How about staying healthy for a season? http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bb/1399968 Griffey tired of how hometown is treating him Associated Press CINCINNATI -- Ken Griffey Jr. is tired of how he's being treated in his hometown. The injured Cincinnati Reds outfielder lashed out Monday at the way fans and the media have kept him in the spotlight since he came home in a February 2000 trade with the Seattle Mariners. With Griffey hurt again, some fans are questioning whether the trade was worthwhile. "I get consistently beat up for no reason," Griffey said, sitting in his locker after batting practice. "It's been happening since the very first day I got here, and I'm tired of it. You try to bend over backward to do the right thing, and it just seems to get thrown in my face. "I came here to play baseball. I took less money. I didn't whine or anything, and this is the thanks I get? I don't need that." Griffey tore the patella tendon in his right knee on April 7 and is on the disabled list. There's no target date for his return, which is expected sometime in the next few weeks. Since he agreed to a nine-year, $116.5 million contract to play in his hometown, Griffey has repeatedly bristled at all of the attention he gets. He had been in more of an upbeat mood this season -- until Monday. Part of his anger resulted from a television station poll asking which player should sit the bench when Griffey is able to play again. Griffey was one of the four choices, and 74 percent of the fans picked him. The Reds went on a winning streak and moved into first place in the NL Central after Griffey got hurt, but had lost four in a row heading into Monday's game against Milwaukee. Griffey considered the television poll just another example of how he's mistreated in Cincinnati. "I don't think anybody has even given me a chance to know who I am and my personality," Griffey said. "I'm the person that gets beat up the most -- for what? For no reason." Griffey said he's been treated worse in Cincinnati than he was in Seattle. "It's not even close," he said. "You talking about little New York here?" Asked if he wants to leave Cincinnati, Griffey said, "I just want to play. I just want to get back on the field." Griffey started jogging last week, but has problems when he slows down. "Stopping. That's the problem," he said. "That's the important thing." Dr. Timothy Kremchek said Griffey will run, jump and work on quick starts this week, providing a better idea of when he might be back. "We'll see how he does over the next seven to 10 days," Kremchek said. "He's doing great, but we don't want to rush him." Manager Bob Boone said he's "coveting" the day Griffey can play again. "It's funny when I listen to all the (talk) about how we're going to trade him and the fans think we should ... It's laughable to me," Boone said. "When you go through a stretch like we have, when you're not hitting, having Junior in there makes a huge difference. It's gigantic." Griffey missed much of last season with a torn hamstring and now a month of this season with the bad knee. The injuries and the team's struggles the past two seasons have led talk-show callers to question whether the Reds would be better off without him. "I came here to play and it's like I've been fighting an uphill battle every day," Griffey said. "Am I frustrated about my injury? No, because I know it's going to get better and I'll go out and play. Am I frustrated about people taking shots at me? Yeah. "I'm tired of it. It's been three years now -- not one, not a half-year, not a year and a half. It's been three." He said his wife and children don't come to Cinergy Field very often anymore because of comments they hear. Asked for an example, Griffey said a fan told his wife, '"You can go back to Seattle and take your husband with you.' And that was in the family section, so you can imagine how I felt about that. "I've got to sit here and try to get my family to come see me because they don't like it here because of some of the stuff that's been said to them. That gets old real quick."
That's wrong man, how is he supposed to make himself stay healthy. It's not his fault, this guy works hard to be in good shape and condition and comes back early when his team has no chance of winning because he is a warrior. All the guy is asking is for people to a little understanding. I mean damn, how would you like it if people cussed out your wife and kids because things were going bad at work? Nobody deserves that kind of treatment.
Long story short: Saw him at the airport, my bud asked him for an authograph(without making a scene) and Griffey snatched the pen and paper, scribbled what I guess was his autograph and threw it back at my friend while giving him the biggest go to hell look you can imagine. All and all a great big a$$hole!
NEWSFLASH -- Pro athletes take criticism from fans when they don't perform...and sometimes their wives hear it too!!! NEWSFLASH -- Pro athletes who make more money than anyone else on the team, but underperform, take the brunt of the criticism. Has he been injured?? yes....is that disappointing to Reds' fan...yes...can Griffey help it?? honestly, i don't know how hard he works at keeping himself healthy. But that's not the extent of it...this guy is simply not the player he was in Seattle. He hasn't really even approached that level of play since moving to the NL. That's what has fans most disappointed, no matter how Griffey wants to spin it.
i know, dude. stop b!tching, i have never ever ever ever ever known an athelete that b!tches more than ken griffey jR.... waaahhh im getting death threats...waaahhh ...the fans expectations are too high.....waaaahhh....i dont get payed enough........waaaahhh...the fans are insulting me....waaaahhh waaahh waaahh waahhh yeah i b!tch too..but i dont play for the reds and make multil millions. shut up and just play.....
He does have a point. If he's not smiling they wonder why he's not having fun. If he is smiling they say he's not serious enough. It never seems to end. I need him for my fantasy team tho. Welcome back.
My prediction: The Reds start sucking the day he comes back into the lineup. It's a pattern with him -- don't know why.
I think he is whining a bit too much as well but... 1. People who say things to his family about him directly are assholes. It's one thing to rag on the guy himself, but another thing entirely to take shots at his wife. 2. Money doesn't make you feel better if you feel like ****. Just because he makes a lot of money doesn't mean that his problems have all magically vanished. Sometimes, mo money really does mean mo problems. Griffey needs to suck it up and realize that fans can be ****ty when you don't play well. It is the nature of the game and he should know that. Not being the golden boy anymore means you have to earn it back.
I wonder if he's still mad at espn for showing too many Jim Edmonds highlights? HOnestly, he should have stayed in Seattle. I bet he's burning about the fact that he is no longer the most popular baseball player. I love it.
<B>Probably not since the Mag just named him the best player in baseball.</B> They named KG Jr as the best player in baseball right now?!?! That's ludicrous! As much as I hate Bonds, I'd take him over KGJr without thinking twice. Same with Sosa, Berkman and many many others. That's just nuts.
Damn Manny, you went and butchered a perfectly good cliche! You should just call him a JABRONI and be done with it.
The two parts that crack me up are: "I came here to play baseball. I took less money. I didn't whine or anything, and this is the thanks I get? I don't need that." Followed by this: Since he agreed to a nine-year, $116.5 million contract to play in his hometown, Griffey has repeatedly bristled at all of the attention he gets. He had been in more of an upbeat mood this season -- until Monday. Somebody needs to get a grip on life.
