500 turns haters into appreciators

[mark_chalifoux]

Sports Gospel- 500 turns haters into appreciators
Mark Chalifoux
June 22nd, 2004

Pokey Reese called him a clubhouse cancer. Dmitri Young said he wouldn’t shake his hand. Some fans called him selfish and lazy and abused his family, one even yelled at his wife, who was sitting in the family section, to "Go back to Seattle and take your (expletive deleted) husband with you."

Talk show hosts torched him daily and the national media wasn’t much better. Slowly fans started coming back, but on a Sunday in St. Louis, a loud and clear boarding call to the Ken Griffey Jr. bandwagon came in the form of a swing of a bat on a 2-2 Matt Morris fastball. Even before the ball landed in the lower deck of Busch Stadium, the lost sheep had found their way back to the flock.


Ken Griffey Jr.’s 500th home run was a great moment for baseball. It was simply spectacular to witness it; the shot, his embrace with his teammates, his congratulatory hug from his dad and kids, the classy fan giving back the ball, and the standing ovation he got from the crowd. The home run meant more to Reds fans than just a great moment in baseball history; however, it was a sign to them that Junior was back. And they are back to Junior.



Junior’s homecoming had been rough prior to this season, mainly due to his run of bad luck, a stretch which could only be equaled by Kenny from South Park. Now Griffey is healthy and on a tear and the fans are back with him. It only makes sense, as Junior is a great role model. He loves the game and plays hard. He is a great family man and cares more about his team than himself.

The last time we heard about a player being a "good guy" in the media, we ended up with an NBA star looking to score some street cred to sell his shoes by going a few rounds with a Colorado hotel "employee." He was then to be hailed as "courageous" for playing in games on the same day as his court dates. And for that player, who shall rename nameless in fairness to Kobe Bryant (whoops), his concern for his team falls only behind his concern for his own stats.

Fortunately, we won’t have to worry about Junior. Ken doesn’t "accidentally" play with a corked bat. His trainer doesn’t give out steroids like it was candy on a Halloween night and Griffey’s bobblehead doesn’t continually tip over due to an extremely large head (no one told Bonds about the side-effects).

Unlike Terrell Owens, who could carry on a discussion about himself with a broom, Junior hates talking about himself. He even offered to defer some of his salary so the Reds could resign Reese and Young, who in turn thanked Griffey by dragging his name through the mud. Junior didn’t even respond to their cheap shots, he merely said, "Who will remember this in 5 years?" I think a better question would be, "who will remember Reese and Young in 5 years?"

I find it hard to believe that it took Cincinnati so long to love Griffey. This is a town whose greatest sports hero is a scumbag who disgraced his sport and would make Bill Clinton look like an honest guy. This is a town who once celebrated "Bob Huggins Day." Which is understandable though, I mean, what’s not to celebrate about not graduating players, choking in big games, and drinking and driving?



Pete Rose is hailed as a hero. Bob Huggins gets a paid vacation as a reward for his boozing, and Griffey gets booed when he gets injured as a result of playing too hard. Incidents like this make me think I live in Cleveland or Philadelphia, where the average IQ of the fans ranks slightly lower than Jessica Simpson’s.



Fortunately, most of the city is back behind Griffey and Junior said all anyone needs to know about his image is that he works hard on the field and stays out of trouble off of it. In this day and age, that’s an incredible accomplishment in itself. Never mind the fact that Griffey is one of the most talented players to play the game.

Mark Chalifoux is a columnist with SportsFan Magazine. You can reach him at Rockne48@und.com

[JGAC]

Griffey has always been good in my book, and never have I thought bad of him. Congrats to him on the 500th, and that fan was nice of him to return the ball.

He's like Manny in my books, dont know about the hatred though. When we got him, we yelled at him for not running it out on close plays or trying extra hard when fielding, but we've come to love him. Not as as close a similarity but its there.