Aaron Judge deserves the MVP award, despite - um - the thing.

Today, the perfumed and pruned TV peacocks of MLB will hand out MVP trophies to Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, the greatest players in the game during 2024. 

Surely, Ohtani will celebrate with his entourage, the world champion Dodgers, in a party that should last well into tomorrow morning, via the International Date Line. 

As for Judge, I hope he gets a night off, an evening of joy... respite? 

I hope he takes his family out for dinner, orders a nice plate of clams, or fava beans, or whatever he loves, and conversations stick to Capitals of the World, Actors and Their Roles, and Potent Potables. I hope he gets a private back room, where no fans can see him and, as a result, it never comes up, not once, no mention of it. 

I hope he gets laid. Yeah, Judge deserves a great night, a perfect sunset and a solid night's sleep. He earned this honor. It should be a time of joy, and nobody should mention the, uh... thing.

This should be a time for Judge to reflect upon all that happened in 2024, the many great games, the home runs and not dwell upon - um - you, know, whatever. Nobody needs to go there. 

Everybody, move along, there's nothing to see here. We've all had our moments at the lectern, we've all grabbed the  microphone, we've said our peace, as hurtful as we could be. I think it's time to leave the greatest Yankee player of this millennium - yes, greater than a certain former captain - to enjoy a well deserved award. That means stuffing a cork in it, okay? We don't have to mention it. 

Can you do that? Just once? Do we need to constantly relive, um, certain things? 

Congrats to the Captain. And better luck next year.