What's the Big Deal? #2

So I started this "series" a while back and I had a couple of ideas but I haven't exactly followed through by writing about them.

This one is sports-related, from a couple of months ago. So you've probably all heard of Ken Griffey, Jr., one of the greatest baseball players of our time. So anyways, he went back to Seattle to finish his career with the Mariners, the team he started with over 20 years ago.

So the Mariners lost a tight game earlier this year and the manager was asked why Griffey hadn't been available to pinch-hit, and I think the manager sort of dodged the question. Anyways, a story later came out saying that Griffey had gone back to the clubhouse to get a jacket in the middle of game and never came back. And so a couple of players had gone back and found him asleep in a chair in front of his locker. And so that's why he wasn't available to pinch-hit.

And then the whole thing blew up all over the place. Everyone vehemently denied that Griffey had been sleeping during the game. One of the Mariners wanted a piece of whoever had been the team "source" on the story. And the whole team refused to speak with anyone from the Tacoma News-Tribune, which I believe had published or somehow facilitated the story.

I actually thought it was hilarious that "Nap-Gate" caused such an uproar. Let's think about this for a second. First of all, it's baseball. It's not like they were fighting in Iraq or something. Second of all, it's Ken Griffey Jr. If you have over 600 career home runs, you should probably be able to walk around the dugout with no pants on without anyone batting an eye. If he was just a rookie - then there might be a controversy. Finally, he's 40 years old! Some of those games last well past 10 PM - that's late for an old guy.

But anyways, for some reason there were some serious debates going on in the media about this whole episode. I think it's mainly a product of the 24/7 media. If this happened in 1990, I kind of doubt anyone outside of King County ever hears about it.

I guess Junior took the hint, because he has retired from baseball since the controversy.