Deep thoughts, cheap shots & bon mots ...
The A’s have a cool new Party Deck at the Coliseum, but won’t all the noise bother the players?
If you’re a Laney College student or administrator, be sure to bring your school ID to the Party Deck. Your bill will be doubled!
The Giants might bring back Pablo Sandoval, who shows little sign of recapturing his former greatness. Yet they pass on Tim Lincecum, pumping low-90s at his showcase. Kind of sad that it’s the Rangers who are going to let Timmy smoke.
If Steve Kerr continues to take shots at the president, it’s a matter of time before POTUS comes up with one of his super-clever nicknames for the Warriors’ coach. Not that Trump needs any help, but how about Kerr Mudgeon?
The Raiders lost a coin flip to the 49ers to decide which 6-10 team drafts ninth and which goes 10th. The flip was executed with a special coin featuring the 49ers’ logo on one side and the Raiders’ on the other. Man, we knew the NFL was printing money, now we know they’re also minting it.
The Warriors say parking won’t be a problem at their new Chase Center. That remains to be seen, with that neighborhood experiencing a growth explosion. Old-time Brooklyn Dodgers manager Charlie Dressen would tell his players, “Just stay close, I’ll think of something.” The Warriors will say, “Plan to drive to the games, Elon Musk will think of something.”
Maybe the answer will be the flying taxis that the tech folk are busy developing. I’m not sure why that’s news. I’ve been in many flying taxis in San Francisco.
Anyone expecting Tara VanDerveer to fade away will be disappointed. She’s got her Stanford women ready to rock, after a rocky start. And Tara recently got a verbal commitment from prized recruit Hannah Jump, who I assume is a fictional character. Jump, rocking the best jumper in the nation, is a junior at Pinewood-Los Altos Hills, which I assume is a fictional school.
The Giants figure to be among the last teams to embrace the Dodger-ization of starting pitchers — removing them after two times through the opponents’ batting order. That’s not only good news for old-schoolers Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, it’s a chance for those guys to prove that the Dodgers don’t know everything.
Billy Beane keeps playing the indigent card. “David (Forst) and I spend everything we’ve got, and it’s been like that historically.” It’s also been like this historically: With the possible exception of last season, the A’s turn a tidy profit every year, in addition to the team’s steep appreciation in value, but owner John Fisher passes along only a pittance of that stash of cash to Beane & Crew, who accept it without complaint.
So much for the new, harmonious Cleveland Cavaliers. J.R. “Soupy” Smith was suspended for throwing soup on an assistant coach. Let’s not judge until we hear the whole story. Maybe the assistant coach forgot the oyster crackers.