The headline boils down to “Really Rich Guy Builds Really Big House.” So you’re right — “boring” — but not for the reason you meant.

Unless you thought he was going to give you all his money and move into the Y, I’m not sure how he’s spitting on anyone.

1. This story was fair game on the day Hank mouthed off. It was fair game the day Jeter responded. So far, so good for the NYT. But then they follow it up with a feature that has no news hook… and write about the man’s garbage cans.

Again: The New York Times followed a baseball player home (in essence if not in fact) and wrote about how many garbage cans they found in front of his house. That’s classless on a “Weekly World News” level.

2. All of Jeter’s Manhattan haunts are where he lives while playing baseball. In building a Tampa home, he’s at least plausibly building the place he wants to live in for the rest of his life. With his new wife. And maybe some kids. Different standard in my opinion.

3. How about a few props for his having built it on a public street and not in the middle of some 1000-acre gated preserve, half a mile behind a guard house? And yes, I know he has a fence going up. Six feet, not sixty. Sheesh.

The reasoning that Jeter earned his money, came by the property legally and is entitled to do as he pleases tends to get one of two receptions from some people: either grudging lip service or outright rejection. But it’s my entire opinion. I will never have a fraction of what Jeter has, materially, and I manage to hold zero resentment over it. There’s a troubling undercurrent of restless, populist spite in this country — if I can’t have something, anyone who does is fair game for attack — and if we can’t roll that back, how about we at least keep it out of my sports pages?

FTW!

Given Jeter’s limited range, I wouldn’t be surprised if he Segways from one side of the mansion to the other.

[25] ITA. No back yard. Seriously?

Alex would have gotten done over if he had built that kind of mansion. Jeter has luck with him.

1) Just wait till the Global Warming melting polar ice cap tides overlap the coast.
2) That mansion looks like something to buy on Facebook’s “Cityville”

In my wildest imagination, if I hit the bazillion dollar lottery, I imagine I’d want a ridiculous pad like this, but when it came time to actually start writing the checks, I can’t imagine going this big unless I added a bunch of very large rooms like basketball courts, gyms, olympic sized swimming pools, bowling alleys, 100 person movie theaters, etc.. Come to think of it, maybe that’s exactly what he did. He can’t easily go out bowling or to a pool or the movies without being ogled so now he has the ability to do those things in his own privacy.

One thing I agree with Emma about is that ARod would take more crap than Jeter’s getting, but only because the ARod backlash is beyond ridiculous.

[19] In the current financial environment, you could definitely argue that it has never been easier to get financing (which Jeter may not have even needed), not to mention cheaper to buy/build a home (if you have good credit). Also, with the housing market at all-time lows, future values are likely to only go up. Of course, that also means Jeter could probably have bought an existing mansion for even cheaper, but I’d imagine building a house that size to customization is part of the luxury, which doesn’t make them great investments. If Jeter wanted to sell, he’d have to find a buyer who could afford the home, and unless the location is the driving force behind the purchase, I’d imagine most people with that kind of money might also want to build their own.

Personally, I have no problem with wealthy people spending their money. Aside from donating to effective charities, it’s the best thing they can do. After all, our economy is based on consumption. I am sure all the people who worked on Jeter’s home were ecstatic that someone was building such a large scale project during a very dark period in the local construction market.

Or maybe he’s just having fun with all that money.

[17] mattpat, your line about A-Rod cracked me up. Well done.

If A-Rod did this, he would have inadvertently demolished an orphanage or something to get the land. Because he’s Charlie Brown.

[15] I’m sure Kevin Brown never thought he would either, and look how that turned out.

At least after he’s retired, he won’t be one of those old guys yelling at kids to get off his lawn…