The newest member of the "I *heart* Jacoby forever" fan club has been inducted. His name is David J. Neal and he writes for the Miami Herald. I like the kid as much as the next sane person (I swear that it's true) but this seems a bit excessive.
Neal named Jacoby as one of the twenty next "cultural touchstone, sporting icons." He had this to say about him:
"Jacoby Ellsbury, MLB, 24--Plus: Sprinter's speed, defensive ability, a great bat to go with heartthrob looks. Minus: Could be a Mark Fidrych one-season wonder."
For God's sake, give him more of an opportunity to completely fall flat on his face than thirty-three games before declaring him to be the next big brand name a la Michael Jordan or Derek Jeter.
Granted, he's already started down that path-he did help design a pair of shoes for Nike and he's got his modeling business on the side-but the baseball season is long and arduous. He's been a bit fragile in the past. It might be a little too early to pop the cork on the champagne and start counting the sponsorship checks.
Just for clarification: It's not that I want Ellsbury to fail. It may seem that way because of how down on the Ellsbury hype that his lovely new agent has set up for him (I have no proof that any of this is on him but I think it's a safe assumption) that I am, but I'm not. I'm also not worried about Ellsbury buying into his hype, he seems like a good guy; well-grounded and polite. I'm worried about the general public/casual fan buying into it. They called him freakin' "baby Jesus in cleats" in the Men's Vogue article. They keep talking about how he hit near .400 in the post season. He's not going to hit near .400 next year. When he doesn't live up to the hype (and he won't because that would be impossible) the casual fan/general public is going to turn on him like a pack of wolves. I worry about him because he seems like such a nice little boy.
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