Reporter opening at The Fresno Bee

If you want to be a finalist, I suggest you catch the sports editor a delicious bass.

 

Noticing the other opening, do you apply for one if you didn't get the other? thoughts? and have all the finalist been notified.

 

Fresno City College has some outstanding baseball, which reminds me ...

Did I ever tell you about my Fresno experience, which took place in Sacramento?

Picture it. 1992. Santa Maria. Beat writer for (among others) Allan Hancock College baseball. John Osborne is the Bulldogs' coach for something like 33 years. 600 wins. A baseball purist in the mold of Billy Martin: small but full of fury. He built a bee-yooo-ti-ful yet simple field on campus. Home unis are virgin white with blue cursive lettering and red numbers: like the L.A. Dodgers. For a small juco in podunk Central Valley, Hancock played a fine brand of baseball.

So this is the year the team slugs it out in conference with the likes of Fresno — which features future White Sox pitcher Billy Simas and a handful of guys who'd go on to the minors — and College of the Sequoias and Porterville and others. It needs to beat powerful Fresno City in the last game of the regular season to get a bid to Northern Regionals in Sacramento. Hancock wins, meaning I get to take a roadie to Northern Regionals.

Hancock — which features Canadian Ryan Radmanovich, a sweet-swinging lefty who had a cup of coffee with the Mariners — has to open with Fresno and the worst beating I've ever seen in baseball takes place — Fresno wins 27-7. I don't know what went wrong, but Fresno is one of the better California juco baseball programs, and shit like this happens. But it's a double-elimination regional. Hancock isn't going to suffer a "2 and a Q" or 2 and a barbecue, one of those baseballisms for "you've been handed your ass twice in 2 games of a double-elimination tournament."

The next day Hancock fights back to beat American River College and another school I just can't remember in elimination games. They played nice ball over the course of 6 hours. The wins put them into the regional title game against Fresno. Hancock had to win twice since Fresno hadn't lost.

The rematch was much better, livelier. I believe Simas pitched. Hancock tagged him a bit, but Fresno prevailed something like 7-4 or 8-6 or something. It was an emotional 2 days in Sacramento. Hancock didn't suffer 2 and a Q, but they earned plenty of Q points.

Whoever gets this Fresno State football job should take in a few Fresno City baseball games, especially when Hancock rolls into town.

 

X-Man, did you work for the SM Times?

I did a year there, spending my summer with the world-famous Scoop Nunes of the Santa Maria Indians.

I know this, because every time I saw Scoop, he introduced himself as Scoop Nunes of the Santa Maria Indians.

Now, that coach has got skills.

 

Oh, yes! Scoop Nunes of the Santa Maria Indians! Man, I almost forgot about them. They still around?

Did you cover the Cappy Harada Celeb Golf Tournament? That's where I got to interview Pete Rose and Paul Gleason 5 minutes apart. I asked Willie Mays for a few minutes. He looked me in the eyes and said No.

The SM Times in those days had a tremendous newsroom full of wonderful personalities and talented, hardworking journalists.

Scoop Nunes. Too funny.

 

the indians are still around. i'm watching them play the san luis obispo blues tonight (and then writing about it). scoop nunes, however, is not. he died in 2003.

anyone heard anything about these jobs? i'm wondering for a friend of mine who applied.

 

thought i'd bump this one back to the top since the other opening there was just posted on the APSE site.

 

anyone know if they finalized anything for either position here?