What do you think?
Rate this book
Generation Griffey: Rankfest: The Ultimate 90s Dude Countdown
If you still wear your hat backwards like Griffey, and you think all the Prime flavors are dumb because Gatorade Citrus Cooler is the best sports drink ever, and you miss Blockbuster and Tower Records, and you destroyed your friends in Street Fighter and GoldenEye and NBA Jam, and you can quote Tommy Boy and Billy Madison and you never missed Stu Scott on SportsCenter, well, my new book, Generation Griffey, is for you. I ranked the 90s things that made your dude childhood legendary. A rankfest, if you will. 90 columns. By me. For you. For US.
What is a rankfest?
It’s a festival of ranking things in book form. Obviously. Also, I made it up. In this case, we’re ranking 90 of our favorite 90s things across 10
Commercials, Comedies & Comedians, College, Television, Sports & Action Movies, Food, Gear, Personalities, Video Games, Athletes
Why ‘Generation Griffey’?
First, it’s a great name. We’ve got alliteration, ‘generation’ and the quintessential athlete from that Ken Griffey Jr… Junior is the perfect person to define the era of late 80s and 90s kids because the apex of his career matches our childhood perfectly. From the day he entered the Mariner’s lineup in 1989 through the next decade, nobody typified 90s style (the backwards hat), 90s swagger (the swing, the smile, the commercials) and 90s coolness (the kicks, the cameos, the crossover stardom) like Griffey.
His reign at the top of the sports/celebrity pyramid (with Jordan) from his rookie year in Seattle to when he joined the Reds in 2000 is the perfect bookend for all of us who grew up around the last decade of the last century.
See, Generation Griffey is a spectacular name for this book.
What Are We Ranking?
Everything. Well, not everything, but the 90 most nostalgic things that make us dudes smile all these years the movies we quoted, the athletes we loved, the cards we collected, the foods we ate, the shows we watched and more. All of it.
How Are We Ranking Things?
Glad you asked. When we’re ranking a list of similar items (movies, athletes, foods, etc…) it’s easy. We create several categories, assign them an objective number based on how we evaluated them in that area and… boom… we’ve got a ranking
However, when it comes to our overall ranking at the end of the book when the things we’re ranking are up against each other but have no common traits (like, let’s say, Hot Pockets, Barry Sanders and Saved By the Bell) then we need a much looser ratings system that can encompass everything without using an actual concrete number.
After careful consideration, these are the three categories I used as my baseline when considering how I rank every 90s
1) Does this thing hold up today?
2) Take You Backness: How much does this take you back? This is perhaps the most important category. When you think of this thing/person, are you instantly transported to the 90s? Do you get that same feeling? Does it put a smile on your face? Do you instinctively nod? If ‘yes’ to all three then we are at peak “take you backness”.
3) Modern Influence & How much did you quote, mimic, copy, or use this thing back in the day AND does this thing still matter in today’s culture? Some things/people had their moment and disappeared; others stand the test of time.
What is a rankfest?
It’s a festival of ranking things in book form. Obviously. Also, I made it up. In this case, we’re ranking 90 of our favorite 90s things across 10
Commercials, Comedies & Comedians, College, Television, Sports & Action Movies, Food, Gear, Personalities, Video Games, Athletes
Why ‘Generation Griffey’?
First, it’s a great name. We’ve got alliteration, ‘generation’ and the quintessential athlete from that Ken Griffey Jr… Junior is the perfect person to define the era of late 80s and 90s kids because the apex of his career matches our childhood perfectly. From the day he entered the Mariner’s lineup in 1989 through the next decade, nobody typified 90s style (the backwards hat), 90s swagger (the swing, the smile, the commercials) and 90s coolness (the kicks, the cameos, the crossover stardom) like Griffey.
His reign at the top of the sports/celebrity pyramid (with Jordan) from his rookie year in Seattle to when he joined the Reds in 2000 is the perfect bookend for all of us who grew up around the last decade of the last century.
See, Generation Griffey is a spectacular name for this book.
What Are We Ranking?
Everything. Well, not everything, but the 90 most nostalgic things that make us dudes smile all these years the movies we quoted, the athletes we loved, the cards we collected, the foods we ate, the shows we watched and more. All of it.
How Are We Ranking Things?
Glad you asked. When we’re ranking a list of similar items (movies, athletes, foods, etc…) it’s easy. We create several categories, assign them an objective number based on how we evaluated them in that area and… boom… we’ve got a ranking
However, when it comes to our overall ranking at the end of the book when the things we’re ranking are up against each other but have no common traits (like, let’s say, Hot Pockets, Barry Sanders and Saved By the Bell) then we need a much looser ratings system that can encompass everything without using an actual concrete number.
After careful consideration, these are the three categories I used as my baseline when considering how I rank every 90s
1) Does this thing hold up today?
2) Take You Backness: How much does this take you back? This is perhaps the most important category. When you think of this thing/person, are you instantly transported to the 90s? Do you get that same feeling? Does it put a smile on your face? Do you instinctively nod? If ‘yes’ to all three then we are at peak “take you backness”.
3) Modern Influence & How much did you quote, mimic, copy, or use this thing back in the day AND does this thing still matter in today’s culture? Some things/people had their moment and disappeared; others stand the test of time.
219 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 29, 2024
4 people want to read
About the author
Jon Finkel
38 books18 followersJon Finkel is the award-winning author of 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, The Life of Dad, Jocks In Chief, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, “Mean” Joe Greene and more. His books have been endorsed by everyone from Mark Cuban and Tony Dungy to Spike Lee, Kevin Durant and Chef Robert Irvine.
He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and has appeared on CBS: This Morning, Good Morning Texas, and hundreds of radio shows, podcasts and streams. Jon was recently profiled in The New Yorker about the awesome community he’s built around his Books & Biceps newsletter. They describe him as “a gym rat’s Reese Witherspoon”.
His upcoming biography, Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage, comes out Spring 2024.
He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and has appeared on CBS: This Morning, Good Morning Texas, and hundreds of radio shows, podcasts and streams. Jon was recently profiled in The New Yorker about the awesome community he’s built around his Books & Biceps newsletter. They describe him as “a gym rat’s Reese Witherspoon”.
His upcoming biography, Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage, comes out Spring 2024.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 6, 2025
Easy read. Counts down 90s sports and pop culture in list form.
December 15, 2024
Great read! Perfect for all 90s dudes and anyone else who wants to immerse themselves in the things that dominated the 90s. Tons of throwbacks & stuff that will make you smile thinking about how dope this decade was.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews