"I've always liked him, but I never got what the fuss was all about."
Area baseball fan Troy Younk doesn't have an opinion about Derek Jeter, and his friends are furious.
"The Captain is a true Yankee, a first-class, first-ballot Hall of Famer," said Blake Glynn, Younk's co-worker and self-proclaimed "biggest Yankee fan in Minnesota." "The fact that Troy doesn't acknowledge this is like spitting on Jeets, as far as I'm concerned. It's disgraceful."
Younk, 44, said that he could go either way on Jeter.
"I don't know, he's a good player, you know," said the Watertown native. "I've always liked him, but I never got what the fuss was all about. Maybe if I was a Yankees fan or lived in New York, I'd think different."
Adam Timm, Younk's college roommate and longtime friend, says that this simply isn't good enough.
"We've had to put up with all this pomp and circumstance about Jeter's retirement," said an agitated Timm. "ESPN won't effing shut up about him, every team is giving him presents when he shows up for his last series, and I'm like, ‘If you played in Milwaukee, no one would give a shit about you. No. One.' Captain, my ass."
Timm made a hand gesture commonly associated with male masturbation before continuing.
"Then I'm watching that last game at Target Field with Troy, and the dude starts applauding when Jeter steps into the box. Can you believe that shit?"
Younk said he wasn't trying to provoke Timm by clapping.
"It was his last game at Target Field. Guy's been playing for almost two decades, seemed like it was okay to recognize it. He's been an alright player, I guess?"
Younk added this isn't the first time he's upset his friends and not known why.
"I watched a couple episodes of Breaking Bad, and I just didn't care for it. I made the mistake of bringing that up at happy hour awhile back, and the guys literally starting throwing peanuts and wet napkins at me. I told them it was okay, but it just didn't do it for me. That just made them angrier. I ended up going home early."