Why the tribute?  Because I frick'n love this guy and he's my favorite Cal player of all time (sorry Vedder)...  But there are good reasons:

1) He's a great all-around guy:  ALL fans love him.  Great work ethic, high character, good morals, never got in trouble and patiently waited behind Marshawn without bitching about it.  There are so few heros in life, but he's one of them. 

All his life he's been told about the body he doesn't have... the speed he doesn't possess... to accept that he wouldn't go far... and he said to all of them... "F*** that, I don't give a shit what you think!!"  (Actually, he probably would've have said, "Excuse me sir, I beg to differ" but...).  To make it even more improbable, Ty Willingham yanked his only D-1 scholarship at the last minute, but he still became a star at Cal... I bet Ty is sorry now.

His story is downright inspirational and I demand a movie be made about him immediately!  Hey Hollywood, cancel that sequel you're about to make and do this instead:  The Truth Laid Bear: The Justin Forsett Story.  But if it shows up on Lifetime I'm going to F*ing kill you guys.

via sportsnwmag.com

2) He's the son of a preacher man: And so am I.  PKs (pastor's kids) don't have what you would call 'normal' upbringings.  Pastors are incredibly strict with their kids because the kids' behavior reflects on the Pastor and the church itself.  There are only two varieties of PKs... the ones that grow up to be upstanding role models in their communities and the 'rebels' who embrace all evil (I'm the latter).  In short, it's tough to grow up as a PK and PKs the world over have somewhat of a kinship that grows from that.

"Genesis says don't be spilling no seed"

via www.fbchamburg.com

3) He's got skillz: Admit it, sometimes when Marshawn was bogging down in a game or fumbling, we all secretly whispered to ourselves, "PUT JUSTIN IN !!!"  When announcers said that he could be starting anywhere else in the country... they weren't kidding.  He was an outstanding running back with accolades too long to list here.  He's got moves and knows when to just run downhill. He's chocked my head full of great game memories...I'll miss him so much...sniff, sniff. (tearing up).

4) Only one highlight tape has been made of him... and it sucks: During the draft, this angered me to no end.  I kept thinking that thousands of Seahawk fans would be searching for HL tapes of Justin and all they'll get is this crap.  It's woefully inadequate and doesn't even reflect 5% of his true contribution to this team.  It made me so angry that I vowed to one day learn how to capture and edit video. 

Yes, me making highlight tapes of our players started with my anger during this year's draft over Justin's crappy HL tape. 

SO.... better late than never... here's to you Justin.  Thanks for the memories.

Justin Forsett Highlights Part 1 - 2005-2006 : (volume warning at 0:20)

 

Justin Forsett Highlights Part 2 - 2007 : .

Justin Forsett Highlights Part 3 - 2007 : (Starts from USC)

 

Higher quality YouTube versions:
Justin Forsett Extended Highlights Part 01
Justin Forsett Extended Highlights Part 02
Justin Forsett Extended Highlights Part 03

(as always, I've added "&fmt=18" to the URLs to force the higher quality version)

Download highest quality versions (see links below video screens):
Justin Forsett Extended Highlights Part 01 (453mb)
Justin Forsett Extended Highlights Part 02 (334mb)
Justin Forsett Extended Highlights Part 03 (184mb)

(See what my vids looked like before these video sites compressed the crap out of them).

5) Most importantly, he'd probably never make Twist cry like a baby at a signing:  Justin is a stand-up guy and wouldn't dog the fans by making them wait.

Why don't you go hug yourself, you crybaby!