Cynical, jaundiced, cavalier. We go through life this generation fixated on the dystopia du jour.
But, beyond the dank atmosphere teeming with vampires, fairy tales gone bad and The Walking Dead, a ray of sunshine sneaks through.
We STILL need heroes and for 20 years, we got one.
It's not just about baseball.
Derek Jeter, through the years of his marvelous career, transcended baseball.
He wasn't the best player to ever take the field. He may well have been the hardest-working, which made him the hero for our age: the guy who just does his job and does it amazingly well, day after day.
Not a slugger, a larger-than-life power hitter. We didn't need one of those. They tend to burn brightly, their strengths and their flaws on brilliant display just long enough to attract our attention, then flame out or fade. A few haven't, but the world was not ready to take that chance.
We needed a steady guy, a team player, a man in control of his emotions, but a man who feels.
And, just when we needed him, we got Jeter.
Handsome, of course. A smile that fills Yankee Stadium.
A consistent hitter, at-bat by at-bat. Singles. Doubles. A few homers when we really needed them. Great plays at shortstop. For 20 years, with all the quick moves, jumps and stretches of that demanding position. A leader, the 11th Captain of the Yankees and the one with the longest tenure.
Living his dream. The dream he discovered at 5-years-old. Shortstop for the New York Yankees.
An old-fashioned dream for a time of free-agents and mega-salaries and contract disputes. Just a dream to PLAY ever day.
An old-fashioned determination for a time when slacker isn't always a derogatory term.
Then, the fairy-tale ending. The game-winning walk-off hit, the steady nuclear family in the seats, the tip-of-the-hat salute from his tiny nephew. All on what would have been the Scooter's 97th birthday.
Almost too perfect?
No, just perfect enough.
Because we do need another hero.
And we got one.
