Sez Me ...
Much obliged, Xander Schauffele. For further confirming what I already knew for years.
San Diego is a city of champions. Individual champions. Major professional team champions — and we’re now down to one ringless franchise to match our one runway — not so much. In fact, not any.
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(And don’t include the 1963 AFL Championship. The fledgling football league was not major then — even though we’ll never know if the Chargers would have been good enough to beat the NFL’s Bears.)
We may be Mayberry-by-the-Sea in many ways. It’s not exclusive to our teams, not if you know anything about politics and half-ass dreams gone bad — or even if you don’t. Even our very best clubs haven’t found ways to make it to the jewelry store.
But individually? Man, we have it. We’ve always had it.
By winning the PGA Tournament, Xander — already an Olympic gold medalist — became the sixth San Diegan to win a golf major, joining Phil Mickelson, Billy Casper, Gene Littler, Craig Stadler and Scott Simpson.
I can’t say if any other U.S. city has produced a half-dozen major winners, but I doubt it. We are blessed with so many courses, weather, outstanding coaches and our Junior Golf program is the finest in the world. Not to mention so many outstanding golfers who haven’t won majors.
Let’s allow Mickey Wright, the best, in the mix, making it seven. She was the dominant women’s golfer in the world forever, winning 83 LPGA Tour events and 13 majors.
But enough with golf.
Marcus Allen. Rashaan Salaam. Ricky Williams. Reggie Bush. No other city can claim four Heisman Trophy winners.
Lincoln High School/USC’s Allen was the first collegiate talkback to run for 2,000 yards in a season. The Pro Football Hall of Famer also was NFL MVP with the Raiders, and Super Bowl MVP
Lincoln’s Terrell Davis, another running back and Hall of Famer, also was a Super Bowl and NFL MVP.
Brian Sipe (Grossmont High School, SDSU, Cleveland Browns) also was an NFL MVP. Does any other city have three NFL MVPs?
I firmly believe Bill Walton was the greatest college basketball player and Bush college football’s. Same high school, Helix.
Hoover not only produced Wright, but Ted Williams, widely regarded as baseball’s best pure hitter. Maureen Connolly, quite possibly the most revered tennis player, also went there. So did 1958 Olympic long jump gold medalist Willie Steele. Morse’s Arnie Robinson won the same event in the Montreal Games. Kearny’s Alan Trammell is another baseball Hall of Famer.
Was Valhalla’s Greg Louganis not the greatest diver? We’ve had so many terrific yachting people, including America’s Cup star Dennis Conner.
Keep in mind I’m not including athletes who didn’t go to high school here, so the likes of Tony Gwynn and Marshall Faulk can’t apply.
I can’t possibly name everyone (apologies), but I’ll throw around some: Brick Muller, Gail Devers, Dave Freeman, Pesky Sprott, Ray Boone and son Bob, Bob Skinner, Tony Hawk, Jimmie Johnson, the Giles brothers, Mike Stamm, Graig Nettles, Junior Seau, Hambone Williams, Willie Buchanon, John Lynch, Monique Henderson, Brock Glover, Shaun White, Jud Beuchler, and so many more.
Oh, remember Point Loma’s Don Larsen? Pitched a perfect World Series game for the Yankees. Also, the Pointers’ David Wells threw a perfecto for the Yanks.
So Xander, from Scripps Ranch High School and SDSU, fits right in here. Consistent as he is, it will be surprising if he doesn’t win another major.
Now it’s up to the Padres to break the streak and win a World Series.
Holding your breath for that one? Go ahead and exhale. …
May I coin another verb? Padreing. …
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who basically told women graduates during his Benedictine College commencement speech that they would have been better off barefoot and pregnant, should be forgiven. Maybe he wasn’t an idiot before he kicked himself in the head. …
Those among us who still have a civil brain cell rattling around in our skulls can only hope that, one day, historians will discover exactly when human beings became so collectively stupid and uncaring, when hatred grew simply for the sake of hating, when lying became truth, when so much of everything Americans have fought and died for has been forgotten. …
If the film of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest is all Louisville authorities have to go on, Scottie is going to walk like an Egyptian. …
Fox will unveil Friday night college football this fall. Terrible. Friday nights are for preps. But greed knows not of tradition. …
Speaking of preps, I’ll never understand why the state high school track and field meet isn’t televised. It isn’t just a good event, it’s a great event. …
But then, we always get a chance to admire these basically unknown athletes every four years at the Olympics. …
Spectacular Anthony Edwards, the Air Apparent, the next Jordan, managed to make second team All-NBA. …
Rory McIlroy’s shot went into the water at Valhalla and there was no ripple. He is golf’s Louganis. So, for every action, there isn’t necessarily a reaction. Newton should have stuck with figs. …
I love how the networks put a nation’s flag next to a golfer’s name? How are we supposed to know all of them? Are we Sheldon Cooper? …
Trevor Immelman has to stop with his constant talk of momentum. …
Smart has no physical presence, but if you watched the end of Pacers-Celtics Game 1, then you know. It can beat the hell out of Stupid. …
Happy 116th, Jimmy Stewart. Can you think of anybody else who never was off his game? …
“Sin Bad/Jesus Good. Details Inside.” On a marquee outside a church. …
After just one year, soccer manager Mauricio Pochettino woke up, saw a Chelsea morning, went outside and grabbed his walking paper at the front door. Given their short life span, soccer coaches should be allowed to wear asbestos underwear and hang out at 101 Ash Street. …
Speaking of 101 Ash, its proprietors, Bicycle Mayor & His Ham & Eggers, have to forget the incredibly stupid and uncaring idea of putting a homeless shelter at Kettner and Vine. Kettner is busy with tourists and travelers, often filled with speeding airport seekers, and far too close to hundreds of family dwellings. Think outside your little box. Rise up, citizens. …
California’s stoner-walling lawmakers are getting close to finally allowing city governments to establish Euro-style cannabis cafes. Winners: Frito Lay, Planters and Nabisco. Losers in San Diego: Bike lanes, Starbucks. …
Neglected City property in need of repair should be fixed by City Hall. …
See our water rates are going astronaut — up a Ham & Egger-approved 5.2 percent. Soon there will be no one living here to vote them in. …
I’m convinced there are politicians and bureaucrats who campfire all day trying to figure out how to screw the public. …
The NCAA will allow Power 5 colleges to pay athletes. What were they doing before? Oh, you mean legally. …
It took a while, but I’ve finally reached the conclusion that Shakespeare was full of it and a hard read. …
Memorial Day should be every day. “Let us not mourn that such men died, but rejoice that such men lived.” — Gen. George S.Patton. Jr.
