Yankees to Give Jeter a Monumental Contract

The Post and the Daily News gave front-page, end-of-the-world treatment Wednesday to the report that the Yankees are about to make shortstop Derek Jeter the highest-paid player in baseball, offering him $118.5 million for seven years. . . .

It was a slow news day. . . .

Page 2 headline in the Daily News: “Beloved doorman steps down after 53 years.” . . .

I think the doorman is bluffing, holding out for $118.5 million. . . .

The size of the Yankee offer to Jeter was surprising considering how angry George Steinbrenner was with General Manager Brian Cashman last winter for losing an arbitration hearing that forced the team to pay Jeter a mere $5 million in 1999. . . .

The Yankee argument before the arbitrator was that Jeter didn’t deserve that much money because he wasn’t a power hitter. . . .

He still isn’t. . . .

But Steinbrenner apparently had an epiphany, deciding that Jeter is The Next Great Yankee and will someday be honored with a center-field plaque alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, et al . . .

Besides, Jeter’s $17 million a year, give or take $100,000, will be a bargain in seven years. . . .

Jeter is not the best shortstop in baseball. Alex Rodriguez is. . . .

But when Rodriguez becomes a free agent after next season, he might become sports’ first $200-million man.

*

Many people quit working to play golf. . . .

Michael Jordan withdrew from the Bob Hope Classic to go to work. . . .

There must be easier ways to get your name circulating again than becoming head of the Washington Wizards’ basketball operations, but you do what you have to do. . . .

The restaurant that Jordan rented his name to in Chicago is about to close and reopen under the name of Sammy Sosa, and Tiger Woods is closing in on Jordan in endorsement deals. . . .

Also, Nike’s sales of Jordan shoes and apparel reportedly dropped off 42% last fall. . . .

Among truly great NBA players, none has had much success in the front office other than Jerry West and Bill Sharman with the Lakers. . . .

Maybe you could add Elgin Baylor under different circumstances. . . .

“I’d love to have a winner--love to--but it’s not easy,” Donald Sterling told the Wall Street Journal last week. “I’m not a dumb person, but I can’t get a handle on this sports business.” . . .

Meantime, Lamar Odom tells ESPN the Magazine: “I’ve never gone through anything like this. I’ll keep smiling, but sometimes inside I feel like frowning.” . . .

On a positive note, he adds: “This thing is bigger than me. I already know that. But I want to be a key to changing it. Maybe I can be two keys.” . . .

Phil Jackson circled Saturday’s game against Portland a long time ago as an important one for the Lakers, but Scottie Pippen doesn’t think his old coach has reason to worry. . . .

“Right now, we’re not good enough to catch the Lakers,” he says. . . .

The Trail Blazers would feel better about themselves if Rasheed Wallace would learn to count to 10 when he gets angry. Instead, he had 16 technicals going into Wednesday night’s game at San Antonio and had been ejected from successive games. . . .

Frustrated with his role as Wallace’s keeper, Pippen went to Coach Mike Dunleavy during a recent game and said, “I can’t control him; you’ve got to control him.”

*

Speaking at the International Sports Summit in New York one year ago, International Olympic Committee vice president Dick Pound of Canada apologized for the still-emerging scandal. . . .

He returned Wednesday and said, “Properly analyzed, the IOC’s response to the crisis of 1999 will go down in the history of the IOC as one of its most positive episodes.” . . .

When you have to ban your members from visiting potential Olympic host cities because you don’t trust them to turn down bribes, I’m not sure how positive that is. . . .

Juan Antonio Samaranch sold enough IOC members on the self-serving myth that he was the only one who could guide them through the scandal. In fact, a number of them, including Pound, would have done more to institute real reforms. . . .

But maybe this isn’t proper analysis.

*

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.