fasteddie_21
2006 NM Poker Champ
Where's the excitement for # 600?
Thursday, May 1, 2008, 10:36 AM EST [General]
In the history of baseball only five men have ever hit 600 home runs. Soon, Ken Griffey Jr. will become the sixth.
Of course you know this, because you can't turn around without seeing the live cut-ins of Junior's at-bats, the countdown to history in every newspaper in America and it's impossible to turn on the TV without hearing about Ken Griffey Jr. and his 597 home runs.
Or not.
It's amazing that Ken Griffey Jr.'s quest to become just the fourth clean player in the history of the game to hit 600 home runs isn't being celebrated more.
In the day and age of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and the cloud of the steroid era, Griffey is the one slugger there's never been a doubt about the way he's achieved his status as a future Hall of Famer.
Much of this comes straight from the 800-pound gorilla of sports media, ESPN. While Barry Bonds let ESPN follow him around for his own show and was more than willing to sit in front of their cameras even if it was to be surly and insulting, he was still there. Sammy Sosa, he of the corked bat and Congressional amnesia, was given the hero's treatment on ESPN.
Griffey, on the other hand, has a frosty relationship with the sports media monster. Griffey won't talk to ESPN or its representatives. He's felt betrayed by them at some point and refuses to bow to them as so many other do.
Witness Chad Johnson. Johnson can use ESPN as his own personal informercial, demanding trades and Ginsu knives any time he wants to pick up the phone. If you play well with ESPN, you'll get the coverage you want. Johnson's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is a master of this game. Just ask yourself, if a sit up is done in a driveway and ESPN isn't there to videotape it, does it matter? Don't you wish you had the answer?
Griffey, on the other hand, isn't pressing for a trade or more money. His agent, Brian Goldberg, is more concerned about which charities Griffey can help rather than where the funds for his next child support check are coming from. (Johnson has pictures of his kids in the locker room, Griffey has his kids in the clubhouse)
Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed "Worldwide Leader" is correct in its presumptuous title it's given itself. Unfortunately, so much of the rest of the world has become the Worldwide Follower of ESPN, unable to think for themselves or do not follow in the lead of the shoutfest that has become sports television. He who shouts loudest gets airtime, that's why Chad Johnson is the city's representative in the national sports conscience.
The worst part is that the Cincinnati Reds and the city of Cincinnati aren't celebrating this as they should.
Driving down I-75 the other day to the Reds game, I saw the video billboard and it had an advertisement for Bronson Arroyo -- at that point owner of an 0-2 record and 5.48 ERA -- instead of the Moeller graduate one the cusp of history.
Griffey's chase is on the cover of the media guide and in the media notes daily, but those aren't out there for the common fan.
There's a counter of Griffey's homers at Great American Ball Park, but that's become a fixture there, a background that's grown familiar.
The Reds return home on Monday for three games, there's no media blitz, no signs on the side of buses. I'm hoping to witness history at Great American Ball Park. I'd hope others would as well.
The team has said it will celebrate the feat after the fact, but I'm not buying a ticket to see home run 603, I want to see 600. I don't think I'm alone.
Thursday, May 1, 2008, 10:36 AM EST [General]
In the history of baseball only five men have ever hit 600 home runs. Soon, Ken Griffey Jr. will become the sixth.
Of course you know this, because you can't turn around without seeing the live cut-ins of Junior's at-bats, the countdown to history in every newspaper in America and it's impossible to turn on the TV without hearing about Ken Griffey Jr. and his 597 home runs.
Or not.
It's amazing that Ken Griffey Jr.'s quest to become just the fourth clean player in the history of the game to hit 600 home runs isn't being celebrated more.
In the day and age of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and the cloud of the steroid era, Griffey is the one slugger there's never been a doubt about the way he's achieved his status as a future Hall of Famer.
Much of this comes straight from the 800-pound gorilla of sports media, ESPN. While Barry Bonds let ESPN follow him around for his own show and was more than willing to sit in front of their cameras even if it was to be surly and insulting, he was still there. Sammy Sosa, he of the corked bat and Congressional amnesia, was given the hero's treatment on ESPN.
Griffey, on the other hand, has a frosty relationship with the sports media monster. Griffey won't talk to ESPN or its representatives. He's felt betrayed by them at some point and refuses to bow to them as so many other do.
Witness Chad Johnson. Johnson can use ESPN as his own personal informercial, demanding trades and Ginsu knives any time he wants to pick up the phone. If you play well with ESPN, you'll get the coverage you want. Johnson's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is a master of this game. Just ask yourself, if a sit up is done in a driveway and ESPN isn't there to videotape it, does it matter? Don't you wish you had the answer?
Griffey, on the other hand, isn't pressing for a trade or more money. His agent, Brian Goldberg, is more concerned about which charities Griffey can help rather than where the funds for his next child support check are coming from. (Johnson has pictures of his kids in the locker room, Griffey has his kids in the clubhouse)
Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed "Worldwide Leader" is correct in its presumptuous title it's given itself. Unfortunately, so much of the rest of the world has become the Worldwide Follower of ESPN, unable to think for themselves or do not follow in the lead of the shoutfest that has become sports television. He who shouts loudest gets airtime, that's why Chad Johnson is the city's representative in the national sports conscience.
The worst part is that the Cincinnati Reds and the city of Cincinnati aren't celebrating this as they should.
Driving down I-75 the other day to the Reds game, I saw the video billboard and it had an advertisement for Bronson Arroyo -- at that point owner of an 0-2 record and 5.48 ERA -- instead of the Moeller graduate one the cusp of history.
Griffey's chase is on the cover of the media guide and in the media notes daily, but those aren't out there for the common fan.
There's a counter of Griffey's homers at Great American Ball Park, but that's become a fixture there, a background that's grown familiar.
The Reds return home on Monday for three games, there's no media blitz, no signs on the side of buses. I'm hoping to witness history at Great American Ball Park. I'd hope others would as well.
The team has said it will celebrate the feat after the fact, but I'm not buying a ticket to see home run 603, I want to see 600. I don't think I'm alone.
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