Jeter criticism breaks internet

Derek Jeter is - at least indirectly - responsible for recent bandwidth problems occurring on the internet.

The traffic slowdowns were first observed on sports-related sites, but quickly became more widespread: Blogger Cathie Pataglia encountered it first hand earlier this week on her personal blog, which she describes as being about “cooking, and my cats”.

“I had just put up a post about my famous meatloaf recipe, and for the first few hours there were the usual comments thanking me for the recipe” Cathie explains “but then somebody mentioned Derek Jeter and this… report or something from Boston”

The report she is referring to is of course the recently publicized study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania analyzing fielding ability among major league baseball players. Researchers looked at every ball put in play from 2002 through 2005 and recorded where each ball went. They then looked at the range of each player in each position and at how effectively the player made decisions about routes and positioning.

The study was first released in Boston, which has added to the backlash over the researchers’ conclusion that Yankees captain Derek Jeter was, in the years studied, the worst fielding shortstop in the MLB.

“Suddenly the comments section started filling up with hundreds of people saying how Derek Jeter has four World Series rings, and how he’s a leader and he can clutch. After an hour my site wouldn’t even load anymore.“