Jack’s Blog

After the 2010 regular season, San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy told Barry Zito he was leaving him off the Giants’ World Series roster.  A serious blow to a guy with a mega contract who was scapegoated ever since he put on a Giants’ uniform.

Today he’s going to start Game 1 against the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander.  Maybe he wishes it were 2010 all over again.  No, he doesn’t.  There are fans who would readily admit to that and that exact topic is going to be a blog in the (very) near future.

But, back to today - does anyone think that back in ‘10 Zito was waiting for just this day?  My feeling, having been around world class athletes for decades, is he’s been waiting - and preparing - for just this moment.  Granted, I worked only on the college level (and only in men’s basketball) but at many of my stops there were some brilliant performers in other sports, e.g. Reggie White, Lisa Leslie, Stephen Abas (silver medalist wrestler) and Nick Watney to name just a few. And, because human nature intrigues me, I would closely watch them.

Highly talented, extremely competitive athletes are living for just such a day as Zito is getting today.  When he performed poorly after signing a huge contract, Zito’s internal make up was questioned - in print, on the airways and, of course, in bars.  A large percentage of fans, sportswriters and sportscasters (mostly those who never played beyond high school, maybe even ever) live for those days.  Nearly all in that group are solidly behind him now (the majority will tell you they always have been).  More and more, because “haters” are in vogue, there’s a small group who still criticize him but they pretty much criticize everything and everyone other people admire.

Unless he’s completely defied the odds, the Barry Zito (re)climbing of the success ladder continues today because he worked hard, focused and did what everybody who believed in him told him to do:

“Hang in there.”

College basketball coaches are allowed to evaluate off-campus beginning July 5.  Heading to SoCal for an AAU tournament.  Blog will return Monday.

Following his dominating win in the PGA championship in Philly, golf commentators hailed Nick Watney as most likely the best player from the United States.  Although he went through the tourney’s weekend in near perfect fashion ( a 27 on the back nine Saturday for a course record 62 and a bogey-free final round), he has a serious flaw in his effort to be “the best.”  He’s too good a person.

Nick Watney was a golfer for Fresno State when I was on the basketball staff there.  It was a time when the Bulldogs had some of the premier athletes in the nation.  In addition to Nick, David Carr was the overall number one pick in the NFL draft, Melvin Ely was the highest rated center in the nation (and a lottery pick in the NBA draft) and Stephen Abas was the best wrestler in his weight division, eventually winning an Olympic silver medal.

None were media seekers but Nick was the most reserved.  He was as unassuming a superstar as anyone you’d ever meet.  A great guy, Nick was just somebody who went to class, worked hard in practice and competed at the highest level.  He just wasn’t much interested in anything that would draw attention to himself.  He was a serious, religious young man, similar to his coach and uncle.  Mike Watney was as much a mentor to his nephew as he was a coach and relative, a trait he’s offered to every guy on Fresno State’s golf team - for about the past three decades.

How can all this modesty hurt Nick?  It seems Americans like their heroes to have a nasty or dark side.  Nick’s recently married, polite and soft-spoken.  Not a recipe for today’s superstar.  Instead, he’s a breath of fresh air.  While today’s cynical fans might look at Nick Watney as too boring, it would be better to follow Albert Einstein’s advice:

“Example is not the main thing in influencing others.  It’s the only thing. “

For those readers who frequented this site yesterday, you probably know what my feeling is.  Bad day.  Really bad day.  To watch Nick give away his three-stroke lead - on the very first hole (he double bogeyed & Dustin Johnson birdied to pull into a tie) - might have signaled Nick’s day wasn’t going to end as well as the day prior.  His misery, though, was more drawn out than what his playing partner, D. Johnson, would experience - but that’s another story for a blog on golf’s rules.  Note: That blog won’t be posted by me as I don’t know or pretend to understand some of the rules of that sport.

As I mentioned, to watch Nick unravel was painful, but not to be able to witness it was even worse.  I checked the paper this morning which said TNT’s coverage would start at 8:00am Pacific time, but that CBS’ coverage wouldn’t start until 1:00pm, joining the tournament in progress after a 49ers preseason football game.  Was a preseason football game more exciting and a greater moneymaker than the final round of the PGA?  Evidently.

This is one of those times that personal preference and emotion got the better of me.  Would I have been upset had Nick not been the leader at the start of the day?  Probably, because through the years, I’ve come to appreciate and enjoy golf, especially when it’s played by the best in the world, more than a somewhat meaningless preseason football game.  I have to admit that there was a day when I’d rather a re-run of a football game would excited me more than watching golf.  Maybe it’s called old age, maybe maturity, maybe expanding my interests.

However, I became more frantic after my friend, Peter Sharkey (see 6/15/10 for a blog on Peter’s induction into a local Hall-of-Fame), called me and was giving me stroke-by-stroke commentary.  Somehow, he was getting the tourney on some remote channel that I couldn’t find, although I searched through about 700 channels - have I ever mentioned that I’m technologically-challenged?  Since I had a meeting with one of my artists for C.U.T.E. Baby Gifts at 1:00pm (please go to www.CuteBabyNameGifts.com for information on the best, personalized, unique baby - and toddler - gifts you’ll ever find), I gave up searching and drove off to my meeting.

By the time I returned, Nick was so far out of contention, they weren’t even showing him.  It wasn’t until much later that, while he was still in a first place tie (heading into the par 3 7th hole), there was a disturbance that caused him to block his tee shot - into Lake Michigan.  It was too late to check and even googling didn’t help uncover what occurred.   The questions remain, “Did Nick succumb to the pressure of leading a major for the first time, did the crowd disturbance ruin his day (he triple bogeyed the 7th and bogeyed both the 8th and 9th), or did he simply fall out of the three-day zone he was in?

One thing about sports - especially individual sports like golf - there will be another day and another tournament.  For Nick Watney, at age 29, there will be many, many more.  Some day, he might even look back on yesterday and feel it was the turning point of his career.  As Robert Allen put it:

“The future you see is the future you get.”

File this blog under the category, “local boy makes good.”  After the third round of the U.S. Open at Whistling Straits (WI), former Fresno State golfer, Nick Watney, has a three-stroke lead.  Should he claim his first major, the San Joaquin Valley will receive publicity for something other than being the nation’s number one agricultural region.

Nick is more than just a Bulldog alum; he is, and always has been, a true role model for everyone who’s met, seen or followed him.  Soft-spoken, incredibly talented and a young man whose humility is in inverse proportion to his skill, he has made everyone in the Sacramento area, where he grew up, and the Valley, where he starred, quite proud.  Not only has he grown as a professional, he’s remained grounded - due mainly to his family.  I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting either of his parents, but I am lucky to have been a colleague of his uncle - Fresno State golf coach, Mike Watney.  Even though I’m no longer employed by the university, he and I regularly correspond - although I’m ashamed to admit that as much as I abhor communication through modern technology, it’s more of the email and text variety.

Mike was (and is, as far as I’m concerned) an accomplished golfer in his own right and a sensational coach (in 2007 he was inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall-of-Fame).  Besides having the Bulldogs in contention for a conference championship on an annual basis (he’s coached at FSU for 30 years), he, in one lesson (which I won in a Xmas staff luncheon and he insisted I take advantage of), watched me take two swings and rid me of my 20-year slice with a simple correction to my grip.  Unfortunately, I never won another lesson.  On that, I kid.  Mike offered additional lessons (at no charge), but my game was a lost cause - unlike those he tutors on the golf team.

Mike not only taught his nephew the finer points of the game, as he does the other golfers he’s mentored (several others of whom are on the Tour), but he is as fine a person as there is in college coaching today - regardless of gender or sport.  This message was conveyed loud and clear to Nick, who had the benefit of Mike’s impeccable character and guidance at family functions as well as Bulldog practice sessions.

Superlatives are overused, but I’ll go out on a limb and make the statement that there never will be any negative publicity concerning Nick Watney.  To date, there’s never been a hint of scandal in his career - which happens to be taking place during the Age of the Internet. Save your money if you’re planning on betting against my prediction.

If you believe that good things ought to happen to good people, join me in pulling for Nick Watney to win his first, but not his last, major.  As for what he ought to do to accomplish that, Abraham Lincoln summed it up best:

“I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.”