There's been lots of chatter on the streets (and airwaves) today about Matt James' column in this morning's Fresno Bee. Most seemed to have loved the column -- which is odd in itself because fans never like newspaper reporters.
Makes sense why people liked the column. It was well-written. It was an interesting topic. 'Dogs hoops news is long overdue. And it argued why the Steve Cleveland regime is a success, despite coming off the Fresno State program's worst record in more than two decades. I liked the column too.
But there were two nuggets in there -- two nuggets -- that nearly ruined it for me. Here's one:
"Selland Arena was a better venue for college basketball. Still is. No doubt about it."Not true. Selland was a great college basketball atmosphere, but it was also home to the Bulldogs during their glory days (more on this later). If Save Mart Center was filled to capacity with fans practically begging to see super-talented teams and had students entering a lottery just to buy season tickets, it would be significantly louder and tougher for visitors to win in than Selland (think about it, 16,000 people vs. 10,000). Essentially, we're talking about taking most of the same Selland fans who earned a reputation for being the Red Wave and adding 6,000 people to it. Louder. More imposing. When Fresno State has its next serious threat on the hardwood, and fans fill the stands, the Save Mart Center will be an unreal venue.
"Let's be perfectly clear. There were no glory days. They never happened. Since 1982, the Bulldogs have two conference titles. Since 1984, they've been to one NCAA Tournament. One."James explained that he didn't count one of Jerry Tarkanian's NCAA appearances because it was given an asterisk in the record books due to NCAA violations. But saying there were no glory days is wild. What do you call Fresno State basketball being a national story all season long during the Tark era? A good column would be comparing how many regional and national TV appearances the 'Dogs had under Tark and how many they have had under Cleveland. Another good column idea would be to research all the ranked and traditionally strong teams Tark scheduled and won against. To me -- when a program is mentioned in all the preseason mags and on TV by prognosticators as a threat to go to the Final Four, when guys are going to the NBA (some as lottery picks), when high school All-Americans are anxious to visit Fresno State, when the Bulldogs have a legit shot to win against ANY team in the nation -- those are glory days. In a way, that's what Fresno State's football program is right now -- one that can beat any other team on a given day and has proven it.
It's rare for a Bulldog Bounce blog headline to get an exclamation point, but this one deserves it. Fans flocked out to Pete Beiden Field at Fresno State this weekend for the season-opening series. It started with a sellout Friday, about 2,900 on Saturday and more than 2,100 in wet weather Sunday -- and the Diamond 'Dogs didn't disappoint despite their youth taking the series two games to one.
It was great seeing all those new fans out there. And contrary to what you might have seen on the front page of The Fresno Bee Saturday morning, it's not important whether you were there every game last year or no games at all. What's important is growing the fan base and getting any fans who used to come out and don't as often anymore to return.
A young lady was pictured holding up a sign at the opener reading, "Where were all of you when we were 8-12?" Well, I'll tell you what (and this comes from someone who was indeed there when we were 8-12)...everyone becomes a fan at some point. The only thing that matters is keeping them coming. That's how this whole thing works. The team wins, attracts more fans and new fans, you get 'em out to the ballpark, you make the experience enjoyable for them and you hope they want to keep coming back.
I mean, I don't get the "where were you" attitude? Do you not want more fans to come? What if someone asked you where were you in 1991? Or 1988? Maybe you were there then too? But maybe you weren't.
The important thing is you were there on Friday evening. Or Saturday or Sunday afternoon. And that you plan to keep coming.
Something tells me this won't be the first time we see Tommy Mendonca in Baseball America this year. With that defense and power, his stardom might just be beginning.
Do you have your tickets for the season opener Feb. 20...?
He won't be going to Washington, despite all the recent reports out of Seattle media that he might be the Huskies top choice. And now this report from The Fresno Bee saying that Hill flew to Seattle, presumably to interview with Washington folks about the job.
Now here's the thing -- the University of Washington is located in Seattle. It rains a lot there, people never hit the streets without a mocha choco latte in their hands, they roam around the city looking for wi-fi hot spots, they listen to eclectic music and drive around in hybrids. It's a cleaner, less annoying version of San Francisco. And it's definitely not Fresno.
Pat Hill is Fresno. He spent part of his early years sleeping in his car because that's what he could afford. Hard work got him to where he is now. He hardly knows what a computer is, and doesn't like polite chats at the coffee house. He's a no-nonsense, meet me in the parking lot when it gets dark and we'll settle this type of guy. If Pat Hill coached the SuperSonics, they would have bolted for Oklahoma years ago.
Once an assistant at Fresno State, Pat Hill returned to his roots to take over as Jim Sweeney's successor in 1995. He came in talking about building the program from the ground up, with high school players. Bringing in kids who would excel academically and making that a priority. Scheduling big-time teams and eventually beating them consistently so that Fresno State too would be a big-time program. Hill did it all.
"Why not us?" Hill proclaimed to anyone and everyone in the nation who would listen. "Shutup & Hit Somebody," he shouted in 2001. "Anyone, anywhere, any time," he added.
Soon the Pac-10 teams, especially those residing as Fresno State's neighbors in California, scattered like the broken glass of a dropped mirror if Pat Hill came asking them for a game. Cal has played the 'Dogs twice ever, losing both times. USC is 1-1 against the 'Dogs, including the '05 game everyone remembers at the LA Coliseum when Fresno State almost knocked off "the best team in college history." UCLA has never been brave enough to play at Bulldog Stadium, yet has still lost its past two meetings with Fresno State. And Stanford, well they haven't played the 'Dogs since the 1920s (Fresno State didn't even join Division I-A until 1980).
Between the disappointments fans have felt as Hill and his chip-on-the-shoulder Bulldogs failed to go undefeated in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2007, and going without a WAC title since 1999, Hill has established the second most feared football program in the state, behind USC's quasi-professional franchise.
There's something to be said for that. He's doing it with half the budget of most Pac-10 teams, yet still outrecruiting several of them. But best of all, most fitting of all, is Hill and Fresno State have identities that go hand in hand. Hill doesn't drive a hybrid, he drives a ghastly beast of a Bulldog Red Hummer. He does talk politically correct, he tells you what he thinks. He doesn't hide from the BCS chatter the way other coaches might, he welcomes it. He turned Bulldog Football into an adjective. He had former MLB slugger Larry Walker wearing a Fresno State cap to practice with the Rockies. He opened up a line of compliments for any Fresnan on vacation in any spot in the country from fellow vacationers who admire what he's done at Fresno State.
Pat Hill has our vision. If you're a Red Waver who truly believes Fresno State will one day win a national title in football, you love Pat Hill. If you don't have that confidence, you criticize him. But Hill has worked tirelessly for this program and this vision, and that's what we should do too -- yell as loud as you can every game, gift as much as you can to the university, invite others to attend games with you and gift whatever they can too. That's the difference of college sports and pro -- in college sports you really are allowed to say "we" when referring to your team. Because you're really part of the team.
And I want my team to include Pat Hill for years and years to come.
Short answer? Yes.
So driving home from work today I hear The Bee's Mike Oz as a guest on the Kelly Carr Show talking about this very subject. Mike Oz, who's The Bee's featured music/entertainment writer, has been blogging about the question of what's the biggest event in Fresno history? Being that he's more into music than sports, he talked about big concerts. He says Rolling Stones is the biggest in Fresno. And being that he's a good, knowledgeable guy, I'll take his word for it.
But there's just no way a concert is as big as a Fresno State football game. Especially one in which Fresno State is ranked No. 21 and Wisconsin is No. 10. Just consider this:
It appeared in Matt James' column in The Fresno Bee, where he wrote that more people know who Jerry Yang is than know who Trent Dilfer is.
Done laughing yet? Or maybe you're not laughing? Maybe that made you mad? It kinda did me, until I realized it was probably just a joke. Hyperbole of sorts. I think?
Because unless I'm really out of touch with reality, Dilfer is pretty much a household name amongst NFL fans (which these days live in seemlingly every house, apartment and condo in America). And not one single person I know watches poker on TV on more than a casual basis. Heck, most people I know are actually annoyed if poker is on TV.
Granted, Yang seems like a super guy -- a real giving person and a great Fresnan -- and someone who Fresno should brag about. But I just find it incredibly hard to believe he's in the same realm of famous-ness as Trent Dilfer.
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