Sorry I haven’t been posting much today, but I’ve been mesmerized by this amazing photo of Derek Jeter all afternoon.

Remember 1997? Bill Clinton had just begun his second term in office, Titanic was a hit at the box office, and the nation’s five most famous shortstops got together to lay around and pose topless—save for five matching gold chains—for a photo spread in Sports Illustrated. The image appears in a Sports Illustrated photo retrospective called “Derek Jeter: Off the Field.” The set is accompanied by a collection of “tips from SI photographers on how to shoot sports.”

But the tips left me searching for answers on how an aspiring sports photographer might recreate this magnificent tableau: Like, when you’re shooting five baseball players at a time, is one of them necessarily going to end up looking a little creepy—in this case, Rey Ordonez? Do you have to provide the chains, or do they just show up wearing them? What is the correct lens to shoot a shortstop beefcake photo? (A friend is betting on a slight fishbowl). How do you convince these guys that this is a good idea? Finally, how can we bring 1997 back?

At first, the Huffington Post was content to objectify women whose décolletage, nipples, and other breast parts are a main fixture of their work—actresses, models, and reality television stars. Then, it moved on to objectifying female news anchors. With its cache of famous people with boobs running low, the Huffington Post has recently expanded the category of women it’s willing to exploit. This time, it’s chosen women married to baseball players. Or as I like to call them, “normal people whose bodies are none of your business!”

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I don’t think much of Sarah Palin as a feminist, but the Alaska Governor has emerged as an interesting figure in the movement for one reason: she has encouraged conservatives to unwittingly defend women’s rights, and liberals to deny them. This MSNBC clip, featuring the Huffington Post’s Katharine Zaleski and the Washington Times‘ Amanda Carpenter, is a perfect example.
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