Tuesday, August 7, 2007

To Gettysburg & Back . . . .THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CIVIL WAR

While playing third wheel during my vacation with my brother and his girlfriend in Gettysburg, PA (no seriously, I took a week off of work and ended up in Gettysburg, PA) It got me to thinking of other great third wheels in the sports panthenon. First I'd like to explain to you all why I'm a great third wheel, for starters, I can drive like a mad man through multiple states without getting arrested (I'm from MA, if you can drive in this state, you can drive anywhere) *on saturday afternoon i made a normal 6 hour drive in 5 1/2 hours and we stopped for gas after getting stuck on the Tappan Zee bridge for 2o minutes(COULD I BE ANY MORE SCARED AFTER WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO THOSE PEOPLE IN MINNESOTA) , BALLIN* so clearly I'm qualified. NOW TO THE LIST . . .

Tony Kukoc - One of my favorites, while Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan were running the show in the 90's, in the NBA, playing for Da Bulls. Tony Kukoc clearly was the third wheel, even when The Worm (Dennis Rodman) showed up Kukoc was still the third option offensively speaking. Arriving the exact year as Michael jordan temporarily went insane, Kukoc at that time was coming off as the European Player of the Year, which is like winning the Stanley Cup, it sounds good, but no one really cares. Kukoc was called upon to shoot the game winning shot inspiring Scottie Pippen to prove everyone right, on WHY he would never be THE MAN. After winning three championships riding on Jordan's trike you never really heard much of Kukoc after that bouncing around on a couple teams, he clearly was no longer a force, kind of a perfect reason why he was the Third Wheel, if the other two go your just sitting on a unicycle, and well that's probably not that fun, since I'm no a circus freak and I don't put clips on youtube, I'm probably not qualified to speak about unicycles, but then again i don't care about qualifications if you haven't noticed by the giant run on sentences. thanks

Tom Glavine, I know I know it sounds pretty crazy considering he's the best pitcher on his staff in 2007 playing for a first place team but lets go back just ten years dooby dooby do . . . . to those Hotlanta Braves teams that did nothing but win, everything but the World Series that is, Tom Glavine a first ballot hall of famer and quite possibly the last guy to win 300 games in a Major League Baseball Career, was definately the 3rd wheel on those Atlanta Braves staffs, you had the ace Greg Maddux, one of the best pitchers of my lifetime, and maybe even anyone elses, and John Smoltz , one of the few baseball players who is actually feared of, teammates have said you don't know what competitive is until you meet John Smoltz. Once asked by a reporter if Randy Johnson is the Big Unit, Glavine freely admitted "I'm the little twerp." Granted he was probably the best third wheel, he clearly was the third wheel in that trio, and the fact that If i wasn't a die hard red sox fans I'd cheer for the braves makes me love Glavine even more, straight love that is. (i just wrote to much to delete it, but i can't believe i just put tom glavine in the same blog as Tony Kukoc . . . dooby dooby do . .

Dennis Scott (Closely beating out Nick Anderson) playing alongside one of the most promising tandums in the history of the NBA, before The Big Aristotle decided to jump to Cali, Penny Hardaway and Shaq were the team that knocked off the #45 wearing Michael Jordan Bulls in the eastern conference finals (honestly if Jordan had been playing more than two months they would have got swept in four, but i digress) Dennis Scott was known for his clutch threes and steller defense, I looked up in websters next to role players and Dennis Scotts name came up, unlike other third wheels cough cough Tony Kukoc, Dennis Scott was actually a pretty solid guard in the league for many years, he was also on the team in college which included NCAA great, and Rucker Great, Kenny Anderson. One of my favorite band wagons to jump on was this team, once Shaq left and little penny from the commercials played in more games than the real Penny Hardaway it was all down hill, but for a while Dennis Scott was making it rain (not pac man making it rain, but like steve kerr & judd buechler making it rain) from behind the arc.

*****the only picture i could find was with dennis scott and usher, that's not going in any blog of mine******


Andy Van Slyke - stud Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder, and current first base coach of the defending American League Champion, Detroit Tigers. Not only did he play on one of the most talented teams of the early 90's but was considered a very great player on that team, both with the future GOAT - greatest of all time - Barry Lamar, and a very productive possibly juiced up skinny Bobby Bonilla, coached by current boss Jim Leyland, (the only man I think that could lay the smack down on BLB.) *copied and pasted directly from wikipedia* In his 13-year career, Van Slyke appeared in three All-Star games (1988, 1992, 1993), won five Gold Gloves , two silver sluger awards and ranked in the top ten in many offensive categories throughout.
Van Slyke played centerfield in an outfield that consisted of two of the biggest ego's the league had ever seen in Bonds & Bonilla, Andy also satisfies my taste for picking guys who people haven't thought about in nearly 15 years, if only there was a way I could fit former Blue Jays Manager Cito Gaston, and Celtics throwback Never Nervous Pervis into this list, I'd be in heaven.


Ricky "Running" Waters - I failed to find a photo of him in a 49ers uniform, because that is where he became the third wheel playing alongside future hall of famer Jerry Rice and current Hall of Famer Steve Young. Generally it is hard to find a 3rd wheel on a team that has a rediculous amount of pure talent like the Walsh 49ers did, but one constant I always remember as a diehard cowboys fan was that there backfield was always dangerous with the fleet footed Ricky Waters, Waters was a staple of the 49ers backfield for years, let's not forget he was the first player I remember with a breath right nose strip, thats gotta put you on some lists right? Waters retired as the 16th leading rusher in NFL history, was among the NFL's top 10 in both rushing and rushing td's 5 times in his career, and lets not forget that was in an NFL with backs like Emmitt and Barry. Playing with the greatest quarterback in the game, and the greatest reciever of all time cast a huge shadow over the Career of Ricky Waters, but even when he moved to Seattle he proved how good he really was. The last great nickname of Chris Berman's career Ricky "Running" Waters.
WoW! that was tough avoiding work and coming up with that list all day, I should get a god damn espy!
if comments email me at mailto:idon