Six Things That Shaped PCTI: #4

To kick off PCTI IIIIII I’ve decided to take a look back at the 6 moments that have shaped/changed PCTI into what it is today.

6. The Dismissal of the player who shall not be named (PWSNBN). (PCTI IIIII)

5. Expansion I: The Arrival of Smo, Donley, and Chase. (PCTI II)

4. Sabin turns Heel. (PCTI III)

The most shocking event in wrestling history happened at WCW’s Bash at the Beach in 1996. Weeks prior to the event, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, known as the Outsiders, “invaded” WCW, proclaiming they were establishing a New World Order. They challenged WCW (who accepted) to a 3-on-3 match at Bash at the Beach. WCW sent in Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger to face the Outsiders and their 3^rd mystery man.

The match at the BATB started to go the way of the Outsiders. After several improprieties committed by the Outsiders that sent Lex Luger home early, injuring Sting, and cheap-shotting Randy Savage, red & yellow Hulk Hogan walked out of the tunnel to a chorus of cheers. To the delight of the crowd, Hulk climbed into the ring, the Outsiders retreated outside the ring, and it appeared that Hulk would help the good guys prevail.

With Randy Savage lying on the mat, Hogan did the unthinkable: he took a step to the turnbuckle and launched himself forward for the atomic leg drop. The shocked crowd couldn’t process what happened. Did they really see what they thought they saw? It was confirmed when the Outsiders climbed back into the ring. Hogan and the Outsiders shared some high fives and Hogan dropped another atomic leg drop on a knocked out Savage. It was official: Hogan turned heel to the shock of many.

Fast forward to 2011. Jeff Sabin, coming off a defensive MVP accolade in PCTI II, assumes one of the captaincies for PCTI III. Jeff, a religious, family man and all-around nice guy, channels his inner Hollywood Hogan and decides to shed his wholesome image to become the ultimate villain in PCTI. Sabin’s turn shocked PCTI to the core (hyperbole!).

Jeff took to the blog to call out the opposing team in PCTI III, dubbing them “Breaking Bad.” In fairness to Jeff, Breaking Bad’s team chemistry on paper should have been combustible. However, Jeff’s repeated jabs towards several players on Breaking Bad (most notably yours truly) led to him unseating the PWSNBN as the most hated player in PCTI, while rallying Breaking Bad together.

Relentless and antagonizing in his blog posts, his attempt to create friction between Breaking Bad backfired. Breaking Bad arrived in Dallas for PCTI III mad and hungry (READ: MADHUNGRY, DAWG) to shut him up. Two days and four games later, Breaking Bad had done just that and recorded the first ever sweep in PCTI history.

Why is Sabin turning heel important? It affected the blog and our light-natured trash talk. In 2011, the blog had 94 posts and peaked in 2012 (mostly pre-PCTI III) with 248 posts. In 2013, it went down to 96, and in 2014, the posts hit only 37. Podcasts became a thing of the past, as well.

Sabin’s frequent posts and trash talk deterred most of PCTI in engaging in blog talk post-PCTI III for fear of opposing teams or individuals using it for bulletin board material. Today, every post has some good-natured ribbing but gone are the days of taking cheap shots at the other team. After PCTI III, Sabin cooled off on posting to try and repair his image behind the scenes.

Sabin was never the same. Outside of basketball, he showed up to PCTI IV looking disinterested in the entire weekend in Scottsdale. It appeared he wanted to be somewhere else. He managed to repair his image but the damage had been done. Sabin suffered an “injury” prior to PCTI V and didn’t go to Denver. His final straw came before PCTI VI was confirmed. He effectively announced that he was not going to be able to play in PCTI VI due to work obligations, which had not stopped him from playing in previous PCTIs. Saybin announced his retirement a few weeks later.

In retrospect, although he’s retired, he made PCTI III fun and made the basketball feel real. I know Breaking Bad played with a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove him wrong. I have no doubts that Team Legs Feed the Kittens wanted to back-up their captain. It created a great soap opera that my hometown of Hollywood, CA would be envious.