West Coast Bias » Pembertonian

49ers to San Francisco: Nice Knowin' Ya!

WCBias — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:58:41 +0000

Hold on — wait a sec. Did someone say there was an election? Cause, like, it’s so windy here, I assumed it was still March. And suddenly, I start seeing people with those “I Voted” stickers on their chests.

Braggers.

Here in California, there were no real surprises. A couple of women with heavy pockets bought their way to primary victory for the Republicans (Republicans with money? Really?). And hometown homie Abel Maldonado won his bid for Lt. Governor, which is really a bid for future governor because nobody really cares about the Lt. Governor. But the real important election dealt not with silly old politics but good ole fashioned football, as the city of Santa Clara voted to accept the 49ers into their hearts. Which, of course, means that San Francisco will technically lose its team, though the Niners will only be a BART ride away.

Still, that kind of sucks. It was bad enough that the Warriors decided to go by the name Golden State, which, frankly, still confuses me. Now we have another Bay Area team that doesn’t know where it is. Because, like the New York (Jersey) Jets and New York (Jersey) Giants and Los Angeles (Anaheim) Angels, the 49ers will still be San Francisco in name even if the city is an hour drive from its future home.

The reason for this, I guess, is because no one likes Candlestick Park. I’ve never been there, but it has always looked prety crappy on TV. And its blustery days are legendary. But when the Giants baseball team moved from Candlestick, they didn’t retreat to the ‘burbs — they built a great park right on the bay. So why couldn’t the 49ers do the same?

Heck, just have one of those billionaire poltical candidates front the money. They’re good for it. And it might just get them a few votes from that bastion of liberalism. If nothing else, they can name the stadium after themselves for PR purposes. I can hear the announcers now: “Welcome to The Lady Who Nearly Took Down Hewlett-Packard Park.”

Andre Ethier Leads Dodgers to First Place

WCBias — Sun, 23 May 2010 06:36:20 +0000

I know the sports world is sort of focused on the NBA playoffs right now. And, in particular, L.A. has the Lakers in mind. But while everyone was watching Kobe, the Dodgers quietly sneaked into first place.

Well, technically a tie at the moment. But the Padres won’t be there long. I mean, come on — they’re the Padres.

But the Dodgers — they’re a different story. At the beginning of the season, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to predict they’d be in first place at the end of May. Except with their lackluster start, it sort of is a surprise.

And the star so far is Andre Ethier. The guy’s nearly hitting .400 and right now is a triple crown candidate — for the entire league (11 HRs, 38 RBI). Of course, it’s a long season, but right now he’s looking like an MVP.

***

By the way? I can’t stand interleague play. When it first began, it was sort of a novelty. The Yankees v. the Dodgers. Cubs v. Red Sox. But now I think it sucks.

First of all, it created uneven schedules. If you get lucky and get to play the AL West during the season, you’re probably going to win more games than the team that has to play the AL East. So when it comes playoff time, you’re at a disadvantage for home field advantage.

Also, it was always special when the AL met the NL in post-season — because they never met before then. Now it’s just a letdown — especially if one team dominated the other during the season.

Also, I hate how the league plays on cross-town rivalries. It’s a blatant money gimmick — even if the Mets suck, they’ll draw huge crowds if they play the Yankees. At the same time it pits communities against each other, and there’s often a class component to it. The Cubs fans are much more frat boy/yuppie than the working class south siders — and they both hate each other for their respective ways. Same with the wine-sipping Giants fans vis-a-vis the rough and tumble Athletics crew.

What better way to exploit class differences than to pit sports teams against one another?

Phil Jackson Going to the Bulls with LeBron?

WCBias — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:18:47 +0000

Last month, I suggested that LeBron James might be headed to the Bulls, and now suddenly everyone is saying the same thing. So here’s another bold prediction:

Phil Jackson will be his coach.

As Jackson prepares to take yet another Lakers team to the championships, there’s talk that he will face a significant pay cut after this year. Jackson has said that even with a pay cut, his salary will be “ridiculous,” which might suggest he’s above monetary rewards. But whatever. Sure, he doesn’t need the dough. And he doesn’t strike me as a greedy sort of guy. But it’s about respect. If you’re the winningest coach in the league by far, you should be paid accordingly.

And who knows — maybe he’ll donate the money to save the whales or some other cause. That way he can stick it to The Man and help his fellow mammal.

Whales are mammals, right?

My point is, Jacko’s gone after this season. And what better place for him to go but to that other city that gave him so much respect. To the city with the league’s other best player? (Soon to be LeBron).

One thing’s for sure: Jackson doesn’t go to losers. So he’s going to pick a team with a good chance of going all the way.

Oh, and by the way? Last I heard the Bulls needed a new coach.

LeBron + Jackson = happy Bulls fans.

Baseball Hat of the Day

WCBias — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:48:05 +0000

Has it been long enough for this hat to be cool yet?

I know, I know. I’m supposed to wear the hat of my favorite team. But, you know, that’s just kind of boring. Plus, the fashionista in me says I need a hat with a little more panache.*

This old Expos hat has lots of zesty color. It’s funny that it has that whole Captain America thing going with the red, white and blue and yet it was for a Canadian team. If you wear this hat, you automaticaly think of Gary Carter, a pre-Cub Andre Dawson and Ellis Valentine. And all those Expos teams that sucked so bad that nobody ever went to see them, forcing them to move to Washington, where they still suck but with less color.

* You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to use that word.

Baseball Picks A Week Late

WCBias — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:26:34 +0000

You know, anyone can make predictions before the season begins. But if you ask me, I say that’s for amateurs. Because, really, come on — who knows anything before the season starts?

I mean, sure, maybe we’ve watched a few exhibition games. But what can we glean by watching guys who are going to end up in double-A anyway? So what I’m saying is that I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t want to jump into things. I’m rational. I use my head.

I’m not a member of any tea party.

A week into things, we can’t glean much from this season, except that Toronto will once again get off to a good start only to suck just as soon as people realize there’s still a Canadian team int he league. And, of course, the Pirates will suck for another decade. (Seriously — and WHY do people go to their games?) But here’s who I like so far:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST

* Yankees. I think losing Matui is really going to hurt the defending champs. But probably not enough to derail them. I mean, come on — it’s an all-star team, even if an aging one. People like Tampa Bay as a sleeper, and they have a shot at the wild card. But the Yanks have one more year in them before Rivera, Posada and Jeter switch to the 35 and older softball league.

CENTRAL

* Twins. These guys have some bats and they always seem to know how to win. It’s just that everyone always forgets that Minnesota has a baseball team. The White Sox pitching looks good (Did you SEE that play Buehrle made in his first start?) , but they shouldn’t have given up on Jermaine Dye — or they should have found someone good enough to replace him. And the Tigers will score runs, but I don’t know — I just don’t see it happening there.Every since Kirk Gibson left . . .

WEST

* Rangers. I kind of like their stadium. And they can score runs. But, to be honest, I hate the state of Texas for a host of reasons. So I really hope I’m wrong here. But I also think time is running out on the Angels. Watch for the A’s to make strides. Or, at least, that’s what I read.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST

* Phillies. Yeah, I know — boring pick. But I don’t think the Braves are ready to take over. And also? I hate the Braves. Not as much as Texas. But still.

CENTRAL

* Cardinals. Any team with Pujols has an unfair advantage. Seriously. The guy’s a stud. In fact, he ought to wear a cape. And if that weren’t enough, the Cards beefed up their roster behind him. Brew Crew are a second-place quality team, and the Cubs didn’t add anyone to a third place team, which makes them still a third place team.

WEST

* Padres. Ha — just kidding. Actually, this has the chance to be an interesting race. Both the Dodgers and Giants have great young talent, and the Rockies and Diamondbacks look good, too. But I think the Dodgers are on a faster trajectory, plus I heard Joe Torre’s been surfing during the offseason again, so he’s chilled and ready.

World Series: Twins v. Cardinals

World Series Champs: Cards

Pre-Season Ball: Not Exactly Baseball Fever But Sorta Funny

WCBias — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:19:00 +0000

You’ve gotta love pre-season baseball.

I like how the guys who have no chance to make the team are branded with high numbers on their jerseys. So, if you’re a fan, you’re like, “Hey, #81, good luck in double-A this year!”

I also get a kick out of how players jog in the outfield during the game. What’s the point of that? I know the games don’t count or anything, but didn’t people pay to see the game?

You ask me, I’d make theplayers jog from the stadium to their hotel after the game.

Did you know that teams don’t have to play extra innings in pre-season? If the game’s tied after 9, the managers can talk it over, and if they decide it’s time for a beer, the lights go out.

Speaking of managers, you’ll seldom see them sitting in the dugout during exhibition games. According to Cubs announcer/former manager Bob Brenly, the managers want to talk about players who might not make the cut with other coaches, and they don’t want to embarass them in front of other players.

Come to think of it, I think my bosses do something like that as well. But instead of talking about whether to cut me, they’re deciding reasons for not giving me a promotion.

Photo: Wally Gobetz

The Top Ten Most Shocking Athlete Deaths

WCBias — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:18:00 +0000

So the apparent deaths of NFL players Marquis Cooper (Raiders) and Corey Smith (Lions) got me thinking about other sports tragedies. It’s always shocking when someone dies young. But with professional athletes, who seem physically invincible, the tragedy of unexpected death is almost magnified.

That said, here are the ten most shocking athlete deaths:

10.) Hank Gathers. You don’t hear a lot about the Loyola Marymount basketball program today. But in the late 80s, they had some talent. Hank Gathers, who had averaged more than 30 points a game in the 88-89 season, was an obvious top pro prospect. But during a game against Portland in 1990, he collapsed (just after a dunk), the victim of an abnormal heartbeat.

9.) Reggie Lewis. An all-star, Lewis mysteriously collapsed during a playoff game in 1992. (He had scored 17 points in 13 minutes.) Even after it was determined that he suffered a heart condition, Lewis returned to the court. Three months later, he died during a practice. He was 27.

8.) Joe Delaney. During his rookies season with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1981, Delaney rushed for 1,121 yards, setting a course for a lengthy NFL career. But in 1983, the 24-year-old Delaney died a heroic death while trying to save three kids from a water hole in Louisiana. (Only one kid survived.)

7.) Drazen Petrovich. One of the early Croatians to join the NBA, Petrovich was a 20-plus-per-game scorer who became the MVP of the New Jersey Nets. In 1993, at 29, he was killed in a car accident on the notoriously dangerous German Autobahn.

6.) Kirby Puckett. In his career, Puckett was a likable slugger, who helped lead the normally mundane Minnesota Twins to two World Series titles. But after his career, ended, his weight ballooned to 350 pounds, and his reputation as a nice guy was sullied by sex abuse allegations. He died of a heart attack in 2006, just days shy of his 46th birthday.

5.) Thurmon Munson. Munson was a 7-time all-star and a member of the successful Yankees teams of the 70s when the plane he piloted crashed in 1979. While his friends escaped the fiery wreck, Munson could not. The Gold Glove catcher was 32.

4.) Pat Tillman. It was shocking when the Arizona linebacker gave up his lucrative NFL career to join the military. It was shocking when he was killed in Afghanistan. And it was shocking when the American public learned its military had lied about how Tillman died. He was killed by friendly fire at 27.

3.) Water Payton. They called him “sweetness” because of his style and grace on the football field. The former NFL rushing leader, who helped take the Bears all the way in 1985, seemed invincible until it was revealed that he had a rare kidney disease. He died at 45.

2.) Len Bias. After a great collegiate career at the University of Maryland, Bias was chosen #2 by the Celtics in the 1986 NBA draft, just behind Brad Daugherty. Just 48 hours later, Bias died of a cocaine overdose.

1.) Roberto Clemente. One of the legendary baseball players of his day, the Pittsburgh Pirate star was headed to Nicaragua to help earthquake victims in 1972 when his plane crashed into the ocean. His body was never found.

How Punching Wayne Gretsky's Face In Led To My Brother's Divorce

WCBias — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:40:00 +0000

While getting Christmas decorations from our attic a while back, I found a relic that probably contributed to my brother’s divorce.

At first, I merely looked at it with nostalgic fascination. But a few weeks later, it called out to me: Hey â€“ remember me? We had some great times together, didn’t we?

I couldn’t lie; we did. So I pulled down the attic stairs and spotted it in a plastic crate.

My old Sega Genesis.

Well, technically, my brother bought the thing back in 1993. But it’s mine now. And, after plugging it in, I was elated to see that it still works â€“ though sometimes you have to nudge it a little.

As I queued up the “NHLPA Hockey 93″ game, all sorts of memories came to mind. You see, my brother and I â€“ we played a lot of Sega hockey. We played against each other, against the computer, and against my friend Eric. And while you may think that it was just a video game, things could get pretty heated.

A night of Sega hockey would normally start with me going over to my brother’s house and him saying, somewhat robotically: “Start it up.” Then after each game, he’d say something like, “Start it up.” Over and over and over until it just got crazy.

He was addicted, man.

And, yeah â€“ me too.

Ironically, I’ve always hated hockey. Basically, it’s the ice equivalent of soccer, except you get the occasional UFC-like fight. Yet, because of Sega hockey, I knew every team’s roster from 1993 â€” and every player’s stats, strengths and weaknesses.

Sometimes I’d find myself even talking to the players, saying things like, “Belfour, you SUCK!”

And my brother was equally guilty.

“Get that dickhead outta’ there!” he’d yell, calling for the removal of Steve Smith, the Chicago
Blackhawks’s toughest player, who couldn’t shoot a puck into Lake Michigan if he tried.

Of course, while Sega Smith couldn’t find the goal if he were standing in it, there is one thing he could do with unparalleled skill: punch faces. Hence, if someone like Wayne Gretzky (back in the L.A. Kings days) or Mario Lemieux scored on your goalie with cruel consistency, you could put Smith in, and they’d be seeing red.

Because the thing about Sega Hockey? When a guy lost a fight, he would fall, and blood would pour from his head to the ice.

How freakin’ cool is that?

Okay, I know that sounds bad. But sometimes in a world where you have little control, it’s nice to be able to control things. It was kind of like being the god of the video hockey world, except there’s no way to send any of the players to hell (though surely Smith would be the first to go).

As my brother and I fervently wasted hours and hours playing Sega hockey, I realized something I had completely forgotten: My brother was married.

With kids.

This became more clear when his wife began to complain about his time spent plugged in. At first, there were a few comments here and there. Then she started to treat me differently.
I guess she felt in general like she wasn’t getting enough attention or something. And, well . . . eventually, she got it from someone else.

So my memories of Sega hockey aren’t all good. And as I plugged it into the TV last night, I had to remind myself that I wouldn’t get carried away. I wouldn’t allow it to take time away from the family.

But the first time Steve Smith clobbers a member of the New York Islanders, I’ll give a little nod to my brother and remember how we won the Stanley Cup back in ’93.

Do You Think Manny Ramirez Knows We're In a Recession?

WCBias — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:36:00 +0000

This is gonna date me, but I vividly remember when the Yankees made Dave Winfield the highest paid player in baseball.

It was 1981, and Winfield got a 10-year deal for $23 million. At the time, people bitched and moaned because 1.) In the Reagan recession, regular Joe’s (and Jane’s) weren’t seeing their checks increase, though the richest Americans would be getting nice fat tax breaks. Also, it was just two years earlier that Nolan Ryan had become the first player to make a million bucks a year.

So in two years, the highest salary more than doubled.

Now here we are in 2009, and manny Ramirez is looking for a 2-year $45 million deal — and that’s not even the highest salary in baseball. That belongs to A-Rod (insert snide steroid comment here), who makes $27.5 million a year — $2 million of which is injected into his ass. (Sorry — couldn’t resist.)

So in 30 years, the highest baseball salary is now 27.5 times more than it was in 1979.

Now I don’t want to be one of those namby pamby people who whines about baseball salaries. Boo hoo freakin hoo, right? Because, for one thing, even if owners didn’t have to pay huge players salaries, I’ll bet they’d still charge us out the wazoo to see games.

That’s just how they are. Greedy jerks.

But I do sort of think wistfully about that making that kind of coin. I mean, imagine how that sort of surge in salary would affect your take-home.

For instance, for some insane reason, I decided to pursue the non-lucrative career of journalism. Now in 1979, I was spending more time playing Whiffle Ball than I was writing crappy stories for the local rag. But I’d guess the average pay for a journalist then was probably around $20,000. (Heck, some papers probably still pay that.)

Now if the journalist salary increased as much as the Major League Baseball salary, I’d be making — let’s see . . . a little math calculation here . . .

Oh, snap! I’d be making $550,000!

Not too shabby. In fact, if I were making $550,000 a year, I’d probably never complain about pinhead management decisions. I woudn’t gripe about having to write crappy stories. And, shoot — I might even stop fabricating my time sheets.*

Alas, all I can do is sit on the couch with a bag of Fritos and watch baseball, wishing I could hit a 95-mile per hour fastball.

If only I’d played a few more games of Whiffle Ball.

* These are fictional accounts, of course. Not only do I love my bosses and work VERY hard, but I constantly think (and dream) of ways I can better myself as a professional journalist.

What To Do About the Clippers? Here's One Idea: Trade Them

WCBias — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:02:00 +0000

So I invited myself to join the WC Bias all-stars because I thought the guys needed a little different perspective. Because, you see, while I’ve lived in California for the past 10 years, I’m about as native as the eucalyptus tree. And as a result, I see things differently. (For instance, what’s up with all the yoga?) And I have different questions about sports.

As of late, there’s been one question in particular that’s been driving me nutty: How is it possible that the second largest city in the country still doesn’t have a football team? Conversely, why are the Clippers still in L.A.?

It’s just absurd when you consider some of the Podunk cities that have NFL teams. (You know who I’m talking about, Jacksonville!) And yet in Los Angeles â€“ where TV was invented, I think â€“ there’s nothing but the memory of Lawrence McCutcheon.

And that’s kinda sad.

But yet L.A. has TWO basketball teams, even though most people still think the Clippers are either A.) still in San Diego or B.) a WBA team.

Seriously, the only reason anyone ever goes to a Clippers game is if they accidentally thought the Lakers were playing that night.

So I propose the city of Los Angeles arrange a trade: L.A. offers the Clippers in exchange for an NFL team.

Seriously â€“ don’t you think Kansas City is ready to give up on the Chiefs at this point? If you bring them to L.A., I figure something’s bound to happen. If nothing else, they can pick up a few celebrity fans, like James Garner, assuming James Garner is still alive. (If not, then maybe his kids or agent)

And no matter how bad the Clippers sucked, KC fans would be so happy to have an NBA team, they’d actually stick with them for a year or two.

So what do ya say, KC? Deal or no deal? When you’re ready to answer, give us a buzz. We’ll be watching the Lakers.