We sat down with St. Anthony, Cal football, and Joe Jost's legend BI Mais at Joe Jost's and asked him about the good old days in Long Beach (15:42-40:58). In 'Iron Sharpens Iron' we talked about league championships in multiple high school sports in the 908 (3:23-8:50). We shared some of the things that were bothering us this week in our 'Grind My Gears' segment (8:54-14:31). Kendall Jenner came up in our favorite segment Good JuJu/Bad JuJu with our favorite Long Beach athlete JuJu Smith-Schuster (43:00-46:16). We brought back our newest and hottest segment 'Shoot Yours Hot Topic' to debate Monopoly, Barry Bonds, National Signing Day, and Super Bowl halftime shows (47:59-57:24). As always we ended the show with the 908 Athlete of the Week. This week is Long Beach State basketball player Gabe Levin (57:29-59:13).
'Good JuJu/Bad JuJu'
In Shoot Your Shot's favorite segment 'Good JuJu/Bad JuJu', our favorite Long Beach athlete JuJu Smith-Schuster tweets at Kendall Jenner. Is it a good match?
BI Mais Drinking Contest
St. Anthony and Cal football legend BI Mais wins the drinking contest against the 'Shoot Your Shot' boys at Joe Jost's.
BI Mais Q&A
Q: Besides St. Anthony of Padua are you the next most meaningful person to St. Anthony High School?
A: Oh I doubt that, I think Johnny Olszewski was head and shoulders above me.
Q: How do you think your career at St. Anthony and at Cal shaped the rest of your life?
A: It was everything. St. Anthony gave me the opportunity to go to Cal and get an education and get a job with IBM. So it really set the stage for my future life.
Q: Did you tackle someone and say give me a job? How did you get a job with IBM from football?
A: Well, I applied. I graduated from Berkeley business school and I had good grades and I passed their tests.
Q: Would you have won the 1948 CIF championship if it went to overtime?
A: That’s a good question. That is really an excellent question, as you know the score was tied at the end of the game and a Press Telegram, a sports reporter was pressed into duty as the official score keeper for the game, Don Sloper, and the reason he was pressed into action was because the little Rose Bowl with Compton JC was at the same time. So he is the one that counted the first downs and I think we had 16 and they had 12 or something like that. He later went to work at IBM so we became friends.
Q: Where do you think most people know you Joe Jost’s, St. Anthony or Cal?
A: Probably Joe Jost’s.
Q: Is Johnny Buksa V your favorite player of all time?
A: I know Johnny Buksa. That was the most exciting football game I’ve ever seen bar none. I mean that was a great game and we lost it on the last play of the game for the State Championship playing Pleasant Valley from Chico.
Q: How often do you talk to the Cal coach?
A: The defensive coach is Tim DeRuyter, from St. Joseph, so we talk to him when his brother-in-law, Eric, is really a go getter and he puts on big, great tailgates.
Q: Can you give us on good old-time Long Beach story?
A: We used to go to the Pike as kids to ride the roller coaster and other entertainment things they had. I mean when we were little, like 10 years old.
Q: What was it like the hold plaque again after St. Anthony won CIF?
A: That was cool. It was really great and to know where St. Anthony had come from, I mean, they were down to 140 students in 2000 and they were within minutes of bankruptcy and they got bailed out by some alumni. I think the school had spent all the income tax money that they had collected from the teacher’s pay and they were about to be rounded up. A couple of alumni stepped in and wrote some big checks to bail it out. Now there is 650 students and it is thriving and it is a highly regarded education system.
Q: Who was better, Johnny O or Frank Gifford?
A: Well they were different kinds of players. Johnny O was one of the toughest players I had ever seen and his side kick who was a place kicker was one of the announcers in the pro games. When Johnny O died he called in and reported that arguably out of all the players he had ever seen play in the NFL John was the toughest he ever ran into.
Q: Who was your favorite coach you have ever had?
A: Well our St. Anthony coach, Jaques Grenier. You had a hard time understanding what he said but you knew exactly what he meant.
Q: Do you remember the biggest crowd you ever played in front of was?
A: The biggest crowd was in the Rose Bowl. The 1951 Rose Bowl and we played Michigan. One of the smallest crowds I ever played in front of was in the Rose Bowl we played Cathedral High School two years before that.
Q: Are you mad Cal switched their sponsor from Nike to Under Armor?
A: I didn’t really give it too much thought except Under Armor I think gave them $12 million bucks.
Q: The question is, are you a Tiger Woods guy or a Jordan Spieth guy?
A: Is Spieth an Under Armor guy? Oh, I must be an Under Armor guy.
Q: Why are football games so long?
A: Money, the commercials are way out of control.
Q: Why do Pac-12 games start so late?
A: That is really a sore point because I have season tickets to the Cal games. It’s really a pain in the neck and I think they have driven a lot of people away.
Q: What is your favorite app on your phone to consume sports?
A: I don’t have a favorite app on my phone. I hardly know how to employ any of the features it has.
Q: Why is everyone complaining about concussions?
A: Players are bigger, faster, more conditioned and they just don’t care. They just want to hit somebody because they are trying to make a name for themselves. When I played at Cal we played Santa Clara and on the first series of downs we may have made one first down and then we had to punt and I was the last blocker before the punter and I can’t remember the kids name from Santa Clara, left tackle, he broke through and nobody touched him and I was the only thing between him and the ball and all I remember was his fist coming up from the ground and smashing me in the face and we had no face masks. The next thing I knew I was sitting on the grass and I look up at the scoreboard and the score is 21 to nothing, it was the second half. I had played the whole first half just from wrote memory. I called the plays and ran the plays and the movies of the game on Monday night was all new to me.
Q: If you got paid $20 million to take a snap in a pro football game right now would you?
A: In a heartbeat.
Q: What was your favorite stadium you played at?
A: Berkeley
Q: Pickled eggs or peanuts?
A: Pickled eggs
Q: Aaron Rodgers or Jared Goff?
A: Aaron Rodgers is really good and Goff has yet to prove himself.
Q: What does BI stand for?
A: Simple, first to letters of Bill.
Q: What is your favorite sports movie?
A: The Yankee movie with the gal dancer with the long legs.
Q: What is the best bar in Long Beach that no longer exists?
A: The Trap.
Q: If you could be any animal what would it be?
A: Was that the answer a bear? A golden bear, ok.
Q: Who is your favorite grandkid?
A: Oh, that is an unfair question.
Q: Do you have a manual toothbrush or an electric toothbrush?
A: Manual
Q: What the best zip code in Long Beach?
A: 908
Q: Can you explain to me how Wi-Fi works?
A: I haven’t faintest idea.
Q: What is your favorite part about Joe Jost’s?
A: Breakfast here. Sausage and eggs.