when he doesn’t no one has the guts to call him on it. Not his teammates, not his coaches and definitely not the press or anyone in sports media for that matter.

The most egregious example of Jeter’s sometimes punky behavior occurred on Opening Day of the 2003 season. That was the day that Derek suffered a dislocated shoulder when he tried to go first to third on a Jason Giambi comebacker. Sliding headfirst Jeter ran smack into the shinguard of Ken Huckaby.

Ken Huckaby was a journeyman catcher who had played 12 seasons in the minor leagues. He took a low throw from Carlos Delgado, tried to block the base and apply the tag to Jeter.

Jeter injured would go on the DL and miss 36 games. Huckaby? Huckaby got sent back down to the minor leagues the following month.

In the days following the incident Huckaby was vilified for daring to hurt the Sainted Derek Jeter. Huckaby tried apologizing to Jeter. First on the phone and then face to face. Jeter wouldn’t let Huckaby off the hook. When Huckaby confronted Jeter face to face, Jeter looked right through Huckaby like he wasn’t even there.

What did Huckaby do that was wrong? He was a life long minor leaguer just looking to make a play. Trying to do whatever it took to achieve his dream and play major league baseball. Jeter had it all. The fame, the fortune, all of the perks that come with being the shortstop for the New York Yankees. Instead of understanding what Huckaby was trying to do, Jeter chose to act like a punk.

Huckaby’s major league dream was over. Jeter continues to ring up accolades for the amazing career he has had and rightfully so. If I had to choose one player to start a team with over the last 15 years it would most definitely be him. An amazingly heady player. Clutch to his core.

Still I can’t help but feel that his persona has been very carefully contrived and cultivated. So much so that when he does act like a petulant child, a spoiled brat if you will, the fans don’t even notice.

So Derek Jeter was the inspiration for this blog. A blog where we will call out all the punks in sports whether they are players, coaches, writers or all those other talking heads in sports media. Looking forward to some lively discussion…