ESPN.com - Page2 - A toast to The Intimidator

A toast to The Intimidator
By Brian Murphy
Special to Page 2

Trudged to The Cooler this morning, slow in my step. Found my boy Johnny leaning on The Cooler, looking vacant. No Cayman Islands junket for my boy. No Club Med trip from the winnings off a football bet. No Key West resort as the result of an over-under. Johnny came to pay his respects.


	Dale Earnhardt was a seven-time Winston Cup champion.

"To the Intimidator," he said, raising a cup.

"To the Intimidator," I said, matching his toast.

We stood in silence. The sports weekend didn't seem so important for once.

"You met him once, didn't you, Murph?" Johnny finally asked.

"I did," I said. "Back in my auto racing coverage days. At Sears Point. I can't tell you why, but I just found the man endearing."

"This was when Jeff Gordon was all the rage?" he asked.

"Yup. Earnhardt's last points title was in '94, and by '96 we scribes were all busy chronicling the Rainbow Warriors. Earnhardt was almost yesterday's news. He spent one Saturday morning sitting in the press box, chatting us up. Kicked back, wore blue jeans, charmed us all."

"What'd he talk about?"

"Man, just normal stuff," I said. "I remember he said he loved racing in Northern California, 'cause nobody knew him here. That dude couldn't go into a restaurant anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line. But in the Bay Area? Shoot, Dale told us in that Carolina accent: 'I love it! My wife and I went to dinner in that area y'all call the Marina, and nobody said a word. There was a big line of kids lined up outside some club, and my wife and I walked by like we was any two normal folks. Shoot, those kids got better things to worry about than a silly race car driver. They're kids out having a good time.' "

Johnny smiled and nodded.

		*All I needed to know was that Michael Waltrip was Dale's boy and that the second-place finisher, Dale Jr., was really Dale's boy, and that Dale's boys went 1-2 in Dale's last race.*

"I don't know, J-Man," I said. "I didn't know the guy. I only interviewed him a couple of times. And once, after a race at Sears Point, I tried to go talk to him, but he made one of the all-time great evacuations. I swear, race was over for, like, five minutes and he was off in a helicopter, getting out of Dodge. But I 'll always remember that one Saturday morning. He wasn't initimdating me. Just letting us all have an audience with one of the greatest drivers in stock car history."

"Nice," Johnny said. "Which is why, Murph, I went ahead and drew up a list from the weekend in sports anyway. Figured Earnhardt would have wanted it that way."

"So I get your Weekend List of Five anyway?"

"No, bro," Johnny said. "In honor of the Intimidator, I made it a Weekend List of Three, for the best No. 3 since the Bambino himself."

Johnny unfurled a napkin from Krispy Kreme and posted it above The Cooler. It had his familar scrawl on it:

"Here Goes, Murph:

1. Pitchers and catchers report
Life taketh away, but life giveth also, my man. And there is no better gift than what's going down in Port St. Lucie and Clearwater and Scottsdale and Tempe. We, the American sporting nation, don't have much to hang our hat on in terms of pride and honor. The XFL. The WWF. Hockey in the Sun Belt. 'N Sync at Super Bowl halftime. That's American culture at the bottom of the barrel.

But pitchers and catchers reporting? Every team, save for Tampa Bay, with a shot at the prize? The Red Sox saddling up for another run at the ghost of 1918? The idea that Jeter will be taking grounders in a few days? The notion that Nomar will be going from first to third? The early signs that, in six short weeks, Pacific Bell Park will gleam in the April sunshine? That, baby, is what the Founding Fathers had in mind. Bring it on!

2. College hoops heating up
They say the game is down because all the talent goes pro early. I'm saying the heck with that. I'm still seeing games where teams are playing defense, where guys can shoot the rock, where passion runs high. Clemson over the Tar Heels? Had a little better feel than, say, Grizzlies over the Sixers in my book.

Bottom line: We've got a tourney coming up in three weeks, and you're a fool if you think you've got it wired. Yeah, Duke's always a great pick. But so is UNC this year. And so is Illinois. And so is Michigan State. And so is Stanford. And you know what? You don't want any part of Murphy's Bruins -- that is, if Kapono sleeps in the headband from now 'til the Final Four, and if we can tie Lav down and get him a 'do that isn't so Bud Fox from "Wall Street."

3. Earnhardt goes out doing what he did best
I'll be honest. I don't follow NASCAR, not like the 195,000 gearheads down in Daytona on Sunday. But all I needed to know was that Michael Waltrip was Dale's boy and that the second-place finisher, Dale Jr., was really Dale's boy, and that Dale's boys went 1-2 in Dale's last race. I know enough to say that's a checkered flag the Earnhardt family will take and smile about someday, when Big Dale is looking down from the Big Oval in the sky.

'Til Next Week,
Johnny"

Brian Murphy of the San Francisco Chronicle writes the "Monday Morning Water Cooler" every week for Page 2.