I Think We're Alone Now

The A-Rod/Jeter relationship is one with many layers. In one hand you have a beloved hero. Women want to be with him, men want to be him... and in some cases, they also want to be with him. In the other hand we have the embattled prodigy. A man who refuses to give us a real glimpse into what drives him and what torments him. Until now.

The following is an imagined scene in an imagined film, or better yet, a daytime soap.

Derek and Alex stand in the locker room at the new
Yankee Stadium.  Jeter drops a magazine on the table.
The tension is palpable.

This is a disaster! I brought you in
here to help me run this team, not act
like an a-hole.--

Now wait a minute...








--And confuse me








Derek...








--And here I am for the fifth year
in a row with my professional
reputation at stake--





Hold on!






--Ready to falsify documents to pin
this on Clemens because you need a way
to walk away from this.






I know what I'm doing and I want to be
here; I want to help you win!





Look Alex, I don't care if you have poor
rapport with the fans-- I don't care
if you get a few boos, don't you dare
undermine what I'm trying to do here.





"Undermine?"





I have a gift and with that gift comes
responsibility. And you don't
understand that my career is at a
fragile point--





I'm at a fragile point. I've got
problems--





What problems do you have, Alex,
that you are better off on a poor team
taking meaningless at bats or here in
New York hanging with drug dealers--






Why do you think I do that, Jete?







You can't handle the pressure, the
pressure has gotten to you.



Why do you think I'm hiding? Why drug
dealers? Why don't I trust anybody?
Because the first thing that happened to
me was that I was abandoned by the people
who were supposed to love me the most!





Here we go again, Alex--





--And why do I hang out with my cousin,
a steroid dealer? Because any time the
pressure gets too high, he'll come in
here and put the spike in my arm.
It's called loyalty!







Oh, that's nice--


--And why did you think I could handle it?
I push people away before they have
a chance to leave me. And for 14
years I've been alone because of that.
And if you try to push me away,
it's going to be Seattle all
over again. And I didn't want to let
that happen!

Now don't do that. Don't you do that!
Don't infect me with the idea that
it's ok for you to quit. That it's okay to
be a failure, because it's not okay!
If you're angry at me for being
successful, for being what you could
have been--




--I'm not angry at you--





--Yes you are, Alex. You resent me because
I'm beautiful and successful.
And I'm not going to apologize for any
success that I've had.






--I don't have any anger at you--





Yes you do. You're angry at me for
doing what you could have done. Ask
yourself if you want to feel that
way for the rest of your life, to feel
like a failure.

That's it. That's why I don't come to
the goddamn hitting sessions! Because I
can't stand the look in your eye when you
see me! You think I'm a failure! I
know who I am. I'm proud of who I am.
And all of you, you think I'm some kind
of pity case! You with your hot coeds and
adoring fans following you around.
And your Goddamn Ring!

--Is that what this is about, Alex?
The World Series Ring? Do you want me to
go home and get it for you? Maybe let you
kiss it--


--I don't want to kiss your ring and I
don't give a shit about it! 'Cause I
remember you when!! You and Tino and
Brosius and Bernie. I remember you when
you were homesick and pimply-faced and
didn't know what side of the plate to bat
from!



That's right! You were more talented than
us then and you're more talented than us
now! So don't blame me for how your
life turned out. It's not my fault.



I don't blame you! It's not about
that! It's about me! 'Cause
I'm a good kid! And I've had this
happen to me.  Griffey and...
I can't let you make me feel like a
failure too!





You're already a failure, but you can
change.





If you push me into something, if you
keep riding me--





You're wrong, Alex. I'm where I am
today because I was pushed. And because
I learned to push myself!






I'm not you!  I love you Derek!





A beat. Jeter recoils and look away, something
catches his eye. He turns to look and sees someone
standing in the doorway. It's Tex. His arms are
crossed, a perplexed look on his face.




I can come back.






No, that's fine, Tex. I gotta get
out of here.  Lets go.



There is an awkward moment as Jeter gets his
coat and leaves, without even looking back.
Tex follows Jeter, laughing as gives
a light tap to Jeter's buttocks.

Something changes in Alex.  He turns to a large mirror
in the room. He approaches it.




Well, I'm here now.
(beat)
So, is that our problem? We're afraid of
being abandoned? That was easy.




Look, a lot of that stuff goes back a
long way.  And it's between me and him
and it has nothing to do with you.







Do you want to talk about it?






Old Alex smiles. A beat. Young Alex sees a magazine on
a table.





What's that?







Oh, this is nothing... It-- it's an
article about steroid use.  Alex... I'm sorry
but our name is in it.






Steroids?  But why?  We're the best
there ever was.




Old Alex smiles.





So what's it say?








You want to read it?







No.
(beat)
Have you really experimented with that?






Fourteen years of ball playing you see a
lot of--








--No, have you had any experience with
that?







Yes.  I was young, I was naive...







(frowns)
That sure ain't good.




-- FLASHBACK -- ALEX SITTING AT HIS LOCKER IN SEATTLE
From Alex's P.O.V. we see a man, partially obscured by a
locker. The man turns toward the P.O.V.

                  CUT BACK TO:

YANKEE STADIUM -- PRESENT DAY

(after a pause)
Jeter used to make me walk down to
the park and collect the bats he was
going to bat with. Actually the
worst of the battings was with Paul O'Neill.
He would practice with me, saying
how he wanted to teach me right, so Jeter
wouldn't get angry.  His bats were so heavy--

Old Alex pauses, reflects.  Tears welling up slightly.




Griffey used to just put a fungo, a
corked bat and a wooden bat on the rack and
say "choose."



-- FLASHBACK -- ALEX AT HIS LOCKER IN SEATTLE

A large, calloused hand sets down a fungo next to a corked bat.

                  CUT BACK TO:

YANKEE STADIUM -- PRESENT DAY






Gotta go with the wooden bat there...





I used to go with the corked.








The corked, why?








Cause fuck him, that's why.






A long quiet moment.





Is that why we left the comfort of
Seattle? Is that why we took the juice?







I don't know anything anymore.  I can't
even remember where we got off track.




(beat)

I don't know a lot, Alex. But let me
tell you one thing. All this history,
this shit...

(indicates magazine)

Look here, man.


Old Alex, who had been looking away, looks in the
mirror.




This is not your fault.






(nonchalant)
Oh, I know.









It's not your fault.







(smiles)
I know.








It's not your fault.






I know.










It's not your fault.







(dead serious)
I know.








It's not your fault.








Don't fuck with me.






(inches closer to the mirror,
sits in front of it)

It's not your fault.






(tears start)
I know.








It's not...







(crying hard)
I know, I know...





Alex presses up against the mirror, he sobs like a baby.
After a moment, he brings his arms up and holds himself,
even tighter.
The camera pulls back to see this image.

SCENE

-PSon

*This may have been taken from a movie.