Alex Rodriguez had other plans and didn't attend Derek Jeter Day

Last week, when the list of guests for Derek Jeter’s number retirement ceremony was released by the New York Yankees, there was one noticeable omission. Can you guess who was missing from the list?

If you guessed Alex Rodriguez, you’re correct! His name wasn’t on the list, meaning he wouldn’t be attending the Derek Jeter Day festivities. Despite A-Rod’s role on the Yankees during the Jeter years, the relationship between the two isn’t great. In fact, a recent interview between the two of them was so aggressively awkward that it went viral. (And the report that Jeter was hopping mad at having to do an interview with him only fanned the flames of discord.)

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So what would Alex Rodriguez be doing on Derek Jeter Day if he wasn’t going to be celebrating Derek Jeter at Yankee Stadium? Since the ceremony fell on Mother’s Day, A-Rod’s publicist said that he’d be in Miami spending the day with his mother.

But according to TMZ, that’s not what he did. Instead of spending the day with his mother or paying his respects to The Captain, they found Alex Rodriguez taking his girlfriend Jennifer Lopez out to dinner in New York on Sunday evening. And TMZ’s tone about the whole thing was very “HOW DARE HE!!”

But TMZ jumped the gun somewhat, forgetting that airplanes exist and make routine flights between Miami and New York City. Because while A-Rod was caught taking his girlfriend out to dinner on Sunday evening, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t doing something else in another location on Sunday morning.

And, in fact, he was doing something else in another location on Sunday morning. A-Rod’s publicist updated TMZ on Sunday night, showing that A-Rod was true to his word. He spent the morning in Miami celebrating Mother’s Day with his own mother and members of his family. And TMZ could have figured this out by looking at A-Rod’s Instagram, where he posted a picture of his family celebrating Mother’s Day.

And then he flew to New York that evening to take his girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, out to dinner.

Before they got the update from A-Rod’s publicist, TMZ said “…this is a bad look for Alex.” But is it? Granted, they were reacting under the assumption that A-Rod had lied about spending Mother’s Day in Miami, but shouldn’t Alex Rodriguez get to do whatever he wants? He and Jeter don’t seem to have a good relationship anymore, and being there would only be incredibly weird for everyone involved. The awkward conversations, the awkward questions, it would have made the day about the A-Rod/Jeter relationship instead about Jeter himself.

Given all the complications, it was probably a wise decision for A-Rod to not attend Derek Jeter Day. And instead, he decided to do relatively normal things: spend time with his mother and take his girlfriend out to dinner. It’s not like he attended a meeting of the I Hate Derek Jeter Club. But if he had, that would be worth writing home about.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher

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