ESPN has a story up that A-Rod has acknowledged that his relationship with Derek Jeter has cooled. Does anyone care? No, really - anyone? Well, in case you did, here's what Alex had to say:

"We were best of friends about 10, 13, 14, years ago, and we still get along well. We have a good working relationship. I cheer very hard for him. He cheers hard for me. And most importantly, we're both trying to win a world championship," Rodriguez said.
...
"The reality is there's been a change in the relationship over 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us," Rodriguez said. "You go from sleeping over at somebody's house five days a week, and now you don't sleep over. It's just not that big of a deal."

During the offseason, former Yankee Darryl Strawberry said Jeter needs to "embrace" Rodriguez. A-Rod said he didn't feel Jeter needed to support him more.

"I'm a big boy. I'm 31 years old now, so I should be able to help myself out there," he said. "I care about what he thinks about me on the field. I think it's important for us to be on the right page. And we are. We're here to win a championship together."

Yes, it's a silly discussion and hardly deserves a bold ESPN headline, but you know what, the answers that A-Rod gives in the article seem surprisingly frank. It's worth a read.

In my mind, Derek and Alex don't have to be best friends - they are who they are at this point in both their careers and their lives and the Yankees depend on both. If they were best buddies, that would be cool but you know what? It should really be a moot issue, especially if both players play to the best of their abilities. Naturally, with the fixation on the Yankees and A-Rod in general, it won't be so expect more and more of these silly little stories to come up in the Year of A-Rod (or as I would hope, the Year of A-Rod's Redemption).

Update: Pete A. has audio from A-Rod's interview so you might want to check that out as well.