Ken Griffey Gets Into It with 'Friday Night Lights' Author

Interesting piece of news on coming out of the Queen City today, courtesy of Cincinnati Enquirer beat reporter John Fay's blog, Reds Insider:

Ken Griffey Jr. got into a bit of a confrontation with a writer in the visitors' clubhouse at Wrigley.

Griffey was talking to a Nike rep. Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Light, came up and asked for a few minutes. Bissinger is working on something for the New York Times.

Griffey said he was having a conversation. Bissinger said he only had 20 minutes. Griffey basically said too bad. Bissinger said "you're not worth it" or words to that effect and walked away.

Griffey followed him and said some not so nice things. "You disrespected me," was all I heard clearly.

The whole thing was over in a minute or two.

Fay sides with Griffey on this one, and if this actually went down just like Fay says it did, I have to agree. Big-shot novelist on a tight deadline for the New York Times or not, the players call the shots when it comes to access, especially if they're already in the middle of a conversation.

I don't have a clue what type of piece Bissinger was working on, but I'm willing to guess it had something to do with Griffey being behind the whole "wearing Jackie Robinson's number on Sunday" thing that's snowballed around the league. It'll be interesting to see if this exchange makes it into the article or changes what angle Bissinger takes for the story.

(via The Big Lead)