McDonald picked interesting way to rep his city

I wasn't aware Edison High's T.J. McDonald (aka Tim McDonald Jr.), the son of former 49er/Cardinal Tim McDonald, was interested in representing his city. But according to this quote in The Fresno Bee about the annual City-County football game, he is:

"It's a big deal to me. You play for four years, you have to represent your
city," said T.J. McDonald, also a defensive back. "Now it's my turn and I didn't
want to miss it."

But McDonald chose a strange way to represent Fresno -- by signing on the dotted line to represent Los Angeles.

McDonald signed a national letter of intent to follow in his father's footsteps and play at USC. And then news broke that his younger brother Tevin McDonald is headed to UCLA. For those keeping score at home, that makes three very gift McDonalds, none of which truly represented their hometown in college.

Fresno isn't some small town with no one who's ever made it to big-time sports fame -- it's loaded with well-known athletes. And Fresno State's not some football program no one's heard of -- it's nationally known and is 1-1 all-time with USC (including the '05 cardiac arrest loss at the LA Coliseum when the Trojans were thought to be the greatest team ever assembled). If you're a high school star, you don't have to leave the Valley to "represent" your city. You do it by actually giving back to the place you came from.

When are more Valley kids going to be like Clovis West's Travis Brown, Bakersfield Christian's Derek Carr, Edison's Nat Harrison, Buchanan's Lars Bramer and Sanger's Nikko Motta? The latest Bulldogs recruiting class showed more local kids dream of becoming Bulldogs, but what about the elite talents still drifting away like the McDonalds, Edison's Cliff Harris and Clovis West's Nate Fellner? Be the hometown hero. Give back. Or go to some college outside the area if you'd like -- just don't claim to be "representing" your city if you're not.

These are a few of my favorite things...

If Fresno State started every game down five runs, the team might be undefeated.

Incredible. Granted the WAC overall is a sub-par baseball conference. But Fresno State's Diamond 'Dogs did it again. A fourth straight WAC tournament title (the tourney just started back up in 2006, and Fresno State's won it every time since). The 'Dogs were headed for possibly their worst record in about 30 years, and now have not only clinched a winning record, but also a chance to truly defend their national championship.

And who's the hero this time? If Lord almighty himself told us beforehand Fresno State would sweep two from New Mexico State today and one guy would be the hero in both games, it would take us about 20 guesses to choose who. Jordan Ribera. The sophomore first baseman from Clovis West who didn't play first base all year. He DH'd early in the season, only to sit the past couple months barely batting over .100 and with strikeouts galore.

Then Ribs hits a two-run homer in the eighth inning of Game 1 to put Fresno State up 9-7 after the team battled back from a 7-2 deficit. Later in Game 2, locked in a 3-3 tie, Ribs crushes another two-run shot to give the 'Dogs a 5-3 win. His third and fourth homers of the year. And he's named WAC tournament MVP after collecting more hits in the tourney than he had all season long to that point. And then real gut-buster is Ribera was only playing because preseason All-American Alan Ahmady was suspended earlier in the week and left at home.

This team is relentless. Full of heart. Full of fight. Fun. Inspirational. Anyone get a chance to see Holden Sprague react after a double play sealed the Game 1 win for the Bulldogs? Spraguer walked off the mound yelling and pumping his arms so hard he could have dislocated both shoulders. Then he delivered a breath-stealing chest bump to Ribera and continued fist pumping. That one visual is Fresno State baseball in a nutshell.

Did you guys read that today...?

The story in today's paper says Fresno State is thinking about adding one or two more women's sports -- makes sense, until you see the "emerging" list of NCAA "sports" they're thinking about adding.

If it's badminton, I'll show them a birdie. No one wants to watch that. Squash? Are we talkin' 'bout eating or competing? (What the heck is squash anyway!?) Archery, team handball, synchronized swimming? Anyone know what high schools you're gonna recruit those athletes from...? And rugby...who even knew girls play rugby? (OK, actually I might be tempted to go see this).

But let's think a second here. The athletic department just eliminated swimming a few years or so ago. Swimming couldn't have been that expensive to run (here's some cool bathing suits and a towel, good luck). But, heck, if you're not going to reinstate that program, let's at least create one that's gonna be great on a national level (which every program on campus should be).

Wait, here's an idea...women's water polo. Think about it. You have a handful of some of the state's most talented teams right in your own back yard. Clovis West. Clovis. Buchanan. In a few years Clovis North will be one. Maybe even Clovis East? Throw in a couple-few girls from the south Valley and north Valley and you've got an instant top 25 threat. Heck, two of San Diego State's best players right now are Clovis West and Buchanan alums. And the Lady Aztec-sters just finished third in the country! Ta-da...it's a no-brainer.

Speaking of Sweeney...

Somebody needs to explain something to us. Why is Beau Sweeney, son of Kevin, grandson of Jim, not on his way to Bulldog Stadium next season? But instead, on his way to...Cal!?!?!?

The first wave of this news a couple months ago was infuriating and down-in-the-dumps sad all at the same time. You see, if there is ONE person in the world who grows up under the bloodlines where he'll be an absolute shoe-in for Fresno State, it's that kid -- Beau Sweeney. His dad was 5-foot-nothing and broke the all-time NCAA passing record at FS. His gramps was and IS the historical face of Bulldog Football.

His grandpa beat USC in '92 and then stood on a hotel lobby table in front of his players/media/fans/and anyone else lucky enough to be there and sang "I've Got That Bulldog Spirit" up in my head, deep in my heart, down in my toes... His grandpa was willing to fight for Fresno State (ask Ron McBride). Threw his hat on the ground. Pulled off his shirt, threw that too. He was a motivational speaker at its finest.

But what happened? Why didn't he motivationally speak to grandson Beau? Sweeney = Fresno State football. Always has. Maybe Beau will wise up and change his mind. He would be the hometown hero. It would be a national story. Name another time in history a dad coached his son at QB and then the QB's son became QB 18 or so years later and was one of the most highly-touted players to come to Fresno State. Name one...you can't!

So I hope you're listening Beau. Maybe Pat Hill didn't call soon enough or offer soon enough, but if you've always wanted to go to Fresno State, what's stopping you?

You at Cal hurts the family name. It's like peanut butter sleeping around with someone other than jelly. If that ever happened, jelly would kick peanut butter out of the sandwich. And Fresno State fans aren't gonna be happy about eating jelly sandwiches.