T1B

Notre Dame Needs More Bad Citizens

http://espn.go.com/chicago/ncf/story/_/ ... tizens-win

Notre Dame's recent suspensions of four players could actually be a sign the program is gaining an "edge" that will help it be more successful, Irish radio analyst Allen Pinkett said Wednesday.

Former Notre Dame quarterback Joe Theismann joined "Carmen, Jurko & Harry" to respond to the comments made by Irish radio analyst Allen Pinkett.

"I've always felt like to have a successful team you've got to have a few bad citizens on the team," Pinkett said on WSCR-AM 670. "That's how Ohio State used to win all the time. They would have two or three guys that were criminals and that just adds to the chemistry of the team. I think Notre Dame is growing because maybe they have some guys that are doing something worthy of a suspension which creates edge on the football team.

"You can't have a football team full of choir boys. You get your butt kicked if you've got a team full of choirboys so you've got to have a little bit of edge. But the coach has to be the dictator and the ultimate ruler. Here's my opinion: You don't hand out suspensions unless you know you've got somebody behind that guy that can make plays."

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly suspended starting running back Cierre Wood and backup defensive Justin Utupo two games each for violating team rules. Kelly has also suspended quarterback Tommy Rees and linebacker Carlos Calabrese for the season opener in Dublin against Navy for their roles in a skirmish with police following a party in May.

Pinkett didn't back off his comments when given a chance later in the interview.

"I absolutely meant that," Pinkett said. "The chemistry is so important on a football team. You have to have a couple of bad guys that sort of teeter on that edge to add to the flavor of the guys that are going to always do right because that just adds to the chemistry of the football team. You have to have … you look at the teams that have won in the past, they have always had a couple of criminals."

This is just beautiful.

Need to pair him with that former Miami player who was fired after he wanted to go down to the field and fight the FIU players.

Allen Pinkett is a classmate and a friend ('sup, Zysdale), but I have to disagree with him here, other than team chemistry being important, which is little more than a Marcus Allen-esque statement.

That being said, 17-23 year olds are bound to do a few stupid things. I certainly did some when I was in that age range, but I at least was fortunate in that none of my stupid deeds ever became the stuff of a national news story.

Terry, you've name-dropped so many times now, that the "sup Zysdale" out that you use to get yourself off the douche hook is no longer valid. You'll have to start saying "Sup myself?"

First, I didn't start the thread as a way of saying, "Look at who I know." And fwiw, I do know Pinkett from a more significant connection than merely showing up at some meet and greet he was doing.

I was merely commenting on something said by someone whom I know IRL. It wouldn't be fair to comment without full disclosure. Of course, I haven't exactly made a secret of when I graduated, and anyone who was so inclined could have googled Pinkett and found out that he and I graduated in the same year.

Terry in Crapchester wrote:I was merely commenting on something said by someone whom I know IRL. It wouldn't be fair to comment without full disclosure.

Why not? That full disclosure added nothing of relevance. All you said was that you knew him, and that you disagree with him. You didn't need to be his classmate to disagree with him. How did telling us you knew him add any additional gravitas to your comment?

And you know, I highly doubt that anything you ever did as an ND student amounted to the kinds of "bad citizens/criminals/edgy guys" things Pinkett is talking about.

I mean, c'mon.

I knew Joe Paterno, and I went to school with one of the Sandusky kids.

I once stood in an elevator with Yakov Smirnoff and Henry Kissinger.

Yep, and it was every bit as awkward as it sounds.

It was in a swanky hotel in downtown L.A. back in the early '80s. I was doing a collections run and happened to step into a closing elevator, and there in the corner was Yakov Smirnoff picking at his fingernail. In the opposite corner stood Henry Kissinger surrounded by three heavies in suits, none of whom seemed particularly pleased that I had slipped into their elevator. The heavies stared malevolently at me. Having finished his fingernail project, Yakov proceeded to play with his nose while studying himself in the mirrored paneling the entire ride up.

I once mopped Pee Wee Herman's jizz.

-S_M

Okay, Sam, fuck it. Since you're rarely in Chat, you've missed all my [zyclone][/TiC] mentions.

Off the top of my head...

-I shared a table at Spago on Sunset Bl on a Friday night with OJ Simpson, Steve Garvey and four of their hookers. Though both OJ and Garvey had clearly alloted themselves two skanks apiece, all four vampires were slobbering over OJ while completely ignoring The Garv Carve, who seemed supremely bitter. OJ's Ferrari was parked out back, sporting a personalized 'Juice 1' licence plate.

OJ offered Angelina (my first wife) a bite of his shrimp scampi.

-At another Italian place in Agoura Hills I sat one table down from Yoko and Sean Ono, who stared at their matching Chicken Caesar salads in stony silence. They didn't speak a word to each other or to anyone else the entire time they were there. Finally Yoko took Sean by the hand and led him out to a white Mercedes, and they took off.

-I accidentally jammed with Joe Walsh at a Guitar Center in Sherman Oaks. I sat down back-to-back with some guy on an opposing bench and began to play, whereupon the two of us just sort of fell into a little twelve-bar blues deal. When we were through, we both turned around.

"Sounds great, maaaaan," grinned...Joe Walsh?!



-Delaney Bramlett once offered me a gig, though he didn't know it. I was with some retard buddies who had to make a weed run to an apartment in Tujunga, and when the people let us inside there was a party going on. Sitting on a couch and flipping through some records was a totally wasted Delaney Bramlett. I had no idea who he was. My buddies knew, though, and they told me about him. They also said to him, "Dude, you two should play."

Bramlett grabbed an old beater Strat and plugged me into the stereo. Yep, the fucking stereo. "Play 'Layla,'" he said, so I did.

"Dude, weren't you just saying you needed to grab someone for your tour?" teased one of his stoner buddies.

"Yep. Hey kid, you wanna go on tour? We leave in two weeks," he wheezed to me.

"Uhhh...."

He was passed out a few minutes later. I'm sure that by the next morning he didn't recall a second of it.

-Following his Jaguar crash, I got to hang out with Yngwie at some house in Granada Hills. Again as part of a pot run, my buddies took me with them to some swanky house up in the hills, and there was Yngwie fucking Malmsteen jamming on an unplugged white Strat on a big ass green couch. The whole time we were there he just absentmindedly shredded while basically bagging on how overrated Randy Rhoads was.

-Got to hang out with Joe Satriani a couple of times, mainly because we have the same guitar tech. We also sat in a nearly empty theater with his drummer following the San Francisco premier of the G3: Tokyo movie. Upon my prompting, Jeff Campitelli and Joe basically told Yngwie stories from the previous G3 tour, and Joe told me how they put together those tours. He said he and Vai really wanted to get Morse, DiMeola and Holdsworth, but they knew Holdsworth would probably never happen because the promoters wouldn't go for it. They eventually did end up getting Morse and DiMeola, however.

-At that same guitar tech's place, I met James Hetfield, Buckethead and Neal Schon. Neal liked my guitar, calling it "seriously beautiful."

-Met Steve Vai at the Filmore West. I was there with a buddy and his son, who's the world's biggest Vai nut. He'd won a backstage pass, and the dad and I accompanied him to the meet-and-great backstage, where the kid got his Ibanez JEM signed by Vai.

-Met Bruce Dickenson at a tiny guitar shop. I'm not exactly big, being only 5'9". I towered over that dude. Still, he picked out my very first guitar for me. I was undecided between the black one and a white one, and the store manager turned to Bruce and said, "You pick it."

"C'mon...the black one. It's gotta be the black one," he grinned, and that was that. I walked home that day with a new black POS Aria chosen for me by the singer of Iron Maiden.

-Riding my motorcycle at various times, I've pulled up alongside Chevy Chase in a badass convertible Morgan in Beverly Hills, George Lucas in a dented 740iL in NoCal, and MC Hammer in a DeLorean on I-80 East in West Sacramento.

-During a ride to Laguna Seca, Angelina and I had a nice breakfast with Neil Young at Alice's Restaurant. Bikes were all we talked about, and he complimented Angelina on her 'West Germany World Cup Champions' t-shirt.

-Sat one table over from Anthony Munoz and Roy Foster at Dr. Hoggly Woggly's Tyler Texas Barbecue restaurant in Sepulveda, Ca.

-Met a ton of old USC Trojans (Tom Seaver, Fred Lynn, Dave Kingman, etc.) at an alumni game at Dedeaux Field, where Rod Dedeaux brought a number of guys from my high school team into the dugout before the game.

-Collected past due monies from Dana Plato in her condo in Porter Ranch, probably six months before she died. She answered the door in her jammies. In that same gig I also collected from Rog and Shirley of What's Happening, and from Adam West of Batman fame.

-Earned a dirty look from Judd Hirsch of Taxi fame by intoning "Riiiieger!" in a bad Louie DiPalma impression while playing pool one table over from him at a billiards hall on Ventura Bl.

-Stood in line behind Steve Martin at the snackstand of a drive-on movie.

-Twice had breakfast with Danny Bonaducci, separated by twenty-some years. The first time was with Angelina in the Valley, where Bonaducci was with his slutty Asian wife. The second time was a little over a year ago, up here in NoCal. He actually remembered the one from the '80s, which was damn impressive.

-Almost accidentally caused Sean Penn to get splattered by a Hummer. Walking from my car to Gladstone's in Malibu, here comes Sean fucking Penn in the opposite direction. He had his head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. As we drew near to each other, he stepped onto PCH to let me by and nearly got clobbered by a honking Hummer zooming past him.

-I grew up with Chicago White Sox Cy Young award winner Jack McDowell. Played against him in Little League, and we ended up going to the same high school. I was a senior and he was only a sophomore, so were were rarely on the field together at Notre Dame.

-Played hoops with Jamie Dixon, the current basketball coach at Pitt. He also went to my high school.

-Worked out alongside Jeffrey Tambor on adjacent Stairmasters at a fitness place in Encino.

-When I was in the YMCA, I insulted former Los Angeles Rams running back Les Josephson at our annual banquet. Like a total asshole, eight-year-old me stood up at the back of the auditorium during the Q&A session following dinner to ask him, "What's it like to be the worst running back in the NFL?"

I hated the Rams. That argument didn't wash with my dad, though, who whipped my behind when we got home. He also made me write a letter of apology to Josephson, and he grounded me for a month.

I still say Josephson sucked.

-Went to the house of Michael Nesmith of The Monkees, where I watched him feed his pet snake a little white mouse. His son thought it totally cool. I was grossed out.

-At a week-long basketball camp I attended as a little kid I met Gail Goodrich, Happy Hairston and Mel Counts. Yes, Mel Counts. Beat that shit, if you can. At the end of camp Gail Goodrich awarded me with two little certificates: "Best Outlet Passer" and "Best Off-Handed Dribbler."

I probably should have told him I was left-handed.

Van wrote:-Met a ton of old USC Trojans (Tom Seaver, Fred Lynn, Dave Kingman, etc.) at an alumni game at Dedeaux Field, where Rod Dedeaux brought a number of guys from my high school team into the dugout before the game.

My oldoldold buddy (who I see several times a week, usually) still hangs out with his old buddy -- only Trojan OL to ever win team offensive MVP, and former NFL first-rounder -- James Fitzpatrick (old USC fans will remember him well).

He hasn't gotten any smaller.

Too bad USC can't round out their roster without trying to pluck off all the Oregon talent (yeah, that was for a certain dumbass here).

I guess you could say I know Gene Hoglan. I interviewed him (over the phone) for my whole 25th anniversary thrash metal thing I did on my blog and exchanged a few follow-up texts afterwards. Really friendly guy. A few months later when Testament came through town with Anthrax and Death Angel, we met up on the smoking patio after their set. I think my buddy was most impressed that he played in Dethklok. Heh. He actually gave me a scoop about how he was going to be filling in for Charlie Benante for the rest of the tour due to Charlie's mom being near death, but made me promise not to publish it.

Oh, and I forgot a really good one: Barry White! I used to bean his kid in Little League, until the poor guy didn't want to come to the plate anymore.

He and pops sure arrived to the games in style, though. Always, it was a white stretch limousine.

Van wrote:Almost accidentally caused Sean Penn to get splattered by a Hummer. Walking from my car to Gladstone's in Malibu, here comes Sean fucking Penn in the opposite direction. He had his head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. As we drew near to each other, he stepped onto PCH to let me by and nearly got clobbered by a honking Hummer zooming past him.

Next time, give him a good shove.

Van wrote:

Terry in Crapchester wrote:I was merely commenting on something said by someone whom I know IRL. It wouldn't be fair to comment without full disclosure.

Why not? That full disclosure added nothing of relevance. All you said was that you knew him, and that you disagree with him. You didn't need to be his classmate to disagree with him. How did telling us you knew him add any additional gravitas to your comment?

And you know, I highly doubt that anything you ever did as an ND student amounted to the kinds of "bad citizens/criminals/edgy guys" things Pinkett is talking about.

I mean, c'mon.

Broke parietals once, by accident.

Tossed a bunch of sawhorses on campus into trees after a night of drinking, about a week or so before graduation.

Hit a beachball out of security dude's hands at graduation ceremony as he was trying to collect it.

That's about it.

On a more serious note, I've driven drunk on more than one occasion, although never at ND (I never had a car while I was a student). I don't do that anymore, fortunately.

The irony is, Pinkett wasn't the kinda guy he was advocating for, either. When he was at ND, he was a friendly, down-to-earth guy, good student, and he also happened to be a helluva football player.