Full disclosure: Nobody else in the world loves his job more than your humble narrator. Stories to tell, characters to chronicle and an enviable place to live, evidenced by our cutthroat, post-pandemic housing market.

Ah, but there is a tradeoff to living and working in our cool, but modest corner of the world. No national cachet whatsoever. Example: In the pantheon of sports media types — and to semi-borrow a line from Mad Dog Russo — I'm not a pimple on Michael Kay's fanny.

Which is why my Twitter kerfuffle with Kay the other night left me amused. Always nice to tweak the tweakers.

It began — at least in my neurotic noggin — Monday night when Kay began his on-air comparisons between Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth. Now I admit that it didn't take much for me to get annoyed, what with the Yankees having just been swept at Fenway, where they looked less engaged than Santa on Dec. 26.

I get it. Ohtani does the Ruth thing: hits long homers and wins games as a starting pitcher. It's unique in today's game. But he's done it for basically three months. The Babe didn't get to be The Babe in three months. Thus making my point: Just because something is Ruth-esque doesn't mean it's Ruthian.

The comparisons became incessant, mostly because the Yankees permitted it. Ohtani, looking more comfortable in the box than in his recliner, kept hitting homers. Hence, my tweet: "Whatever the Yankees do, don't dust Ohtani. Don't move him off the plate. Just keep doing the same — so @realMichaelKay can keep comparing him to Babe Ruth. No, really. Don't change a thing."

I admit to wearing a smirk by Wednesday night when the Yankees scored seven runs off Ohtani in the first inning, even without the profoundly fatigued Aaron Judge, who wasn't playing. Next tweet to Kay: "I hope you didn't need grief counseling after 'Babe Ruth' failed to get out of the first tonight." (I know. Oscar Wilde called sarcasm "the lowest form of wit." But we're all good at something.)

Kay, who must have been bored during the ensuing rain delay, countered: "I'm the one comparing him to Babe Ruth? Got it. Absolutely no one who has anything to do with the game has said that. Wow, good catch, Mikey. You nailed it. My bad. Who would ever make that comparison about a pitcher who hits?"

I responded, "Ohtani is only 641 homers behind The Babe."

Kay: "That's your defense, Mike? I think the Babe has some years on him. Geez, come on. If that's all you got, I rest my case. ... I don't think BC is gonna be using that defense in their journalism class. I get you're a Yankee fan, but that doesn't mean you can't appreciate greatness on the other side."

Me: "The Babe did it over years and years. Until Ohtani does that, I'd pump the brakes. But that's just me. Enjoy your work. Hate hyperbole."

And so ended my bout with stardom.

I can't imagine Kay's job is easy. Deal with wacko callers on his talk show, watch the Yankees self destruct every night and then endure the Twitter rantings of some nitwit in Connecticut. People in the business say he's a really nice guy. He probably is. I certainly appreciate his willingness to let callers have their say, unlike others who believe their every syllable comes from a higher order.

But what is it about the sports media — and media today in general — and its proclivity to overstate? Maybe the presentation of facts with proper historical context is too boring to generate attention. Maybe we all want to be first with a proclamation for a cheap I-told-you-so. But it's getting to where the inventor of the mute button ought to be up for the Nobel Prize.

We've reached a point where we can lay every problem in this country at the feet of social media. It produces an alarming number of blatherers and bloviators who, as the great old line goes, don't drink from the fountain of knowledge; they only gargle. Seems to me the media has more of a responsibility to be measured.

In this case, we're talking Babe Ruth. Icon. Hence the term "Ruthian." Shohei Ohtani sure is fun to watch. But he's not The Babe. Not yet. Not for a long time. So can we leave the comparisons for those who gargle?

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro