Former Braves' Pitching Coach Leo Mazzone On The Cardinals' Acquisition of John Smoltz...And What Led To The Cardinals Blowing Their 3-1 Series Lead Over The Braves In The 1996 NLCS
Leo Mazzone, the guy who could be seen rocking back and forth while sitting next to Bobby Cox while serving as the pitching coach for all of those Atlanta glory years, joined us on The ITD Morning After yesterday on Team 1380.
Man, he was a great guest.
Mazzone raved about Smoltz, describing him as the "ultimate teammate and the ultimate competitor."
Mazzone coached Smoltz for nearly all of his career in Atlanta, and he says he's a firm believer that Smoltz still has plenty left and says his impressive walk to strikeout ratio indicates that. While Mazzone said he'd be "surprised" if Smoltz can return to the form that earned
him a spot in Cooperstown sometime in the next six to seven years, he did say, "I have no doubt he's still good enough to get guys out if he is put out there" for a key inning.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview with Mazzone was when I asked him about the 1996 NLCS. That's when the Cardinals led the Braves 3 games to 1...and everyone, including this Missouri student at the time, was getting ready to celebrate a pennant-clinching victory in Game 5 (so much so that we drove to St. Louis prepared to get shitfaced following the last out).
Unfortunately, the Cardinals got it handed to them big time in Game 5, giving up 7 runs in the first two innings. And, then after escaping Game 6 by using Greg Maddux to beat the rookie Alan Benes 3-1, the Braves embarrassed the Cardinals 15-0 in Game 7.
Many Cardinal fans have wondered just what the hell happened to cause the Cardinals from going to the high of a thrilling Game 4 victory to the catastrophe of being outscored 32-1 over the final three games.
Mazzone informed us that after closing out Game 4---also known as The Dmitri Young Triple Game---Dennis Eckersley made a gesture toward the Braves' dugout that pissed the team off, and as Mazzone put it, "lit a fuse under us."
Uh, yeah. I would say so.
Donovan Osborne is still somewhere pissing himself anytime someone mentions the words "Tom Glavine" and "triple" in the same sentence.
Classic Missouri Football Rant (Courtesy of The Tigerboard)
There's not nearly as much buzz about the Arch Rivalry Game this year, because the Tigers aren't expected to do what they were expected to do last year. That's cool. Human 
nature for most people...except the diehards.
And, many of the diehards of Missouri football regularly visit and post on Tigerboard.com.
Yesterday, a gentleman who calls himself "HuskerH8er" posted this rant after he had had just about enough from Nebraska fans:
"Apparently KOZN (1620am Omaha) has been badmouthing Mizzou fans as one of the key fanbases in college football who need to be “humbled”. This goes along with several other fans of several other teams…all of which proclaim something to the effect, “We can’t wait for Mizzou to suck so their fans can stop acting like they’re team is so great. They’ve only had two good years. They need to be “humbled.”
Humbled.
Humbled?
Did you f*cking say “Humbled?” I’ll f*cking tell you what “humbled” is:
Humbled is watching your team lose 77-0 to Texas A&M
Humbled is watching your team get beat 66-0 to K-State
Humbled is winning 3.8 games per year for two decades
Humbled is beating the number one team in America and watching the winning play BOUNCE OVER THE RECEIVERS HEAD OFF OF HIS FOOT AND INTO THE ARMS OF ANOTEHR RECEIVER.
Humbled is watching another upset of #1 go down in flames because CHARLES JOHNSON STILL HASN’T CROSSED THE F**KING GOAL LINE..and oh yeah, they had 5 downs to do it.
Humbled is starting Jimmy Daughtery at quarterback.
Humbled is losing to Bowling f*cking Green TWICE in 2 years.
Humbled is not seeing your team on TV for nearly two decades straight
Humbled is listening to sportscenter anchors make passing jokes at your team
Humbled is losing to a bunch of toothless, hillbilly, inbred Buck Owens fans, dressed to red to the hilt as they pity clap you for your “effort” as you lose by 50 on your home field.
Humbled is losing to Iowa State on a f*cking bull#hit holding call.
Humbled is Tyus Edny
Humbled is more basketball wins than any team never to go to the Final Four
Humbled is being picked 7th in the Big 8 year after year
Humbled is having Bob Stull as a coach
Humbled is getting a great running back from St. Louis, and watching his knees blow out.
You can call me a lot of things….I am arrogant…I am pompus…I am disrespectful of other programs and fans….I spit on tradition….I don’t recognize the greatness or “history” of others….I may not even respect the game as a whole.
But don’t you EVER…..EVER…f*cking tell me I need to be “humbled”.
You f*cking clowns don’t know the meaning of the word “humbled”. You f*cking idiots wouldn’t know adversity if it bit you in the ass. “Boo hoo, we lost 7 games…” or “Boo hoo, our 5 star recruits aren’t playing well because of their coaches. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU…and this goes to Husker fans to OU fans to Texas fans to KU fans and EVERYONE in between…every single f**king one of you would have quit DECADES ago if your team was as sh*tty as ours. Every single one of you arrogant MF’ers would have packed up and became USC fans.
Meanwhile, me and 99% of my black and gold wearing brothers and sisters could give a damn what you think.
We DESERVE to be arrogant
We DESERVE to look down on anyone and everyone, til somebody beats us
We DESERVE to mock those who brag about their past
We DESERVE to pretend like we’re elite.
We f*cking DESERVE it, because we f*cking EARNED IT.
So as the trash talking season ends..and the real season begins…keep it up with your crybaby ass, “Missouri fans all deserve to fall back to earth” horse$hit. Predict our doom…try and kick us in the face and toss us back down into the sewers where you feel we all belong.
We’ve taken the football god’s best shot to the gut..and we’re still here. And there aint a g*damn thing you can do about it. We’re not going anywhere, because we never left. We’ve ALWAYS been here..rooting on our program, while others hopped on and off like a city bus. Nearly every one of us to a man has been plagued with taunts, jeers and mockery.
Well f*ck you.
You can consider me “humbled” when they finally throw my cold carcass into the ground. I’m not going back down into college football hell without a fight…and I’m sure I’m not alone."
Maybe Gary Pinkel will go Knute Rockne and read that to the Tigers before they take the field on September 5th at The Edward Jones Dome.
Adult Film Star Jesse Jane To Appear At The insideSTL.com Fourth Anniversary Party Thursday August 27th At The Pepper Lounge
Yep...it's less than a week away. Come on down to The Pepper Lounge next Thursday night starting at 6:30 p.m. for a live broadcast of The ITD Morning After featuring a potpourri of special guests from the world of St. Louis sports, the IQ showdown 
between Producer Joe and Charlie Marlow, and The Idiots' Roundtable featuring Timberfake, Rudy, Mike Lee, and Jackie...all moderated by our very own Tim Russert, Producer Joe.
And, just confirmed late Thursday, adult film star Jesse Jane will be in attendance and on the show at The Pepper Lounge. Outside of being one of the premier porn stars, Jesse is a huge sports fan, and according to her publicist, looking forward to b-s-ing with us at the event and on the show. Jesse will be in town next week performing at P.T.'s Sports Cabaret at night...but now she'll also be appearing at the insideSTL.com Fourth Anniversary Party.
It's next Thursday night at The Pepper Lounge.
Something tells me it may be worth attending.
Log-in to post your comments, or you can email me at tmckernan@insidestl.com.