Jason Jennings, Eddie Griffin, and others
Today I come to you with two different stories. Both of them are sad; however, not for the same reasons. First I start with the announcement that Eddie Griffin, the former Seton Hall, and Houston Rockets player, was identified as the person who lost his life in the collision with a moving train last weekend. The second is Jason Jennings, Baylor Bear, and Houston Astro whose season came to a sudden end yesterday with the announcement that he was having elbow surgery for a torn flexor tendon.
You may be wondering how these two athletes can be brought together, let alone have anything in common, but they do. Both young men were blessed with god-given talent to participate in professional sports; both came to Houston through trades that now look like huge mistakes. Griffin was the 7th pick in the NBA Draft and the Rockets gave up THREE first round picks, one of which turned out to be Richard Jefferson for him. He came here with a record of having problems, and those problems followed him throughout his entire career and the remainder of his life. I will not go into the details, suffice it to say that Eddie's personal demons were his eventual downfall, and may have possibly led to his premature death at the age of 25.
Jennings came to Houston, was touted as the man who would step in behind Roy Oswalt as the #2 starter and be the foundation of the rotation for the next 5 to 10 years. The team gave up our top starting pitching prospect and our starting center fielder who was a good hitter and had speed that the team had not seen since the days of Jose Cruz and Cesar Cedeno. We now find out that Jennings was damaged goods, and that apparently the Rockies did not tell the Astros about his arm problem, nor did Jennings fess up about them himself. I blame the Astros' management for not doing more to find out about the physical health of the player they were trying to get; however, once he got here and started to have problems, Jennings dropped the ball literally by not being honest with himself about his health. The fact that an Astro would hide his health status comes as no surprise. It has become part of the clubhouse environment, starting with Jeff Bagwell, and others including Morgan Ensberg and Brad Lidge.
I realize that these guys are under enormous pressure to play every day considering the amount of money they are getting paid, as well as the pressure to win that is heaped upon them, both by team ownership as well as the fans. However that is no reason to ignore, or try to play through an injury that could cost you your career.
So there you have it. Two players who have Houston ties, and who for one reason or another, had battles with personal pressures and failed to rise above them. The only good news is that one of these two will live on to play again, while the other will slowly fade into oblivion.
Posted by bweldon @ 08/22/07 09:37 AM | Print | Comments (1)
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