A Tribute to Ken Griffey Jr.

This entry comes a bit late, but I now, I'm here.

Today, we should all wish Ken Griffey Jr. a Happy Birthday!! Today, he turns 43.

Ken Griffey Jr is a part of my 90s for a very important reason. He is important, not only because of what he represented for the 90s, but for what he represents today. I'm not going to talk that much about statistics. I'm just going to talk about what he represented.

Growing up a displaced Mariners fan living in metro Atlanta, Griffey was like a hero to me. I remember being in class, in the 6th grade specifically. One kid in my class said he liked Mark McGwire better. Naturally, I was going to stick to my gut and claim Ken Griffey Jr my favorite player.

What he represented in the 90s, was a whole era for us 90s kids. There weren't that many Mariners fans across the nations(outside of Seattle), but alot of kids wanted to see THE KID/ He had that sweet swing. He jumped up the walls like Spiderman grabbing would-be home-runs out of the air. The great run from first place to home plate, which would send the Seattle Mariners to the 1995 ALCS. I remember watching him in the 1997 and 1998 home run races, in which he hit 56 home runs in those consecutive years. He was to baseball what Michael Jordan was to basketball. He was a legend in his own time. The 90s home run chased had Griffey, McGwire, and Sosa. 1997-98 made for an interesting time to watch baseball. I was pulling for Griffey the whole way. Each time he hit a home run, there was something inside of me. I was always the little guy. The shortest, the skinniest. Griffey may have been tall(6'3"), but he wasn't at epic size proportions like McGwire and Sosa, something that happened because Sosa and McGwire have used steriods. Watching Griffey hit those home runs, it let me know that you don't have to be the biggest, and that you don't need steroids to hit home runs.

He had his own persona. You could recognize him because he sometimes wore his hat backwards, his smile, the chewing gum.

Being a Black kid who liked baseball, I feel like he made it cool for Black kids to like baseball. That is one thing that I feel will remain a legacy.

Today, this is what he represents. He not only represents an era of 90s baseball. He represents something even better today. He played with his heart. He played the game the right way. He earned 10 Gold Gloves and 7 Silver Sluggers. But this is not just about statistics. This is about how he played. Every home run he hit, he earned it, all 630 of them, placing him in the top 10. He is also the only real home run hitter of the 90s. No steroids. McGwire was on the roids, A-Rod was on the roids. Never found that in Ken Griffey Jr.  All talent. That is what he represents. I will remember him, not only for the home runs, not just for the catches, and running the bases, but how he did it all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ken Griffey Jr.!! We will see you at Cooperstown in 2016.

Bubble Tape, for us, not them.

Does anyone remember the teacher ever telling you not to chew gum in class?

Does anyone remember 1990s  Nickelodeon?

If you do, you will remember Bubble Tape.

Technically, Bubble Tape came out in the late 1980s. However, it was a very popular product in the 1990s, so, it will be included in this blog.

6ft of gum, and not the sugar free kind of gum either. Gum taller than the average child. It wasn't the length of the gum that was so amazing, but what the length meant.

The catchphrase for this gum was "for you, not them". The gum tastes alright, but it wasn't the taste of the gum that was amazing. Bubble Tape is more or less a metaphor for what the 90s meant for kids like me. When you look at the commercial, you see a gym teacher telling us that if he caught anyone with Bubble Tape, they would have to give him push ups. You see the lunch lady telling us Bubble Tape was bad for us.

 It also makes sense that I first saw this commercial on Nickelodeon, the TV network for kids, like I was back then. Bubble Tape was for us kids, not for the adults :P

Bubble Tape represents a metaphor for the preteen youth culture of the early 1990s, a culture specifically geared to the kids, where kids have the final say. It represented sort of a rebellion for us kids, but a quiet one, and a tasty one :)

Rugrat's Episode: The Trial, what irony.

Imagine having a special toy that you love, and then all of a sudden.....CRASH!!! It falls on the ground and breaks. Imagine not knowing who did it.

That basically sums up the episode "The Trial". Tommy's favorite lamp, Mr. Fluffles breaks, basically breaking his heart. Tommy is determined to find out who did it, so guess who comes in.....Angelica Pickles. She would take on the role of the questioning lawyer, dubbing herself the "persecutor". Tommy would be the judge, and some stuffed animals would be the jury.

It would later be found that Angelica broke the lamp, angering Aunt Didi and Betty. Either way, alot of ironies in this. Angelica is the one doing the questioning, and she broke the lamp.  It shouldn't be too much of an irony considering this is Angelica, the bully of this show. I guess the title "persecutor" has a fitting ring to it. Also in this episode, you can find alot of malapropisms. However, the irony is that you find them more with Angelica than anyone else. One of them was "persecutor", which was suppose to be prosecutor. Another one was "jerky".  This was suppose to be jury. An even bigger irony is that the "babies", Phil and Lil, said it right, the jury, not the "jerky". Next, when I watched the episode, I heard the word "gravel", which probably meant "gavel". And the the oath. It is suppose to be "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God"? Angelica said "Do you swear to tell Ruth, all Ruth, and nothing but Ruth so help you Bob"? There were more malapropisms from Angelica than anyone else.

Another irony, Angelica used a word that fit her perfectly, "the persecutor". She persecuted the babies alot.

1992, and 1993 World Series, for Toronto, for Canada.

1992 and 1993 what years for Canada, indeed a time for celebrations.

When many people think of Canada, people have often thought of things like maple syrup and hockey. Alot of people don't think about baseball.

3 years before, the Toronto Blue Jays would play their first baseball game in the SkyDome(now known as the Rogers Centre). 1989 would be a decent season for them. They would win their division for the second time in their  short history. 1992, however, would be an even greater year, not just for the team, but for a city, and a  nation, Canada. 1993 would be even greater.

Enough with the formalities. Lets go on to the 1992. The Toronto Blue Jays not only clinched their division back to back, 1992 would be magic. They would go to the World Series for the very first time. This was not only a first for the Jays, but for Canada.

The Atlanta Braves would take the first game. However, Toronto would strike back, winning three games. If they could win just one more, ONE MORE, the World Championship would belong to them. Well, it didn't come out that way. They would lose game 5 of the World Series.

However, not all was lost. Even if they didn't have the honor of winning at home, not all was lost. The likes of Pat Borders, Joe Carter, Mike Timlin, and David Cone were there. David Cone would take the hill, and for Atlanta, Steve Avery would take the hill. The Blue Jays would strike right away with a line drive from Joe Carter, scoring Devon White.  But then, Deion Sanders of the Atlanta Braves scored a double and later scored off of a sacrifice fly from Terry Pendleton. All was not lost though.A defining moment, Mike Timlin would take the hill in the bottom of the 11th inning. The idea was for Otis Nixon to bunt and get to first.Well, he did bunt, but it didn't work. Otis Nixon was thrown out at first, and the Toronto Blue Jays would win the World Series.

It would be a first, for the Toronto Blue Jays, for Canada, the first international World Series ever. It was a celebration for Canada. But let's not stop there. 1993 would be big moment as well. In the 7th inning of game 6, the Phillies caught up the Blue Jays, leading the game 6 to 5. Then in the bottom of the 9th, the closer up at the hill, Mitch Williams, with his awkward windup. Before hand, Ricky Henderson, a fast man, was walked, followed by Devon White hitting a pop fly, followed by a single from Paul "the Ignitor" Molitor. Up to bat, Joe Carter. A big moment. He would incur a count of 2 balls and 2 strikes. The next swing, the ball went flying to left field, and over the fence. For the second year in a row, the World Series banner would fly in Canada. Joe Carter jubilantly running around the bases, he could not have been happier. Joe Carter became one of two baseball players to hit a home run to win a deciding World Series game.

1992, and 1993 would be a year of change, and for all intents and purposes, what the 1990s were all about. It was a time of breaking the stereotypes. Few people before then ever thought of Canada as being a place where there the World Series banner would fly. It flew over Canada twice. The 1992 and 1993 World Series could be a metaphor for, well, it is hard to describe. Maybe this is a metaphor for things being done that haven't been done before. Until 1992, the World Championship banner never flew over Canada. In 1982, Paul Molitor played in the 1982 World Series for the Milwaukee Brewers, and never got his World Series ring. In 1993, Paul Molitor would get his World Series ring. It was a great victory for Canada. The World Championship banner had always flown in the USA. This time, the championship of an American pastime would fly in Canada.

This is why I am typing this, on the 20th anniversary of the 1992 World Championship.

Turn on the lights: Seattle, rising star of the 90s

Many of my memories of the Seattle are of the early 90s, when I was a young child living there. However, I am not going to talk about the early 90s. I am going to talk about the Seattle of the 90s, the 90s of my youth, our youth, and what made Seattle a rising star of the 90s.

Grunge, Bill Nye The Science Guy, the 1995 ALDS, Windows 95, Mario Batali, Starbucks, Nintendo 64. 1993-1997, some of the greatest times of the 90s decade, was like seeing Seattle become a rising star in the world. I am going to do little tidbits on these things, but a few of these things, I am going to either make more detailed entries on this later on, or I've made entries on it.

Bill Nye The Science Guy started with a former Boeing engineer who would later become the host of this famous science show that so many kids loved. It was produced between 1993-1997. I have a blog entry about this show. Today I've lost respect for him because of his attitudes against Creationism. However, in the 90s, he was very well loved and respected.

Grunge was the newest wave of rock music, with bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana coming out. Music with apathetic and angry youths, crazy electric guitar. I never listened to grunge as a child, but Seattle is the home of the music that was a definitive trend of the 90s.

Ah, the 1995 ALDS. Who can forget Edgar Martinez hitting that double, with Joey Cora and Ken Griffey Jr scoring, with the Kingdome celebrating the night the Seattle Mariners advanced to the ALCS for the very first time, in their very first playoff year. In fact, it wasn't until the 1990s when the Seattle Mariners started to have winning seasons. They would go to the playoffs again in 1997. Not just that, with a player like Ken Griffey Jr jumping over walls to take away home runs from other batters, and blasting home runs all over the place, who wouldn't want to watch the Seattle Mariners of the 1990s?

Windows 95 came out in 1995. The 1990s were an important time for Microsoft, which is headquartered in the Seattle area, in Redmond. Seattle was becoming a major player in the tech industry. With Apple on the decline in the early 90s, Microsoft became a big player. How is this important to Seattle? In the 1960s, Seattle was having issues. Its fortunes were rising and falling with Boeing. A recession came and thousands of workers were given their pink slips. In 1971, two realtors put up a sign that said "Will the Last Person Leaving Seattle, Turn Out the Lights". The economy started to recover later on, and then Microsoft moved to Seattle. The 90s saw fortunes in the tech industry. This was a plus for Seattle.

Mario Batali, a Seattle native, he is famous for being on Iron Chef America. In 1997, he was the host of Molto Mario, one of the greatest cooking shows on Food Network.

Starbucks might have started in Seattle in the 1970s, but the company went international in 1996, with the first international location opening in Tokyo. A Seattle import landing in Japan. Lovely.

Nintendo might have been founded in Japan, but it has an American headquarters in the suburbs of Seattle, specifically Redmond. In 1996, a 64 bit game with 3D came out, Nintendo 64. I remember getting this game. It was like a look to the future. I can't say it came from Seattle, but I think Seattle deserves some credit for this one, having Nintendo  of America headquarters in the Seattle area.

Seattle had a large influence on the 1990s for alot of people. I see a big allegory to come out of all of this. The Seattle Mariners got their first winning season in 1991, a second one in 1993, and made their very first playoff in 1995. With Ken Griffey Jr at the plate, I'm surprised that the Mariners didn't make it to the World Series. Starbucks took off, grunge took off, Nintendo got even better with Nintendo 64, Microsoft came out with a product that integrated MS-DOS and Windows products. Seattle made a big influence on the 1990s. This city that so many people love to hate because of its rainy climate, was one of the biggest players of the 1990s. In many ways, Seattle's odyssey is what the 90s were about. Seattle bucked the trends. It could have become Detroit, but it didn't. Seattle became a symbol of innovation, the innovation so crucial in the 1990s. Seattle, with a first rate science show, the Space Needle, a major software company, in many ways, represented an optimistic look at the future. It turned heads with grunge music. It did its own thing and became a success. It is an unsung hero of the 1990s. Seattle not only turned the lights back on, but it shined brightly.

The Double: What it means for Seattle, The Mariners, and baseball.

Imagine that it's early August. Your baseball team is 13 games behind in the American League West. Your star player has been injured by a freak accident. And then the star player returns, and you fight your way to a playoff spot in the last day, and you win the tie-breaker to clinch the American League West for the very first time. Oh wait.........

That could pretty much surmise the 1995 baseball season for the Seattle Mariners. They started out well, with players like Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr, Jay Buhner, Randy Johnson, Tino Martinez, Joey Cora, and a few others. And then, May 26 came. Ken Griffey Jr.broke his wrist chasing a fly ball by running into the wall at the Kingdome. This was not only a setback for Griffey, it was a setback for the M's. They did what they could to keep it all together. They had Randy Johnson on the hill, and Jay Buhner. However, when Griffey came back in August, it was ON!! It was going to be the big chase. People wondered if they were going to even make the wild card. The M's shot for something better. They came together as a team, made it all the way to the last day, and had a tie with the California Angels. What happened? Luis Sojo hit an inside the park grand slam, Randy Johnson struck out Tim Salmon, and all was celebration at the Kingdome, as the M's clinched the American League West for the first time ever.

Fast forward to October 8, 1995, 17 years ago today. The M's have tied it all up for the American League Division Championship. It was do or die. In the 3rd inning, Joey Cora hits a home run off of David Cone. Then the New York Yankees comes back with a Paul O'Neill home run. The Mariners come back with a broken bat single from Jay Buhner to tie the game. Don Mattingly of the Yankees comes back to break the tie. No one on the Mariners' side would score, UNTIL THE 8th INNING. Up to bat: The Kid, Ken Griffey Jr. What does he do? BLAST OFF!! Deep home run past right field.  This would start a rally. Later in the inning the bases would be loaded for pinched hitter Doug Strange. He gets walked and the game it tied up. The Lou Piniella brings in Randy Johnson for relief, a role he never had in the regular season. The Yankees would score on him. And then the 11th inning came. The definitive moment:

Joey Cora got on base, and then Ken Griffey Jr. Next was Edgar Martinez. He hits a shot down the left field line. Joey Cora would score. Would Ken Griffey Jr score all the way from first base? And the answer is YES!!!! He scores on a very close throw, and the Seattle Mariners advance to the American League Championship. That Sunday night in October was the definitive moment for Seattle, The Seattle Mariners, and for baseball.

Why? Well, you have to understand this. The Seattle Mariners were founded in 1977 along with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mariners never had a winning season until 1991. Many people hated the Kingdome. It was called "Puget Puke", and "the Tomb" for many years. Its brutalist architecture didn't win many fans. In 1994, it was kind of a tragic year. Pieces of the roof in the Kingdome collapsed, and then you had the 1994 strike which ended the season prematurely. No World Series, no postseason. The strike left a bitter taste in the mouths of many fans, who would soon turn their back on the game. The Seattle Mariners were very close to leaving the city. King County(where Seattle is located) voted against a proposal to have a baseball-only stadium built for the Mariners. No one wanted to play in the Kingdome and it appeared that baseball was on its way out of Seattle. When the great playoff run of 1995 came, it brought in more fans, more support, and a boost. It was like a phoenix rising out of the ashes of 1994. The Washington State Legislature approved funding for the now-Safeco Field to be built. It was the hit that saved a franchise, and brought excitement back to baseball.

The 1990s were a turn around for the Seattle Mariners, and for the city. The 1990s in general were an interesting time. So many things came out of Seattle, like Starbucks, Microsoft, and Pearl Jam. Ken Griffey Jr was on his way to becoming one of the most popular baseball players of this era. It seemed like so much was taking place in Seattle.

Michael Jackson, Bine ați venit la București

I'm a bit late getting to this one, but I really feel this should be in the 90s blog.

20 years ago, in October 1992, the Romanian capital, Bucharest, the late Michael Jackson would start the tour for his new album, Dangerous. It was quite a night on October 1, 1992, with sold out crowds at Stadionul Național. Being 6 years old, I never heard of a place called Bucharest. I never heard of Romania until 1996, when I moved to the Atlanta area and met my first Romanian classmate. For me, the Dangerous album was like an album ushering in new change, a new era.

I don't know so much about the concert itself, but this is what the concert means to me, as a person who has a "citizen of the world" outlook on things.

In order to understand what the Dangerous tour means and why I'm mentioning Bucharest, Romania, you have to understand the history of Romania.

At the end of World War II, Romania was occupied by Soviet troops. King Michael I was forced to abdicate. Romania was directly occupied and exploited into the 1950s. When Nicolae Ceausescu took over in 1967, he started gathering ideas from nations like North Korea. He started to emulate the way things were being done North Korea. He had ideas to get rid of the national debt, and the cost of doing so was lack of freedom, and many other horrors. He also wanted to build a palace for himself.  In 1980, he started austerity measures, where nearly everything was set for export. What did this mean? This meant a shortage of resources, and alot of problems. There were food and fuel shortages, people waiting in queues for very little food. Ceausescu also tore down several churches and synagogues to build this palace, now called the Palace of the Parliament. This building is the world's largest civilian building.

What happened for all of this? People freezing, going hungry, and authoritarian government that was essentially a police state. People were living in fear of the Securitate, they were hungry, and cold. And a Bucharest winter  can be brutal. Where did this all lead to?

1989!!  In 1989, former President Reagan told Gorbachev of the USSR "Tear down this wall"!! He was referring to the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall came down, and Communist governments in many parts of Europe were coming down in their own way.

In Romania, Ceausescu was still ruling with an iron fist. He began giving a speech in the city of Timisoara, and the crowds began booing at him and shouting at him.Ceausescu was reaching the end. The revolution began to spread like wildfire. In Bucharest, he gave another speech condemning the revolt. Well, it was too late. People were hungry, cold, and most all ANRGY. Even with Ceausescu ordered troops to shoot at troops, it was too late. Eventually, the army sided with the people, and Nicolae Ceausescu, along with his wife, were executed on Christmas Day 1989.

October 1992, Michael Jackson comes to Bucharest, amidst crowds cheering him on, in a festive mood. Even with the hard times in Romania, Michael Jackson having his concert in Bucharest, in many ways, symbolizes the changes of the 1990s. For Romania, I believe it is like this: After the hard times, Romania was getting something nice, something it deserved. Romania deserved to have good things happen. There was also another symbolism. The Dangerous concert, in my opinion,  symbolized the Iron Curtain coming down, and Eastern Europe entering a new era.

Michael Jackson, Live in Bucharest. To me, this concert is like a metaphor for a new era, a time where things were changing. Michael Jackson's entertainment style was changing, his album had a different style to it. The winds of change were upon the world.

Looking back on the O.J Simpson trial.

I have hesitated to write this. This trial has been one of the most controversial trials ever. It was very divisive in 1995, and it is still very divisive today. I only remember hearing about the Simpson trial en passant. My mother and father mentioned a bit of it. However, in elementary school, I wasn't paying any attention. I was busy being a kid and enjoying the vestiges of a kid's world of the 90s.

It is quite interesting that in the 1990s, you have the push of the multicultural 90s. I remember it from the televisions. I remember some of the shows like Ghostwriter, The Puzzle Place, to name a few. Nickelodeon was into it as well. I loved it. It made me feel like I was wanted, loved, accepted,and it provided a window to a world for which was out of reach without a plane ticket. I will touch on this later.

One of the big divisive factors in the OJ trial was race. For this reason, it is still difficult, if not impossible, to have a civilized discussion about the trial. It is too much of a hot button issue. Race is a hot button issue because of the history of the USA, and even more so, this world. I'm not here to debate whether or not OJ Simpson murdered Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman. I'm here to touch base about what this trial symbolizes in the 1990s.

OJ Simpson was found not guilty on October 3, 1995. There were quite a few people who were not happy about this, as well as people who were happy. Since this is such a racially charged subject, no one wants to talk about it, or when people talk about it, it can turn very ugly very quickly. Being an African-American male, it is very difficult to talk about the trial. I don't know how to feel. Right now, O.J Simpson is locked up for kidnapping. I don't feel any sympathy for him. However, the murder trial is hard to talk about because it is so polarizing. If you are African-American and you think O.J Simpson is guilty, you can count on getting called an Uncle Tom by many African-Americans. I

I feel a big part of this is due to mistrust between Blacks and Whites. Many African-Americans wonder if White people think OJ Simpson is guilty because he was Black and the murder victims were White. There are White people who feel like Blacks sided with OJ Simpson because he is a fellow Black man. It is difficult to have an independent opinion because there is so many trust issues regarding race relations.

Back to the part about the multicultural 90s. I think the message of the multicultural 90s was sort of like a resting place for us kids back in the day. I don't think we really wanted to deal with the baggage the adults were dealing with. Us kids and youths just wanted a place where we wouldn't have to worry about it, away from the divisive factions that have transcended every era.