Walking around New York city this July a few things occurred to me:

1. While a lot of guys – especially ones with African skin – are really beefed up and showing off their muscles, lots of women of all geographical ancestries are well-endowed up front and showing off their assets. Among other thoughts, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these bodies are steroid or implant enhanced. (And, what’s going to happen when the Twiggy / Kate Moss look comes back in fashion?)

2. Perhaps, this whole Alex Rodriguez-will-play-thirdbase is a marketing thing. New York is so huge, it is in a different dimension than other baseball cities. The Yankees will benefit more financially from having more stars selling millions of dollars of their merchandise than they will from winning more games. ARod is a superstar no matter where he plays. He’s the 25 million-a-year man of elite greatness cruising his way to the Hall of Fame. (Bonds and ARod might be the greatest players ever.) Derek Jeter was just an outstanding player – partly because he was such a great hitter – for a shortstop. He became the “Yankee Captain” an honor bestowed upon leaders who lead, at the very least, by example. If Jeter stepped aside to let ARod be the shortstop, he would no longer be in the primadonna (sp?) position. What kind of a leader would he be when the guy playing next to him can out hit him and play the more important position? (Personally, I’d have more respect for the guy selflessly deferring to the superior fielding shortstop by all objective evidence, instead of hoarding the limelight for himself, but apparently my type is not perceived by the Yankees to be your average New York fan type.) Anyway, this way Jeter can continue to have a strong marketing position himself without making as much of a dent into ARod’s status. I did observe more Yankee Rodriguez jerseys than anyone else’s.