We pay tribute to the wrestlers who always put up a good fight, but lost anyway
1. While perusing Twitter this morning, I came across this tweet from one of my favorite follows, @ovppodcast:
If you grew up in the early '80s watching the then WWF, this clip hits you. It has Gorilla Monsoon and Howard Finkel calling the action and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and S.D. Jones battling in the ring.
While you automatically think of the big names, such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Roddy Piper, when you think about early-'80s WWF, S.D. "Special Delivery" Jones was just as much a staple as those guys.
"Squash matches" and "jobbers" were a fixture on those Saturday mornings. The Hogans and Savages and Pipers needed opponents to beat on a regular basis.
But the "jobber" had a specific role. They couldn't just get destroyed. They had to put up a little bit of a fight and give the illusion to the person watching that just maybe they could pull off a monumental upset. And then in the end, they'd get crushed.
This is one of the reasons why you became hooked on wrestling before finding out the outcomes were scripted.
So, today, Traina Thoughts would like to honor the old-school jobbers of the WWF. Without further ado, here is my list, in no particular order, of the Five Greatest Jobbers of All Time.
1) S.D. Jones: S.D. was a high-level jobber. He'd get wins here and there and was featured in matches with superstars, but he could never get to the next level. Here he is wrestling Randy Savage in 1987. Just vintage WWF right here.
2) Iron Mike Sharpe: Like Jones, Sharpe would beat the lesser jobbers on a regular basis, always using his controversial rubber forearm band, which would anger the hell out of Vince McMahon, Gorilla Monsoon or whomever was calling his matches.
3) Salvatore Bellomo: The way ring announcer Howard Finkel would pronounce Bellomo's name was just magical. It would always get you pumped up to see Salvatore get squashed, as he did here against Kamala.
4) Barry Horowitz: How good of a jobber was Horowitz? He even got a match against the Undertaker!
5) The Brooklyn Brawler: Perhaps the greatest jobber of them all based on longevity and attempts to make him more than a jobber. Check out this angle WWE fan with Heenan's managing Brawler at the time and attacking Terry Taylor on Prime Time Wrestling.
The guys didn't get many wins in the ring, but they were certainly winners from an entertainment standpoint.
2. This week's episode of the SI Media Podcast is a mega-edition with two guests.
First up is Mike Tirico from NBC Sports. We covered too many topics to count during the conversation, but we went deep on broadcast and sports media. Just a sampling of the topics: What's it like calling a blowout? What is the main job of a play-by-play broadcaster? The NFL's blocking him from calling Thursday Night Football. His relationship with Al Michaels. Best and worst games he's called. Leaving ESPN. The chaos of 2020.
Following Tirico at the one-hour mark of the podcast, Steve Kornacki joins the show to talk about his appearance on NBC's Football Night in America last weekend, his work on election night and the state of sports and politics.
In addition, I asked Kornacki whether he owns a pair of jeans, why he isn't verified on Twitter and whether he hates CNN's John King.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.
3. First things first: Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" is one of the greatest songs of my lifetime. The video is outstanding as well. And I hate any person who points out that the lyrics of "Ironic" aren't actual ironies. Nobody cares whether finding 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife is ironic. Just enjoy the song and get a life.
O.K., now that I've got that out of the way, here is the good stuff: Stugotz from The Dan Le Batard Show singing "Ironic," complete with outtakes and video.
4. Congrats to Al Michaels, who will be going into the Baseball Hall of Fame next year.
Here's an excellent compilation video of some of Al's best MLB calls.
5. If you're a fan of The Office, you'll want to read "Why Do We Still Love The Office?" from The New Yorker.
6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy first night of Hanukkah.
7. RANDOM SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: With the Rams' playing on Thursday Night Football tonight, I wanted to find an old-school Rams video for Traina Thoughts today and hit the jackpot with this gem. Here is Jim Everett's getting sacked by nobody and then getting mocked by Pat Summerall and John Madden.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.