Coming Around on Junior

I neglected to write about what I saw from Griffey the other day. I must admit, the guy is reeling me back in. Not because I necessarily like him, but it seems like he, and Mike Sweeney, have had what can only be considered a positive impact on the team. Attitude means a lot in sports and evidently those two guys have ensured that the any negative attitude that this Mariners team shows is stomped out completely and immediately.

If the attitude is the only thing that changed about the team and they were still losing, I wouldn’t care at all. But they are winning, so I do care. And it’s cool.

While I like what I see in Griffey, the weirdest thing for me is to see him at the bat about 1.5 times the size as he used to be. His swing is still beautiful and he’s always had an ass on him, but he’s just so unbelievably thick. I only saw snippets of him when he played for Cincy so I never really noticed just how large he got. It’s pretty remarkable. He’s got like a full inch layer of extra thickness all over his body.

Another striking thing about him is the way that he runs. On Jackie Robinson day when he scored from first, he rounded the bases in a very un 1995-like way (of course, that was 14 years ago). Simply put, the guy is 39-years old and runs accordingly. He’s slow. But I will say this, he looks like he’s running smartly so as not to burst his hamstrings or rupture his Achilles. He’s been through enough injuries to know just how far he can push himself before catastrophe ensues. The way that he’s running, it seems abundantly clear that he should spend next to zero amount of time in the outfield. His speed has run away from him and he can no longer catch up to it. That’s fine. Keep being a good guy in the clubhouse and making this team of former losers into winners. If that’s the reason they brought him here (and not for pure sentiment) then I applaud it.

Hated Guys, Adam Morrison, and Ken Griffey Jr.

As I went through the bracket the other day and I got to Duke and North Carolina, it made me think of how much players on their teams are hated. This topic has generated tons of stories in the print, online, radio, and television media. I saw this from The Big Lead (it was linked off of the Dan Patrick Show) this morning and, while interesting, it’s the same type of thing that I’ve seen anywhere else.

What's missing is why the media “wonders” why certain guys were considered the most hated college basketball players in their time. As if it’s a big mystery why people couldn’t stand Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, JJ Redick, Adam Morrison, Jon Scheyer, and Tyler Hansbrough, to name a few. Notice anything similar about them? The Duke thing notwithstanding, they’re all white guys who played significant roles on their teams. (Yes, I realized Hasheem Thabeet is black, hard to miss a 7’3 guy, but he’s not a universally hated guy on the level of the other names above, no one is publishing his cell phone number and calling him).White guys are easy targets for student fans attending games because most of those kids are white. Scan the student section of any school and you’re not going to find a lot of non-white faces. Maybe some Asian kids will be sprinkled in, but you sure won’t see a huge faction of black kids jumping in unison with their faces painted yelling “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” So it makes perfect sense why those guys are targeted. It’s a lot easier for these kids to target opposing players who look like them because they are familiar and there is no downside to it. If they razz Scheyer on the court and call him names, make posters, post his cell phone number and the like, then they’re spirited college kids and create a great college atmosphere. If they treated a guy like Terrance Williams from Louisville the same way, then there’s a pretty good chance that they’d be considered racist. Not that college kids are above being racist, but in a public setting like, say a college basketball game on national TV, they would probably refrain, that and they’re probably scared of him in a way that they’re not scared of guys like Jon Scheyer.

Add the fact that each of those guys, except Morrison, were around for four years and you can see why a fan base would grow to hate them.

Also, I remain baffled as to why draft experts were saying that Morrison was going to be a marketing wonder for whichever franchise drafted him. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now. What exactly, besides his whiteness, is appealing about Morrison? He’s a poster child for athletes suffering from type I diabetes. He is to be commended for being able to function at the highest of levels with this disease. I’ll give him that. But outside of his ability to excel despite having a debilitating disease, it’s my understanding that he’s a real jackass, perhaps he’s mellowed because he’s been humbled and exposed as a pretty substandard NBA player, but when he was in college his aloofness and overall “I’m superior” attitude was well known.

He could play, but he was a jerk. So aside from his preposterous mustache, shaggy hair, anti-establishment, Che Guevera clichéd persona, and whiteness made him such a guarantee to be a marketing machine? If a player is good, makes himself available to fans through the media, and is cool to fans in appearances and charity work he will be a god in whatever town he’s in. There is no question. Many people in US cities are highly provincial and are very protective and sensitive about where they live. If a player shows even the slightest interest or pride in the city that he plays for, he will have fans eating out of his hand. It’s such a simple concept, but many players don’t get it or simply don’t care. Seattle is no different. Ray Allen immediately made an impression with the people of Seattle by taking out an ad in the local newspapers introducing himself to the city and its fans. It was such an easy thing to do and even if he didn’t mean anything that he said, he still had them.

Some guys transcend that though just because they are so damn good it doesn’t matter if they’re jerks. Ken Griffey Jr. is one of those guys. I know nothing about him on a personal level, but I do know how he sounds when he speaks about Seattle. People here love him because of what he meant to the Mariners in the late 80s and all of the 90s. He was widely considered the best player in baseball and he was ours. It was like dating the hottest girl in school and doing anything and everything for her and forgetting about all of those times when she went out on the town and danced with random dudes and didn’t even bother calling you and then not apologizing for her behavior. You forgive all of that because she is so hot and you don’t want to mess that up. Griffey would be extremely cold to the local media; which, by extension, meant that he was extremely cold toward the fans. When he re-signed here in Seattle recently people desperately wanted him to make very overt statements about how much he loves it in Seattle and he owes it to himself and to the fans to return here and retire as a Mariner, all that b.s. He kind of did that, but not as overtly many people wanted him to. Also, when a local sports radio guy, Mike Gastineau, asked him if he feels like Seattle needs some good news because of the Sonics leaving and the terrible season the Seahawks had, and that he could provide that, Griffey distanced himself from the situation dismissively by saying (I’m paraphrasing here), “Hey, I live in Florida, I don’t really follow it.” That was weak, but Griffey doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about the people in Seattle one bit. He cares about the closure this move could mean for him and his career, but he doesn’t care what anydude in Seattle thinks of him, really. He just wants them to cheer for him and praise his every step. I loved Griffey back in the day, because he was a great baseball player, but those days are long gone. I see no need to date him any longer.

Griffey, Kiffin, UW Hoops - Friday, February 27, 2009

Biggest Winner
Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball is my least favorite sport of the big three as I’ve described before, but I do have a soft spot for M’s baseball. I will always follow it and sometimes I’ll even follow it earnestly. I’m not all moist though about this Griffey signing. I loved the guy when he played here and thought he was fantastic. I was very bummed when he left and then really bummed when he kept getting injured during his years in Cincy because he was on pace to break records and stuff. As it is, he’s 5th all time in the HR list and has a shot, albeit a distant one, at 3,000 hits. Remarkable considering he’s missed so much time due to injury. I was pretty against him coming back here, but then when he’s only going to get paid 2M or 4M max, it’s not that big of a deal. They’ve tossed over double that amount to pieces of crap like Weaver, so I changed my stance and am solidly in the it’ll-be-cool-to-see-Griffey-back-in-Seattle camp. He’s a winner because he actually wants to be here, and that can’t be understated.

Biggest Loser
Lane Kiffin, University of Tennessee Football Coach. Is he trying to get fired before he coaches a game? The secondary violations are stupid and meaningless in my opinion. But I just think that the bombastic nature and the way he’s going about things is bound to kill him at some point. He’s being way too much of a braggart especially this early in his career. He hasn’t done a thing to be able to act this way and I’d argue that a coach should never act the way that he’s acting because being a braggart is not a redeeming quality. It’s what insecure dudes do and I guess Lane is insecure. He does have a hot wife though, so good for him on that count. He just better watch his ass because Florida, Georgia, LSU, Alabama, and Auburn are going to steal his lunch money and chase him all the way home if he doesn’t back up what he’s saying.

My Thoughts on UW Hoops
I’m amazed at the goings-on at Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmonson Pavilion. I never thought that Justin Dentmon had this in him. He’s playing so well. I’ve been pissing on him for years and he’s just delivering this now. He looks so fast and is shooting unbelievably well. I don’t know where this has come from but I guess he just grew into his game and became confident over the summer and Isiah Thomas is probably helping out a great deal. If a player has any ability at all and then has confidence, then he’s going to be good. That’s just the way it is. A player with better ability but with shaky confidence will never be good. Anyway, I’m just glad he’s playing well. The team would be completely lost without him.

I’m impressed by Thomas and Overton on a consistent basis. I’m intermittently impressed by Gant, Bryan-Amaning, and Holiday all three of those guys do some really good things, but they also are apt to do some really stupid things. They turn the ball over on dumbass passes especially when they try to feed the post. Whatever, they’re young and they’ll get better. Bryan-Amaning has developed a nasty habit where he misses easy putbacks or 2 ft shots. He needs to knock those down and he probably will next year. He probably should start dunking in traffic also, he is 6'9 afterall. I still don’t know what to think of Pondexter and I suspect I’ll never know, unless he flips some sort of Dentmon-like switch in the offseason. He could be very good, but he’s just not yet. I do love Brockman's effort and heart and his rebounding ability. But I feel for the guy because it’s painfully obvious that he is such a limited player. I’m not just talking about his NBA potential, which is extraordinarily limited, but he gets very exposed, offensively, when he plays against guys that are simply taller than he is. He is a brute on the boards though and plays decent defense, but he should never, ever be counted on to score many buckets. It’s just not his game; luckily they have guys that can do that. He is so good in the open court if he’s got an open lane to the basket. He can rise and flush the ball easily and with authority, but he cannot do it from a standstill and certainly cannot explode in traffic to give himself an easy look at the basket. He may very well lead the league in getting his shot blocked. I think that the team is better off if he just gets defensive rebounds and starts the break and occasionally gets offensive rebounds and kicks it out. I be happy with him taking 5-8 shots a game and that’s it. His value is not on the offensive end. He seems to be realizing that more and more as the season goes on but I’m still a little dubious. He’s going to struggle offensively against USC, ASU, and UofA because Taj Gibson, Jeff Pendergraft, and Jordan Hill will lock him down. He just needs to go get the ball and get it to the playmakers and he and the team will be better for it.

I do believe that they can win games in the tournament, but it just depends on the matchups. I want them to face teams that are guard oriented because I think UW’s guards are superior. If they face a disciplined, plodding team with talent, I think that they might get into trouble i.e. Wisconsin or some other team that plays like Oregon State but is actually good.

Travis Henry
Someone mentioned to me that Travis Henry has multiple children. This was a story that came about about 2 years ago, I think. The fact that Travis Henry has multiple kids isn’t that remarkable. What makes it remarkable is that all of his kids (nine) have different mothers. All nine. If I played fantasy football I would have named my team “Nine By Nine” in his honor. This would be much better if he actually wore the number nine, but I still think that the joke is good nevertheless.