WaMu made many bad loans to minorities and in particular hispanic "home buyers".

They were known in the business as an easy mark for getting NINJA loans for illegal aliens. Ask anyone.

I do not know you, and so I do not accuse you of anything by making the following comment.

I am reminded of the period when the Valerie Plame/Ambassador Wilson affair (no pun intended) was in the spotlight, and all of a sudden "everybody" seemed to know the identity and operational details of the life of an undercover CIA agent, and had for aeons prior to Robert Novack merely revealing what everyone already knew, so what's the big deal anyways?

Generalizations and hyperbole of this ilk made it possible for the Right Wing Noise Machine to muddy those waters to amazing effect. Thus Scooter Libby is made a martyr, and Fitzpatrick a zealot, and, to quote the great Gil Scott Heron, "all is calm and quiet on the white sand beaches of San Clemente." {link at sig}

Again, I don't know you - I am not accusing you of same. But your phrasing brought back unpleasant associations.

I am not trying to start a flame war here or anything, really.

But I have to say that this statement:

...[Jeter]'s not great. He doesn't give me that same gut-churning feeling that great hitters, even A-Rod, do ...

completely invalidates the rest of your apparently thoughtful and considered comment.

Speaking as a 39 year old who has been rooting for the Red Sox since the days of Yaz, Dewey, Jim Rice, Tiant, et al, I can tell you that never has a guaranteed first ballot hall of famer scared me less than A-Rod at the plate in a big moment. I don't know about the sabremetrics of it, and I am completely unwilling to give up my argument in this instance to mere numbers. If there is a big game on the line in this particular rivalry, there are a number Yankee hitters, all statistically insignificant compared to A-Rod, that I would be borderline terrified of compared to him: Bernie Williams, Jeter, and Matsui are just a couple that come to mind.

In numbers, there is no way that you could argue that any of them are "better" than A-Rod. But almost anyone who has followed this rivalry over the years can tell you that the phrase "gut-churning" has never been applied to fear of an A-Rod at bat.

map maker - that play was against the A's in the AL divisional series, and I completely agree with you. I remember reading a piece by Buster Olney (I think an excerpt from his book) that outlined Jeter's relationship with his teammates. I forget who this comment was from, but it was someone who kind of resented Jeter for playing a more "intuitive" kind of baseball that sometimes violated accepted standards and practices. After watching that play they realized that they had to make peace with the idea that Jeter's instincts were good enough shut him up. Becuase anyone playing by the book would NEVER have made that play, and there probably weren't more than 4 or 5 people who had the baseball instincts to make it.

Jeter's numbers will never accurately reflect the impact that his instincts had in the field. His range to his left has always sucked (I mean really sucked), but his head and his instincts have often made up for that in ways that don't easily find a stat sheet. Overall, I would make him out to be a slightly below- to average fielding shortstop, but he is so valuable as a team leader that it is a wash.

Asinistra - I couldn't agree more with you. When asked about the recent Yankees teams, it was kind of hard to come up with Yankees that I really hated after A-Rod and Giambi (and now Joba). Jeter and Williams and Rivera, but really especially Jeter, play(ed) the game like it should be played, and will be remembered fondly, and with respect, by friend and foe alike. It's been a pleasure to root against him all these years.

My father has been a Yankees fan since the 30's. About 20 years ago he was bumped into first class due to some airline screw up and happened to be seated next to Joe DiMaggio for the 3 hour flight to LA from NYC. Praise be to all that is holy my dad is still alive and healthy - but honestly I think he could have died happy after that day. A few weeks later in the mail DiMaggio sent my dad two beautiful autographed black and white photographs, Joe and Ted Williams, taken on the Yankee Stadium dugout steps during the 1941 season - when Joe had his hitting streak and Teddy Ballgame hit .406. I don't believe that they were ever best friends, but the respect between the two - who are certainly among the greatest of all time by any measure - is palpable in the picture. I think of that picture often, and Joe D's grace and generosity in sending it to my dad, when rooting with malice in my heart against Jeter and the rest of the god damn Yankees.