In the wake of the OJ Simpson Robbery/Kidnapping trial verdict, I thought I would recap all of the relatively recent “happenings” around the USC football program:
One of the blogs bay area sports blogs I read (http://sayhey.wordpress.com/) posted this Will Clark video yesterday.
Will was my hero growing up. I played 1st base in little league. I modeled my batting stance after his iconic pre-swing rituals. I even had a life size Will “The Thrill” cutout in my room when I was 13. With the steroid scandals tearing baseball apart from its red stitching, this video reminded of a time when the sport was popular because of the competition, not because of the WWE like Goliaths that play today. Will was the best of the best when the sport was at its best. Here are some interesting stats and great moments related to Will Clark:
Wikipedia Summary:
William Nuschler Clark, Jr. (born March 13, 1964 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a former first baseman in Major League Baseball best known for his play with the San Francisco Giants from 1986 to 1993. He was recognized by his peers as being one of the best clutch players of his time, and possessed a fiery intensity. He earned the nicknames of “Will the Thrill” (a name given to him by his classmates at Jesuit High School in New Orleans, where he played both varsity baseball and varsity basketball) as well as simply “The Thrill”[1] and “The Natural” because of his natural gifts as a player. Clark was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.[2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Clark)
Fun Stats: Middle Name: Nuschler High School: Jesuit (In New Orleans, where my fraternity brother Steve Johnson went) Drafted: 1982- Kansas City Royals in the 4th round (did not sound); 1985- San Francisco Giants in the 2nd pick overall. First Minor League AB: Home Run of Fernando Valenzuela
Games Played in 1988: 162/162 Life Time Batting Ave: .303 Post Season Batting Average: .333
Times in The Top-5 MVP Balloting: 4 timed (2nd- 1989)
First Major League AB: Home Run of Nolan Ryan (All time strike out leader) Career Earnings: $54,221,863 ($60,000 in 1986) Accomplishments: College Hall of Fame Inductee, Member of the 1984 gold medal winning Olympic team, 6-time All Star, 2-time Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, 1989 NL-ALCS MVP
I would say Will’s career highlight was leading the Giants from being a 100 loss team in 1985 to a World Series team in 1989. Check out the iconic series clinching play/celebration in 1989. This might be my new dance move…Both arms up into a full force whole body fist pump:
Will was the total package. Not only was he a perennial all star with the Giants in the late 80′s but check out how good he was great with the media. Notice here in the 1989 NL-MVP post game award ceremony. He stops the interview to thank Chevrolet for being a sponsor. He noted the great play of the other team, specifically his peer at 1st base (Mark Grace). Shit, he even knew what charity he was donating the “Astrovan” he was awarded for his great play.
Here is a video where Will is is featured as part of the renaissance of the Giants:
First of all, if you want to know something about Will Clark collectibles http://www.thrill22.com/ is the place to go. I did some research on the price if “Thrill” collectibles on eBay. Here are some cool things I found:
Will Clark Bobble Head Doll: Average Selling Price: $85.37
Game Used Bat Average Selling Price: $239.86
1987 Topps Rookie Card: Average Selling Price: $10.50
I have a signed copy of this card on my desk at work.
While I don’t remember the details, I believe Will retired from baseball because he has a child with some sort of physical or mental disability. He sited the need to be a family man as his largest priority. While I doubt he is much of a blog reader, Will, if you ever stumble on this page you should know that even if you’ve gained a little weight and do some part time work for the Giant’s division rival (Arizona Diamondbacks), you’ll always be a hero in the bay area…
Here’s the context. I’m a big Cal (Pac 1o) fan. My friend Rommy is a Penn State (Big 10) fan. Here is our text message conversation about the BCS Championship game between Ohio State and Louisiana State :
Rommy: Big 10 football baby!
Ben: Bitch please! There are 3 teams I would pick over OSU and LSU.
Rommy: OK, we’ll see where Cal is next year, after the “restructuring”.
Ben: What does that have to do with what we were talking about?
Ben: By the way, how was the Rose Bowl this year, last year, the year before that, etc…
Rommy: The Rose Bowl is no Armed Forces bowl or whatever shit bowl you went to.
Ben: Ok Penis State playing in a shitty conference and still having a shitty year.
Rommy: 9-4 isn’t as good as 7-6 with a loss to UCLA. You are a proud fan.
Ben: Indiana, Iowa, Iona, Illinois…am I missing anyone? (Yes, I know Iona isn’t in the big 10)
Rommy: Dude, what other teams should have gone to the National Champ? #3 and #4 lost their bowls. The other ones suck. Maybe USC.
Ben: SC, Georgia, WVU. (Maybe even Kansas)
Rommy: WVU lost, didn’t they?
Ben: Beat Oklahoma big.
Rommy: And Georgia was not bigger than LSU
Ben: They are better. Same record but they didn’t get to play in the SEC championship game. (lost head to head tie breaker to Tenn, who Cal man handle, pre-Longshore injury)
Ben: Big 10 football. Giving up 10 point leads because we have good manners. (LSU 17, OSU 10)
Ben: Big 10 football. Here you have the ball…we don’t want it anymore. (interception by LSU)
Rommy: Cal football. We just suck.
Ben: Oh, this is about Cal now?
Rommy: You don’t have a leg to stand on.
Ben: And the big 10 does? Cal is 4-2 in bowl games in the last 6 years.
Ben: Maybe 5-1. (We are actually 4-1 b/c we were being penalized by the NCAA in Tedford’s 1st year)
Rommy: JoePa. More bowl wins than any other coach. (23-10-1 in 41 years…missed about two bowls a decade)
Ben: Big 10 Football. We’re just happy to be here.
Rommy: Cal football. Hugging trees is so fun.
Rommy: Cal football. We lost to Stanford. (Cal strength of schedule #23, Penn State #65 according to team rankings.com)
Ben: Big 10 Football. Stanford would be a bowl team if they played here.
Rommy: Big 10 football. Ten bowl eligible teams.
Ben: Big 10 football. WE HAVE 11 TEAMS AND ARE CALLED THE BIG 10!
Rommy: Cal Football. We finished in the bottom three of our conference.
Ben: Cal Football. Even out bad year is better than your average.
Rommy: Cal Football. We have no tradition and haven’t been to a Rose Bowl in 50 years.
Ben: Penis State Football. Too old to change our adult diapers, but since our coach sucks, why would we change coaches?
Ben: Penis State Football. At least as goos as your high school team.
Rommy: Penn State. We’ve actually gone undefeated 5 times.
Ben: Haha. Shows how good the Big 10 is. Did you play 5 quarters?
<HALF TIME>
Ben: Even Eddie George said “this is the same game as last year”.
Ben: Wow, just when I was going to give you congrats for forcing a punt… (OSU roughs the punter leading to an LSU score 33-10 now.)
Ben: Big 11 Football. We don’t mind being embarrassed on national television…go ahead…change to subject to Cal.
Rommy: Pac 10 Football. We have one team.
Ben: Big 11 Football. We have no one good.
Rommy: Big 10 Football. We are historically the greatest conference ever.
Ben: Big 11 football. We are the best just ask us…
Ben: But don’t ask the SEC of Pac 10. They always laugh and it hurts our fragile little feelings.
Ben: Congrats. You scored! Now you are only down 2 td’s. (LSU leads by 14 going into the 4th)
My friend Rory told me about a NCAA Football official, that described a personal foul call by saying, “He was giving him the business”. Here’s the clip:
When I watched this on YouTube, the clip below this showed a much older clip with a similar call. It’e even better!
Since you obviously spend too much time surfing the web (well, you are reading this blog aren’t you) here is a list of all of the feeds I have in my MyYahoo homepage. Take a look and let me know if there is anything you think I would find interesting…
Page Name
Feed
Comment
Link
Yahoo Sports Top News
Don’t have to question My Sportsfandum
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/rss.xml
Scoreboard
Cal BB/FB, BU BB, NE Pats, SF Giants, SF 49ers, Bos
Red Sox, Golden State Warriors
I just realized you can’t see the links to the actual feeds. If you click on the lists, you will be able to see my comments and URL’s to get the same feeds I have.
This game was so boring, I played Rock Band and slept for 3 quarters and still saw all of the scoring. I’ve been bashing the BCS all week long and, even thought this is the closest, it may be the biggest snoozer of them all. Even with out a playoff, here’s how the matchups should have gone (assuming the championship game is predetermined):
So with college football being over (see my last blog about every BCS game being a 40 point beat down) every good football fan needs some way to spend their free time. Here are some links to the most infamous coaching rants ever:
“Playoffs?!?” by Jim Mora (Indianapolis Colts-NFL)
Most iconic soundbite ever. Everytime someone says the word “playoffs” I think of this high pitched rant.
“You Play to Win the Game” by Herman Edwards (New York Jets- NFL)
I love the step back and stare. Timing is everything in a good rant.
“Game Face” by Bob Knight (Univ of Indian- NCAA Basketball)
He’s the master. If you think this is amusing there is a montage of Bob’s work on YouTube.
“It’s Division 1 Football” by Dan Hawkins (Univ of Colorado- NCAA Football)
I heard they made t-shirts that said “Colorado ‘It’s Division 1 Football’ Football” at CU.
“Who We Thought They Were” by Dennis Green (Arizona Cardinals- NFL)
Congratulations, you’ve lost your job but won a Coors Light commercial.
“Stupid Ass Questions” by Hal Mcrae (Chicago Cubs- MLB)
This is why therapists get paid.
“I’m a Man” by Mike Gundy (Okahoma State Univ- NCAA Football)
l
Maybe the best pure blowup on the list…other than Hal Mcrae
“You Know What This Is All About?” by Mark Mangino (Univ of Kansas- NCAA Football)
Mark, coach of the year…way to say it like it is.
I couldn’t find Lou Piunella with the Reds or John Cheaney with Temple. Please let me know if you can think of any I missed.
It’s pretty obvious that the BCS didn’t work out very well this year. Seeing that USC destroyed Illinois 49-17 and Hawaii is down by by 600 points to Georgia with 10 minutes to go, I think its safe to say the current system isn’t generating compelling match ups. Jesus, I just saw Colt Brennan picking pieces of brain matter off the Astroturf. If you think setting up good games, not high ratings, should be the key metric the the NCAA considers, you are probably as offended as I am watching this disastrous end to a football season.
Looking forward, we have the ever so exciting “1-loss/I played 9 games in the state of Ohio” Ohio State vs. “yes we lost two games but trust us, we deserve to be here” LSU game. Whoopie!!!
vs.
Here’s a list of things I would rather do than watch these matchups again:
Just fast forward through time.
Clean someone else’s bathroom.
Swim wearing only a meat suit in shark infested water…
Posted by Benjamin Shapiro 
