Griffey Jr. Almost Got Them in Catch-22

Here’s one sequence that didn’t make ESPN’s Plays of the Week:

Among the reports flying when Cincinnati’s Ken Griffey Jr. took himself out of the starting lineup against the Cardinals last week, was one alleging Junior had called ESPN to complain it was showing too many Jim Edmonds highlights.

Griffey ridiculed it, but ESPN’s Dan Patrick noted Griffey occasionally chats with commentator and former teammate Harold Reynolds.

Said Griffey: “The only conversation I’ve had with Harold is, they show me messing up and they show somebody make a great catch right after me. That’s been going on for years.”

Griffey wound up pinch-hitting against the Cardinals and flying out to Ray Lankford in left field.

Said ESPN’s Kenny Mayne, narrating the replay: “For our sake, it’s a good thing Edmonds didn’t make the catch.”

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Wherever you go, there you are: “For a decade at least, we decided Ken Griffey Jr. was a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky kid,” wrote the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Paul Daugherty. “Look at him. Look at that smile. He wears his hat backward, just like we do. He’s just out there having fun. OK. Fine. Where is that guy?

“I’ve watched Griffey since February. I haven’t seen lucky yet. If Junior is happy, he’s hiding it well.

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Trivia question: How many Dodger pitchers won 20 games in the 1990s?

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Never mind: Jim Rome became famous for calling former Ram quarterback Jim Everett “Chris Evert” until Everett attacked him. Rome then came back after they’d picked up the furniture on the set and vowed to keep “talking smack.”

Now Rome says he’s not actually proud of himself.

“I had a bad night, one that I regret and always will,” he told the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick. “I’d reached a point where I could be proud of what I’d accomplished at such a young age and I was going to be remembered for this?

“I didn’t know he was that angry. He knew that we’d discuss that nickname--some of his teammates called him that, that’s where I got it from. Still, what I did was inexcusable. Maybe it was because I was immature. Regardless, I hated the idea that this was what I was going to be remembered for.”

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New era: After years of lining up behind Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Steve Young at quarterback, the 49ers are starting this season with Jeff Garcia.

“The main way I have to look at it,” Garcia told the Oakland Tribune, “is not to try and step into anybody else’s shoes but try to be myself and do what I’m capable of doing.”

That’s what the Niners are afraid of.

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Trivia answer: One, Ramon Martinez, who went 20-6 in 1990.

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And finally: Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon, asked about coaching after former teammate Clyde Drexler resigned from the University of Houston: “As a player, you get to walk away when the game is over, win or lose. Do you see those coaches? They never stop.”