When i was a kid, i loved Bo Jackson. He was the first dual-sport athlete and not only did he play 2 sports, he dominated them. In one season he was voted MVP of both the MLB all-star game and the NFL all-star game. Imagine being that good at both sports. He was also the first sport celebrity. The “Bo Knows” campaign preceded all Jordan’s Nike coverage and set the standard for all the mass-marketing we see today. The room i grew up in with had over 30 posters and after Michael Jordan (5 posters) Bo had the most coverage (3).
Given all that, you can imagine my delight when I saw this great article (click here) in the Kansas City Star about Bo. It brought back all the memories. The article filled with great anecdotes. Some of my favorites:
Bo said he was just another guy. He wasn’t some sort of folk hero, like John Henry or Pecos Bill. No, he hurt like other players. He made mistakes like other players. He struck out a lot. He wasn’t forged out of steel, and he couldn’t outrun locomotives, and he couldn’t turn back time by flying around the world and reversing the rotation of the earth.
“I’m just another player, you know?” he said.
Then the game began, Royals vs. Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
First time up, Bo hit a 412-foot homer to center field.
Second time up, Bo smashed a 464-foot opposite-field home run. Longtime Yankees fans said that ball landed in a far-off place where only home runs by Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle from the left side ever reached.
“Colossal,” teammate George Brett would say. “I had to stop and watch.”
Third time up, Yankees manager Stump Merrill walked out to the mound to ask pitcher Andy Hawkins how he intended to get Bo out this time.
“I’ll pitch it outside,” Hawkins said. “It better be way outside,” Merrill replied.
Hawkins threw it way outside. Jackson poked the ball over the right-field fence for his third homer. The New York crowd went bananas.
Some other good little notes in the article are below. Seriously if you knew Bo or you didn’t, you should read this article, he was a total freak
- Bo Jackson’s first major-league home run flew 475 feet.
- July 29, 1988: Bo Jackson was facing Baltimore’s Jeff Ballard. He called timeout and stepped out of the box. He adjusted his batting glove when he realized that the umpire did not actually grant his timeout, and Ballard was throwing the ball. Jackson jumped back into the box, swung that bat and … yeah. He hit a home run.
- July 11, 1989: All-Star Game in Anaheim. Bo Jackson led off with a monstrous 448-foot home run to straightaway center field — it cleared two fences out there. “Unbelievable,” Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn would say. “I got a piece of it,” Bo would say. The next inning, he beat out a double-play grounder by running to first in 3.81 seconds — one of the fastest times ever clocked for a right-handed hitter. He stole second base (becoming only the second player to hit a homer and steal a base in an All-Star Game, with Willie Mays). He scored the game-winning run. He was selected MVP.
As many of you know, i’m a huge Minnesota sports fan. I love the T-Wolves and it’s been frustrating for me to watch their season fall apart this year. Also, there are a lot of rumors about what’s going to happen with Garnett after the season ends. We have a great group of young players – Foye, McCants, Craig Smith – and we could get a lottery pick in the upcoming draft. So, we could have a group of great youngsters or some good young player + KG coming back next year.
I think it’d be a good idea and it would interesting to see how far i go every day and how many calories i’m burning through. Of course the application would have to be running at all times which could crush battery life, but still, it’s a great idea.
married to a pop star (Posh Spice) and frequently models. England’s national team coach has often said that his off-field activities get in the way of his game. In England, they’re not used to this behavior, but in the US it is almost encouraged. The US is a gold-mine for people like Beckham and Posh. I’m sure when he looked closely at his “career” he saw that he’s better off maximizing his celebrity at this point than trying to extend his soccer dreams.
“Keep in mind Brian McBride is playing with titanium plates in his face.” John Harkes discussing McBride’s condition while the states were playing World Cup champion Italy. McBride broke his face in the first game when the US lost a shocker to Poland and then with a lot of grit and heart they tied the eventual champs 1-1.
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I played with Methembe my freshman year at Dartmouth and beyond being one of the nicest guys ever, he was a truly amazing soccer player. Called as “the Mayor” on the field ever since his youth when he tore up the Zimbabwe youth league, he also become known as “Captain Hook” to Chris Pedrick and others who liked to watch. I never forget when Methembe rolled into preseason my freshman year and was marking me on defense. He pretty much dominated my every move and walking off the field one of the players mentioned to me that Methembe was a few days late to preseason because he was playing the World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria and i should be too upset that he crushed me on the field b/c just a few days later he was marking Amochaci and Kanu. Yeah, that’s quite a switch – world cup qualifier to Ivy League preseason. Anyway, i bring all this up b/c i wanted to post the latest of Methembe’s accomplishments in Zimbabwe and with Grass Roots Soccer which is a great program: