The Yankees third baseman became the fastest to the 600 home run plateau, and his accomplishment (are we calling it that?) will probably be one of the fastest forgotten, plus Shaq and Brett Fav-re

SCOTT JACOBS

The nearly two week delay was over.

Finally!

Alex Rodriguez blasted his 600th home run yesterday.  Against Toronto.  In the middle of the day.  In the first inning.

The ball landed in the netting out in center field and faded from view.  Yankee fans stood and cheered.  His teammates who have been with him through so much since his arrival in the Bronx stood at the top of the dugout, witnesses to history.  A-Rod embraced Derek Jeter at home plate in a warm hug and jogged lighty towards the dugout, high-fiving and hugging teammates, a big smile on his face.  Or maybe it was relief.  

600.

And yet in the sport that celebrates milestones like no other, this felt dry.  In New York it was celebrated.  Then again in San Fran so was Barry Bonds way back when.  So what, right?

But elsewhere it just feels like blah.  Like an entertaining movie that started off great, slowed down dramatically halfway through, and by the time it got to the end it just sort of didn’t matter because you didn’t care about the character enough.

That’s A-Rod if you ask me.  Once he admitted to being a former steroid-user in his Texas days, his credibility as a premiere slugger took an irrevocable hit.  600 home runs should matter.  It should be a huge deal.  Instead, it’s just another historic feat reached by a clouded superstar.

So yeah, he’s the youngest and he may one day reach 700 and who knows maybe 800 and beyond.  But in the end it doesn’t matter anymore.  We’ve tired of the home run hoax.  No one wants to see any more smoke and mirrors, so even what’s real is getting caught in the windshield and getting smudged away.

The feeling here is this: 600 should be a big deal, but we’ve gone through this home run trot so many times before, like Brett Favre going through retirements that we’re pretty much sick of it.  It’s just a nice dog doing old tricks.  We want to see a new dog pulling off new tricks.  Steroid free please.

Shaq signs with another contender, immediately becomes media-relevant again

But still not good. Give him whatever stupid nickname you want, the guy is no longer good.  He’s only considered a decent center because that position has lost its relevance in the league.  Shaq brings hype everywhere he goes (which is everywhere lately, but he hasn’t delivered squat in a really long time).  He only stands to get worse these next two years, his health is an issue, his ego always becomes a distraction, and he just takes up space.  His free throw shooting is atrocious, he’s not a game-changer, and he probably makes Rajon Rondo worse.  With Shaq comes the name, but the production is bordering on minuscule.  He might make the Celts worse. Just saying.

Brett Favre retires through a text message than un-retires without committing to anything again

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