The Week That Was: Griffey Retires, Wooden Passes (2 Guys Who Did it Right)

Last week was a big week in the sports world and it had nothing to do with what was going on the baseball diamond, NBA Finals, or Stanley Cup Finals. Two All-Time greats in their respective sports left for good: Ken Griffey Jr. from baseball and Coach John Wooden at the age of 99 passed away. The legacies that both left will be talked about generations from now and I would like to take a moment to remember them and thank them.

The age range of those who read Mack is Berning I'm sure dips to the ages that were probably too young to remember Junior in the mid-late 90's. He had a streak of a few years (check out 96-99 http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=griffke02) that arguably was the best stretch in that amount of time by any player in the history of the game. Junior with the Seattle Mariners hit for average, power, stole bases, made ridiculous plays in centerfield, and did this all with a smile and most importantly in an era so tainted by cheaters, did it All-Natural. Speaking of Natural, has there ever been anybody with a smoother swing in baseball than The Kid?

My first memory of Ken Griffey Jr. is similar to that as my first memory of Michael Jordan. I was born in 1987 and have been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. I remember getting my first set of baseball cards in like 1992. My grandma would be buy me a complete set of that years Topps baseball cards and I would spend hours sorting, looking at, and organizing all of my cards. All of them except my Ken Griffey Jr. cards. Those babies were making it to the protective hard plastic cases and going in a special separate shoebox under my bed in a location easy to grab from under my bed. Reason? Well obviously in case of a fire, I could easily reach under my bed and get that precious cargo before I ran out of the house. They always said in fire safety classes in gradeschool, "in the case of a fire, GET OUT of the house AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and DON'T GRAB ANYTHING." Well I've got news for ya Fireman Fred, I'm not getting out without my cards and especially not without my Griffeys!

Coming back to why he was similar to MJ was the fact that he was the FIRST guy whose name I knew in Major League Baseball. He was on the cover of my Sports Illustrated for Kids with a backwards hat blowing a huge bubble and I thought he was the coolest dude in the world. I mean shit, the man, like MJ, had his own Nike Shoe and Super Nintendo game! He was Big-Time baby! Not only was he the most recognizable name in baseball especially to the youth of America, but everybody loved him and wanted to be him. The number 24 to baseball was equivalent to the number 23 in basketball in the 90's.

1999 was the best summer of my life (to this point.) I literally watched/listened to every single Reds game that year. This is before the time of stattracker, gamecasting, and Youtube. You had to watch the games to see what happened. And then, the next day, I always had to watch a full hour of Sportscenter before I got on with my day to make sure that I saw the Reds highlights to see what all of the experts were saying about them. The Reds won 96 games that year (although they did not make the playoffs). The hopes were high for the 2000 season. Dante Bichette was signed, things were good for baseball fans in Cincinnati.

And then came February 12, 2000. It was one of the top 5 days of my life. Jim Bowden and John Allen announced the trade of OF Mike Cameron and P Brett Tomko from the Cincinnati Reds to the Seattle Mariners for Kenneth Griffey Jr.!!!! I cannot put into words how ecstatic I was that day. The best player in baseball came home to Cincinnati by choice to play for his hometown Reds. It was INDESCRIBABLE. UNBELIEVABLE.

Say what you want about his career in the Queen City. What Junior did here for our fans, our economy, and this organization cannot be thanked enough. He brought stardom here. He brought history here. Players don't hit 500 and 600 home runs too often and Griff did both in a Reds jersey. He gave it his all in his time here in Cincy. He came in on pace to break Hank Aarons home run record. He left as a "huge disappointment." I don't look at it like that, I don't look at it like that at all. He hit a string of bad luck and it's just a shame that it had to happen to him, and that many times. The injuries in the 2000's were like clockwork. Just as dominating seasons in the 1990's were clockwork. His combination of power and unbelievable glove in centerfield are something that is quite the rarity in baseball. He will go down as arguably the best all-around player in the history of the game at that postion. And he played here in Cincinnati for almost a decade. Reds fans years from now will look back #30/#3 with what should be only fond memories and a realization of the greatness that manned the outfield here from 2000-2008.


On to the GREAT coach but even BETTER person of John Wooden. Arguably the most dominating coach in the history of sports. I heard Tony Kornheiser say it yesterday, something of the nature of "he did the hardest thing in sports, he won with talent." I sat there for a second and said to myself, "that makes no sense." Then I though about it some more, and realized, it takes a special person to be able to first of all recruit that kind of talent in college sports, but it takes even more magic to get all of those big egos to share the ball, play defense, and win games as a TEAM...and no one did it better than Wooden. His record for NCAA Basketball Championships will never be touched.

I think the most impressive thing about Coach Wooden though has nothing to do with basketball. Sure, what he said probably gained more popularity because he had banners to go with his words, but truly was a wealth of wisdom. In a century of so many changes, good and bad, his words remain true and consistent today and something that I and everyone should live by and think about every day of our lives. I have been meaning to read some of his books. It's unfortunate that it took for him to die for me to actually crack one open, but hey, I'm going to read it and really looking forward to it and I suggest that you do too. I leave you just a few quotes that I really like of his. Feel free to post your favorite Wooden Word of Wisdom. Although he has passed, his legacy in college basketball, American sports, and life in general will live on.

Over and out, Kevin Frey Wannabe....see you in a couple of days for some in-depth World Cup Coverage. Sgo Reds. Sgo Yanks.