Yankees fans were and are still behind Jeter in general, but at least a few might have worn their Jeter jersey with a fashionable cape covering the number and name on the back the last few days. As Jeter said himself, even he would have booed him.
Oh, and the statsologists came out of the woodwork, didn't they? Just goes to show how overrated he is, right? Don't you know about his OPS and his range factor and his bat-grain ratio? (OK, the last one is made up.)
Here's the deal: Jeter's a winner, and has been since he came up. Sure, he's on a team that's always loaded, but he's not the captain and he's not at the core of the Yankees' latest run of titles, pennants and/or rings because of his OPS. He makes things happen in crunch time like few ballplayers of this era, albeit with more opportunity than anyone around. Pretty much universally considered a class act and a top-flight athlete, Jeter's a name that's going to stand the test of time in Yankees lore.