The other day, Jim Rice was not his customary class act.  Speaking to a group of players before the start of the Little League World Series, he told them not to use today’s MLB players as rolemodels.  He talked about respect for the game, and he talked about attitude, and going out there every day wanting to play.

And then he named names.

He talked about dreadlocks, and clearly that’s Manny Ramirez.  He talked about showing up and mailing it in or deciding not to play at all.  That’s…well, actually that could also be Manny Ramirez.  He said today’s players didn’t compare to some of the guys he played with and against.  And then somehow Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez came up.

Now, love or hate the Yankees, and specifically A-Rod, but they play hard.  The clubhouse culture of the Yankees might be dry, it might not have a lot of soul, but it’s definitely a place where serious players come and take care of their business: day games, night games, every day, week, and month.  Arguing against that’s probably all but impossible, assuming you’re making any sense.  Derek Jeter, meanwhile, has to be the class act of baseball.  He came up with a bunch of players that flamed out (calling Daryll Strawberry!) from partying and drugs.  Sure, he’s been in the tabloids some, but not in recent years.  The man dated Mariah Carey and Scarlett Johanson, and we STILL don’t have any dirt on him.  He calls Joe “Mr. Torre.”

You just don’t say those things about Derek Jeter.  And you sure as heck don’t say such things to a bunch of kids, about anyone.  The only explanation we can come up with is that Rice let the whole Sox-Yanks thing eat his brain entirely.  Most baseball fans are pretty good about this–good enough baseball fans that they recognize good baseball everywhere, even on the opposing team.

He claims he was misquoted, but we’re not really sure how that could happen.  Jeter isn’t sure either, as the end of this article points out.  He said that Jeter and A-Rod–by name, mind you–couldn’t compare to the guys he played with.  He said it, and now he’s backtracking.

The rivalry does a lot of things, and some of them suck–this is one. Just because you’re a Hall of Famer–finally–doesn’t mean you get to say whatever you want, Jim Rice.  Got it?