Jeter traded to the Red Sox for Kevin Millar and five minor leaguers? That’s what I drove into work today listening to i-95. Ah, the joys of radio.

Yes, it was a fake story. The two morning jocks there have done this a couple of times before and up to now I didn’t pay much attention, both to the story and then to the fact that it was a joke. This time, I was riveted, seeing as I’m a lifelong Yankees fan.

At first I had a moment of disbelief, because it wouldn’t make any sense. I mean Jeter is still under a relatively small contract and after spending a whole shit load of money in trades so far this winter it is obvious that this is not a rebuilding year. So that didn’t make much sense, but OK. Maybe if the trade was Jeter-Nomar… that’s almost like the fabled Joe DiMaggio-Ted Williams trade years ago, but for Millar and five minor leaguers?

Then people called in to say that they got calls from their relatives in Boston the night before. This added credibility, obviously, and that’s when it was easier to accept it, that this bizarre twist of fate might be true. That “Nomar to Jeter to [someone at first]” would be heard through the stands at Fenway. That you’d hear “Let’s go Jee-tah” floating down from the seats that sit atop the Monster. And then… you think… how could Steinbrenner do this to us?

And that’s the clincher, right there. If you lived through the Bronx Zoo of the 70’s, you know that he could be that nuts! Rub Georgie the wrong way and your days with the team are numbered. It’s that simple. Look at the conflict with Torre all of the 03 seasons. Joe managed his teams to one of the most successful streaks in recent NYY history – if not recent MLB history – and yet he had to worry about his job this past season, more than once. It was a believable story for a very long stretch of Interstate 95.

The only things that gave them away? One might have been on purpose: as people began to check online and with other news sources – none of the NYC morning shows had this story this morning, which is why I first doubted it – someone left the DJ’s microphones on, so you heard the boys talking about how long they should keep it going. That might have been on purpose, so it’s hard to say. The key giveaway, however, is that their news guy a) kept it out of the news briefs and b) he stayed out of the bit while it was going in. That type of “newsman integrity” was a strong hint against the validity of the story, once the shock factor wore off.

Believable? I thought Steve was joking when he IM’d me to tell me that a plane accidentally crashed into one of the Twin Towers… CT’s current govenor might be impeached soon, due to lying about kickbacks and gifts. One of our mayors was arrested for soliciting sexual favors from under-aged girls via a crack addict prostitute. One of our former presidents once used a comment to ask someone to define what they meant by “is”.

How could you not believe most things you hear on the radio, even if only for a moment?