Jim Rice doesn't think today's major leaguers are good role models, as he told the players at the Little League World Series. For the most part, sure, fair assessment. But then what he said was this:

"You see a Manny Ramirez, you see an A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez], you see [Derek] Jeter ... Guys that I played against and with, these guys you're talking about cannot compare," Rice said to Little Leaguers gathered in the cafeteria.

***

"We didn't have the baggy uniforms. We didn't have the dreadlocks," Rice said. "It was a clean game, and now they're setting a bad example for the young guys."

Asked later at a news conference to list current players worthy of the Hall of Fame, Rice suggested Seattle Mariner outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Ken Griffey Jr., and Chicago White Sox slugger Jim Thome.

He said he believes current Hall of Famers who did not cheat don't want players who took performance-enhancing drugs to join them in the Hall.

Flexing the muscles in his right arm, Rice said, "That's all the steroids you need . . . It's called God-given talent."

So where the hell does Jeter come up in all this? PED's? Check for A-Rod and Manny. Baggy uniforms and dreads? Check for Manny. So tell me Jim, how is Derek Jeter setting a poor example for kids? Why are Ichiro, Junior, and Thome on your pedestal?? Perhaps because they are not Yankees? I mean they've played in the same era as DJ, aren't they subject to the same groundless suspicions? I just don't get it. All I know is I would give plenty to make sure my kid grows up to be Derek Jeter.

We always knew Jim Rice was an asshole, but even this took me by surprise.