Killer Jim
I've lived in the South Bay my whole life, most of it on the mean streets of West Campbell (trying to playfully add toughness to a city sandwiched between upscale Los Gatos and Saratoga -- I can't fool you people). But I digress. Back to me. I like to go to professional baseball games over the summer and hockey games in the winter. I used to play ice hockey for San Jose State and did other fun sports like football, tennis, wrestling and volleyball. I went to high school with a basketball stud named Keith Gibbs, who acted in a movie (The Air Up There) with Kevin Bacon. So I have two degrees of separation from Bacon. And that means you have three!! Not bad, huh? I was a wee little boy growing up. I never liked eating veggies and always found ways to get them in my pocket at the dinner table and eventually flush them down the toilet. I entered high school at 70 pounds and graduated at 118 (great for wrestling). So I had a small body and a big mouth, and it usually had me cruising for a bruising. I have two older brothers and one of them made a living at protecting me. He beat the crud out of the lead singer from Rancid when I was in eighth grade. In fourth grade I knew I wanted to be a writer. I'm a sports journalist for a small-town newspaper, a profession I've held the past 10 years. The job is never short on excitement. My job has allowed me to get face-to-face with a lot of famous people (like Anna Kournikova, Tiger Woods, Chris Mullen, Terrell Owens, Joe Montana, Latrell Sprewell and Andre Agassi) but I most enjoy interviewing non-pros, who will open their mouth and heart much more. I usually spend my days off with my girlfriend or playing Texas Hold 'Em with my buddies. Several years ago I was addicted to a game called foosball, and me and three friends teamed up to win the national 4-man title in Las Vegas. My nickname was Killer Jim. I had a patented shot called the Statue of Liberty. You get the visual. I was pure poetry on the foos table. Eventually I turned my athletic ability from the beer-guzzling, bar-room "sport" to other venues. It leads me to my passion: golf. I've played several of the top courses in the area, including Pasatimpo, Stanford, Pebble Beach, Quail Lodge ... Oh yeah, I'm absolutely horrible at the game. But it's still a blast. My biggest goal is to make people laugh (not at my golf swing, just at my humor in general). That brings me great joy. I also enjoy traveling to major league baseball parks. Several years ago, I went to Yankee Stadium (New York) and Fenway Park (Boston). I've been to every major league ballpark on the West Coast. I finished the journey in San Diego, a city that has a special spot to me. I wanted to go to San Diego State, but ended up at San Jose State. But hey, fun can be had anywhere and life is what you make of it.
The 2008 Outrigger Canoe race in Santa Cruz, featuring the Sentinel sports staff.
And the video from musician Steve Poltz, the only runner I beat:
