NBA Quiz: Name the top 5 all-time in assists. [Hint: Two are
currently playing.] Answer below.
Johnny Mac”s Sports History / Bo Jackson
Bo might seem like an odd pick for a biography, given his short
stay on the scene, but the beauty of this job is the occasional self-
indulgence. Jackson is a personal favorite of mine, a man of
immense physical talent who blazed across the horizon for a few
years (let us not forget just how popular and ubiquitous Bo was).
Bo suffered an injury unlike any other athlete his age and
actually fought back to play at a professional level. And he
worked long and hard to overcome an obvious stutter, becoming
one of the leading commercial pitchmen of his time.
Later, Bo went back to college and got his degree, fulfilling a
promise made to his mother; and today he actually shuns the
limelight, preferring to work with kids in small groups, away
from the cameras, preaching education and self-reliance.
Born in 1962 in the steel town of Bessemer, Alabama, Jackson
was the eighth of ten children. He was christened Vincent,
named after his mother”s favorite actor, Vince Edwards (Ben
Casey, for the MTV crowd).
A rather rowdy youth, Jackson was described as “wild as a
boarhog,” thus the genesis of “Bo.” You city dwellers might not
appreciate the pig reference, but suffice it to say the wild boar is
not a well-behaved creature. The family was rural poor and
fatherless and Bo did admittedly resort to intimidation of his
fellow students, extorting them for lunch money, which he used
to buy food.
Jackson wasn”t a good student, but he certainly showed
remarkable skill in athletics. His schoolboy records are
legendary in Alabama. While attending McAdory High, he was
twice the state decathlon champion, set state records in the 60
and 100-yard dash, 60 and 110-yard hurdles, and the long jump.
In football, he ran for 1,173 yards his senior year on only 108
carries (10.8 yards a pop), scoring 17 touchdowns.
But it might be baseball where he shined the brightest. Bo hit
.450 as a junior and .447 his senior year. He still co-holds the
national high school record for homers in a single season, 20 in
just 25 games. And as a pitcher he posted a 9-1 record while
stealing 90 bases in 91 attempts for his career. So it was no
surprise that Jackson was drafted in the second round by the
Yankees in 1982, but he spurned them to attend Auburn.
Bo continued his multi-sport dominance at the college level. He
lettered in track his freshman and sophomore years, qualifying
for the NCAA”s in the 60-yard dash, anchored the 4X100 relay
team, and starred in the 100. His personal bests were 6.18 and
10.39 in the 60 and 100, respectively. While that may be a shade
under Olympic caliber, remember this is a 235-pound running
back. Where it counts, in the 40, he was timed in 4.12. Most
185-pound kick returners would kill for that kind of speed.
But baseball remained Jackson”s true love. He started as a
freshman but gave the sport up his sophomore year in order to
run outdoor track. Bo then came back with a passion his junior
year, blossoming into a premier player. In 42 games he batted
.401, swatted 17 homers, drove in 43 and scored 55. For good
measure he hit 6 triples and stole 9 of 10. He then ended up
being drafted, again, this time by the California Angels.but he
opted to stay in school for his senior year.
After completing a grueling football campaign, which we will
chronicle later, Bo was looking forward to the baseball season.
He had played in just 21 games when it was discovered that a
violation of NCAA rules had occurred. The Tampa Bay Bucs,
who had drafted him number one, flew him in for a physical. For
simply accepting the plane ride, Jackson was declared ineligible
for the remainder of the season. He never forgave Tampa Bay
for that, and it surely influenced his decision to forgo their offer.
Bo would have been a sporting star had he just run track and
played some baseball. But it was in football where his talents
brought him legendary status. He was an absolutely fearsome
runner, combining the speed and cutting ability of an O.J.
Simpson with the raw straight-ahead power of a Jim Brown.
Bo started as a freshman at Auburn, gaining 829 yards on 127
carries along with 9 TDs. And he endeared himself to the
Auburn faithful by scoring the winning TD in a 23-22 upset of
hated rival Alabama, the Tigers first triumph over the Tide in a
decade.
Jackson”s sophomore campaign saw the emergence of a star. He
rushed for 1,213 yards on 158 carries (7.7 avg.) with 12 TDs,
becoming a consensus All-SEC and All-America selection. And
he again saved his best for Auburn”s game against Alabama,
ramming it down their throats to the tune of 256 yards; ripping
off TD runs of 69 and 71 yards in the process. It would be his
finest career performance, a season in which he was also the
MVP of the Sugar Bowl as he rushed for 130 against powerful
Michigan.
Bo looked just as good when his junior season began, picking up
96 yards in the opener against Miami. Then in a road game at
Texas, having gained 100 yards on his first 14 carries, Jackson
injured his shoulder on a 53-yard TD burst.
The injury sidelined him for 6 games, effectively ending any
national honor hopes. But he came back to be the MVP of the
Liberty Bowl, scoring 2 TDs in a win over Arkansas. Bo was
ready for a memorable senior campaign.
Healthy and rested, Jackson exploded his last year. He rushed
for 1,786 yards on 278 carries while scoring 17 TDs.
Bo gave us a hint in the opener of what was to come when he
torched Southwestern Louisiana for 290 yards on 23 carries with
4 TDs. And as the season wore on, even injuries couldn”t slow
him down…in fact he played the second half against Georgia and
the entire ”Bama game with two cracked ribs.
Bo was now the leading single season and career rusher at
football-crazed Auburn and he proceeded to garner numerous
post-season honors. In addition to the Heisman, he was voted a
consensus All-America, won the Walter Camp trophy, and was
selected as the Sporting News Player of the Year.
And Bo racked up some impressive school records that year,
tallying eight 100-yard games and four 200-yard efforts. As
mentioned earlier, the Bucs then proceeded to select him with the
overall first pick in the draft, offering him a $7.6 million dollar
deal which would have made him the highest paid rookie in NFL
history.
But Bo, who disliked the Bucs and harbored ambitions to be a
major league ballplayer, turned the deal down. The press was
not kind to him, calling him selfish and spoiled, while waxing on
about his missed opportunity to be a great football player. Bo
paid them no mind, signing with the Kansas City Royals, who
had drafted him in 1986. Remember he missed his entire
sophomore year and most of his senior one, so his baseball skills
were rusty at best.
The Royals sent him directly to Double-A ball, where he spent
all of 53 games before being called up to the big leagues in
September. Folks, this is major league baseball we”re talking
about. It”s a sport which normally requires years of training on
the professional level, where players generally mature late and
raw physical talent needs to be honed.
Bo was the exception. His blend of power and speed was
unprecedented in baseball. He hit 500-foot homers, ran over
catchers and literally climbed outfield walls to make circus
catches. True, he may never have achieved immortal status in
baseball, even if he had remained healthy, but he sure was
exciting for the brief time we could watch him. And Bo
progressed enough to make the All-Star game in 1989, hitting a
gigantic lead off home run off Rick Reuschel to earn MVP
honors. That season would prove to be his best as he hit 32
homers and drove in 105. Granted, Bo also led the league with
172 strikeouts, but he seemed to do everything big.
Along the way, football again beckoned. The Raiders selected
him in the 1987 draft, “wasting” a seventh-round pick on him.
Al Davis knew a good thing when he saw it, so he decided to go
along with Bo, who viewed football as a hobby. Davis offered
Jackson full-time money for basically part-time duty, allowing
Bo to finish the baseball season before joining the Silver and
Black.
Bo loved it.the Bucs had never even considered such an
arrangement. On his 25th birthday in 1987, a month into his new
“hobby,” and with no training camp, Bo lit it up on a Monday
night with a performance for the ages. Against the Seattle
Seahawks, he established a Raiders record in rushing with 221
yards and 3 TDs.
Jackson had two memorable runs that night.the first a record
91-yard burst around left end that ended with Bo running so fast
that he had to run up the tunnel in order to stop.
The second was my personal favorite, although it covered only
two yards. Bo came around the end and was mano-a-mano with
the golden boy of the moment, Brian Bosworth. He absolutely
wiped out the Boz, scoring the touchdown and leaving Bosworth
a quivering heap on the turf. A so-so career in lousy movies
soon beckoned for the over-rated linebacker.
Bo continued his two-sport career, eventually earning Pro Bowl
honors in 1990, making him the first player to earn all-star game
nods in both football and baseball. He never did get to play in
that Pro Bowl though. In a play-off game against the Bengals (I
know, play-offs and Bengals just doesn”t sound right), he
suffered a hip injury while being tackled. No one knew it at the
time, but Bo had just played his last football game.
The injury eventually became avascular necrosis, which is as bad
as it sounds. The cartilage and bone basically disintegrated and
the hip did not respond to treatment. The Royals, in the ususal
mercenary way of pro sports, released the popular Jackson prior
to the ”91 season. The White Sox then picked him up but Bo
could only manage 71 at-bats before the hip took its toll.
In an unprecedented move for a man his age, the doctors
recommended full hip replacement. Bo went along and sat out
the entire 1992 season. Most figured his career was over. Not
Jackson. He worked out feverishly and made a return to the Sox
amid great fanfare in 1993. In typical Bo fashion, his very first
at-bat was a pinch-hit home run against the Yankees” Neal
Heaton.
Jackson only batted 284 times that season, hitting just .232. The
Sox then released him outright. Surely that was the end. And an
offer that emerged from the Angels seemed more publicity than
reality. But Jackson took them up on it, anyway, and had his
best season for batting average, hitting .279 with 13 homers and
43 RBI in just 201 plate appearances. The strike ended the
season prematurely and Bo would never play again. His hip
would need to be replaced a second time and he retired to little
publicity prior to the 1995 season. The “Bo Knows” ads, once
more common than a cold, were pulled by Nike. But at least he
was able to fulfill his promise to his mother, getting his degree
from Auburn in December 1995.
A recent article by Steve Rock of the Kansas City Star finds Bo
in a gym, surrounded by kids. His traveling road show, known
as “Go For It,” has Bo preaching about education, nutrition and
avoiding drugs, all to the backdrop of a laser and light show. Bo
seems to love it. He also has business ventures in health food
companies, as well as a sports management firm, and he seems
completely at peace with himself and his place in sports history.
Good for him.
Bo took some shots over the years, from defensive linemen to
offensive sportswriters. Many believed his two-sport adventure
short-circuited what could have been a Hall of Fame football
career. In the final analysis, though, who cares what they think.
We are all ultimately the keepers of our own talent, answering in
the end to our own ambitions and goals. Bo might not go down
as an all-time great, but for a while there, he was the best. Few
others can make the same claim.
[Sources: Kansas City Star, ESPN Classic, University of
Auburn]
Stuff
–So the other day I mentioned my favorite baseball player not in
the Hall of Fame, Dave Kingman. Well, imagine Kingman
sitting at home watching the Titans-Ravens game when Dan
Dierdorf makes the following comment about the kicking woes
of Titans” kicker Al Del Greco.
“Del Greco is doing for short field goals what Dave Kingman did
for the fly ball.”
Man, what a cheap shot. Sue him, Kong!
–Beware casino goers: Police in Atlantic City recently arrested
two men who had perpetrated some robberies in the casinos.
Typically, one of the guys would intentionally spill water on a
victim while the other grabbed their money. [This fulfills our
“public service” requirement for the month as mandated by the
International Web Site Organization (IWSO).]
–Johnny Mac passed on the announcement of a death in
baseball, that of Forest Pressnell at the age of 94. We mention
Pressnell because he once dressed next to Babe Ruth when Forest
was with the Brooklyn Dodgers (Ruth was Brooklyn”s first base coach
at the time) and pitched in the first night game in Brooklyn”s Ebbets
Field, which just so happened to be Johnny Vander Meer”s second
consecutive no-hitter. For his 5-year career, Pressnell was 32-30
with a 3.80 ERA.
It”s just kind of neat thinking that there are still a few folks alive
who were associated with Ruth, who died more than 52 years
ago.
–Arnie: Hopefully some of you got to catch Arnold Palmer”s
interview Monday night on the Golf Channel. It”s sort of an
annual exclusive that Arnie gives the network he helped to
found.
Of course, Palmer has come under quite a bit of criticism for his
seeming endorsement of an illegal club (according to the
USGA), a new Callaway driver.
It hurts me to say this, but my all-time sports hero still doesn”t
come off very well while defending his position. It”s a serious
lack of judgment, in my mind. But I”ll still be rooting him on in
the Masters. He”s going to win it this year, you know.
–Eddie Griffin: Seton Hall”s basketball team weathered a storm
the other night when they eked out a win against Notre Dame. It
was a great victory considering that The Hall was playing
without freshman superstar, Eddie Griffin.
Griffin, who has been cranking out “double-doubles” almost
every game, showed his age and maturity level after last
Saturday”s 78-66 loss to Georgetown. Ticked off that he didn”t
get the ball enough in the closing minutes of the game, Griffin
took it out on his fellow teammate, point guard Ty Shine, by
punching him in the face in the locker room afterwards.
According to Star-Ledger reporter Steve Politi, Ty”s mother
Barbara said, “I was told after the game when I went to the
locker room that ”Ty will be out in a few minutes, he”s getting
stitched up.””
Mothers love to hear this, you know.
Supposedly, on the way off the court following the contest,
Griffin issued Shine a warning: “Wait until we get into the locker
room.” Shine was sitting in front of his locker when Griffin
smacked him.
Last March, Griffin had been involved in a fight while in high
school back in Philadelphia. For this latest effort he was
suspended just for the Notre Dame game.
Sitting in the locker room afterwards, Griffin, who said he talked
to Shine about the incident, was asked if he had apologized for
what he”d done.
“There is nothing to apologize for,” Griffin said with a shrug.
[Source: Mike Vaccaro / Star-Ledger]
Yes, it would appear that Eddie Griffin is ready for the NBA!
And as for Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker, it”s not like Duke,
is it Tommy?
–But thank God for the NBA”s Karl Malone. Asked to comment
on his lack of votes for the upcoming All-Star game, Malone
responded thusly:
“When I play this game, I don”t play (it) to make friends. But
when I”m off the court, I want to be liked. I want to be
approachable. That”s why I don”t have 100 bodyguards with me,
like some of these guys. I don”t believe in all that. I”m not
bigger than the game.
“I”m not singling out Vince Carter or anybody in particular, but
the thing about the players today is that some feel they are bigger
than the game itself. The marketing machine of the NBA makes
them bigger than the game. In their eyes, (veterans like me) are
old has-beens.”
And asked to comment on the state of the game, Malone referred
to those who have left (like M.J., Bird, Magic) and those who are
about to leave like Ewing, Olajuwon and David Robinson.
“Look at the guys who have left already. There”s a domino
effect. The more veteran guys retire, the less amount of people
come to the games. What is it going to be like in three or four
years?”
Said the New York Times” Mike Wise, ” The Mailman is still
delivering, even if the misguided masses don”t want to open the
envelope and see the truth.”
I”ll put it a little differently, seeing as this is a Web site, not
subject to normal controls.
Today”s NBA sucks!
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/11/64: #1 “There! I”ve Said It
Again” (Bobby Vinton…my man!) #2 “Louie Louie” (The
Kingsmen) #3 “Popsicles And Icicles” (The Murmaids).
*1/11/64 proved to be a real transition week for the American
pop scene. The week of 1/18, The Beatles “I Want To Hold
Your Hand” debuted at #45. The following week it was all the
way up to #3. Then on 2/1, “I Want To.” hit #1. The Beatles
would proceed to occupy the top slot for 14 straight weeks. The
invasion was on.
NBA Quiz Answer: Top 5 in assists (figures entering the 2000-
2001 season) – #1 John Stockton (13,790) #2 Magic Johnson
(10,141) #3 Oscar Robertson (9,887) #4 Isiah Thomas (9,061)
#5 Mark Jackson (8,574).
Next Bar Chat, Friday…wolverines and cougars. Keep the kids
away.
