You Got To Want To

Reading Duque's thoughts on Derek Jeter this AM reminded me about something...   

Several years ago I learned a lesson that, if explained to me as a young man, would have made a major difference in my life. The circumstances don't matter but the lesson was this, "Ya gotta want to."

Essentially, there are things that we use as excuses, in this case, my own sloppy handwriting as a reason not to perform certain tasks. I was informed that I totally had the skills to make clean lines (I did) it was that I didn't want to. (I didn't). From that day on my handwriting became legible.

Why do I bring this up?  Because Derek Jeter is 100% about winning. He wants to. He cares. It is how he measures himself. It doesn't surprise me that the Marlins, under his care, are improving, will continue to improve, and will most likely out perform the NY Yankees into the future.

He wants to. Hal does not. I mean, it's OK if the Yankees get better. From a business standpoint he knows that there is a standard somewhere that he can't fall below.  Because he wants to make money with the Yankees.  He WANTS that. But championships? Excellence? Not that important. That's going to be happenstance, the law of averages.

So will the Yankees do something? Absolutely! Will it improve the team? Well, right now the team has been gutted. We have one great pitcher and a bunch of question marks. We just lost our best player in DJ.  So yes, the team will be improved upon. Money will be spent.  Enough to give them a better than Wild Card shot at the World Series?  Not by design. It's not necessary to get what Hal wants.

Oh, you know who else WANTS to win? Steve Cohen.  Forget the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry. The best one in sports is about to become Marlins/Mets.